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Let's get virtual: Sensemaking of employee engagement practices in a remote work environment

Fichtinger, Pia-Luise LU and Averbeck, Alina Marie LU (2022) BUSN49 20221
Department of Business Administration
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to understand how employees make sense of employee engagement activities in a remote work environment. Since the sudden shift to remote work represents a disruption of routine in the employees’ working life, we draw on Weick’s (1995) sensemaking theory to gain the best possible insight into the employees’ interpretation of remote engagement activities. Based on the tradition of interpretivism and following an inductive research approach, qualitative research has been conducted in the form of 12 semi-structured interviews. To ensure a fundamental basis for this research purpose, the study has been conducted in cooperation with a case company, a knowledge-intensive firm that was primarily affected by the shift to... (More)
The purpose of this study is to understand how employees make sense of employee engagement activities in a remote work environment. Since the sudden shift to remote work represents a disruption of routine in the employees’ working life, we draw on Weick’s (1995) sensemaking theory to gain the best possible insight into the employees’ interpretation of remote engagement activities. Based on the tradition of interpretivism and following an inductive research approach, qualitative research has been conducted in the form of 12 semi-structured interviews. To ensure a fundamental basis for this research purpose, the study has been conducted in cooperation with a case company, a knowledge-intensive firm that was primarily affected by the shift to remote work. The results show that employees share a common understanding regarding the fundamental necessity of engagement measures, but this does not automatically result in higher levels of engagement. Instead, employees refer strongly to their personality when as- sessing employee engagement activities in a remote work environment. While striving for self-fulfilment, the employees show different needs regarding the intensity of engagement activities. Hence, based on their personality and the intensity of the engagement activities initiated by management, employees either show forms of belief-driven or action-driven sensemaking. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Fichtinger, Pia-Luise LU and Averbeck, Alina Marie LU
supervisor
organization
course
BUSN49 20221
year
type
H1 - Master's Degree (One Year)
subject
keywords
Employee Engagement, Sensemaking, Remote Work
language
English
id
9087963
date added to LUP
2022-06-21 09:19:37
date last changed
2022-06-21 09:19:37
@misc{9087963,
  abstract     = {{The purpose of this study is to understand how employees make sense of employee engagement activities in a remote work environment. Since the sudden shift to remote work represents a disruption of routine in the employees’ working life, we draw on Weick’s (1995) sensemaking theory to gain the best possible insight into the employees’ interpretation of remote engagement activities. Based on the tradition of interpretivism and following an inductive research approach, qualitative research has been conducted in the form of 12 semi-structured interviews. To ensure a fundamental basis for this research purpose, the study has been conducted in cooperation with a case company, a knowledge-intensive firm that was primarily affected by the shift to remote work. The results show that employees share a common understanding regarding the fundamental necessity of engagement measures, but this does not automatically result in higher levels of engagement. Instead, employees refer strongly to their personality when as- sessing employee engagement activities in a remote work environment. While striving for self-fulfilment, the employees show different needs regarding the intensity of engagement activities. Hence, based on their personality and the intensity of the engagement activities initiated by management, employees either show forms of belief-driven or action-driven sensemaking.}},
  author       = {{Fichtinger, Pia-Luise and Averbeck, Alina Marie}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Let's get virtual: Sensemaking of employee engagement practices in a remote work environment}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}