sajm





SAJM VOL 30.5-2 PDF Print E-mail

Well-Being of Work-from-Home Employees: Conceptualization, Measurement and Scale Validation

Sheelam Jain* and Niharika Atchyutuni**

DOI: https://doi.org/10.62206/sajm.30.5.2024.39-57

PUBLISHED : 11 JUNE 2024

Abstract

Work-from-home (WFH), a global work trend in vogue, is one of the most visible changes in the contemporary world of work, and organizations are expected to embrace this change by assessing their WFH policies, strategies, and capabilities to ensure the well-being of WFH workforce. This study conceptualizes, measures, and validates a multi-dimensional scale of the well-being of WFH employees in a new normal context. By drawing upon insights from the existing literature on various aspects of well-being from individual and organizational perspectives, the authors have conceptualized the WFH-well-being construct in the new normal context. The preliminary set of items was generated by integrating the existing works and from the information gathered through unstructured interviews with selected WFH employees. These items were tested for content and face validity through expert opinions and a pilot survey. The scale was developed and validated through data collected from 221 WFH employees from different industry segments. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis generated a 22-item five-factor structure of the scale with dimensions of work-life integration, psychological well-being, financial well-being, organizational support, and work productivity. The scale was further evaluated using reliability analysis, convergent validity, and discriminant validity analysis. The WFH-Well-being scale has many potential uses, which include helping organizations to evaluate and support the overall well-being of WFH employees and measuring different wellbeing factors to track well-being among individuals working from home settings.

Key Words

Financial well-being, Organizational support, Psychological well-being, Work-from-home, Work productivity

Author Biography

Sheelam Jain
Associate Professor, OB & HR, Vignana Jyothi Institute of Management, Hyderabad, India; and is the corresponding author. E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Niharika Atchyutuni
Senior Assistant Professor, OB & HR, Vignana Jyothi Institute of Management, Hyderabad, India. E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

