The impact of public responses toward healthcare workers on their work engagement and well-being during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The sentiment analysis showed that 55.9% of the discussions toward HCWs were positive, 27.2% were neutral, and 16.9% were negative. The topic modeling analysis indicated that the commonly identified topics were related to fear (the negative responses) and gratitude (the positive responses). The interviews with 18 HCWs revealed that HCWs' work engagement and well-being were decreased by negative public responses through experiencing tension or disappointment due to social and physical ostracism, rejection, discrimination, and criticism. On the other hand, positive public responses in terms of encouragement, recognition, and tangible donations increased their work engagement and well-being. The analysis also suggested that occupational calling served as a mechanism that explained why public responses had such impacts on HCWs. The interview results also highlighted the significance of HRM in bridging positive public responses toward HCWs and revealed problems with communication from HRM during the pandemic. This research provides practical implications about how to improve HCWs work engagement and well-being during the pandemic public and HRM efforts.