Reimagining e-leadership for reconfigured virtual teams due to Covid-19

Empowering leadership during the COVID-19 outbreak: Implications for work satisfaction and effectiveness in organizational teams

The COVID-19 pandemic generated unprecedented challenges for social and organizational life. We set out to explore how empowering leadership and leadership support were affected as a result of the team-based organization starting to implement flexible and remote work practices after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. We collected data in a cross-lagged design and used the two-condition MEMORE mediation procedure to analyze data on work satisfaction and team effectiveness obtained just before and immediately after the COVID-19 outbreak in 34 organizational teams. Our results show that the COVID-19 outbreak did not significantly impact perceptions of empowering leadership or perceived leadership support. However, teams that experienced changes in empowering leadership also reported proportional changes in work satisfaction and effectiveness. Finally, we show that the association between empowering leadership and leadership support, on the one hand, and work satisfaction in teams, on the other hand, is moderated by team size, such that the strength of the association is higher in small rather than large organizational teams. We conclude by arguing that the team-based organization absorbed well the impact and disruptions associated with the COVID-19 outbreak. We also stress the role of empowering leadership as a driver of work satisfaction and the effectiveness of organizational teams.

Lessons on employees' digital resilience from COVID-19-induced transitions to remote work – a mixed methods study

Purpose

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, many employees had to switch to remote work. While some adjusted successfully to this transition, others have struggled. Leveraging information systems (IS) to adjust to major exogenous shocks is called digital resilience. The purpose of this paper is to understand what we can learn about employees' digital resilience from externally enforced transitions to remote work.

Design/methodology/approach

As digital resilience is challenging to measure, this study uses an embedded mixed methods approach. The authors conducted a qualitative analysis of 40 employees' statements on their remote work experience during the first six months of the pandemic and complemented these findings with scale-based digital resilience scores.

Findings

The authors find that employees' digital resilience largely depends on the amount of technical equipment and support they receive from their organizations as well as their ability and willingness to learn how to adequately use and communicate through information and communication technologies. Being self-disciplined and self-responsible positively affects digital resilience, while social isolation threatens it. Organizations can foster digital resilience building by encouraging digital networking, building a digital culture and netiquette, and treating digital resilience as a sociotechnical phenomenon.

Originality/value

This is one of the first empirical studies of digital resilience on a human level. It sheds light on the missing link between IS-enabled resilience and transitions to remote work. Specifically, it provides original insights into its development and manifestation in a remote work context during the COVID-19 pandemic. For researchers, it provides novel guidance on choosing appropriate measurement instruments to capture digital resilience.

"Who Knows Me Understands My Needs": The Effect of Home-Based Telework on Work Engagement

Purpose

Based on the affective event theory and the theoretical framework of "work environment features-work events-emotional responses-work attitude", this study aims to explore how and when home-based telework negatively affects work engagement by focusing on the dual chain mediating paths of "workplace isolation-negative emotion" and "telepressure-negative emotion", and the moderating role of family-supportive leadership.

Methods

A questionnaire survey was used to collect 276 self-reported responses from employees with home-based telework experience in China.

Findings

(a) Home-based telework indirectly and negatively affects work engagement through the mediating chain of "workplace isolation-negative emotion"; (b) Home-based telework indirectly and negatively affects work engagement through the mediating chain of "telepressure-negative emotion"; (c) Family-supportive leadership negatively moderates the chain mediating effect of "workplace isolation-negative emotion" and "telepressure-negative emotion" between home-based telework and work engagement. In other words, the higher the level of family-supportive leadership, the weaker the negative effect of home-based telework on work engagement.

Originality/Value

This study sheds additional light on the relationship between home-based telework and work engagement by constructing the influence mechanism model of home-based telework on work engagement, in which "workplace isolation-negative emotion" and "telepressure-negative emotion" act as chain mediators, and family supportive leadership as moderator. This study enriches the literature on home-based telework.

Practical Implications

The findings indicates that home-based work has indirectly and negatively effects on work engagement through dual chain mediating paths of "workplace isolation-negative emotion" and "telepressure-negative emotion". However, family-supportive leadership can weaken this negative influence. Therefore, organizations need to cultivate family supportive leadership.

The COVID-19 Infodemic on Twitter: A Space and Time Topic Analysis of the Brazilian Immunization Program and Public Trust

The context of the COVID-19 pandemic has brought to light the infodemic phenomenon and the problem of misinformation. Agencies involved in managing COVID-19 immunization programs are also looking for ways to combat this problem, demanding analytical tools specialized in identifying patterns of misinformation and understanding how they have evolved in time and space to demonstrate their effects on public trust. The aim of this article is to present the results of a study applying topic analysis in space and time with respect to public opinion on the Brazilian COVID-19 immunization program. The analytical process involves applying topic discovery to tweets with geoinformation extracted from the COVID-19 vaccination theme. After extracting the topics, they were submitted to manual annotation, whereby the polarity labels pro, anti, and neutral were applied based on the support and trust in the COVID-19 vaccination. A space and time analysis was carried out using the topic and polarity distributions, making it possible to understand moments during which the most significant quantities of posts occurred and the cities that generated the most tweets. The analytical process describes a framework capable of meeting the needs of agencies for tools, providing indications of how misinformation has evolved and where its dissemination focuses, in addition to defining the granularity of this information according to what managers define as adequate. The following research outcomes can be highlighted. (1) We identified a specific date containing a peak that stands out among the other dates, indicating an event that mobilized public opinion about COVID-19 vaccination. (2) We extracted 23 topics, enabling the manual polarity annotation of each topic and an understanding of which polarities were associated with tweets. (3) Based on the association between polarities, topics, and tweets, it was possible to identify the Brazilian cities that produced the majority of tweets for each polarity and the amount distribution of tweets relative to cities populations.

