Exploring Employee Indifference Towards Workplace: An Investigation on the Impact of Extended Remote Working as a Contributing Factor in the IT Sector

Exploring Employee Indifference Towards Workplace: An Investigation on the Impact of Extended Remote Working as a Contributing Factor in the IT Sector

  IJETT-book-cover           
  
© 2024 by IJETT Journal
Volume-72 Issue-12
Year of Publication : 2024
Author : Merlin B Joseph, F J Peter Kumar, G T Thiru Arooran, S Senith, A G Sudha, Sijimon G Srampical
DOI : 10.14445/22315381/IJETT-V72I12P125

How to Cite?
Merlin B Joseph, F J Peter Kumar, G T Thiru Arooran, S Senith, A G Sudha, Sijimon G Srampical, "Exploring Employee Indifference Towards Workplace: An Investigation on the Impact of Extended Remote Working as a Contributing Factor in the IT Sector," International Journal of Engineering Trends and Technology, vol. 72, no. 12, pp. 298-307, 2024. Crossref, https://doi.org/10.14445/22315381/IJETT-V72I12P125

Abstract
One of the most difficult tasks faced by firms during the COVID-19 period is managing work processes while permitting workers to work remotely, which is employee indifference, which has rarely piqued the attention of researchers. This research explores the influence of extended remote working on employee indifference towards the workplace among IT sector employees. A quantitative research approach has been used to accomplish the objectives. The data was obtained through well-structured questionnaires distributed to IT employees in Kerala, India. Regression analysis and moderator analysis were used to test the research hypotheses. Sustained remote work is positively associated with increased indifference to the workplace, and gender moderates this relationship. This study provides valuable insights into the impact of remote working arrangements on employee indifference from the workplace over time. These findings have important implications for organisations aiming to comprehend the effects of prolonged remote working models on staff engagement.

Keywords
COVID-19, Employee indifference, IT industry, Remote work, Factor in IT sector.

