Job Insecurity and Psychological Distress During the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Role of Mindfulness and Psychological Capital

Job insecurity is regarded by scholars and practitioners as instigating psychological distress. The present study challenges this perspective by examining how and when the experience of job insecurity during the COVID-19 pandemic can be a source of decreased psychological distress at work. By drawing on conservation of resources theory, we propose that state mindfulness is a coping mechanism sparked by COVID-19-triggered job insecurity that can lead to lower psychological distress, but only if employees possess a strong psychological capital (PsyCap). We specifically posited that PsyCap is an individual resource that facilitates mindful coping with COVID-19-triggered job insecurity. Cross-lagged multiple regression analyses conducted on four-wave longitudinal data collected during the 2020 pandemic crisis confirmed that among employees who exhibited higher levels of PsyCap, COVID-19-triggered job insecurity indirectly reduced psychological distress via the mediating role of state mindfulness. We discuss the implications of these findings for theory and practice.