Frequent is better when remote? How digitally mediated interactions with supervisor stimulate work engagement and extra-role performances of remote workers
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7433/s124.2024.08Keywords:
Work Engagement, Relational cohesion theory, Perceived Supervisor Support, Perceived Organizational support, Performance extra-role, Remote WorkingAbstract
Purpose - Since Covid19 outbreak, several organizations are increasingly implementing forms of remote working. In this new normal, it is necessary to understand how organizations may guarantee the attachment of their employees to their job roles. This study argues that an ongoing frequency of interaction between supervisor and their collaborators, within a remote working context, may reinforce the relational and social cohesion within a team, leading its members to perceive more support from both their supervisors and the whole organization.
Design/methodology/approach - A survey has been administered to the 410 employees of an information consulting company that experienced remote working during the pandemic. Data have been analysed using structural equation modeling (SEM).
Findings - Results show that a higher frequency of interaction in remote working contexts reinforces internal social cohesion, stimulating extra-role performances, such as creativity, adaptivity, proactivity, and knowledge sharing, through the mediation of social support and work engagement. Implications for both academics and practitioners are discussed.
Practical implications - This research provides valuable insights for organizations navigating remote work. To enhance support and mitigate isolation, frequent interactions between supervisors and employees can foster work engagement and the extra-role performance of remote workers.
Originality - This study shows how an ongoing frequency of interaction with supervisors within remote working contexts helps employees to remain engaged in their job roles and to exhibit positive behaviors, mitigating the sense of isolation experienced during the pandemic.
References
BAKKER, A.B., DEMEROUTI, E. & TEN BRUMMELHUIS, L.L. (2012), "Work engagement, performance, and active learning: The role of conscientiousness," Journal of Vocational Behavior, Vol. 80, n. 2, pp. 555–564.
BARTEL, C.A., WRZESNIEWSKI, A. and WIESENFELD, B.M. (2012), "Knowing where you stand: physical isolation, perceived respect, and organizational identification among virtual employees," Organization Science, Vol. 23, pp. 743-757.
BENTLER, P.M., (1990) "Comparative fit indexes in structural models," Psychol. Bull., Vol. 107, p. 238.
BLANCERO D., BOROSKI J. & DYER L. (1996) "Key competencies for a transformed Human Resource Organization: results of a field study," Human Resource Management, Vol. 35, n. 3, pp. 383–403.
BOCCOLI, G., GASTALDI, L. & CORSO, M. (2023) "The Evolution of Employee Engagement: Towards a Social and Contextual Construct for Balancing Individual Performance and Wellbeing Dynamically," International Journal of Management Reviews, Vol. 25, pp. 75–98.
BREEVAART, K. & BAKKER, A.B. (2018). "Daily job demands and employee work engagement: The role of daily transformational leadership behavior," Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, Vol. 23, n. 3, pp. 338–349.
BREEVAART, K. & DEMEROUTI, E. (2014) "Daily self-management and employee work engagement," Journal of Vocational Behavior, Vol. 84, n. 1, pp. 31–38.
BREEVAART, K., BAKKER, A.B., HETLAND, J., DEMEROUTI, E., OLSEN, O.K., & ESPEVIK, R. (2014) "Daily transactional and transformational leadership and daily employee engagement," Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, Vol. 87, n. 1, pp. 138–157.
BROWNE, M.W. & CUDECK, R. (1989) "Single sample cross-validation indices for covariance structures," Multivariate Behavioral Research, Vol. 24, n. 4, pp. 445–455.
BYRNE, Z.S., PETERS, J.M. & WESTON, J.W. (2016) "The struggle with employee engagement: Measures and construct clarification using five samples," Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 101, n. 9, pp. 1201–1227.
CAESENS, G., STINGLHAMBER, F. & LUYPAERT, G. (2014) "The impact of work engagement and workaholism on well-being: The role of work-related social support," Career Development International, Vol. 19, n. 7, pp. 813-835.
CIGNA. (2020) "Loneliness in the workplace: 2020 U.S. Report."
DAFT, R.L. & LENGEL, R.H. (1984) "Information richness: A new approach to managerial behavior and organization design," Research in Organizational Behavior, Vol. 6, n. 1, pp. 191–233.
DAFT, R.L., & LENGEL, R.H. (1986) "Organizational information requirements, media richness and structural design," Management Science, Vol. 32, n. 5, pp. 554–571.
DEMEROUTI, E., NACHREINER, F. & SCHAUFELI, W.B. (2001) "The job demands–resources model of burnout," The Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 86, n. 3, pp. 499–512.
DENNIS, A.R., FULLER, R.M., & VALACICH, J.S. (2008) "Media, tasks, and communication processes: A theory of media synchronicity," MIS Quarterly, Vol. 32, n. 3, pp. 575–600.
EISENBERGER R., STINGLHAMBER F., VANDENBERGHE C., SUCHARSKI I. & RHOADES L. (2002) "Perceived supervisor support: Contributions to perceived organizational support and employee retention," Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 87, n. 3, pp. 565–573.
