The Association between Perceived Stress, Psychological Distress, and Job Performance During the COVID-19 Pandemic: the Buffering Role of Health-Promoting Management Practices

The first objective of the present study was to investigate the association between perceived stress, psychological distress, and job performance among workers during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a second objective, this study sought to examine whether management practices aimed at promoting employees’ psychological health can moderate this relationship. A total of 435 workers answered a self-reported questionnaire assessing perceived stress, psychological distress, and job performance as well as health-promoting management practices adopted by their manager, which focused on establishing work structure, demonstrating consideration and showing support. Results indicated that perceived stress was negatively associated with job performance and this relation was mediated by psychological distress. Moderation analysis revealed that for low and average levels of health-promoting management practices, perceived stress was negatively associated with job performance. However, when workers perceived that their supervisor adopted several health-promoting management practices, the association between perceived stress and job performance became non-significant. Also, the association between perceived stress and psychological distress was positive and significant for all levels of health-promoting management practices, but its strength diminished as management practice increased. Finally, a moderated mediation analysis indicated that the indirect effect of perceived stress on job performance through psychological distress was moderated by health-promoting management practices. This study contributes to the advancement of knowledge by demonstrating that, in a context of a crisis which can cause considerable stress, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, health-promoting management practices can buffer the deleterious effect of perceived stress on psychological health and job performance.