Past studies suggested that the sense of mattering tend to be a robust predictor of work self-efficacy, even when controlling for strong variables such as state self-esteem. This current study aimed to investigate whether the aforementioned suggested still holds among working adults who had to work from home (WFH) during the COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia, where the government enforced movement control order (MCO), a semi-quarantine policy where individuals can only travel within 10 kilometer radius of their respective homes. We hypothesized that the state self-esteem will fully mediate the link between mattering and work self-efficacy during the period of WFH, and that trait extraversion will moderate the mediation. In the 5th week of the MCO, our data was gathered from 109 urban working adults in Malaysia who had to WFH by employing General Mattering Scale, State Self-Esteem Scale, Remote Work Self Efficacy Measure, and the extraversion facet in Big Five Inventory. The result of bootstrap analyses with 5000 samples using PROCESS Macro Model 8 suggested that state self-esteem mediated partially mediated the association of mattering and work self-efficacy among individuals at all levels of extraversion. Discussion, limitations and suggestions are provided in the end of the paper.

This study aims to investigate the role of mattering, trait extraversion and perceived social inclusion in developing the sense of life satisfaction among adults who reside in Malaysia during the quarantine period amidst the Pandemic in March-June 2020. Previous studies indicated that mattering was a robust predictor of life satisfaction; however, the nature of the quarantine might have affected the perception of social inclusion among individuals with certain levels of extraversions. Therefore, we hypothesized a moderated mediation model; mattering will interact with trait extraversion in predicting life satisfaction, and the prediction is mediated by perceived inclusion. Three hundred and ninety participants were voluntarily recruited to respond to scales such as Life Satisfaction Inventory, State Self-Esteem Scale, General Mattering Scale and the extraversion facet in Big Five Inventory. The scales, demography questions, and informed consent were accessible by online link given to the participants through social media. The analysis was conducted by using PROCESS Macro model eight for statistical product and service solutions (SPSS) applying the Bootstrap analysis with 5000 samples and 95% confidence interval. The result suggested that the hypothesis was confirmed; perceived inclusion levels significantly mediated the association between mattering and life satisfaction among individuals with low and moderate levels of extraversion. However, full mediation only applied among the individuals with moderate extraversion, because among those with low extraversion, mattering was still a significant predictor of life satisfaction.