Remote Working for Sustainability of Organization during the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Mediator-Moderator Role of Social Support

Abstract

Remote working became a widespread business practice during the COVID-19 pandemic as an organizational response to protect employees’ health and maintain business continuity. The aim of this paper is to reveal the role of social support in the relationship among NWHI, NHWI and loneliness, and work engagement and job performance. The study respondents were employees with a remote working status in Serbian companies, and a total of 226 valid surveys were collected. The PLS-SEM approach was deployed to test the hypothesized relationship between named variables. A standard bootstrapping procedure was used to reveal direct and indirect effects among latent variables. Results indicate a strong and positive direct association between social support and work engagement and job performance, while mediation and moderation of the role of social support were mostly confirmed but with some results opposite to what was expected. Social support was not able to buffer a negative home–work interaction and loneliness within remote working. The study offers insight into the role of social support and recommendations for managing the antecedents and consequences of remote working, with the aim to determine a sustainable model for extensive application, not only during the COVID-19 pandemic, but in regular times.

Out of Sight, Out of Mind? A Longitudinal Investigation of Smart Working and Burnout in the Context of the Job Demands–Resources Model during the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Moreover, managers may believe that smart workers have reduced performance compared to in-person workers. As a consequence, managers exercise more control on smart workers' activities to sustain their productivity [16].…”

“…Hence, smart working may give rise to social and professional isolation [27,28], thus weakening employees' ability to establish direct and enduring relationships with colleagues and supervisor [74,75]. Similarly, compared to in-person workers, smart workers have fewer opportunities for informal, face-to-face interactions with col-leagues and supervisors, which are essential for the development of emotions, knowledge, shared values and mutual trust [7,16]. Hence, by hindering social and professional exchanges at work, smart working may result in poor and less effective social support, which does not fully meet remote workers' specific needs and expectations [16].…”

“…Similarly, compared to in-person workers, smart workers have fewer opportunities for informal, face-to-face interactions with col-leagues and supervisors, which are essential for the development of emotions, knowledge, shared values and mutual trust [7,16]. Hence, by hindering social and professional exchanges at work, smart working may result in poor and less effective social support, which does not fully meet remote workers' specific needs and expectations [16]. For example, smart workers may be less able to obtain from colleagues or supervisors specific resources or information, tailored to their unique needs, which would be useful to overcome workrelated problems and successfully complete their tasks [28,76].…”

“…A possible explanation is that in-person workers have many opportunities for social interactions with colleagues and supervisors at work, making it easier for them to ask for and ob-tain effective support to complete their tasks successfully, which leads to a lower risk of burnout. Conversely, since remote working hinders social and professional exchanges at work [16,27,28], traditional strategies of SS are less effective for smart workers, who have specific needs and expectations. These include, for example, the need for instrumental support from supervisors/colleagues to accomplish tasks when working from home or to handle problems related with ICTs [8].…”

“…These include, for example, e-leadership [125], which encompasses communication skills, in terms of communication clarity and management of communication flow (e.g., email, virtual meetings); technological skills, such as technological knowledge, which can help workers to cope with technology-related problems (e.g., network connections); and trustworthiness. Similarly, supervisors should be encouraged not to shift their focus from supporting smart workers' performance to excessive monitoring and control of their work activities [16]. Moreover, with the aim of containing the tendency to exceed normal working hours, organizations should define specific policies that limit the use of work-related technologies during leisure time [126].…”