The mind, the heart, and the leader in times of crisis: How and when COVID-19-triggered mortality salience relates to state anxiety, job engagement, and prosocial behavior.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a disruptive event devastating to the workplace and the global community. Drawing on terror management theory, we develop and test a model that explains how COVID-19-triggered mortality salience influences employees' state anxiety and their responses at and outside work. We conducted an experience sampling method study using employees from an information technology firm in China when COVID-19 was surging there and two experiments using employees from a variety of industries in the United States when it became a new epicenter of the global outbreak. Results from 3 studies largely supported our theoretical hypotheses. Specifically, our research showed that mortality salience concerning COVID-19 was positively related to employees' state anxiety (general anxiety in Study 1 and Study 2 and death-specific anxiety in Study 3). Our studies also found that servant leadership is particularly crucial in guiding employees with state anxiety associated with COVID-19 mortality salience to be engaged in their jobs and to contribute more to the broader community. Our findings offer timely, valuable implications for theory and practice. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).