IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v16y2024i11p4610-d1404602.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Developing a Practical Framework for Applying the Work from Home Concept to Technical Jobs in Electricity Utilities Using the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology

Author

Listed:
  • Fouzeya M. Albastaki

    (College of Engineering, University of Sharjah, Sharjah P.O. Box 27272, United Arab Emirates)

  • Alaa M. Ubaid

    (College of Engineering, University of Sharjah, Sharjah P.O. Box 27272, United Arab Emirates)

  • Hamad Rashid

    (College of Engineering, University of Sharjah, Sharjah P.O. Box 27272, United Arab Emirates)

Abstract

With the global rise of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a significant change occurred, prompting employees across different countries to switch to remote work and work from home (WFH) instead of working in their usual physical workplaces. This research aims to improve the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) by identifying the factors that affect the acceptance of the technical employees in the electricity utility sector during WFH and identifying technologies required for WFH. By this aim, this study contributes to creating inclusive and sustainable work environments, essential for fostering economic growth even during global crises like the COVID-19 pandemic, in alignment with Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth. This study used a mixed research methodology, using a focus group of five industry experts in addition to a survey. It conducted a specific study within a United Arab Emirates (UAE)-based electricity utility. The focus group session resulted in finalizing and listing twelve factors affecting WFH for technical job employees. Three of them were newly introduced during the focus group, namely, “emotional well-being”, “cultural factor”, and “honesty of employees”. Those factors were used further to prepare the related hypothesis and prepare a questionnaire. The survey data were collected from 145 respondents and analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM) using IBM SPSS Amos (Version 29.0). The analysis of the survey revealed that there were significant relationships between all the constructs; however, the hypothesis concerning perceived risk was not supported. Moreover, the analysis also provided a list of vital technologies required to WFH, resulting in insights for organizational managers on which factors to prioritize when implementing remote work strategies. The successful completion of this research has the potential to better prepare organizations for future pandemics and improve the balance between work and personal life for employees. Research limitations and future study recommendations are also highlighted.

