TABLE 5.
Characteristics of the studies included in the systematic review (COVID-19, Ecuador, 2020–2022).
| Study | Context | Study objective | Type of study | Participants | Methods | Main findings | JBI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (42) | Jilin Province, Northeast China | To evaluate the direct effects of work stress, health status and presenteeism on task performance, and further explore the mediating effects of health status and presenteeism, hoping to provide theoretical basis for improving the performance of medical staff | A cross-sectional study | 4,261 medical staff | The Challenge and Hindrance-Related Self-Reported Stress scale, Short Form-8 Health Survey scale, Stanford Presenteeism Scale and Task Performance Scale | Work stress and presenteeism had a significant negative effect on task performance of medical staff, unlike health status, that had a significant positive effect on task performance. Health status and presenteeism mediated the relationship between work stress and task performance | 6/8 |
| (10) | New Zealand | To address the research gap of examining the relationship between meaningful work and dimensions of job burnout with work engagement as the mediator, especially in times of the COVID-19 pandemic | A cross-sectional study | 530 social workers | The partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). The survey consisted of three instruments: WAMI, UWES-9 and MBI-22 | Work engagement was found to have mediating effects on the relationships between meaningful work and all the dimensions of job burnout. Age does not have any moderating effect on these relationships | 6/8 |
| (43) | Netherlands | To achieve insight into COVID-care participation of surgical residents in the Netherlands, the impact of COVID-19 on the experienced quality of surgical training, and the influence on Burn out and Work Engagement compared with the non-COVID-19 period in January 2020 | A cross-sectional study | 317 surgical residents | Dutch questionnaire “Utrecht Burn-out Scale,” derived from the MBI, was surveyed, and also the UWES was collected | The study shows a significant impact of the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic on the surgical trainee programme. The study emphasises the need for adequate guidance of all surgical residents regarding surgical training and education | 6/8 |
| (44) | Chengdu, China | To examine whether an employee’s perceived COVID-19 crisis strength will decrease an employee’s work engagement and taking charge at work | A multi-study | 258 nurses: study 1; 61 medical professionals employed in ICU | First, hypotheses were tested by conducting a time-lagged field survey of nurses who provided care to COVID-19 patients (Study 1). Next, the research question was addressed by conducting a longitudinal field experiment (Study 2) in an intensive care unit (ICU) for COVID-19 patients in critical condition. Instruments/variables: Perceived COVID-19 Crisis Strength, Work Meaningfulness, UWES-9, and Taking Charge at Work | The research demonstrates that organizations can soften the impact of this crisis on their employees by providing interventions designed to weaken perceived COVID-19 crisis strength and strengthen work meaningfulness | 6/8 |
| (45) | Wuhan, China and United Kingdom | To examine whether mindfulness may be able to neutralise the negative effects of the COVID-19 stressors on work engagement through the mediating role of sleep duration | A multi-study | 97 general workers from Wuhan, China and 140 from the United Kingdom | In Study 1, a field experiment was conducted in Wuhan, China during the lockdown between 20 February 2020, and 2 March 2020, in which state mindfulness was induced by randomly assigning participants to either a daily mindfulness practice or a daily mind-wandering practice. In Study 2, in a 10-day daily diary study in the United Kingdom between 8 June 2020, and 19 June 2020, the results were replicated from Study 1 using a subjective measure of COVID-19 stressors and a daily measure of state mindfulness | Findings of the studies contribute to the employee stress and wellbeing research as well as the emerging mindfulness research in the organizational literature. As a result, mindfulness buffers the negative effect of COVID-19 stressors on work engagement mediated by sleep duration | 6/8 |
| (46) | Turkey | To explore software professionals’ mental wellbeing and work engagement and the relationships of these variables with job strain and resource-related factors in the forced home-based work setting during the COVID-19 pandemic | A cross-sectional study | 321 software professionals | Survey including questions on sociodemographic characteristics, home-based work-related parameters during COVID-19, validated scales related to the participants’ mental wellbeing, work engagement, sleep quality, work-related psychosocial characteristic of job strain and decision latitude, and close-ended questions for work-life balance and physical exercise habits, was administered, all in Turkish | The results indicate that despite the negative effect of job strain, the resource-related protective factors, namely, sleep quality, decision latitude, work-life balance, and exercise predict mental wellbeing. Additionally, work engagement is predicted by job strain, sleep quality, and decision latitude | 6/8 |
| (11) | Spain | To assess the effects of the COVID-19 on the physical and mental health of non-healthcare workers. Design: Observational descriptive cross-sectional study | A cross-sectional study | 1,038 non-healthcare worker (461 worked away from home and 577 workers who were working from home) | Instruments/variables: work engagement UWES-9, sense of coherence (SOC-13), and mental health (Goldberg GHQ-12) | At low levels of engagement, the percentage of distress is higher (77.9%). Low levels of sense of coherence correspond to the highest percentages of distress (86.3%). The 94.1% believe it necessary for professionals and volunteers involved in COVID-19 to receive psychological support. Low comprehensibility is mediated by the perception of stress; if the perception is low, comprehensibility is modulated by the level of significance; if it is low, it generates 95.9% of distress | 6/8 |
