The Moderating Role of Gender and Mediating Role of Hope in the Performance of Healthcare Workers During the COVID-19 Pandemic

This study aimed to examine the relationship between resilience and the hope levels of healthcare workers who have experienced the COVID-19 pandemic, the effects of resilience and gender on individual performance, the effects of hope levels on individual performance, and aimed to determine whether hope mediated the effect of resilience on individual performance. This was a descriptive cross-sectional study. The psychological resilience, hope, and individual performance of healthcare workers affiliated with the Istanbul Provincial Health Directorate were obtained from online questionnaires completed by participants between April 2021 and August 2021. This purpose was served by the Brief Resilience Scale, the continuous hope scale, and the Individual Performance Scales. A hierarchical regression analysis, mediation analysis, and moderation analysis were performed on 412 healthcare workers to test the hypotheses. There was a significant relationship between resilience and hope levels among healthcare professionals. Healthcare professionals' levels of resilience and hope also had significant effects on their individual performance. The indirect effect of healthcare professionals' psychological resilience levels on their individual performance through hope was not significant. Gender also had a significant effect on resilience, hope, and agency thinking. Men's mean scores for resilience, hope, and agency thinking are higher than women's. The findings show that employees with high hope and resilience are more likely to recover from stressful situations and display better individual performance. This study has significant implications for the advancement of the field of psychosocial assessment of healthcare workers in times of health crisis. It offers both a practical and a theoretical perspective on the effects of hope and resilience on employee performance as psychological capital that can help all healthcare managers and employees, especially in times of crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic. It can be said that hope is more important than resilience in terms of its propensity to enhance individuals' performance. Our findings suggest that employees with high levels of hope and resilience are more likely to recover from stressful situations and achieve better personal performance. Organizations should focus more on hope and resilience by promoting positive attitudes among employees and managers to improve their ability to cope with crises.