The Benefits of Teleworking in the Public Sector: Reality or Rhetoric?

Many public organizations implement teleworking: an organizational innovation expected to improve the working conditions of public servants. However, it is unclear to what extent teleworking is beneficial for public servants. This study adds to the literature by studying the effects of teleworking o...

Ausführliche Beschreibung

Gespeichert in:
Bibliographische Detailangaben
Veröffentlicht in:Review of public personnel administration Jg. 39; H. 4; S. 570 - 593
Hauptverfasser: de Vries, Hanna, Tummers, Lars, Bekkers, Victor
Format: Journal Article
Sprache:Englisch
Veröffentlicht: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.12.2019
SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
Schlagworte:
Autobiographical literature
Bias
Government employees
Innovations
Leader-member exchange
Organizational commitment
Public sector
Recall
Rhetoric
Telecommuting
Work at home
Working conditions
professional isolation
organizational commitment
work engagement
diary study
LMX
teleworking
ISSN:0734-371X, 1552-759X
Online-Zugang:Volltext
Tags: Tag hinzufügen
Keine Tags, Fügen Sie den ersten Tag hinzu!
Beschreibung
Zusammenfassung:Many public organizations implement teleworking: an organizational innovation expected to improve the working conditions of public servants. However, it is unclear to what extent teleworking is beneficial for public servants. This study adds to the literature by studying the effects of teleworking on a day-to-day basis. We used a daily diary methodology and followed public servants across five consecutive working days. Studies that apply a daily survey method are more accurate than cross-sectional measures because they reduce recall bias. The results highlight that public servants experience quite negative effects from teleworking, including greater professional isolation and less organizational commitment on the days that they worked entirely from home. Contrary to predictions, working from home did not affect work engagement. We also found that higher leader–member exchange (LMX) reduced the impact of teleworking on professional isolation. These findings not only contribute to the literature by showing the unfavorable effects of teleworking but also highlight that LMX can, to some extent, reduce these negative effects.
Bibliographie:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 14
ISSN:0734-371X
1552-759X
DOI:10.1177/0734371X18760124