Effects of role overload, work engagement and perceived organisational support on nurses' job performance during the COVID-19 pandemic

Aims We aim to study the effect of role overload, work engagement and perceived organisational support on nurses' job performance, including task performance, interpersonal facilitation and job dedication. Background Many nurses have suffered from role overload at work during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the investigations of the influence mechanisms and boundary conditions through and under which role overload is associated with job performance have shown inconsistent results. Methods A total of 595 Chinese nurses were studied from November 2020 to February 2021. Confirmatory factor analysis, maximum likelihood estimation and bootstrapping analysis were used to test the mediating process and the moderating effect. Results Work engagement partly mediated the relationships of role overload with task performance (beta = -.253, p < .001, 95% CI: [-.315, -.204]) and interpersonal facilitation (beta = -.202, p < .001, 95% CI: [-.261, -.145]); work engagement also fully mediated the relationship between role overload and job dedication (beta = -.239, p < .001, 95% CI: [-.302, -.186]). Perceived organisational support moderated the relationships of role overload with task performance, interpersonal facilitation and work dedication (beta = -.171, p < .001, beta = -.154, p < .001 and beta = -.175, p < .001, respectively). Conclusions Work engagement is the linchpin linking role overload to distal outcomes of job performance. Perceived organisational support mitigates the ways in which role overload undermines job performance. Implications for Nursing Management Hospital administrators can minimize the effects of role overload and create a more supportive organisational environment to promote the job performance of nurses.