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The Impact of Enforced Working from Home on Employee Job Satisfaction during COVID-19: An Event System Perspective

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  • Jun Yu

    (School of Economics & Management, Shanghai Maritime University, Shanghai 201306, China)

  • Yihong Wu

    (School of Economics & Management, Shanghai Maritime University, Shanghai 201306, China)

Abstract

During the COVID-19 pandemic, working from home (WFH) became the only option for many organizations, generating increasing interest in how such arrangements impact employee job satisfaction. Adopting an event system perspective, this study employed an online survey to capture the WFH experiences of 256 workers from 66 Chinese enterprises during the pandemic. Using fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), the study examined how satisfaction was affected by five job characteristics when working from home: longevity (time), home workspace suitability (space), job autonomy (criticality), digital social support (novelty) and monitoring mechanisms (disruption). The findings reveal that three configurations promote employee job satisfaction and that a suitable home workspace is a core condition. In the absence of a suitable workspace, digital social support and an appropriate monitoring mechanism, long-term WFH was found to undermine job satisfaction. However, job autonomy is not a necessary condition for employee job satisfaction. These findings have clear implications for theory and practice.

Suggested Citation

  • Jun Yu & Yihong Wu, 2021. "The Impact of Enforced Working from Home on Employee Job Satisfaction during COVID-19: An Event System Perspective," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(24), pages 1-22, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:24:p:13207-:d:702978
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Esposito, Piero & Mendolia, Silvia & Scicchitano, Sergio & Tealdi, Cristina, 2024. "Working from Home and Job Satisfaction: The Role of Gender and Personality Traits," IZA Discussion Papers 16751, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Carlo Drago & Luisa Errichiello, 2024. "Remote Work admist the Covid-19 outbreak: Insights from an Ensemble Community-Based Keyword Network Analysis," Working Papers 2024.05, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    4. Dr. Muhammad Bilal Ahmad & Ayesha Badar & Dr. Muhammad Ramzan, 2023. "Investigating the Factors Affecting Employee Job Satisfaction through Job Autonomy in the Growing Concept of Hybrid Working Model in the IT Industry," Journal of Policy Research (JPR), Research Foundation for Humanity (RFH), vol. 9(2), pages 591-601.
    5. Víctor Manuel Ramos-García & Josué Aarón López-Leyva & Raúl Ignacio Ramos-García & Juan José García-Ochoa & Iván Ochoa-Vázquez & Paulina Guerrero-Ortega & Rafael Verdugo-Miranda & Saúl Verdugo-Miranda, 2022. "Ergonomic Factors That Impact Job Satisfaction and Occupational Health during the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic Based on a Structural Equation Model: A Cross-Sectional Exploratory Analysis of University Workers," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(17), pages 1-16, August.
    6. Ting Wei & Weiwei Wang & Suihuai Yu, 2022. "Analysis of the Cognitive Load of Employees Working from Home and the Construction of the Telecommuting Experience Balance Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-17, September.
    7. Inga Laß & Esperanza Vera-Toscano & Mark Wooden, 2023. "Working from home, COVID-19 and job satisfaction," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2023n04, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.
    8. Ngqabutho Moyo & Anita D. Bhappu & Moment Bhebhe & Farai Ncube, 2022. "Perceived Risk of COVID-19 and Employee Decision-Making: How Psychological Distress during the Pandemic Increases Negative Performance Outcomes among Healthcare Workers," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(11), pages 1-16, June.
    9. Rentia van Heerden & Visvanathan Naicker, 2023. "The mitigating consequences of perceived organisational support on the influence of worker morale in a distributed work landscape," Technology audit and production reserves, PC TECHNOLOGY CENTER, vol. 6(4(74)), pages 51-57, December.

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