EISENBERGER, R., HUNTINGTON, R., HUTCHISON, S. & SOWA, D., (1986) "Perceived organizational support," Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 71, n. 3, pp. 500–507.
ELDOR, L. & HARPAZ, I. (2016) "A process model of employee engagement: The learning climate and its relationship with extra-role performance behaviors," Journal of Organizational Behavior, Vol. 37, n. 2, pp. 213–235.
FREDRICKSON, B.L. (2001) "The role of positive emotion in positive psychology: The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions," American Psychologist, Vol. 56, n. 2, pp. 218–226. FREENEY, Y. (2013) "Work engagement, job design and the role of the social context at work: Exploring antecedents from a relational perspective," Human Relations, Vol. 66, n. 11, pp. 1427-1445.
FRESE, M. & FAY, D. (2001) "Personal initiative: An active performance concept for work in the 21st century," Research in Organizational Behavior, Vol. 23, n. 1, pp. 133–187.
FUCHS, C., & REICHEL, A. (2023) "Effective communication for relational coordination in remote work: How job characteristics and HR practices shape user–technology interactions," Human Resource Management, 1–18.
GITTELL, J. H. (2000) "Organizing work to support relational coordination," International Journal of Human Resource Management, Vol. 11, n. 3, pp. 517–539.
GITTELL, J. H. (2006) "Relational coordination: Coordinating work through relationships of shared goals, shared knowledge and mutual respect," in O. Kyriakidou & M. Èzbilgin (Eds.), Relational perspectives in organizational studies: A research companion, pp. 74–94. Edward Elgar Publishing.
GOLDEN, T. D., VEIGA, J. F., & DINO, R. N. (2008) “The impact of professional isolation on teleworker job performance and turnover intentions: Does time spent teleworking, interacting face-to-face or having access to communication-enhancing technology matter?” Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 92, pp. 1412–1421.
GRANT, A.M., & ASHFORD, S.J. (2008) "The dynamics of proactivity at work," Research in Organizational Behavior, Vol. 28, n. 1, pp. 3–34.
GRIFFIN, M.A., NEAL, A. & PARKER, S.K. (2007) "A new model of work role performance: Positive behavior in uncertain and interdependent contexts," Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 50, n. 2, pp. 327–347.
INKPEN, A.C. & TSANG, E.W. (2005) "Social capital, networks, and knowledge transfer," Academy of Management Review, Vol. 30, n. 1, pp. 146–165.
JAMES, J., MCKECHNIE, S. & SWANBERG, J. (2011) "Predicting employee engagement in an age‐diverse retail workforce," Journal of Organizational Behavior, Vol. 32, n. 1, pp. 173–196.
KAHN, W.A. (1990) "Psychological conditions of personal engagement and disengagement at work," Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 33, n. 4, pp. 692–724.
KERMAN, K., KORUNKA, C., & TEMENT, S. (2022) "Work and home boundary violations during the COVID-19 pandemic: The role of segmentation preferences and unfinished tasks," Applied Psychology, Vol. 71, n. 3, pp. 784–806.
KLINE, R.B. (1998) "Software review: Software programs for structural equation modeling: Amos, EQS, and LISREL," Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, Vol. 16, n. 3, pp. 343–364.
KOTTKE, J.L., SHARAFINSKI, C.E., (1988) "Measuring perceived supervisory and organizational support," Educational and Psychological Measurement, Vol. 48, n. 4, pp. 1075–1079.
KWON, S.-W., & ADLER, P.S. (2014) "Social capital: maturation of a field of research," Academy of Management Review, Vol. 39, n. 4, pp. 412–422.
LAWLER, E.J. & JEONGKOO, Y. (1996) "Commitment in exchange relations: Test of a theory of relational cohesion," American Sociological Review, Vol. 61, n. 1, pp. 89–108.
LAWLER, E.J., SHANE R.T. & JEONGKOO, Y. (2000) "Emotion and group cohesion in productive exchange," American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 106, n. 3, pp. 616–57.
LAWLER, E.J. (2001) "An affect theory of social exchange," American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 107, n. 2, pp. 321–52.
LAWLER, E.J., THYE, S.R., & YOON, J. (2008) "Social exchange and micro social order," American Sociological Review, Vol. 73, n. 4, pp. 519–542.
MEDSKER, G.J., WILLIAMS, L.J. & HOLAHAN, P.J. (1994) "A review of current practices for evaluating causal models in organizational behavior and human resources management research," Journal of Management, Vol. 20, n. 4, pp. 439–464.
MURTHY, V. (2017) "Work and the loneliness epidemic: Reducing isolation at work is good business," Harvard Business Review.
MUTHA, P. & SRIVASTAVA, M. (2021) "Decoding leadership to leverage employee engagement in virtual teams," International Journal of Organizational Analysis, ahead of print.
MUTHÉN, L.K. & MUTHÉN, B.O. (1998-2015) Mplus user’s guide (7th ed). Los Angeles: Muthén & Muthén.
MCGRATH, E., COOPER-THOMAS, H.D., GARROSA, E., SANZ-VERGEL, A.I. & CHEUNG, G.W. (2017), "Rested, friendly, and engaged: The role of daily positive collegial interactions at work," Journal of Organizational Behavior, Vol. 38, n. 8, pp. 1213–1226.
