The Influence of Peer Support on Employee Psychological Capital during the COVID-19 Pandemic

ABSTRACT

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the individual might feel isolated, and his psychological capital (PsyCap) is negatively influenced. Most research on peer support has focused on its contribution to employee well-being when the peers are in the same workplace. Scant research targets the times of lockdowns and social distancing. This paper investigates how peer support influences employee PsyCap during the COVID-19 pandemic. By conducting a questionnaire with N = 42 employees and three online focus groups with N = 15 employees out of N = 350 employees working at an international organization operating in Egypt as a bilateral development partner funded by the German government, the paper concludes that peer support has a positive influence on employee PsyCap, especially self-efficacy, hope, and optimism.

KEYWORDS:

• Peer support
• psychological capital
• self-efficacy
• hope
• optimism
• resiliency

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).