Consumer-based coping within the United States during COVID-19: impacts of working from home

Figures & data

Figure 1. Hypothesized model of factors influencing behaviours of remote employees during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Table 1. Factor loadings for the study’s constructs.

Role Conflict (Rizzo et al., 1970)	Factor Loadings of Items
I had enough time to complete my work.(r)	.91
I received an assignment without the time/resources to complete it.	.50
I received assignments that are within my training and capability. (r)	.38
I had just the right amount of work to do. (r)	.69
Boredom (Hunter et al., 2016)
I feel bored.	.79
I am wasting time that would be better spent on something else.	.89
I want something to happen, but I am not sure what.	.90
I feel like I am sitting around waiting for something to happen.	.98
Perceived Stress (Cohen et al., 1994)
In the last week, how often have you been upset because of something that happened unexpectedly?	.58
In the last week, how often have you felt that you were unable to control the important things in your life?	.67
In the last week, how often have you felt nervous and "stressed"?	.67
In the last week, how often have you dealt successfully with irritating life hassles? (r)	.38
In the last week, how often have you felt that you were effectively coping with important changes that were occurring in your life? (r)	.56
In the last week, how often have you felt confident about your ability to handle your personal problems? (r)	.56
In the last week, how often have you felt that things were going your way? (r)	.60
In the last week, how often have you found that you could not cope with all the things that you had to do?	.68
In the last week, how often have you been able to control irritations in your life? (r)	.60
In the last week, how often have you felt that you were on top of things? (r)	.72
In the last week, how often have you been angered because of things that happened that were outside of your control?	.55
In the last week, how often have you found yourself thinking about things that you have to accomplish?**	.23
In the last week, how often have you been able to control the way you spend your time? (r)	.53
In the last week, how often have you felt difficulties were piling up so high that you could not overcome them?	.81
Alcohol Consumption
Thinking about the past week, how many alcoholic beverages have you consumed per day on average?	N.A. (Single item measure)
Exercise Frequency
Thinking about the past week, how much time did you spend per day exercising using equipment or online classes that you purchased as a result of the pandemic?	N.A. (Single item measure)

Note: **Item deleted due to low factor loading.

Table 2. Descriptive statistics and inter-correlations for all study variables.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
1. Gender	--
2. Age	−.07	--
3. Role conflict	.13*	−.02	--
4. Boredom	−.13*	−.06	.02	--
5. Stress	.15*	−.16*	.50**	.27**	--
6. Alcohol consumption	−.01	.04	.01	.23**	.14*	--
7. Exercise frequency	.17*	.12	−.13*	−.07	−.11	−.06	--
Mean	1.73	43.52	2.33	2.86	2.66	1.28	2.97
SD	.48	9.15	.85	.99	.59	1.25	1.22

Note: N = 232. *p <.05. Cronbach’s alpha reliability presented on the diagonal. 0 = male; 1= female.

Figure 2. Final model of factors influencing behaviours of remote employees during the COVID-19 pandemic, with path coefficients.

Model results: χ² (5) = 3.57, p = .61; CFI = 1.0; SRMR = .001. ^†p < .10, *p < .05, **p < .01.

Rizzo, J., House, R., & Lirtzman, S. (1970). Role conflict and ambiguity in complex organizations. Administrative Science Quarterly, 15(2), 150–163. https://doi.org/10.2307/2391486

 Web of Science ®Google Scholar

Hunter, J., Dyer, K., Cribbie, R., & Eastwood, J. (2016). Exploring the utility of the Multidimensional State Boredom Scale. European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 32(3), 241–250. https://doi.org/10.1027/1015-5759/a000251

 Web of Science ®Google Scholar

Cohen, S., Kamarck, T., & Mermelstein, R. (1994). Perceived stress scale. Measuring stress: A guide for health and social scientists. 10:1–2. https://doi.org/10.1037/t02889-000

 Google Scholar

Data availability statement

Data available upon request from the lead author.