TY - JOUR
T1 - COVID and working from home
T2 - long-term impacts and psycho-social determinants
AU - Jain, Taru
AU - Currie, Graham
AU - Aston, Laura
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by funding from Monash University and the Department of Transport, Victorian Government (Australia). We would also like to thank all the survey participants who contributed their time to answer our survey.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Authors
PY - 2022/2
Y1 - 2022/2
N2 - COVID related lockdowns have forced many workers around the world into work from home (WFH) arrangements. While the proportion of people who work from home has typically been very low (4.5% in Melbourne in 2016), it is worth considering how trends might change once the world emerges out of COVID lockdowns. This paper aims to examine (1) the long-term impacts of COVID on WFH and (2) the psycho-social factors which will impact workers’ intention to increase WFH post-COVID. The paper uses the Theory of Planned Behaviour as a lens to examine these psycho-social determinants. The study uses the survey responses of 1,364 workers which were collected in June-August 2020 as part of a larger survey (n = 2,158), which aimed to capture a representative population of Greater Melbourne. Quasi-longitudinal investigation of self-reported WFH frequency revealed that WFH as a share of average weekday employment increased 310% during COVID lockdown. In the longer term, when COVID is no longer an issue, WFH can be expected to be 75% higher than pre-COVID levels. Structural Equation Modelling was applied to the Theory of Planned Behaviour to understand motivators for and barriers to increasing WFH post-COVID. Perceived Behavioural Control (e.g. job type, technology, access to materials) and Subjective Norms (e.g. employer and family support) will be crucial determinants of the intention to work from home post-COVID. Attitudes regarding WFH will only have a weak impact on future intention to work from home, a finding which contrasts with previous research.
AB - COVID related lockdowns have forced many workers around the world into work from home (WFH) arrangements. While the proportion of people who work from home has typically been very low (4.5% in Melbourne in 2016), it is worth considering how trends might change once the world emerges out of COVID lockdowns. This paper aims to examine (1) the long-term impacts of COVID on WFH and (2) the psycho-social factors which will impact workers’ intention to increase WFH post-COVID. The paper uses the Theory of Planned Behaviour as a lens to examine these psycho-social determinants. The study uses the survey responses of 1,364 workers which were collected in June-August 2020 as part of a larger survey (n = 2,158), which aimed to capture a representative population of Greater Melbourne. Quasi-longitudinal investigation of self-reported WFH frequency revealed that WFH as a share of average weekday employment increased 310% during COVID lockdown. In the longer term, when COVID is no longer an issue, WFH can be expected to be 75% higher than pre-COVID levels. Structural Equation Modelling was applied to the Theory of Planned Behaviour to understand motivators for and barriers to increasing WFH post-COVID. Perceived Behavioural Control (e.g. job type, technology, access to materials) and Subjective Norms (e.g. employer and family support) will be crucial determinants of the intention to work from home post-COVID. Attitudes regarding WFH will only have a weak impact on future intention to work from home, a finding which contrasts with previous research.
KW - Attitudes
KW - COVID
KW - Psycho-social
KW - Teleworking
KW - Theory of planned behaviour
KW - Work from home
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85122257038&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.tra.2021.12.007
DO - 10.1016/j.tra.2021.12.007
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85122257038
SN - 0965-8564
VL - 156
SP - 52
EP - 68
JO - Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice
JF - Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice
ER -