| (21) | Spain | To analyse the perception of COVID-19 by nurses, especially about measures, resources, and impact on their daily work. Also, to analyse these professionals’ psychosocial risks and the relationship between perception of COVID-19 and these risks | A descriptive correlational study | 92 nurses | Data were collected via an online self-completed questionnaire during the rise of the pandemic from 29 March to 8 April, when the number of infections went from 78,797 to 146,690 | There seems to be a negative and significant relationship between the information available to nurses, the measures implemented, and resources with some of their psychosocial risks, and a positive one with job satisfaction and work engagement. There is also a positive and significant relationship only between the impact of COVID-19 and their work inequality, but not for other risks | 6/8 |
| (47) | Spain | To assess psychological distress (PD) of occupational healthcare workers and its relationship with their work engagement (WE) and work environment characteristics | A cross-sectional study | 499 nurses and physicians | Variables included demographic data, work environment characteristics, UWES-9, and GHQ-12 | A total of 65.53% of the occupational healthcare professionals who participated had PD. No significant differences were found between physicians and nurses. However, PD was higher among women and public sector workers. Variables that facilitate developing PD were work stress, workload, the presence of labour conflict, and less job satisfaction | 6/8 |
| (29) | Punjab, Pakistan | To identify the dominance of psychosocial job demands and job resources on the wellbeing of nurses with an indirect effect on psychological health factors | A cross-sectional study | 208 nurses | Time-lag strategy to collect data at the start of pandemic (Time 1) and then again 3 months later (Time 2) | Three stages were achieved through this analytic study on the nurses’ samples to determine the predictive abilities for the quality of the psychosocial work environment model. And as a result, from partial to full mediation, stress and eustress significantly impact the psychosocial work environment of nurses | 6/8 |
| (30) | Wuhan, Hubei Province, China | To clarify both the potential influencing factors and the current status of front-line nurses’ work engagement, and thus provide a References for targeted interventions | A cross-sectional study | 1,040 nurses | A large sample survey was conducted at the end of February 2020 in a designated hospital treating coronavirus disease 2019 patients in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei Province, in China | The final model interpreted 27.3% of the variance, of which each block could explain 11.7%, 10.3% and 7.9% R2 changes including sociodemographic characteristics, stress and workload, respectively. Work engagement was negatively correlated with stress and workload | 6/8 |
| (15) | Spain | To assess the mediating role of work engagement in the direct impact of emotional intelligence on healthcare professionals’ work performance | A cross-sectional study | 1,549 healthcare workers (62.1% women; mean age 36.51 years) (26.9% nurses) | A total of 1,549 healthcare workers (62.1% women; mean age 36.51 years) filled the Wong and Law Emotional Intelligence Scale, the UWES, and the Individual Work Performance Questionnaire | The results demonstrated in this investigation evidence the significant direct effect of emotional intelligence toward individual work performance, as well as the mediating involvement of engagement, in a sample of Spanish healthcare professionals considering the three constructs of engagement, vigour, which emerged over dedication, and absorption as the most decisive engagement dimension | 6/8 |
| (5) | Switzerland | To examine the impact of work modalities, job-related, relational, and organizational climate variables on employees’ engagement, exhaustion, and perceived performance both before and during the forced teleworking period | A cross-sectional study | 1,373 Public Employees (19–60 years) | Keeping in mind the pandemic and telework conditions, the survey method was a quantitative methodology, which was deemed to be most suitable for collecting data from participants. Data were collected from a single Swiss Cantonal administration located in the French speaking part of the country | Results show that while the forced telework period positively influenced employees’ work autonomy and work–life balance, it negatively influenced their degree of collaboration and perceived job strain but did not affect their engagement levels | 6/8 |
| (31) | Netherlands | To study burnout and its association with work engagement and resilience among Dutch intensivists in the aftermath of the COVID-19 crisis | A cross-sectional study | 162 intensivists | The questionnaire consisted of questions on personal and work-related characteristics and validated questionnaires: the MBI, the UWES, and the Resilience Evaluation Scale | A raised risk for burnout was found among Dutch intensivists in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis. However, this was still low compared to other countries. Work engagement was found to be high. Burnout was inversely related to, but not fully explained by, resilience and work engagement | 6/8 |
| (32) | Pakistan | To assess how individuals perceive WFM, which is affecting their daily work routine in the pandemic | A cross-sectional study | Teachers from government schools in Pakistan, mean age 37.2 | The multilevel modelling (MLM) approach was applied for analysing the data to model the relationship between day-level social media misinformation, perceived COVID-19 threat, anxiety, social media fatigue, and work engagement | Findings revealed that misinformation and COVID-19 threat increase anxiety and social media fatigue, resulting in a lower level of work engagement. This study also found that resilience as a coping mechanism reduces the adverse effects of anxiety on work engagement | 6/8 |