References

  1. Bartel, C. A., Wrzesniewski, A., & Wiesenfeld, B. M. (2011). Knowing where you stand: Physical isolation, perceived respect, and organizational identification among virtual employees. Organization Science, 23, 743-757.
    2. .
  2. Bentley, T. A., Teo, S.T., McLeod, L., Tan, F., Bosua, R., & Gloet, M. (2016). The role of organizational support in teleworker well-being: A socio-technical systems approach. Applied Ergonomics, 52, 207-215.
    3. .
  3. Bersin, J. (2021). Are organizations doing enough to build healthy workplaces? People Matters, November 3, 2021. https://www.peoplematters.in/article/wellness/ companies-that-take-a-holistic-approach-to-organizational-health-see-significantbusiness-benefits-report-31512
    4. .
  4. Bloom, N., Liang, J., Roberts, J., & Ying, Z. J. (2015). Does working from home work? Evidence from a Chinese experiment. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 130(1), 165-218.
    5. .
  5. Bosua, R., Gloet, M., Kurnia, S., Mendoza, A., & Yong, J. (2013). Telework, productivity and well-being: An Australian perspective. Telecommunications Journal of Australia, 63(1), 11.1-11.12.
    6. .
  6. Christensen, M. (2017). Healthy individuals in healthy organizations: The happy productive worker hypothesis. The Positive Side of Occupational Health Psychology, 155-169, Springer, Cham.
    7. .
  7. Conway, J. M., & Huffcutt, A. I. (2003). A review and evaluation of exploratory factor analysis practices in organizational research. Organizational Research Methods, 6(2), 147-168.
    8. .
  8. Coviello, D., Deserranno, E., Persico, N., & Sapienza, P. (2017). Effect of Mood on Workplace Productivity, Mimeo, Northwestern University, IL.
    9. .
  9. DiMaria, C. H., Peroni, C., & Sarracino, F. (2020). Happiness matters: Productivity gains from subjective well-being. Journal of Happiness Studies, 21(1), 139-160.
    10. .
  10. Eisenberger, R., Cummings, J., Armeli, S., & Lynch, P. (1997). Perceived organizational support, discretionary treatment, and job satisfaction. Journal of Applied Psychology, 82(5), 812.
    11. .
  11. Etheridge, B., Wang, Y., & Tang, Li. (2020). Worker productivity during lockdown and working from home: Evidence from self-reports. ISER Working Paper Series, No. 2020-12, University of Essex, Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER), Colchester.
    12. .
  12. Felstead, A., & Henseke, G. (2017). Assessing the growth of remote working and its consequences for effort, well-being and work-life balance. New Technology, Work and Employment, 32(3), 195-212.
    13. .
  13. Ford, J. K., MacCallum, R. C., & Tait, M. (1986). The application of exploratory factor analysis in applied psychology: A critical review and analysis. Personnel Psychology, 39, 291-314.
    14. .
  14. Fornell, C., & Larcker, D. F. (1981). Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error. Journal of Marketing Research, 18, 39-50.
    15. .
  15. Fransman, E. I. (2014). Determining the Impact of Flexible Work Hours on Women Employed in a Higher Education Institution, Doctoral Dissertation, North-West University, Potchefstroom.
    16. .
  16. Frijters, P., Haisken- DeNew, J. P., & Shields, M. A. (2005). The causal effect of income on health: evidence from German reunification. Journal of Health Economics, 24(5), 997-1017.
    17. .
  17. Fritz, C., & Sonnentag, S. (2007). The recovery experience questionnaire: Development and validation of a measure for assessing recuperation and unwinding from work. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 12, 204-221.
    18. .
  18. Gadeyne, N., Verbruggen, M., Delanoeije, J. De., & Cooman, R. (2018) All wired, all tired? Work-related ICT-use outside work hours and work-to-home conflict: the role of integration preference, integration norms and work demands. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 107, 86-99. doi: 10.1016/j.jvb.2018.03.008
    19. .
  19. Galanti, T., Guidetti, G., Mazzei, E., Zappalà, S., & Toscano., F. (2021). Work from home during the covid-19 outbreak: the impact on employees’ remote work productivity, engagement, and stress. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 63(7), doi: 10.1097/JOM.0000000000002236
    20. .
  20. Ganster, D. C., Fox, M. L., & Dwyer, D. J. (2001). Explaining employees’ health care costs: A prospective examination of stressful job demands, personal control, and physiological reactivity. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86(5), 954.
    21. .
  21. Gupta, V., Singh, S., & Khatri, N. (2013). Creativity in research and development laboratories: A new scale for leader behaviours. IIMB Management Review, 25(2), 83-90.
    22. .
  22. Grant, C. A., Wallace, L. M., & Spurgeon, P. C. (2013). An exploration of the psychological factors affecting remote eworker’s job effectiveness, wellbeing and worklife balance. Employee Relations, 5(35), 527-546. doi: 10.1108/ER-08-2012- 0059
    23. .
  23. Grant, C. A., Wallace, L. M., & Spurgeon, P. C., Tramontano, C., & Charalampous, M. (2018). Construction and initial validation of the e-work life scale to measure remote e-working. Employee Relations, 41(1), 16-33. doi: 10.1108/ER-09-2017-0229.
    24. .
  24. Guadagnoli, E., & Velicer, W. F. (1998). Relation of sample size to the stability of component patterns. Psychological Bulletin, 103, 265-277.
    25. .
  25. Hartig, T., Kylin, C., & Johansson, G. (2007). The telework tradeoff: Stress mitigation vs. constrained restoration. Applied Psychology, 56(2), 231-253. doi: 10.1111/j.1464-0597.2006.00252.x
    26. .
  26. Hair, J. F., Anderson, R. E., Tatham, R. L., & Black, W. C. (1995). Multivariate Data Analysis, 4th Edition. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
    27. .
  27. Hair, J. F., Black, W. C., Babin, B. J., Anderson, R. E., & Tatham, R. L. (2006). Multivariate Data Analysis, 6th Edition, New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall.
    28. .
  28. Hu, L. T., & Bentler, P. M. (1999). Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 6(1), 1-55.
