The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the adoption of telework, making hybrid work a standard practice in many organizations. Whilst pre-pandemic research primarily focused on telework intensity (TI), recent shifts require a more nuanced approach, considering both TI and flexibility. Telework flexibility (TF), defined as the autonomy to choose telework frequency, schedule and workdays, remains underexplored despite its potential impact on organizational commitment and leader-member exchange. The aim to examine how two key dimensions of telework – flexibility and intensity – affect employees’ affective organizational commitment (AOC) and leader-member exchange (LMX). It also explores the mediating role of perceived organizational support (POS) in these relations.
A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 578 teleworkers in Belgium. Structural equation modeling was used to test the hypotheses.
Results indicate that TF is positively related to AOC and LMX through POS. Employees with greater TF perceive higher organizational support, which in turn enhances AOC and LMX. Conversely, TI had a significant negative direct effect on AOC and no significant relation with LMX, nor indirect effects through POS.
Future studies should further investigate, in a longitudinal design, how teleworking has been formalized and gather specific information about telework policies to assess how different policies can affect the attitudes of workers toward the organization and the leader.
This study has several implications for practice. Their results regarding TI seem to illustrate the shift that has been generated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, teleworking and TI more specifically, could lead to being left “out of mind,” with workers being at risk of missing out on organizational resources, exposed to the mistrust of their leader and to more challenging interactions (Sewell and Taskin, 2015; Vayre and Pignault, 2014). Now that teleworking has become more of a routine than a perk (Bolívar-Cruz et al., 2024), workers may be more mindful of how telework is implemented rather than of the mere fact of teleworking, as attest the relationships of TF with AOC and LMX through POS in their study. Thus, organizations and managers should tend to develop telework policies that provide sufficient flexibility to workers in their implementation of telework, as telework is becoming an important factor in job attractiveness (Moens et al., 2024). Moreover, developing adequate telework policies will be key in user branding, not only to attract candidates but also to retain current employees (Junça Silva and Dias, 2023). Indeed, while telework theoretically gives more time and place flexibility than working from the office (Schulze et al., 2024), its benefits can only be enjoyed by workers when the organizational policies give them sufficient autonomy on how they may implement telework and when they may telework (Aksnes et al., 2023).
This research would contribute to workers’ development of an emotional attachment to their organization, as well as to high-quality exchange relationships with their leader. Nonetheless, high-intensity telework should be considered with caution regarding the development of the sense of belonging to the organization.
These findings highlight the importance of organizational policies that enhance TF to strengthen and improve organizational ties. Telework could then be considered a resource when it is implemented flexibly. However, high TI should be considered with caution regarding the development of the sense of belonging to the organization.
