Two-faced employers? Employee psychological withdrawal reactions to employer signals during times of uncertainty

Purpose Times of high uncertainty can result in challenges for organizations and employees alike. Drawing on signaling theory, this paper aims to investigate how an employer’s handling of an uncertain situation, namely a pandemic, affects psychological withdrawal and perceptions of organizational hypocrisy. Design/methodology/approach To empirically test the hypotheses, we conducted 2 field surveys, resulting in 934 observations across 2 samples and an experiment with a sample of 393 participants. Findings While support for a direct negative effect of how well an employer handled a pandemic on psychological withdrawal was mixed, perceived organizational support consistently moderated this relationship such that an employer that handled a pandemic well reduced employees’ psychological withdrawal if perceived organizational support was high. This highlights the importance of proactive and consistent organizational support to prevent backlash. Originality/value This paper contributes to the literature on perceived organizational support and signaling theory by demonstrating that organizational support and the consistency in signals organizations communicate are a crucial contingency during times of uncertainty.