Research on the suitability of telework in the context of COVID-19

Zhen Han, Yuheng Zhao and Mengjie Chen

International Journal of Manpower, 2023, vol. 45, issue 4, 697-713

Abstract: Purpose - Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has made telecommuting widely valued, but different individuals have different degrees of acceptance of telecommuting. This article aims to identify suitable individuals for telework and to clarify which types of workers are suitable for what level of telework, set scientific, reasonable hybrid work ratios and processes and measure their suitability. Design/methodology/approach - First, two working scenarios of different risk levels were established, and the theory of planned behavior (TPB) was used to introduce latent variables, constructing a multi-indicator multi-causal model (MIMIC) to identify suitable individuals, and second, constructing an integrated choice and latent variable (ICLV) model of the working method to determine the suitability of different types of people for telework by calculating their selection probabilities. Findings - It is possible to clearly distinguish between two types of suitable individuals for telework or traditional work. Their behavior is significantly influenced by the work environment, which is influenced by variables such as age, income, attitude, perceived behavioral control, work–family balance and personnel exposure level. In low-risk scenarios, the influencing factors of the behavioral model for both types of people are relatively consistent, while in high-risk scenarios, significant differences arise. Furthermore, the suitability of telework for the telework-suitable group is less affected by the pandemic, while the suitability for the non-suitable group is greatly affected. Originality/value - This study contributes to previous literature by: (1) determining the suitability of different population types for telework by calculating the probability of selection, (2) dividing telework and traditional populations into two categories, identifying the differences in factors that affect telework under different epidemic risks and (3) considering the impact of changes in the work scenario on the suitability of telework for employees and classifying the population based on the suitability of telework in order to avoid the potential negative impact of telework.

Keywords: COVID-19; Telework; MIMIC; ICLV; Latent psychological variables (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.110 ... d&utm_campaign=repec (text/html)
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.110 ... d&utm_campaign=repec (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eme:ijmpps:ijm-04-2023-0205

DOI: 10.1108/IJM-04-2023-0205

Access Statistics for this article

International Journal of Manpower is currently edited by Professor Adrian Ziderman

More articles in International Journal of Manpower from Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Emerald Support ().