Benjamin D. Blake’s research while affiliated with University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh and other places

The purpose of this article is to conceptualize a novel theoretical occurrence—team physical activity (PA)—and its relevance for researchers and organizations. By building a testable model of the consequences and contingencies of team PA, we integrate the science of teamwork with the scholarly domain of employee health and well-being. Hence, we clarify the construct of team PA, present a three-dimensional typology, and outline a model drawing on neuroscience, positive organizational behavior, and teams research. Our propositions and subsequent discussion proffer an outline of potential benefits for organizations when they increase the utility and frequency of team PA. We also suggest ways in which researchers can advance scholarship in this area.

While positive psychological capital (PsyCap) is a significant antecedent of favorable work outcomes, it is unclear whether this is true for global employees during an exogenous shock. Applying conservation of resources theory, we found that, under conditions of crisis-induced role novelty, global employees leveraged PsyCap to follow a resource-gain route to job satisfaction, whereas their ability to mitigate resource loss was limited. We differentiate among global employees, finding that role novelty compensated for lower PsyCap in motivating job engagement for those with higher travel obligations. Our results stress the importance of PsyCap in international human resource management scholarship and practice.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and associated workplace restrictions have severe consequences for the world’s workforce. Under such difficult circumstances, global employees’ capacity to leverage personal resources for goal attainment is critical. Applying the resource investment principle of conservation of resources theory, we propose a moderated-mediation model whereby crisis-induced role novelty hinders resource accumulation and subsequent goal attainment. Using three waves of panel data from 311 global employees collected in 2020, prior to and following the initial pandemic lockdown, we found support for our hypotheses that crisis-induced role novelty weakened the relationship between positive psychological capital (PsyCap) and both job engagement and job security. As expected, it also served as a boundary condition for the indirect relationship between PsyCap and burnout, via job security; we did not find support for the hypothesized relationship with job satisfaction, via job engagement. Moreover, when PsyCap was low, crisis-induced role novelty seemed to compensate for the deficient resource of PsyCap in fostering job engagement, which contradicts our view on crisis-induced role novelty as an unambiguous hindrance to global employees’ goal attainment. We discuss the implications of our findings as well as our contributions to international human resource management scholarship and practice.