The effect of telework on emotional exhaustion and task performance via work overload: the moderating role of self-leadership
International Journal of Manpower
ISSN: 0143-7720
Article publication date: 21 November 2022
Issue publication date: 23 April 2024
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to develop a framework that explains how and when telework is related to emotional exhaustion and task performance, by conceiving work overload as a mediator and self-leadership as a moderator. For this purpose, two studies were conducted. Study 1 aims to understand whether telework would be related to emotional exhaustion and task performance and if work overload would mediate such relationships. Study 2 aims to analyze whether self-leadership was a significant moderator of the mediated relations found in Study 1.
Design/methodology/approach
The hypotheses were tested in a sample of 207 (in Study 1) and 272 (in Study 2) participants, which were exclusively teleworking. The results were analyzed using PROCESS macro in SPSS.
Findings
The results of Study 1 showed that telework dimensions were negatively related to work overload, which consequently decreased emotional exhaustion and increased task performance. In Study 2, self-leadership moderated the indirect effect of work overload on the relationship between telework and emotional exhaustion, such that the indirect effect was stronger for those who scored higher in self-leadership. However, it was not significant for task performance.
Originality/value
This paper adds to research on telework by focusing on the employee's mental health and performance, in the context of mandatory confinement. The authors identified telework dimensions that may act as resources to cope with the increased work overload inherent to telework, as well as the importance of personal resources in these relationships.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Compliance of ethical standard statement: All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.
Informed consent: Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants involved in the study.
Data availability: The data is available only upon reasonable request to the authors.
Conflict of interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
Citation
Junça Silva, A., Almeida, A. and Rebelo, C. (2024), "The effect of telework on emotional exhaustion and task performance via work overload: the moderating role of self-leadership", International Journal of Manpower, Vol. 45 No. 2, pp. 398-421. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJM-08-2022-0352
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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