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Dissertation
Navigating crisis and recovery: the impact of COVID-19 on employee engagement in the hospital setting
Doctor of Business Administration (D.B.A.), Drexel University
Feb 2026
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17918/00011269
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic created unprecedented operational and psychological strain within the hospitals studied, heightening job demands, depleting resources, and negatively impacting workforce engagement. Although research has examined burnout, staffing shortages, and supply-chain disruptions, little is known about how resource constraints shaped engagement over the full arc of the pandemic and the subsequent recovery years. Grounded in Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) Theory, Conservation of Resources (COR) Theory, and Event Systems Theory (EST), this dissertation investigates how resource shortages influenced employee engagement through burnout and resilience, and how engagement evolved from 2020 to 2025. This study used a quantitative, longitudinal design analyzing 23,402 archived employee engagement survey responses from three hospitals within a larger integrated health system in the Mid-Atlantic United States. Data originated from a combination of sixteen Glint and Press Ganey engagement surveys administered between July 2020 and April 2025. After extensive data cleaning and harmonization, growth-curve modeling was used to examine changes in engagement over time, evaluate the relationship between resource constraints and engagement, and test burnout as a mediator and resilience as a moderator. Multiple imputation addressed missing data across survey platforms. Findings demonstrate that resource shortages during the pandemic were significantly associated with lower levels of employee engagement, consistent with JD-R and COR theory predictions of the relationship between job demands and resources. Burnout was strongly associated with both resource constraints and engagement; however, evidence of mediation emerged only partially in the model accounting for time effects and control variables. Resilience served as a partial buffer during periods of peak operational strain, although its impact was attenuated by other control factors. Overall, engagement trajectories gradually improved during the recovery years as staffing, supplies, and the work environment normalized. These findings contribute to the literature by offering one of the first longitudinal, multi-hospital studies of engagement across pandemic and recovery periods. For healthcare leaders, these findings underscore the importance of providing adequate resources, identifying and mitigating burnout, and building workforce resilience and well-being.
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Details
- Title
- Navigating crisis and recovery
- Creators
- Michael A. Cogliano Sr.
- Contributors
- Lauren D'Innocenzo (Advisor)
- Awarding Institution
- Drexel University
- Degree Awarded
- Doctor of Business Administration (D.B.A.)
- Publisher
- Drexel University
- Number of pages
- xii, 107 pages
- Resource Type
- Dissertation
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Bennett S. LeBow College of Business; Drexel University
- Other Identifier
- 991022159654504721