在“信息大流行”中工作：COVID-19新闻消费对员工不确定性和工作行为的影响

Working through an “info emic”: The impact of COVID-19 news consumption on employee uncertainty and work behaviors

（原文载美国《应用心理学杂志》（JAP）2021年第106卷第4期）

Journal of Applied Psychology, 106(4)

【摘要】不确定性是COVID-19大流行的一个决定性特征。然而，由于不确定性是一种令人厌恶的状态，不确定性降低理论（URT）认为，员工试图通过获取信息来应对它。迄今为止，大多数有关获取信息以减少不确定性的有效性的证据都来自于在相对稳定的环境下进行的研究，在这种环境下，员工可以获得一致的信息。然而，关于危机和新闻消费的研究让我们有理由相信，在诸如COVID-19大流行的危机中，URT指定的信息缓解不确定性的潜力可能会被打破。结合URT与危机和新闻消费的研究，我们预测在危机期间消费新闻信息往往是令人痛苦的、不断变化的和不一致的，将与不确定性正相关。这进而可能对员工的目标进展和创造力产生负面影响——在不确定性和大流行病时期，这两种工作结果具有实质性的意义。我们进一步预测，死亡焦虑会调节这种关系，例如，与死亡焦虑水平较高的人相比，死亡焦虑水平较低的员工的新闻消费和不确定性之间的关系更强。我们通过对180名全职雇员进行经验抽样研究来检验我们的理论，结果支持了我们提出的概念模型。本研究揭示了在诸如COVID-19大流行病这样的危机中，信息消费具有重要的理论和实践意义。

【关键词】 COVID-19，不确定性降低理论，新闻消费，目标进度，创意

[Abstract] Uncertainty is a defining feature of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, because uncertainty is an aversive state, uncertainty reduction theory (URT) holds that employees try to manage it by obtaining information. To date, most evidence for the effectiveness of obtaining information to reduce uncertainty stems from research conducted in relatively stable contexts wherein employees can acquire consistent information. Yet, research on crises and news consumption provides reasons to believe that the potential for information to mitigate uncertainty as specified by URT may break down during crises such as theCOVID-19 pandemic. Integrating URT with research on crises and news consumption, we predict that consuming news information during crises—which tends to be distressing, constantly evolving, and inconsistent—will be positively related to uncertainty. This in turn may have negative implications for employee goal progress and creativity; two work outcomes that take on substantial significance in times of uncertainty and the pandemic. We further predict that death anxiety will moderate this relationship, such that the link between employees’ news consumption and uncertainty is stronger for those with lower levels of death anxiety, compared to those with higher levels. We test our theorizing via an experience-sampling study with 180 full-time employees, with results providing support for our conceptual model. Our study reveals important theoretical and practical implications regarding information consumption during crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

[Keywords] covid-19, uncertainty reduction theory, news consumption, goal progress, creativity

论文原文：Yoon,S., McClean, S. T., Chawla, N., Kim, J. K., Koopman, J., Rosen, C. C.,Trougakos, J. P., & McCarthy, J. M. (2021). Working through an “info emic”: The impact of COVID-19 news consumption on employee uncertainty and work behaviors. Journal of Applied Psychology, 106(4), 501–517.  https://doi.org/10.1037/apl0000913

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