Construction and initial validation of the E-Work Life Scale to measure remote e-working
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/ER-09-2017-0229 |
| Pages | 16-33 |
| Date | 07 January 2019 |
| Published date | 07 January 2019 |
| Author | Christine Anne Grant,Louise M. Wallace,Peter C. Spurgeon,Carlo Tramontano,Maria Charalampous |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour,Industrial/labour relations,Employment law |
Construction and initial validation
of the E-Work Life Scale
to measure remote e-working
Christine Anne Grant
School of Psychological, Social and Behavioural Sciences,
Coventry University, Coventry, UK
Louise M. Wallace
The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK
Peter C. Spurgeon
Warwick Medical School, The University of Warwick, Coventry, UK
Carlo Tramontano
Centre for Advances in Behavioural Science, Coventry University, Coventry, UK, and
Maria Charalampous
School of Psychological, Social and Behavioural Sciences, Coventry University,
Coventry, UK
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to develop and provide initial validation for the new E-Work Life
(EWL)Scale. This measure assessesa range of theoreticallyrelevant aspects of the e-workingexperience related
to four main areas:job effectiveness, relationship withthe organisation, well-being andwork-life balance.
Design/methodology/approach –This study presents structured item development. Internal validity and
reliability were tested on a sample of 260 e-workers (65 per cent female, age range 25–74). Correlations of the
EWL scale with a measure of general health were tested on a subsample of 119 workers to provide initial
evidence of construct validity.
Findings –Exploratory factor analysis supported a 17-item scale assessing four factors: work-life interference,
productivity, organisational trust and flexibility. Individual well-being was measured and a pattern of significant
correlations against four factors as indicators of general health were found, including mental health and vitality.
Research limitations/implications –A new samplewould confirmthe strength of theEWL scale alongside
furthertests of validity. Copingstrategies related to thescale would aid mapping of individual competencies for
remote e-working to promote e-workers’self-management, management style and organisational policy.
Practical implications –The EWL scale helps organisations to evaluate and support the well-being of
remote e-workers. It provides measurement on three levels: individual, supervisory and organisational,
whereby practical strategies for improvement can be linked to the scale.
Originality/value –The EWL scale completes a gap in the research by providing a measure aiding
organisations to evaluate and support remote e-worker well-being.
Keywords Well-being, Work-life balance
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
E-working remotely from the main organisational base using communications and
computer technology has increased rapidly in recent years across many sectors. A wide
variety of terms can be used to describe this phenomenon, for example, teleworking,
telecommuting, remote working and more recently “agile working”, and, therefore, statistics
worldwide refer to these different terms. In a recent report, covering ten European countries
and five non-European countries, 17 per cent of employees were engaged with using mobile
technology, information communication technologies (ICTs) and teleworking off site for
work (Eurofound and the International Labour Office, 2017). The countries with the highest
incidence of ICT usage outside of work included Japan, USA and Sweden. The UK were
Employee Relations
Vol. 41 No. 1, 2019
pp. 16-33
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0142-5455
DOI 10.1108/ER-09-2017-0229
Received 28 September 2017
Revised 30 June 2018
Accepted 2 July 2018
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0142-5455.htm
16
ER
41,1
found to be medium users along with France and Belgium, whilst Germany, Italy and Spain
were amongst the lowest (Eurofound and the International Labour Office, 2017).
Research in the USA indicates that 3.7m workers reported working from home at least
half of their time and that Fortune 1,000 companies already have mobile workers who spend
50–60 per cent of their time away from their desks (Lister, 2016). A survey conducted by the
WorldatWork (2013), a human resources association which undertakes research around
employees’lives particularly in the North American context, showed that 88 per cent of
organisations offered remote e-working arrangements, in some form, to their employees.
Workforce trends in the USA show an increase of 103 per cent in 2016 since 2005 for remote
e-working (Lister, 2016). In the UK over a quarter of the workforce is now accessing work
from different locations (Eurofound and the International Labour Office, 2017; Gareis, 2002;
Ruiz and Walling, 2005). The Office for National Statistics reported 4.2m home workers in
2014, or 13.9 per cent of those in work, this has increased by 11 per cent since 1998 (Office
for National Statistics, 2014). In this paper, the term used to describe e-working will be
“remote e-workers”and is described further in the next section.
E-working: definition and background
There are many different terms currently in use to describe e-working, including: “e-worker”
(mostly used in the UK), “teleworking”or “teleworker”and “telecommuting”(North
American in origin). All of these refer to the ability to work flexibly using remote technology
to communicate with the workplace. Latterly, “agile working”has been added to the
terminology (Gillies, 2011) referring to an organisation’s capability to be flexible to meet
changing market demands and adjusting working practices accordingly. The older term
“teleworking”shares a number of similar aspects, including the use of technology for work,
remote locations, with contractual arrangements between the employer and employee, and
flexible working time (Eurofound and the International Labour Office, 2017; Haddon and
Brynin, 2005). Sullivan indicates that “the search for a universally accepted definition of
telework, that is suitable for academic research, has been the source of some considerable
contention and debate”(Sullivan, 2003, p. 158). Technology has developed to such a degree
that a large amount of work can be completed at any time of day or place so the terminology
may not be quite as important as the actual working practices.
In the context of this present research the term “remote e-worker”is used to describe
individuals who use technology to work remotely from the main group office at any time or
place, as elicited from interviews of experienced e-workers conducted in a study by Grant
et al. (2013). This definition was based on the work of Nilles (2007) who defines e-working as
“any form of substitution of information technologies (such as telecommunications and
computers) for work-related travel: moving work to the workers instead of moving workers
to the work”(p. 1). Further, he indicates that e-working emphasises the “location
independent aspect directly”, whilst teleworking focuses more on “travel substitution
aspects”(Nilles, 2007, p. 1).
Remote e-working is usually associated with the positive effects of improved
productivity, flexible approaches to work, a reduction in work-life conflict and an
increase in job satisfaction, many of these being mediated by a reduction in commuting
aiding a better balance between work and non-working lives (e.g. Baruch, 2000;
Grant et al., 2013; Roloff and Fonner, 2010). However , in other studies, remote
e-working has been linked with poor well-being, workplace pressure and communication
overload, all of which can lead to over-working, which could subsequently affect job
effectiveness and performance (e.g. Barber and Santuzzi, 2015; Grant et al., 2013; Hartig
et al., 2007; Mann and Holdsworth, 2003; Roloff and Fonner, 2010). In a study of flexible and
remote workers, Kelliher and Anderson (2010) found that whilst job satisfaction and
engagement to work was high in these types of workers, usually due to the additional
17
Construction
and initial
validation
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