Purpose

The study's objective is to examine the impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) social media news (SMN) on work boredom (WB) and task performance (TP). The study proposes that psychological well-being (PWB) and depression mediate the relationship between COVID-19 SMN, WB and TP.

Design/methodology/approach

The data for this research was collected from white-collar employees of two Asian countries, Pakistan (study 1, n = 167) and Malaysia (study 2, n = 118), was collected using an online survey during strict movement control order (MCO), work from home, at the beginning of the year 2020.

Findings

In both studies, the PWB of employees mediated the relationship between COVID-19 SMN and their WB. On the other hand, depression only mediated the relationship between COVID-19 SMN and WB in Pakistan. PWB only mediated the relationship between COVID-19 SMN and TP in study 2. Depression only mediated the relationship between COVID-19 SMN and TP in study 1.

Research limitations/implications

A couple of limitations worth noting are that the study adopted a cross-sectional approach. Thus, the sample size is not large in both counties. Because of the outbreak, limited employees agree to be part of an online survey. The scope of the study also restricts the authors to collect data during MCO, when employees were forced to work from home. In Pakistan, MCO began on 20th March and ended on 30th April, while in Malaysia, MCO started on 18th March and ended on 12th May. This also limits the study's claim of generalizability.

Practical implications

The practical implication of the study is to guide practitioners of both Pakistan and Malaysia in developing strategies that help them understand that employees having PWB look for growth and challenging opportunities even during pandemic situations; employers can leverage it to deal with external threats like COVID-19 because improving the PWB can improve TP and reduce WB. The interesting results highlighted the fact that high TP not necessarily means everything is fine with employees, when the uncertainty level is high, employees may be performing well due to fear and depression instead of work motivation. Thus, employers should be more vigilant during a pandemic situation. This study also helps policymakers understand that the overall economic situation affects the individual employee’s state of mind and work behavior.

Originality/value

The paper contributes to scare literature on COVID-19 and SMN and illustrates employees' work behavior when forced to work from home during the MCO.

中文翻译：

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COVID-19 社交媒体新闻对员工行为的影响：心理健康和抑郁的中介作用

目的

该研究的目的是检查 2019 年冠状病毒病 (COVID-19) 社交媒体新闻 (SMN) 对工作无聊 (WB) 和任务绩效 (TP) 的影响。该研究提出，心理健康 (PWB) 和抑郁介导了 COVID-19 SMN、WB 和 TP 之间的关系。

设计/方法/方法

本研究的数据来自巴基斯坦（研究 1，n  = 167）和马来西亚（研究 2，n  = 118）这两个亚洲国家的白领员工，是在严格的行动管制令 (MCO) 期间使用在线调查收集的)，2020 年初在家工作。

发现

在这两项研究中，员工的 PWB 调节了 COVID-19 SMN 与其 WB 之间的关系。另一方面，抑郁症仅介导了巴基斯坦 COVID-19 SMN 与 WB 之间的关系。在研究 2 中，PWB 仅介导了 COVID-19 SMN 与 TP 之间的关系。在研究 1 中，抑郁仅介导了 COVID-19 SMN 与 TP 之间的关系。

研究限制/影响

值得注意的几个局限性是该研究采用了横截面方法。因此，两个县的样本量都不大。由于疫情爆发，有限员工同意参与在线调查。该研究的范围还限制了作者在 MCO 期间收集数据，当时员工被迫在家工作。在巴基斯坦，MCO 从 3 月 20 日开始，到 4 月 30 日结束，而在马来西亚，MCO 从 3 月 18 日开始，到 5 月 12 日结束。这也限制了该研究对普遍性的主张。

实际影响

该研究的实际意义是指导巴基斯坦和马来西亚的从业者制定战略，帮助他们了解拥有 PWB 的员工即使在大流行情况下也在寻找增长和具有挑战性的机会；雇主可以利用它来应对 COVID-19 等外部威胁，因为改进 PWB 可以提高 TP 并减少 WB。有趣的结果突出了一个事实，即高 TP 并不一定意味着员工一切都好，当不确定性水平高时，员工可能由于恐惧和抑郁而不是工作动机而表现良好。因此，在大流行情况下，雇主应该更加警惕。这项研究还有助于政策制定者了解整体经济形势会影响员工个人的心态和工作行为。

原创性/价值

该论文有助于撰写有关 COVID-19 和 SMN 的恐怖文献，并说明了在 MCO 期间被迫在家工作时员工的工作行为。