Understanding work experience in epidemic-induced telecommuting: The roles of misfit, reactance, and collaborative technologies

Does Telecommuting Incur Burnout in Teachers During the COVID-19 Quarantine Lockdown? A Moderated Mediation Model of Harmonious Passion and Housing Size

“…Moreover, as the degree of mandatory telecommuting increases, teachers are more likely to feel that they lack control over when, where, and how they work during mandatory teleworking (e.g., Kaduk et al, 2019 ), and experience psychological distress, poor sleep quality, and unhappiness (Schneider & Harknett, 2019 ) due to increased work intensity and prolonged use of ICT. Meanwhile, their tolerance ability can also be reduced because things restricting their freedom may cause them to be emotionally vulnerable (Li et al, 2022 ). Thus, overwhelmed by the time and energy demands and resorting to the excess use of emotional and psychological resources to deal with the feeling of poor control, teachers will experience chronic work-related distress and eventually feel burnout (Mheidly et al, 2020 ; Shimizu et al, 2011 ).…”

“…Their willingness to accept such a way of working has not been taken into consideration (Mheidly et al, 2020 ). Although they may not necessarily feel that they are forced to teach, they are still likely to feel that they are forced to change their way of working, to perceive a threat to freedom or loss of freedom (Li et al, 2022 ) and less job autonomy (Jamal et al, 2022 ), and therefore have a lower sense of control over how to teach and a decreased perception of openness to experience (Mageau et al, 2009 ), which is likely to diminish harmonious passion for work (Forest et al, 2012 ). From the perspective of self-determination, teachers’ harmonious passion may also be diminished because of obstacles in the autonomous internalization process introduced by mandatory telecommuting.…”

“…Moreover, mandatory telecommuting during pandemic lockdown can impose hardships on teachers. It largely restricts what the school can offer teachers, thus restricting schools from providing the work environment that meets teachers’ values (Li et al, 2022 ). Also, it puts teachers’ job-related efficacy at risk (Procentese et al, 2022 ) because they need to work for longer hours to familiarize themselves with the changes, learn new things, and develop new routines (Chong et al, 2020 ).…”

“…A half of Romanian employees who had to work more from home for over 1 years generally reported feelings of reduced flexibility in work (Marica, 2021 ). According to Fox ( 2020 ), over two-thirds of employees participating in a survey conducted by a global online employment platform in US reported burnout feelings due to remote work during the COVID-19 and the burnout rate appears to be growing (Li et al, 2022 ). One possible reason to explain why this situation occurs may be that individuals are compelled to, rather than voluntarily, work from home due to the containment measures imposed by governments.…”

“…One possible reason to explain why this situation occurs may be that individuals are compelled to, rather than voluntarily, work from home due to the containment measures imposed by governments. Moreover, it also should be noted that not all organizations or occupations are well-prepared or suitable for working virtually, because telecommuting is associated with changes not only in work locations but also in the nature of tasks, work arrangement, and interpersonal engagements (Li et al, 2022 ). This means that for teachers using telecommuting during the COVID-19 pandemic, they seem to be facing unprecedented challenges.…”