From pre-disruption success to disruption survival: The role of pre-disruption job performance evaluation in work outcomes during disruption

Abstract

Organizations increasingly face sudden disruptions, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, which can create profound uncertainty for employees. Drawing on conservation of resources (COR) theory, this study examines how job performance evaluation prior to a disruption is associated with employees’ work outcomes during the disruption. We argue that these recognition signals, as contextual resources, help employees maintain psychological resources under uncertainty, in the form of career satisfaction. We also propose supervisor support during the disruption as a moderator of this relationship, as it renders performance evaluation a socially conferred contextual resource and reinforces its impact. Furthermore, we find that career satisfaction during disruption is positively associated with employees’ perceptions of COVID-19’s impact on the future success of the company, a perceived condition resource, which in turn relates to organizational commitment and lower turnover intentions. Our findings highlight how configurations of resources, such as performance evaluation and supervisor support, are linked to employee responses during periods of high uncertainty. We discuss implications for COR theory, highlight connections to resilience, career shocks, and signaling processes, and provide practical strategies for managing employee attitudes in disruptive contexts.