Well-being and empowerment perceptions in a sudden shift to working from home

Duncan J.R. Jackson; Amanda Jones; George Michaelides; Chris Dewberry

doi:10.1016/j.jvb.2024.104000

Well-being and empowerment perceptions in a sudden shift to working from home

Duncan J.R. Jackson^*, Amanda Jones, George Michaelides, Chris Dewberry

^*Corresponding author for this work

Human Resource Management

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

In the literature on the antecedents and mediators of employee well-being, there is little or no acknowledgement of sudden changes in the social and environmental context in which perceptions of well-being are formed. Contextual influences are rarely so impactful and unexpected as those associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. To continue operating within lockdown restrictions, many organizations, apart from those unable or unwilling to initiate such changes, abruptly adopted a work from home (WFH) or hybrid working pattern. These circumstances raise novel questions about the influence of impactful, unanticipated contextual factors on employee well-being outcomes. To address these questions in the context of a shift to WFH, we tested a model adapted from aspects of Event Systems Theory (EST) and the Psychology of Working Theory (PWT). Central to our theoretical adaptation was a unique perspective on PWT “decent work” perceptions based on principles of empowerment. In a study of 337 employees during the lockdown period, we applied a Bayesian multilevel model to investigate the contrast between in-lockdown perceptions relative to current pre-lockdown perceptions. Results suggested the contextual shift to WFH related negatively to relative perceptions of well-being, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment. Empowerment significantly mediated all well-being outcomes. Organizational support, neuroticism, and home readiness related directly to empowerment and indirectly to well-being outcomes via empowerment. We discuss how sudden contextual changes interacted with relationships observed in our model, and how our findings progress a context-responsive adaptation of EST and PWT in the new world of WFH.

Original language	English
Article number	104000
Journal	Journal Of Vocational Behavior
Volume	151
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2024.104000
Publication status	Published - Jun 2024

Keywords

Contextual impact
Empowerment
Sensemaking
Well-being
Working from home

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1016/j.jvb.2024.104000

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title = "Well-being and empowerment perceptions in a sudden shift to working from home",

abstract = "In the literature on the antecedents and mediators of employee well-being, there is little or no acknowledgement of sudden changes in the social and environmental context in which perceptions of well-being are formed. Contextual influences are rarely so impactful and unexpected as those associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. To continue operating within lockdown restrictions, many organizations, apart from those unable or unwilling to initiate such changes, abruptly adopted a work from home (WFH) or hybrid working pattern. These circumstances raise novel questions about the influence of impactful, unanticipated contextual factors on employee well-being outcomes. To address these questions in the context of a shift to WFH, we tested a model adapted from aspects of Event Systems Theory (EST) and the Psychology of Working Theory (PWT). Central to our theoretical adaptation was a unique perspective on PWT “decent work” perceptions based on principles of empowerment. In a study of 337 employees during the lockdown period, we applied a Bayesian multilevel model to investigate the contrast between in-lockdown perceptions relative to current pre-lockdown perceptions. Results suggested the contextual shift to WFH related negatively to relative perceptions of well-being, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment. Empowerment significantly mediated all well-being outcomes. Organizational support, neuroticism, and home readiness related directly to empowerment and indirectly to well-being outcomes via empowerment. We discuss how sudden contextual changes interacted with relationships observed in our model, and how our findings progress a context-responsive adaptation of EST and PWT in the new world of WFH.",

keywords = "Contextual impact, Empowerment, Sensemaking, Well-being, Working from home",

author = "Jackson, {Duncan J.R.} and Amanda Jones and George Michaelides and Chris Dewberry",

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year = "2024",

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Well-being and empowerment perceptions in a sudden shift to working from home

Abstract

Keywords

UN SDGs

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