The role of crisis management in organisations functioning in COVID-19 pandemic conditions

Abstract

The purpose of the paper is to analyse the influence of crisis management on job performance as well as indicate a mechanism, which supports such influence. The theoretical model was proposed based on a literature review, showing the role of organisational trust, organisational communication, knowledge sharing, job security and openness to change in shaping job performance by crisis management among organisations operating under COVID-19 pandemic conditions. The model was empirically verified based on a sample of 1,160 organisations operating in Poland, Italy and the USA during an active wave of the pandemic in 2021. The obtained results allow to confirm that crisis management significantly positively influences the job performance of employees in organisations operating under the dynamic and turbulent COVID-19 pandemic conditions. Moreover, such influence was proven to be mediated by organisational trust, organisational communication, knowledge sharing, job security and finally – openness to change. The performed analysis fills in the existing research gap and constitutes and important contribution to the field of crisis management. The results show that in order for crisis management to bring benefits to the entire organisation, employees need to go beyond the routines of their behavior and efficiently adapt to the changed conditions of the organisation. The openness to change becomes a de facto enabler of that. The obtained results also have practical implications, showing the mechanism through which crisis management impacts individual employees, allowing organisations to stimulate each factor and contributing to the possibility of ensuring more benefits coming from implementing crisis management.