References
[1] K. M. Kniffin et al., “COVID-19 and the Workplace: Implications, Issues, and Insights for Future Research and Action,” American Psychologist, vol. 76, no. 1, pp. 63-77, 2020.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[2] Susan Lund et al., “The Future of Work After COVID-19,” McKinsey Global Institute, Report, pp. 1-30, 2021.
[Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[3] Andrea Alexander et al., “What Employees are Saying about the Future of Remote Work,” McKinsey & Company, pp. 1-13, 2021.
[Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[4] Ferdinando Toscano, and Salvatore Zappalà, “Social Isolation and Stress as Predictors of Productivity Perception and Remote Work Satisfaction during the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Role of Concern about the Virus in a Moderated Double Mediation,” Sustainability, vol. 12, no. 23, pp. 1-14, 2020.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[5] Mohammad Ghasemi, Samaneh Sheikh, and Abbas Mir, “Studying the Extent of Indifference Among the Staff of Zabol University of Medical Sciences in 2015,” International Journal of Humanities and Cultural Studies, pp. 840-849, 2016.
[Google Scholar]
[6] Christine A. Grant, Louise M. Wallace, and Peter C. Spurgeon, “An Exploration of the Psychological Factors Affecting Remote E-Worker’s Job Effectiveness, Well-Being And Work-Life Balance,” Employee Relations, vol. 35, no. 5, pp. 527-546, 2013.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[7] Udo Konradt, Guido Hertel, and Renate Schmook, “Quality of Management by Objectives, Task-Related Stressors, and Non-Task-Related Stressors as Predictors of Stress and Job Satisfaction Among Teleworkers,” European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 61-79, 2003.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[8] Katja Möhring et al., “The COVID-19 Pandemic and Subjective Well-Being: Longitudinal Evidence on Satisfaction with Work and Family,” European Societies, European Societies in the Time of the Coronavirus Crisis, vol. 23, no. sup1, pp. S601-S617, 2020.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[9] Jack M. Nilles, “Traffic Reduction by Telecommuting: A Status Review and Bibliography,” Transportation Research Part A: General, vol. 22, no. 4, pp. 301-317, 1988.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[10] Ellen Ernst Kossek, and Brenda A. Lautsch, “Work–Life Flexibility For Whom? Occupational Status and Work–Life Inequality in Upper, Middle, and Lower Level Jobs,” Academy of Management Annals, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 5-36, 2018.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[11] Tammy D. Allen, Timothy D. Golden, and Kristen M. Shockley, “How Effective is Telecommuting? Assessing the Status of Our Scientific Findings,” Psychological Science in the Public Interest, vol. 16, no. 2, pp. 40-68, 2015.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[12] Vittorio Di Martino, and Linda Wirth, “Telework: A New Way of Working and Living,” International Labour Review, vol. 129, no. 5, pp. 529-554, 1990.
[Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[13] R. S. Gajendran, and D. A. Harrison, “The Good, the Bad, and the Unknown About Telecommuting: Meta-Analysis of Psychological Mediators and Individual Consequences,” The Journal of Applied Psychology, vol. 92, no. 6, pp. 1524-1541, 2007.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[14] H. Gartner, “Gartner HR Survey Reveals 41% of Employees Likely to Work Remotely at Least Some of the Time Post Coronavirus Pandemic,” News Release, 2020.
[Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[15] Jonathan I. Dingel, and Brent Neiman, “How Many Jobs Can be Done at Home?,” National Bureau of Economic Research, Working Paper 26948, pp. 1-19, 2020.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[16] Emily Courtney, “Companies Switching to Long-Term Remote Work,” Flexjobs, 2022.
[Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[17] Elias Eriksson, and Arpine Petrosian, “Remote Work - Transitioning to Remote Work in Times of Crisis,” UMEA University, pp. 31-76, 2020.
[Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[18] Alan Felstead, and Golo Henseke, “Assessing the Growth of Remote Working and its Consequences for Effort, Well-Being and Work-Life Balance,” New Technology, Work and Employment, vol. 32, no. 3, pp. 195-212, 2017.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[19] Remote Working New Normal; 82% Employees Prefer Working From Home: Study, The Economic Times, 2022. [Online]. Available: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/stocks/news/do-you-know-how-to-calculate-a-stocks-intrinsic-value-learn-it-from-experts-in-online-workshop/articleshow/114589145.cms
[20] IT Employees Prefer Remote Work to Promotions, Says Survey, Business Line, 2022. [Online]. Available: https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/info-tech/it-employees-prefer-remote-work-to-promotions-says-survey/article65214687.ece
[21] Erin E. Makarius, Barbara Z. Larson, and Susan R. Vroman, “What Is Your Organization’s Long-Term Remote Work Strategy?,” Harvard Business Review, 2021.
[Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[22] Ozgur Turetken et al., “An Empirical Investigation of the Impact of Individual and Work Characteristics on Telecommuting Success,” IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, vol. 54, no. 1, pp. 56-67, 2011.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[23] Bin Wang et al., “Achieving Effective Remote Working during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Work Design Perspective,” Applied Psychology, vol. 70, no. 1, pp. 16-59, 2021.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[24] Yinglei Wang, and Nicole Haggerty, “Individual Virtual Competence and its Influence on Work Outcomes,” Journal of Management Information Systems, vol. 27, no. 4, pp. 299-334, 2014.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[25] T.A. Bentley et al., “The Role of Organisational Support in Teleworker Wellbeing: A Socio-Technical Systems Approach,” Applied Ergonomics, vol. 52, pp. 207-215, 2016.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[26] Piers Steel, “The Nature of Procrastination: A Meta-Analytic and Theoretical Review of Quintessential Self-Regulatory Failure,” Psychological Bulletin, vol. 133, no. 1, pp. 65-94, 2007.
[Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[27] H.M. Keshavarz, “Presenting of Employees' Organizational Indifference Management Pattern (Case Study of a Private Bank),” The Seasonal Journal of Human Resources Management Researches of Imam Hossein Public University, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 183-202, 2012.
[Google Scholar]
[28] H. Danaee Fard, and A. Eslami, “Discovering Theory of Organizational Indifference: A Grounded Theory Strategy,” European Journal of Scientific Research, vol. 40, no. 3, pp. 450-460, 2010.
[Google Scholar]
[29] C. Maslach, S.E. Jackson, and M. P. Leiter, Maslach Burnout Inventory, 3rd ed., Evaluating Stress: A Book Of Resources, The Scarecrow Press, pp. 191-218, 1997.
[Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[30] Susan Cartwright, and Nicola Holmes, “The Meaning of Work: The Challenge of Regaining Employee Engagement and Reducing Cynicism,” Human Resource Management Review, vol. 16, no. 2, pp. 199-208, 2006.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[31] Seyed Ali Akbar Ahmadi, and Maryam Fattahi, " Investigating Factors of Organization Indifference and Proper Strategies in Iran Infrastructural Communications Company,” International Business Management, vol. 10, no. 6, pp. 968-973, 2016.
[Google Scholar]
[32] Hasan Danaee Fard, Nora Salarieh, and Mohammad Reza Noruzi, “Exploring Organizational Indifference: Creating and Validating a Measure,” African Journal of Business Management, vol. 5, no. 31, pp. 12381-12391, 2011.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[33] Mohammad Mahmoodi Meimand et al., “Effect of Organization Indifference Dimensions on the Organizational Commitment of Gas Company Employees in Ilam Province,” Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, vol. 62, pp. 666-667, 2012.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[34] Stevan E. Hobfoll, and Jeremiah A. Schumm, Conservation of Resources Theory: Applications to Stress and Management in the Workplace, 2nd ed., Handbook of Organizational Behavior, pp. 57-80, 2001.
[Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[35] Lydia Saad, Sangeeta Agrawal, and Ben Wigert, Gender Gap in Worker Burnout Widened Amid the Pandemic, Gallup, 2021. [Online]. Available: https://www.gallup.com/workplace/358349/gender-gap-worker-burnout-widened-amid-pandemic.aspx
[36] Manuela Tomei, “Teleworking: A Curse or a Blessing for Gender Equality and Work-Life Balance?,” Intereconomics, vol. 56, pp. 260-264, 2021.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[37] Robert L. Armstrong, “The Midpoint on a Five-Point Likert-Type Scale,” Perceptual and Motor Skills, vol. 64, no. 2, pp. 359-362, 1987.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[38] Lee J. Cronbach, “Coefficient Alpha and the Internal Structure of Tests,” Psychometrika, vol. 16, pp. 297-334, 1951.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[39] Keith S. Taber, “The Use of Cronbach’s Alpha When Developing and Reporting Research Instruments in Science Education,” Research in Science Education, vol. 48, pp. 1273-1296, 2018.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[40] David M. Hardesty, and William O. Bearden, “The Use of Expert Judges in Scale Development: Implications for Improving Face Validity of Measures of Unobservable Constructs,” Journal of Business Research, vol. 57, no. 2, pp. 98-107, 2004.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[41] Brenda H. Loyd, and Richard R. Abidin, “Revision of the Parenting Stress Index,” Journal of Pediairic Psychology, vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 169-177, 1985.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[42] Nicholas Bloom, “The Great Resistance: Getting Employees Back to the Office,” Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, 2022.
[Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[43] Akiyoshi Shimura et al., “Remote Work Decreases Psychological and Physical Stress Responses, but Full-Remote Work Increases Presenteeism,” Frontiers in Psychology, vol. 12, pp. 1-10, 2021.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]