Search results

Teleworking, working from home and flexible work have gained popularity over the last few years. A shift in policies and practices in the workplace is required owing to the COVID-19 pandemic accelerating current trends in work-from-everywhere (WFE) research. This article presents a systematic literature review of WFE research from 1990 to early 2023 to understand the transformation of the field.

The Web of Science database was used to conduct this review based on rigorous bibliometric and network analysis techniques. The prominence of the research studied using SPAR-4-SLR and a collection of bibliometric techniques on selected journal articles, reviews and early access articles. Performance and keyword co-occurrence analysis form the premise of cluster analysis. The content analysis of recently published papers revealed the driving and restraining forces that help define and operationalize the concept of WFE.

The major findings indicate that the five established and accelerated trends from cluster analysis are COVID-19 and the pandemic, telework(ing), remote working, work from home and well-being and productivity. Driving and restraining forces identified through content analysis include technological breakthroughs, work–life integration challenges, inequality in the distribution of jobs, gender, shifts in industry and sector preferences, upskilling and reskilling and many more have been published post-COVID in the restraining forces category of WFE.

A key contribution of this pioneering study of “work from everywhere” is the linking of the bibliometric trends of the past three decades to the influencing and restraining factors during the pandemic. This study illustrates how WFE could be perceived differently post-COVID, which is of great concern to practitioners and future researchers.

A wide range of publications on WFE and multiple synonyms can create confusion if a systematic and effective system does not classify and associate them. This study uses both bibliometric and scientometric analyses in the context of WFE using systematic literature review (SLR) methods.

This study aims to reflect on the future of work dimensions through the new concept of inclusive organizational behaviour (IOB) and its practices.

This work is a reflective concept development paper that focuses on new dimensions of organizational behaviour (OB) exploring IOB practices in the new workplace which can broaden the concept of OB that fits into the future of work.

The IOB practices will adapt and help in adapting to the new work dynamics that can create more humane and stimulating workplaces, thereby benefiting society at large. Individual positive psychological traits, team dynamics and a fusion of digital corporate culture with a human-centric approach and sustainability are highlighted in the redefined IOB, expanding the concept of OB from the three levels of analysis (individual, group and the entire organization’s behaviour) in the new normal post-COVID situation.

Limited research studies are being conducted to investigate the future of work dynamics in the new standard post-COVID environment, which is dominated by digitization. The lack of literature and the changing situations that impact OB are the limitations.

Corporate houses, policymakers and leaders who understand the workplace dynamics in the post-COVID scenario can effectively leverage the insights from this work and may chalk out a road map for future work through IOB practices.

This research extends knowledge pertaining to IOB practices and the changing dynamics that need to be followed in the future OB practices.

The unanticipated disruption caused by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic led to the extensive use of flexible working arrangements. In such a boundaryless work environment, however there are significant concerns, especially around inclusivity and discrimination. Given the increasing concerns surrounding hybrid and remote work settings, the authors investigated whether the extent of working in substantially flexible working arrangements relates to employees’ perceived ostracism and inequality, distinguishing between working from home, in a hybrid mode or from the office. In addition, the authors theorised that in flexible working arrangements, high-quality leader relationships, such as leader–member exchange (LMX) and servant leadership are likely to reduce perceptions of ostracism and inequality. Based on a survey of 161 professionals, who worked to varying degrees in flexible working arrangements, the authors found that employees who worked extensively in a hybrid mode were less likely to report experiences of ostracism and inequality in comparison to employees who worked mainly from home or in an office. Furthermore, a moderation analysis showed that the effects of LMX and servant leadership on perceptions of ostracism and inequality were much stronger for individuals who work in hybrid working arrangements than those who work at the office or from home. This research makes an important contribution to our understanding of how different degrees of flexible working arrangements affect employees by demonstrating the role of high-quality leader relationships in reducing perceptions of ostracism and inequality at different degrees of work flexibility.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic had an adverse impact on workforce diversity internationally. While in the Global North, many countries have sophisticated laws and organizational mechanisms and discourses to deal with such adverse impacts on workforce diversity, such structures of diversity management are either ceremonial or poorly developed in the Global South. The global pandemic disproportionately impacted Global North and Global South increases the existing gap due to vaccine rollout inequality and divergence in recoveries. The authors explore social innovation as a possible option for responding to the challenges induced by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The study draws on interviews in 26 distinctive organizations operating in various industries in Turkey. The authors have adopted a qualitative design to explore how social innovation helps to respond to diversity concerns during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The authors demonstrate that social innovation presents a viable option for a country with a poorly regulated context of diversity management. Social innovation could help overcome the challenge of the absence of supportive legislation, discourses and practices of diversity in poorly regulated contexts.

The field study revealed several distinct forms of social innovation for diversity management, which emerged as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The authors demonstrate that in the absence of supportive diversity management structures and frameworks, social innovation in diversity management at the organizational level could provide a viable response to the emergent needs in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has led to a global digitalization of organizational activities: the pandemic forced people and organizations to profoundly review values, purposes and norms. However, the research on how digital technologies impact human relationships and interactions at work results fragmented. Still, the importance of understanding which behaviors and norms enhance social interactions and organizational performances in digital environments remains critical, especially after COVID-19 advent. Therefore, this study explores how human relationships change in a wholly digital environment and what to expect for the new normal.

The study first explores the research gap through a systematic literature review to clearly understand what emerged so far. Second, through semi-structured interviews and a focus group, an empirical analysis was conducted.

