The COVID-19 Marathon: Demands and Resources of Crisis Managers inContinuous Operation [Der COVID-19-Marathon: Anforderungen und Ressourcen von Krisenmanagern im Dauerbetrieb]

Thielsch, Meinald T.; Röseler, Stefan; Lamers, Christoph; Hertel, Guido

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic required the deployment of crisis management teams (CMTs) on an unprecedented scale. Due to their high level of responsibility and wide-ranging decision-making authority, the enduring resilience and health of CMT members is essential. Yet, during pandemics, they are permanently challenged. With cross-sectional data from 219 CMT members, we tested six pre-registered hypotheses based on the Job Demands–Resources model. We found the expected positive association between experienced demands and exhaustion (H1), which was moderated by home resources (partly confirming H2); a positive association between experienced resources and work engagement (H3), which was not moderated by demands (rejecting H4); and associations between exhaustion and engagement with outcome measures such as CMT members’ self-assessed performance, satisfaction, and quitting intention (mostly confirming H5 and H6). Furthermore, we explore how the pandemic has changed from experts’ perspectives, describe lessons learned, and derive practical recommendations and suggestions for future research.