Stress-activated motility: study on the influence mechanism of COVID-19 event strength on employee safety performance in high reliability organizations

<i>Objectives</i>. Events have been an important research topic in the field of organizations, especially as the outbreak of COVID-19 has brought challenges to employees and organizations, affecting employee behaviour in the workplace. Based on the cognitive activation theory of stress, this study explored the mechanisms of the impact of COVID-19 event strength on employee safety performance in high reliability organizations. <i>Methods</i>. A quantitative research design was adopted with data collected from 759 urban rail transit organizational employees in China. Structural equation modelling analysis using Mplus version 7.4 was employed to test the hypotheses. <i>Results</i>. COVID-19 event strength can positively affect the safety performance of employees in high reliability organizations through a chain-mediating effect of work meaningfulness and engagement. Perceived trust positively moderates the chain-mediating effect and the relationship between COVID-19 event strength and work meaningfulness for high reliability organization employees. <i>Conclusion</i>. Based on the cognitive activation theory of stress, this study explored the mechanisms of the impact of COVID-19 event strength on employee safety performance in high reliability organizations, enhancing the literature on organizational events and safety performance, and expanding application of the cognitive activation theory of stress in high-reliability organizations.