Findings suggest that both work and emotional dimensions are crucial to nurturing human relationships in a digital environment. More precisely, the study unveils the need for innovative leaders to review their approaches to communication and the work experience and consider the emotional dimension in terms of community purpose and individual well-being, while identifying rituals as an overlapping tool. Finally, the authors propose a parallelism between these results and the agile revolution to inspire leaders to rethink their leadership and behaviors getting closer to the agile approach, which may represent a valuable way to rethink human relations in our professional environment.

The paper sheds light on an ongoing phenomenon that touches the lives of each organizational actor. The two-step structure hopes to provide both a structured base of the knowledge developed to date, proposing a systematic view of what has been studied since the outbreak of the pandemic to date and to provide insights for future developments.

The purpose of this study is to better understand technology adoption and working from home (WFH) behaviour of micro and small enterprises (MSE) with 4 to 49 employees during the first (2020) and second (2021) COVID-19 lockdowns in Switzerland.

This study uses two data sets gathered using computer-assisted telephone interviewing surveys conducted with 503 managing directors of Swiss MSEs after the first and 506 MDs after the second COVID-19 lockdown period.

The study revealed that during the COVID-19 pandemic, WFH arrangements are related to the adoption of technology by Swiss industry groups. Furthermore, industry characteristics and technology adoption strategies are also associated with the long-term prospect of WFH. The overall result confirms the predominant role of technology pioneers.

The study focuses on MSEs in Switzerland during a specific period. The data set includes mainly quantitative data. Future studies could investigate larger enterprises in international contexts, integrating employees’ viewpoints founded on long-term gathered qualitative data. The implications of this study include predictions about future WFH behaviour in Swiss MSEs.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study collecting data in Swiss MSEs after the two COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020 and 2021. As a result, this study offers a unique perspective on a specific business segment, which accounts for around 70% of global employment.

The self-employed are an essential segment of society who contribute to economic growth and stabilisation in their communities. Therefore, it is crucial to investigate whether they enjoy a work–life balance (WLB) and life satisfaction (LS), which are two separate concerns of the self-employed in this study. Existing literature indicates that household income (HI) is a significant determinant of WLB and LS. This study investigates the levels and relationship of WLB and LS among the self-employed in the USA and the possible influence of HI on this relationship.

Data are from an online panel survey of 435 self-employed persons residing in the USA. The authors test the hypotheses via regression analysis and ANOVA.

This study revealed that WLB is a significant predictor of LS for the self-employed. Further, it showed that HI has a statistically significant direct effect on LS and moderates the relationship between WLB and LS. Among the control variables, only firm size was seen to contribute positively to a high level of LS. Gender, education, age, the number of dependent children, industry and hours worked were not found to be statistically significant. The study also found that WLB was most important in predicting LS of the self-employed followed by HI and then firm size.

This study is among the first to investigate the relations between WLB and LS among the self-employed and extends the scant existing scholarship on this issue.

The information and communication technologies have made it progressively practical for employees to remain associated with work, even when they are not in the workplace. However, prior studies have provided very little understanding of the implications for the deviant behavior aspect. The current study aims to investigate the association between after-hours work-related technology usage and interpersonal, organizational and nonwork deviance through psychological transition, interruption overload and task closure. The authors draw upon the theory of conservation of resource (COR) to examine the research model.

The primary data for the study has been collected in two waves from the sample of 318 employees who were working in diverse organizations in the Anhui province of the People's Republic of China for empirical testing of the authors’ research model.

This study's findings have revealed the positive association of after-hour work-related technology use with individuals' deviance in its entire three forms through psychological transition and interruption overload and have negative associations with all forms of deviance through task closure.

The significant contribution of this study is in the literature on technology use and employee outcomes, by identifying the consequences of technology use in both work (interpersonal deviance and organizational deviance) and outside work domain (nonwork deviance) and exploring the underlying mechanisms for these relationships in detail. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first of its kind that investigates a relationship between after-hours technology use and all three kinds of deviance while exploring both the positive and negative perspectives in one study.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the nature, roles and dynamics of change of management accounting systems (MAS), in processes of continuous organisational learning and transformation. By studying the interaction between the accounting (and finance) function and the implementation of a Six‐sigma initiative, as the engine for organisational change, the authors seek to uncover the potential of measurement‐based systems of management for aligning business processes with corporate strategies. Such systems sustain continuous processes of transformation by infusing organisational culture with financial and non‐financial metrics of accountability.

The research is based on a longitudinal case study in which one of the authors had the opportunity to exercise what Schein called the clinical perspective; i.e. combining the role of researcher with that of helper‐consultant. There is mutual interdependence in the relationship between the authors' theoretical framework and the authors' longitudinal case study. While, on the one hand, the case research contributed to the search for an institutional explanation of the evidence experienced and collected, on the other hand, the empirical data are illuminated by the theoretical insights gained from that framework.

After first discussing cultural change, the authors rely both on the “clinical” position of one of the authors as researcher/helper‐consultant and on the insights provided by Schein's work on organisational culture and Giddens' structuration theory to develop an institutional framework for interpreting the ways in which routinised systems of accountability bind the ongoing processes of cultural transformation across time and space.

Possible limitations are: the conceptualisation of organisational culture as a shared and institutional phenomenon does not take account of wider anthropological aspects (such as the influence of national culture); the role of helper‐consultant as well as researcher may have influenced some of the authors' interpretations; the authors' analysis does not consider macro‐economic variables; and only a small percentage of shop‐floor workers were interviewed.

The paper sheds light on the role of management accounting within organisational processes of transformation far beyond their mere visible enactment. As a result, the authors develop an institutional framework to interpret the linkages between the cognitive dynamics which characterise organisational culture (viewed as shared cognitive schemas) and the behavioural and structural modalities through which they are drawn upon and reproduced by organisational members.