Work Stressors in Virtual Organizations (original) (raw)
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Journal of Management
Virtual work arrangements, whereby dispersed employees interact with each other using technology-mediated communication, can both positively and negatively impact their psychological well-being. Yet, research on these dual effects in different virtual work research domains (e.g., telecommuting, virtual teams, and computer-mediated work) is not well integrated, which limits insights into how their findings overlap and inform each other. Using a work design theoretical lens to synthesize findings from 115 empirical articles, we develop an integrative framework that advances understanding of how virtual work both helps and harms employee well-being. The framework explicates different pathways linking subdimensions of technology dependence and dispersion—two core dimensions underlying different types of virtual work—to well-being through employees’ perceived work characteristics. We identify four technology dependence and three dispersion subdimensions that differ in their degree of pos...
Virtual teamwork and employee well-being: The Covid-19 effects
2020
This impact paper brings together concepts from the organizational psychology and information systems literatures to explore employee well-being in the context of virtual teams (VTs). The recent Covid-19 outbreak has led to a sudden transition into VTs for numerous workers around the world. Drawing on the job demands-resources (JDR) model, we argue that in the current context, newly formed VTs due to the lockdown face increased job demands and diminished job resources, potentially impacting their well-being. The paper presents a theoretical synthesis in this area and provides managerial and organizational implications.
Education Advisors' Experiences of Stress and Coping in the Virtual Working Environment
Journal of Psychology and Behavior Studies , 2022
During the CoVID-19 pandemic, most educational advisors were forced to work from home. Continuous stress may lay negative impacts on educators' work performance and psychological state (Hughes et al., 2019). However, there are no studies on stress whilst working virtually for educational advisors during the CoVID-19. Therefore, understanding stress in the lockdown environment is important to support them in coping. A qualitative study using semi-structured interviews was conducted. Following snowball sampling, 12 interviews were conducted (Male=7, Female=5, M age =31.74) from the UK and China. The six phases of thematic analysis were employed to analyze the data. The interviews identified the sources of educational advisors' stress from colleagues, clients, families and personal environment that laid negative consequences on their work and life, such as ineffective work, anxiety and low mood, etc. A series of problem-focused and emotion-focused coping strategies, such as boundary management, were raised for them to cope. Underpinned by Lazarus and Folkman's (1984) Transactional Model of Stress and Coping, the findings highlighted the educational advisors' stress experiences and raised practical coping strategies at personal, organizational and family levels to defend against their stresses whilst working virtually.