Enablers of work from home culture: an integrated empirical framework

ABSTRACT

Purpose With the emergence of COVID-19 and increased infections, organizations urged their employees to work from home. Furthermore, with the on-going pandemic, employees take measures to ensure individual safety and their families. Hence, work from home culture can result in long-term employee satisfaction. However, no study addresses the development of work from the home culture in an integrated framework. Therefore, the current research explores the role of safety during the pandemic, organizational commitment and employee motivation on work from home culture, which may influence employee satisfaction. Furthermore, job demands and home demands were also evaluated for employee satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach The study used existing scales of the factors to develop the measures and collect perceptual responses from employees working from home, supported with a pre-test. The study executed a survey with effective responses from 132 individuals spread across different sectors to validate the hypotheses. The responses were analysed using partial least squares in ADANCO 2.2. Findings Findings suggest safety concerns along with organization commitment enhances work from home culture. Such work from home culture enhances employee motivation and employee satisfaction. Furthermore, job demands and home demands also influence employee satisfaction. Originality/value To the best of the authors knowledge, the study is the foremost to develop an integrated empirical framework for work from home culture and its antecedents and consequences. The study has several important implications for managers.