Teleworking during the COVID-19 pandemic: a leader-member exchange perspective
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/EBHRM-10-2021-0220 |
| Published date | 31 May 2022 |
| Date | 31 May 2022 |
| Pages | 68-84 |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour,Global HRM |
| Author | Yuhsuan Chang,ChungJen Chien,Li-Fang Shen |
Teleworking during the COVID-19
pandemic: a leader-member
exchange perspective
Yuhsuan Chang, ChungJen Chien and Li-Fang Shen
College of Management, Yuan Ze University, Taoyuan, Taiwan
Abstract
Purpose –The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the process of teleworking and teleworking is expected to
be a central feature of workplaces of the future. The present study examines the effect of leader-member
exchange (LMX) and perception of loneliness on the relationship between proactive coping and the work
productivity of teleworkers during the COVID-19 crisis time.
Design/methodology/approach –Using structural equation modeling (SEM), this study the study is based
on a survey of 572 teleworkers in Taiwan drawn from a variety of industry sectors.
Findings –Through the application of a hypothesized moderated mediation model, the indirect effects of
proactive coping on work productivity via LMX are stronger for employees who experience a higher level of
perceived loneliness.
Research limitations/implications–The results have contributedto current understanding on the success
of telework at the individual level and extends research framework of teleworking. Using self-report
questionnaire is one of the limitations; however, this was feasible data collection method during COVID-19.
Practical implications –Organizations need to provide further training aimed at enhancing proactive
coping and dealing with future work challenges in the complex and dynamic workplace.
Originality/value –This study is the first among its type to examine proactive coping and job productivity
from a LMX during COVID-19.
Keywords COVID-19, Leader member exchange, Perception of loneliness, Proactive coping,
Work productivity, Moderated mediation model
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
The Impact of COVID-19 on Telework
The global crisis created by the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020 has placed a significant degree
of strain on employees in the workplace (Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD), 2020). To keep people safe and healthy, governments have imposed a
broad range of restrictions on businesses, including social distancing measures, to reduce the
risk of community transmission (Anderson et al., 2020). Radical changes in the workplace
have had to be made, forcing employees and organizations to adapt to new arrangements.
Accordingly, across industrial sectors and firms, teleworking has emerged as an adaptive
working arrangement in response to the COVID-19 crisis.
Telework can be defined as working arrangements that provide the freedom to employees
to perform job tasks in out-of-office locations (e.g. at home) and removes the need to be located
in a central office (Belanger et al., 2001;Kraut, 1989). Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the
prevalence of teleworking varied significantly across countries. For example, the
International Labour Organization reported in 2017 (ILO, 2017) that 7.9% of global
workers relied on teleworking as a permanent work arrangement. In a more recent study, the
OECD (2020a,b) undertook an overview of the use of teleworking practices in European
countries, reporting an occurrence ranging from 20% to 60%. In Asian countries, the
percentage of teleworkers has been found to be mostly below 15% (ILO, 2020). It is clear,
however, that the percentage of workers now engaged in teleworking has increased
significantly as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Thu s, a report by the
EAE Business School (2020) indicated that the number of companies with telecommuters
EBHRM
11,1
68
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/2049-3983.htm
Received 24 October 2021
Revised 1 March 2022
Accepted 12 May 2022
Evidence-based HRM: a Global
Forum for Empirical Scholarship
Vol. 11 No. 1, 2023
pp. 68-84
© Emerald Publishing Limited
2049-3983
DOI10.1108/EBHRM-10-2021-0220
has increased to 88%. Similarly, the OECD finds that telework offers a new mode of working
in a post-COVID-19 era, which has been accelerated by the experiences of teleworkers during
the pandemic (OECD, 2020a,b). A survey of teleworkers during the COVID-19 pandemic by
Baert et al. (2020) has found that 62.7% of workers hoped for increased teleworking
opportunities in the future and 65.9% felt positive about the prospect of extended telework.
Given recent innovations in fifth generation cellular technology (5G), telework is expected to
be a central feature of workplaces of the future (Field, 2020).
Telework and employee productivity
Teleworking has received considerable attention from researchers, even before the pandemic,
who have reported their findings on its benefits and drawbacks (Allen et al., 2015). Of the
benefits, the option to telework is often perceived as a significant recruiting tool in terms of
talent acquisition and retention (Robert Half Singapore, 2012). For example, in their meta-
analysis of 46 investigations involving 12,883 employees, Gajendran and Harrison (2007)
found that telework o ffered benefits assoc iated with perceived autonomy and job
performance. However, the inevitable reduction in face-to-face interactions resulting from
telework may also have negative consequences. For example, telework has the potential to
undermine the quality of the manager–subordinate relationship (Reinsch, 1999). In the area of
communication, social interactions between workers are reduced due to the absence of non-
verbal messages, and spontaneous information sharing is less likely to occur (O’Connell,
1988;Battiston et al., 2017). For example, Copper and Kurland (2002) have suggested that
telework can produce an “out-of-sight-out-of-mind”effect for employees, with managers
having access to very limited information when assessing a worker’s performance. Indeed,
Baert et al. (2020) estimate that 60% of teleworkers have experienced a lower level of
connection with colleagues during the COVID-19 pandemic due to limited social interactions.
Thus, the connection between employees and managers in the telework context could have an
impact on work productivity.
A variety of important factors affecting teleworker productivity has been determined
(Allen et al., 2015). According to research on distributed work arrangements (Belanger and
Collins, 1998;Turetken et al., 2001), in addition to technological readiness and support,
individual differences and organizational factors are crucial in determining the success of
telework. Sonnentag and Niessen (2008) suggest that individual factors, such as personal
qualities, influence employee responses to job demands and experiences. Factors such as an
individual’s procrastination tendencies and organizational ability have been examined
previously (Allen et al., 2015). Working effectively in the context of telework involves strong
self-initiating and self-regulatory abilities for work scheduling and distraction management
(Lapierre and Allen, 2012). However, during the COVID-19 pandemic, proactive coping may
be a more relevant personal construct to investigate in relation to telework productivity.
Chang et al. (2021) suggest that because the pandemic is a stressful and chronic event that
consumes people’s resources, proacti ve coping helps employees accumulate vario us
resources to address not only current stressors, but also potential future stressors.
However, Chang et al. (2021) only focus on intrapersonal factors and recommend that future
research take interpersonal elements into consideration. Lautsch et al. (2009) report that
support from managers plays a key role in the effectiveness of telework. During the
pandemic, employees of ten experience feelings of lo neliness with social dis tancing
requirements (Banerjee and Rai, 2020), and manager support could thus have more
influence than in previous work contexts.
Therefore, the present study examines both individual and organizational factors from
the leader-member exchange (LMX) perspective that contribute to telework productivity.
The benefit of the LMX perspective is that it can offer more insight into the relevant
Teleworking
during the
COVID-19
pandemic
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