NASURDIN, A.M., LING, T.C. & KHAN, S.N. (2018), "Linking social support, work engagement and job performance in nursing," International Journal of Business and Society, Vol. 19, n. 2, pp. 363-386.
NIELSEN, K., & DANIELS, K. (2012), "Does shared and differentiated transformational leadership predict followers' working conditions and well-being?," Leadership Quarterly, Vol. 23, n. 2, pp. 383-397.
OZYILMAZ, A. (2020), "Hope and human capital enhance job engagement to improve workplace outcomes," Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, Vol. 93, n. 1, pp. 187–214.
PODSAKOFF, P.M., MACKENZIE, S.B., LEE, J.Y., & PODSAKOFF, N.P. (2003), "Common method biases in behavioral research: a critical review of the literature and recommended remedies," The Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 88, n. 5, pp. 879–903.
PODSAKOFF, P.M., MACKENZIE, S.B., & PODSAKOFF, N.P. (2012), "Sources of method bias in social science research and recommendations on how to control it," Annual review of psychology, Vol. 63, n. 3, pp. 539–569.
PULAKOS, E.D., ARAD, S., DONOVAN, M.A., & PLAMONDON, K.E. (2000), "Adaptability in the workplace: Development of taxonomy of adaptive performance," Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 85, n. 4, pp. 612–624.
PURVANOVA, R. & BONO, J. (2009), "Transformational leadership in context: Face-to-face and virtual teams," The Leadership Quarterly, Vol. 20, n. 2, pp. 343-357.
RICH, B., LEPINE, J. & CRAWFORD, E. (2010), "Job engagement: Antecedents and effects on job performance," Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 53, n. 3, pp. 617-635.
RHOADES, L., EISENBERGER, R. & ARMELI, S. (2001), "Affective commitment to the organization: The contribution of perceived organizational support," Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 86, n. 5, pp. 825–836.
RHOADES, L. & EISENBERGER, R., (2002), "Perceived organizational support: A review of the literature," Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 87, n. 4, pp. 698–714.
SAKS, A.M. (2006), "Antecedents and consequences of employee engagement," Journal of Managerial Psychology, Vol. 21, n. 7, pp. 600–619.
SCHAUFEELI, W.B., SALANOVA, M., GONZÁLEZ-ROMÁ, V. & BAKKER, A. (2002), "The measurement of engagement and burnout: A two sample confirmatory factor analytic approach," Journal of Happiness Studies, Vol. 3, n. 1, pp. 71–92.
SHIROM, A. (2010), "Feeling energetic at work: On vigor’s antecedents," In A. B. Bakker & M. P. Leiter (Eds.), Work engagement: A handbook of essential theory and research (pp. 69–84). Hove: Psychology Press.
SPILKER, M., & BREAUGH, J. (2021), "Potential ways to predict and manage telecommuters' feelings of professional isolation," Journal of Vocational Behavior, Vol. 131, p. 103646.
STEIGER, J.H., (1990), "Structural model evaluation and modification: An interval estimation approach," Multivariate Behavioral Research, Vol. 25, n. 1, pp. 173–180.
THYE, S., YOON, J. & LAWLER, E. (2002), "Relational cohesion theory: Review of a research program," Advances in Group Processes, Vol. 19, n. 1, pp. 139-166.
VAN DER HEIJDEN, B.I.J.M., KUMMERLING, A., VAN DAM, K., VAN DER SCHOOT, E., ESTRYN-BEHAR, M. & HASSELHORN, H.M. (2010), "The impact of social support upon intention to leave among female nurses in Europe: Secondary analysis of data from NEXT survey."
VAN DEN HOOFF, B., & HENDRIX, L. (2004), "Eagerness and willingness to share: The relevance of different attitudes towards knowledge sharing," 5th European Conference on Organizational Knowledge, Learning and Capabilities: Innsbruck, Austria.
VENZ, L., & BOETTCHER, K. (2022), "Leading in times of crisis: How perceived COVID-19-related work intensification links to daily e-mail demands and leader outcomes," Applied Psychology, Vol. 71, n. 3, pp. 912–934.
WANG, W., ALBERT, L. and SUN, Q. (2020), "Employee isolation and telecommuter organizational commitment," Employee Relations, Vol. 42, n. 3, pp. 609-625.
WANG, B., LIU, Y., QIAN, J. & PARKER, S. (2021), "Achieving effective remote working during the COVID‐19 Pandemic: A work design perspective," Applied Psychology, Vol. 70, n. 1, pp. 16–59.
XANTHOPOULOU, D., BAKER, A.B., HEUVEN, E., DEMEROUTI, E. & SCHAUFELI, W.B. (2008), "Working in the sky: A diary study on work engagement among flight attendants," Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, Vol. 13, n. 4, pp. 345–356.
ZHOU, J., & GEORGE, J.M. (2001), "When job dissatisfaction leads to creativity: Encouraging the expression of voice," Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 44, n. 4, pp. 682–696.
