CKGSB Survey Studies Factors Affecting Resilience and Work Resumption

BEIJING, April 27, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- In light of COVID-19, a unique survey conducted in China--led by Dr. Zhang Xiaomeng, Associate Dean and Associate Professor of Organizational Behavior at the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB)--shows that individual psychological resilience has a strong bearing on corporate resilience and the time it takes for the economy to bounce back. As part of a series, this third episode focuses on examining how different factors affect individual psychological resilience and, in turn organizational resilience. The survey sample features 5,835 employers and employees of CKGSB and alumni companies.

The survey finds that psychological resilience is negatively correlated to depression and anxiety but this varies considerably at different levels and groups.

The survey found that "returning to full pay" respondents were most psychologically resilient and experienced the lowest levels of depression and anxiety, while those with "no work and no pay" were the opposite. As respondents are less likely to switch jobs, their level of psychological resilience increases, and levels of depression and anxiety decreases. In companies with layoffs and pay-cuts, respondents' resilience trends downwards, while depression and anxiety increases. Therefore, companies should use whatever means possible to resume work as soon as they can.

In the decision to resume work, employee care and corporate culture are worthy of focus to management. Respondents spend more than 1.5 times longer working from home than in the office and although this appears to lead to high levels of psychological resilience, depression and anxiety are also heightened.

Psychological resilience is on average at its lowest among 19-29 year olds (28.75) and highest among respondents aged 40-59 (scoring 30.72 of 40). Overall, both men and women show relatively high levels of resilience, with anxiety and depression within normal ranges. It is worthy to note, the resilience of female leaders and executives is higher than that of their male counterparts. The survey also found the average score for psychological resilience increases with education level, while scores for depression and anxiety also increase with education level.

Daily exercise and time spent with friends and family is found to be positively correlated with psychological resilience. Respondents who are completely inactive have significantly lower levels of resilience than those who have exercised (from 30min-2hrs/day), and their levels of depression and anxiety are also far higher than for the group undertaking regular exercise.

For the full results, visit: https://english.ckgsb.edu.cn/blog/psychological-resilience-before-and-after-work-resumption-during-covid-19episode-3-building-organizational-resilience/