Advantages and disadvantages of teleworking in healthcare institutions during COVID-19: A systematic review

Introduction

The prevalence of COVID-19 as pandemic disease and efforts to control it have caused extensive changes in work methods and the global growth of teleworking, especially in health. This study aimed to investigate the advantages and disadvantages of teleworking in healthcare institutions during the Covid-19 era.

Methods

This systematic review was conducted up to January 1, 2022, by searching the relevant keywords in PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and ProQuest databases. Study selection has been conducted based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. Data extraction was done using the data extraction form based on the study objectives.

Results

From all 276 articles retrieved, 14 studies were included in the study. The results show that England had the highest number of articles (6 articles). The advantages of teleworking have ten categories, and the disadvantages have nine categories. The most important benefits of teleworking include facilitating service delivery, increasing satisfaction, supporting healthcare providers, and reducing costs. The most important disadvantages of using teleworking have been the lack of facilities and support, the lack of technology acceptance, and reduced interactions between healthcare providers.

Conclusion

Although teleworking was a suitable solution for some problems in healthcare institutions during COVID-19, it is also associated with obstacles. It is recommended that managers make policies and guidelines to use appropriate technologies, provide facilities, and have continuous support and increased interactions between healthcare providers and patients.

Virtual leadership in relation to employees' mental health, job satisfaction and perceptions of isolation: A scoping review

Background

The significant increase of digital collaboration, driven by the current COVID-19 pandemic, is resulting in changes in working conditions and associated changes in the stress-strain perception of employees. Due to the evident leadership influence on employees' health and well-being in traditional work settings, there is a need to investigate leadership in virtual remote work contexts as well. The objective of this scoping review was to assess the extent and type of evidence concerning virtual leadership in relation to employees' mental health, job satisfaction and perceptions of isolation.

Method

A search was undertaken in five databases, PubMed, Cochrane Library, PsycINFO, PSYNDEX and Web of Science, as well as reference lists of included articles on 9th February 2021 and an update on 28th September 2021. The search strategy was limited to English, German and French language, peer reviewed journal articles published from January 2000 onwards. This scoping review was conducted in accordance with the JBI methodology for scoping reviews. The methodological quality of the included studies was assessed using the JBI critical appraisal tools. A narrative synthesis was conducted.

Results

Nineteen studies met the eligibility criteria for this review. Overarching review findings suggested a positive link between virtual leadership and well-being, job satisfaction, and a negative link to psychological strain, stress and perceptions of isolation of digitally collaborating employees.

Conclusions

By mapping the available evidence on virtual leadership in relation to health and work-related employee outcomes, the review identified many research gaps in terms of content and methodology. Due to limited data, causal relationships were not derived. Future research is needed to examine the complex cause-and-effect relationships of virtual leadership in more detail.

Consumer information technology use in the post-pandemic workplace: a post-acceptance adaptation perspective

Purpose

Personally owned mobile information and communication technologies (MICT) have been widely and routinely used for work purposes in the post-pandemic workplace. Drawing on adaptive structuration theory for individuals (ASTI), this study investigates the antecedents (i.e. characteristics of MICT) and outcomes (i.e. employee affective and cognitive well-being) of routine MICT use in the remote work context.

Design/methodology/approach

The research model was empirically tested via a survey of 430 working professionals who use personal MICT for work purposes in the remote work context.

Findings

Results show that the routine MICT use increases employee affective well-being (i.e. job satisfaction) and mitigates cognitive well-being (i.e. technology overload). The mediation effects of routine MICT use on the relationships between its characteristics (autonomy and timeliness) and employee well-being (i.e. job satisfaction and technology overload) were also found.

Originality/value

Existing research on remote work has widely focused on employee productivity and performance, while attention has rarely been paid to the effects of the technology-driven “new normal” on employee well-being. Grounded in ASTI, this study identifies three MICT characteristics as sources of user adaptive structuration, which impact employees' routine MICT use behavior and further influence employee affective and cognitive well-being. This research can help understand employees' personal MICT use adaptive behavior and improve their well-being.

Adding Knowledge to Virtual Teams in the New Normal: From Leader-Team Communication towards the Satisfaction with Teamwork

The present paper sets out to investigate the relationships among several key constructs that cover the work patterns and processes in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Emphasis is laid on the leader-team communication, the fostering of a strong team culture, team performance and satisfaction with teamwork in the case of virtual teams. The scrutiny is intended to complement recent developments in the field which compared traditional and virtual teams at different levels by adding knowledge to virtual teams’ communication and interaction patterns and processes. In this vein, an online survey was conducted with 175 members from different virtual teams. The findings showed the advancement of a pertinent conceptual model, mostly displaying significant relationships among constructs. Four out of the five formulated hypotheses were validated, the highest influences being reported between leader-team communication and team culture, respectively, and between team performance and satisfaction with teamwork. Furthermore, the structural model explained over 50% of the variance in the satisfaction with teamwork, thus supporting the relevance of the inferred relationships.

Tourism sustainability during COVID-19: developing value chain resilience

The aim of this study is to evaluate the perceptions of prospective tourists through parameters by which the tourism and hospitality service sector can withstand the widespread implications to the sector as a result of the current pandemic. In turn this will lead to weighing up the means for recovery. The identified parameters are then classified, categorized and linked up with supply chain drivers to obtain a holistic picture that can feed into strategic planning from which the tourism and hospitality service sector could utilize to establish a resilient supply chain. This data can provide deep insight for both theorists and practitioners to utilize. It was found that reforming six supply chain drivers, whilst at the same time developing core competencies, is the central essence of a resilient supply chain within the tourism and hospitality business sector (who are at present working hard to counterbalance the many threats and consequent risks posed due to the pandemic).