Suggested Citation

  • Fouzeya M. Albastaki & Alaa M. Ubaid & Hamad Rashid, 2024. "Developing a Practical Framework for Applying the Work from Home Concept to Technical Jobs in Electricity Utilities Using the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(11), pages 1-24, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:11:p:4610-:d:1404602
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/11/4610/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/11/4610/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Paul M. Leonardi, 2021. "COVID‐19 and the New Technologies of Organizing: Digital Exhaust, Digital Footprints, and Artificial Intelligence in the Wake of Remote Work," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(1), pages 249-253, January.
    2. David Knights & Darren McCabe, 2003. "Governing through Teamwork: Reconstituting Subjectivity in a Call Centre," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(7), pages 1587-1619, November.
    3. Eline Moens & Louis Lippens & Philippe Sterkens & Johannes Weytjens & Stijn Baert, 2022. "The COVID-19 crisis and telework: a research survey on experiences, expectations and hopes," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 23(4), pages 729-753, June.
    4. R Maria del Rio-Chanona & Penny Mealy & Anton Pichler & François Lafond & J Doyne Farmer, 2020. "Supply and demand shocks in the COVID-19 pandemic: an industry and occupation perspective," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 36(Supplemen), pages 94-137.
    5. Erik Brynjolfsson & John J. Horton & Adam Ozimek & Daniel Rock & Garima Sharma & Hong-Yi TuYe, 2020. "COVID-19 and Remote Work: An Early Look at US Data," NBER Working Papers 27344, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Alipour, Jean-Victor & Falck, Oliver & Schüller, Simone, 2023. "Germany’s capacity to work from home," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    7. Michael White & Stephen Hill & Patrick McGovern & Colin Mills & Deborah Smeaton, 2003. "‘High‐performance’ Management Practices, Working Hours and Work–Life Balance," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 41(2), pages 175-195, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bloom, Nicholas & Davis, Steven J. & Hansen, Stephen & Lambert, Peter John & Sadun, Raffaella & Taska, Bledi, 2023. "Remote work across jobs, companies and space," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 121302, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    2. Pouliakas, Konstantinos, 2020. "Working at Home in Greece: Unexplored Potential at Times of Social Distancing?," IZA Discussion Papers 13408, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Bamieh, Omar & Ziegler, Lennart, 2022. "Are remote work options the new standard? Evidence from vacancy postings during the COVID-19 crisis," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    4. Abel Brodeur & David Gray & Anik Islam & Suraiya Bhuiyan, 2021. "A literature review of the economics of COVID‐19," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(4), pages 1007-1044, September.
    5. Marz, Waldemar & Şen, Suphi, 2022. "Does telecommuting reduce commuting emissions?," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    6. Holgersen, Henning & Jia, Zhiyang & Svenkerud, Simen, 2021. "Who and how many can work from home? Evidence from task descriptions," Journal for Labour Market Research, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 55, pages 1-4.
    7. Astorquiza-Bustos, Bilver Adrian & Quintero-Peña, Jose Wilmar, 2023. "Who can work from home? A remote working index for an emerging economy," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(10).
    8. Mohannad Alkhraijah & Maad Alowaifeer & Mansour Alsaleh & Anas Alfaris & Daniel K. Molzahn, 2021. "The Effects of Social Distancing on Electricity Demand Considering Temperature Dependency," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(2), pages 1-14, January.
    9. Adams-Prassl, Abi & Boneva, Teodora & Golin, Marta & Rauh, Christopher, 2022. "Work that can be done from home: evidence on variation within and across occupations and industries," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    10. A. Cetrulo & D. Guarascio & M. E. Virgillito, 2022. "Working from home and the explosion of enduring divides: income, employment and safety risks," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 39(2), pages 345-402, July.
    11. Axenbeck, Janna & Bertschek, Irene & Breithaupt, Patrick & Erdsiek, Daniel, 2023. "Firm digitalisation and mobility - Do Covid-19-related changes persist?," ZEW Discussion Papers 23-011, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    12. Alipour, Jean-Victor & Falck, Oliver & Schüller, Simone, 2023. "Germany’s capacity to work from home," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    13. Lena Anayi & Nicholas Bloom & Philip Bunn & Paul Mizen & Gregory Thwaites & Ivan Yotzov, 2022. "Firming up price inflation," POID Working Papers 058, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    14. Delbosc, Alexa & Currie, Graham & Jain, Taru & Aston, Laura, 2022. "The ‘re-norming’ of working from home during COVID-19: A transtheoretical behaviour change model of a major unplanned disruption," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 15-21.
    15. Naudé, Wim, 2020. "Entrepreneurial Recovery from COVID-19: Decentralization, Democratization, Demand, Distribution, and Demography," IZA Discussion Papers 13436, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    16. Ainaa, Carmen & Brunetti, Irene & Mussida, Chiara & Scicchitano, Sergio, 2021. "Who lost the most? Distributive effects of COVID-19 pandemic," GLO Discussion Paper Series 829, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    17. Deole, Sumit S. & Deter, Max & Huang, Yue, 2023. "Home sweet home: Working from home and employee performance during the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    18. Melanie Arntz & Sarra Ben Yahmed & Francesco Berlingieri, 2020. "Working from Home and COVID-19: The Chances and Risks for Gender Gaps," Intereconomics: Review of European Economic Policy, Springer;ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics;Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), vol. 55(6), pages 381-386, November.
    19. Gottlieb, Charles & Grobovšek, Jan & Poschke, Markus & Saltiel, Fernando, 2021. "Working from home in developing countries," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    20. Vahagn Jerbashian & Montserrat Vilalta-Bufí, 2022. "Working from home, pandemic, occupations, industries," UB School of Economics Working Papers 2022/427, University of Barcelona School of Economics.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:11:p:4610-:d:1404602. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.