Should Working from Home Become the Standard? An Exploratory Study of Social Relations in Remote Work
(2020) BUSN49 20201Department of Business Administration
- Abstract
- Research Questions: In organizations which do not typically support telecommuting, how do employees experience social interactions while working remotely during a global pandemic? As organizations are forced to work remotely during a global pandemic, how did the experience influence the mentality around remote working?
Methodology: The research is an interpretive and qualitative study. We conducted semi-structured interviews, which were the main tool for empirical material collection.
Theoretical Framework Our literature review outlines previous research related to remote work and telecommuting. We highlight themes of trust, control, identity, motivation and productivity related to remote working.
Conclusions: We conclude that,... (More) - Research Questions: In organizations which do not typically support telecommuting, how do employees experience social interactions while working remotely during a global pandemic? As organizations are forced to work remotely during a global pandemic, how did the experience influence the mentality around remote working?
Methodology: The research is an interpretive and qualitative study. We conducted semi-structured interviews, which were the main tool for empirical material collection.
Theoretical Framework Our literature review outlines previous research related to remote work and telecommuting. We highlight themes of trust, control, identity, motivation and productivity related to remote working.
Conclusions: We conclude that, during the pandemic, employees experience working social interactions as a bridge to the world. They look for new ways to communicate and recreate in-person communication, which appears to be more appreciated when they are natural and genuine. The study also identifies a more open mentality towards remote working. Finally, the research contributes to literature with two new theoretical findings: motivation and productivity are negatively influenced when remote workers miss out on work-related social interactions, and trust is not such an issue under these pandemic circumstances. We argue the concept of carryover trust better summarizes the new approach to organizational trust. Future research could further explore this form of trust. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9011953
- author
- Faust, Heidi LU and Foglio, Elena LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- BUSN49 20201
- year
- 2020
- type
- H1 - Master's Degree (One Year)
- subject
- keywords
- Remote work, telecommuting, professional relationships, social interactions, pandemic, carryover trust, Covid-19
- language
- English
- id
- 9011953
- date added to LUP
- 2020-06-25 11:28:08
- date last changed
- 2020-06-25 11:28:08
@misc{9011953,
abstract = {{Research Questions: In organizations which do not typically support telecommuting, how do employees experience social interactions while working remotely during a global pandemic? As organizations are forced to work remotely during a global pandemic, how did the experience influence the mentality around remote working?
Methodology: The research is an interpretive and qualitative study. We conducted semi-structured interviews, which were the main tool for empirical material collection.
Theoretical Framework Our literature review outlines previous research related to remote work and telecommuting. We highlight themes of trust, control, identity, motivation and productivity related to remote working.
Conclusions: We conclude that, during the pandemic, employees experience working social interactions as a bridge to the world. They look for new ways to communicate and recreate in-person communication, which appears to be more appreciated when they are natural and genuine. The study also identifies a more open mentality towards remote working. Finally, the research contributes to literature with two new theoretical findings: motivation and productivity are negatively influenced when remote workers miss out on work-related social interactions, and trust is not such an issue under these pandemic circumstances. We argue the concept of carryover trust better summarizes the new approach to organizational trust. Future research could further explore this form of trust.}},
author = {{Faust, Heidi and Foglio, Elena}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Should Working from Home Become the Standard? An Exploratory Study of Social Relations in Remote Work}},
year = {{2020}},
}