| (33) | Italy | To investigate the impact that family-work conflict, social isolation, distracting environment, job autonomy, and self-leadership have on employees’ productivity, work engagement, and stress experienced when WFH during the pandemic | A cross-sectional study | A total of 209; mean age 49.81; minimum: 25; maximum: 65 | This cross-sectional study analysed data collected through an online questionnaire completed by 209 employees WFH during the pandemic. The assumptions were tested using hierarchical linear regression | Family-work conflict and social isolation were negatively related to WFH stress, which was not affected by autonomy and self-leadership. Individual and work-related aspects both hinder and facilitate WFH during the COVID-19 outbreak | 6/8 |
| (34) | Germany | To investigate the stress perception of German outpatient nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim was to determine associations between their pandemic related stress and variables such as sleep quality, work engagement, pandemic-related worries and concerns | A cross-sectional study | 166 nurses | An online questionnaire study was conducted among German outpatient nurses from outpatient care services | Pandemic-related stress proved to be a predictor of poorer quality of sleep among outpatient nurses (H1) and Pandemic-related stress proved to be a predictor of lower work engagement among outpatient nurses (H2). Pandemic-related concerns and worries were not positively related to higher stress experience among outpatient nurses (H3) | 6/8 |
| (35) | Poland | To examine how different forms of work affect employee behaviour | A cross-sectional study | 544 participants | This study applies work engagement (the key construct in organisational psychology) as the dependent variable and considers its determinants in the form of stress factors and attitudes toward remote work. UWES-9, Stress Management Standards, and Attitudes toward Remote Work were used | The obtained results indicate that there were no significant differences between groups in terms of the intensity of work engagement. For on-site workers, the most important factors were control and role definition | 6/8 |
| (36) | Zagazig, Egypt | To assess the mattering perception, feelings of burnout and work engagement amongst nurses during the coronavirus outbreak | A cross-sectional study | 280 nurses | A self-administered questionnaire containing four parts: characteristics, mattering at Work Scale, Burnout scale, and Engagement scale | There was a statistically significant positive correlation between engagement and mattering perception. However, there was a statistically significant negative correlation between burning out with engagement and mattering | 6/8 |
| (37) | United States | To understand how nurses’ work engagement has been affected by COVID-19 | A cross-sectional study | 107 nurses | A descriptive, cross-sectional design was used. A survey plus the Fear of COVID-19 scale, the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale, and three open-ended questions were used | The type of education significantly correlated with engagement scores, with in-service education having the highest scores. Nurses continue to leave the profession because of high patient census and acuity and inadequate staffing | 6/8 |
| (38) | Ecuador | To find the relationship between work environment factors and work engagement among the Ecuadorian general population during the first phase of the COVID-19 pandemic to assess their levels of psychological distress | A cross-sectional study | 2,161 participants | Sociodemographic and work environment data, work engagement (UWES-9 scale) scores, and General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) scores were collected | The factors that, to a large extent (70.2%), predicted the development of PD during the first phase of the COVID-19 pandemic in Ecuador were being a woman and having low levels of the vigour work engagement dimension, high work stress, and low job satisfaction | 6/8 |
| (39) | United Kingdom (UK) | To describe the work engagement perceived by UK workers during the COVID-19 pandemic | A cross-sectional study | 1,085 participants | Data were collected using an online questionnaire and the UWES-9 | Participants with lower satisfaction (21.8%) gave significantly low or very low UWES-9 scores in 58.5% of the cases. Greater work engagement was obtained with more resources and less conflict, risk, and stress. In cases where there had been contact with COVID-19, this was associated with slightly lower levels of work engagement | 6/8 |
| (40) | Mainland China | To clarify the mediating mechanism and boundary conditions between risk perception and employee work engagement, explore the causal mechanism of work engagement, and provide practical organisational guidance for maintaining employee work engagement in response to the COVID-19 epidemic | A cross-sectional study | 285 participants | Regression analysis and bootstrap tests were conducted on SPSS and AMOS to verify the relevant hypotheses | It is demonstrated that the moderating effects of employee psychological resilience are all positive on mediating effects of risk perception, anxiety and work engagement. For employees with high psychological resilience, the mediating effect of risk perception on work engagement is stronger through anxiety | 6/8 |
| (41) | Mexico | To identify the presence of high levels of work engagement and burnout in COVID-19 response teams (RT) during the COVID-19 pandemic in a secondary care level | A cross-sectional study | 156 participants | UWES-9 and the MBI-HSS scales | High levels of work engagement were identified in 55.1% of the COVID-19 RT members, while the high levels of burnout were 3.2%. The prevalence of work engagement was higher than that of burnout, but this did not imply protection against exhaustion | 6/8 |
WAMI, work and meaning inventory; UWES-9, Utrecht work engagement scale; MBI-22, Maslach Burnout Index.