    29. .
  29. Hurmerinta-Peltomäki, L., & Nummela, N. (2006). Mixed methods in international business research: A value-added perspective. Management International Review, 46, 439-451.
    30. .
  30. Jain, S. (2022). Well-being and work productivity of Indian educators during imposed online teaching in higher education institutions. International Journal of Work Organisation and Emotion, 13(1), 57-82.
    31. .
  31. Joo, S. H., & Garman, E. T. (1998). Personal financial wellness may be the missing factor in understanding and reducing worker absenteeism. Personal Finances and Worker Productivity, 2(2), 172-182.
    32. .
  32. Joo, S. H., & Grable, J. E. (2004). An exploratory framework of the determinants of financial satisfaction. Journal of Family and Economic Issues, 25(1), 25-50.
    33. .
  33. Juniper, B. A., Bellamy, P., & White, N. (2011). Testing the performance of a new approach to measuring employee well-being. Leadership and Organization Development Journal, 25(4), 344-357.
    34. .
  34. Kaiser, H. (1974). An index of factorial simplicity. Psychometrika, 39, 31-6.
    35. .
  35. Kamaluddin, M. R., Nasir, R., Sulaiman, W. S. W., Hafidz, S. W. M., Abdullah N. A., Khairudin, R., & Zamani, Z. A. (2018). Validity and reliability of malay version financial well-being scale among Malaysian employees. Akademika, 88(2), 109- 120. doi: 10.17576/akad-2018-8802-08
    36. .
  36. Karakash, S., Solone, M., Chavez, J., & Shanafelt, T. (2019). Physician work-life integration: Challenges and strategies for improvement. Clinical Obstetrics and Gynecology, 62(3), 455-465
    37. .
  37. Kim, J. O., & Mueller, C. W. (1978). Factor Analysis: Statistical Methods and Practical Issues. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
    38. .
  38. Kinnunen, U., Feldt, T., de Bloom, J., Sianoja, M., Korpela, K., & Geurts, S. (2017). Linking boundary crossing from work to nonwork to work-related rumination across time: A variable- and person-oriented approach. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 22, 467-480.
    39. .
  39. Kline, R. B. (2011). Principles and Practice of Structural Equation Modeling, (3rd Edition). New York, NY: The Guilford Press.
    40. .
  40. Kohont, A., & Ignjatovi´c, M. (2022). Organizational support of working from home: Aftermath of COVID-19 from the perspective of workers and leaders. Sustainability, 14, 5107. doi: 10.3390/su14095107.
    41. .
  41. Lunau, T., Bambra, C., Eikemo, T. A., van der Wel, K. A., & Dragano, N. (2014). A balancing act? Work-life balance, health and well-being in European welfare states. European Journal of Public Health, 24, 422-427.
    42. .
  42. Markey, R., Harris, C., Lamm, F., Kesting, S., Ravenswood, K., Simpkin, G., & Williamson, D. (2008). Improving productivity through enhancing employee wellbeing and participation. Labour, Employment and Work in New Zealand, 516-523, doi: 10.26686 /lew.v0i0.1666.
    43. .
  43. Marta, F., Santo, M., Joanna, N., Enrique, F.-M., & Ignacio, G. V. (2020). Telework, work organization and job quality during the COVID-19 crisis: A qualitative study. JRC Working Papers on Labour, Education and Technology. No. JRC122591. Sevilla, Spain.
    44. .
  44. Mensah, A., & Adjei, N. K. (2020). Work-life balance and self-reported health among working adults in Europe: A gender and welfare state regime comparative analysis. BMC Public Health, 20, 1052.
    45. .
  45. Miles, M. B., Huberman, M., & Saldana, J. (2014). Qualitative Data Analysis: A Methods Sourcebook, 70-194, Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
    46. .
  46. Nandan, S., & Madan, S. (2022). Challenges and concerns of work from home during Covid-19 pandemic in India: An exploratory study. South Asian Journal of Management, 29(4).
    47. .
  47. Nunnally, J. (1978). Psychometric Theory. New York: McGraw-Hill.
    48. .
  48. Orsila, R., Luukkaala, T., Manka, M. L., & Nygard, C. H. (2011). A new approach to measuring work-related well-being. International Journal of Occupational Safety and Ergonomics, 17(4), 341-359.
    49. .
  49. Page, K. M., & Vella-Brodrick, D. A. (2009). The ‘what’, ‘why’ and ‘how’ of employee well-being: A new model. Social Indicators Research, 90(3), 441-458.
    50. .
  50. Pradhan, R. K., & Hati, L. (2019). The measurement of employee well-being: Development and validation of a scale. Global Business Review, 23(2), 385-407. doi: 10.1177/0972150919859101
    51. .
  51. Prawitz, A., Garman, E. T., Sorhaindo, B., O’Neill, B., Kim, J., & Drentea, P. (2006). Incharge financial distress/financial well-being scale: Development, administration, and score interpretation. Journal of Financial Counseling and Planning, 17(1).
    52. .
  52. Rhoades, L., & Eisenberger, R. (2002). Perceived organizational support’, A review of the literature. Journal of Applied Psychology, 698-714. doi: 10.1037/0021- 9010.87.4.698
    53. .
  53. Ryff, C. D., & Keyes, C. L. (1995). The structure of psychological well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69(4), 719-727
    54. .
  54. Sarkar, B. (2022). Tech Talent Outlook report by Scikey. ET Bureau, January 18, 2022. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/company/corporate-trends/eightin-10-employees-prefer-working-from-home-survey/articleshow/88965754.cms
    55. .
  55. Tejero, L. M. S., Seva, R. R., & Fadrilan-Camacho, V. F. F. (2021) Factors associated with work-life balance and productivity before and during work from home. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 63(12), doi: 1065-1072. doi: 10.1097/ JOM.0000000000002377
    56. .
  56. Vega, R. P., Anderson, A. J., & Kaplan, S. A. (2015). A within-person examination of the effects of telework. Journal of Business and Psychology, 30(2), 313-323.
    57. .
  57. . Wiesenfeld, B. M., Raghuram, S., & Garud, R. (2001). Organizational identification among virtual workers: The role of need for affiliation and perceived work-based social support. Journal of Management, 27, 213-229
  58. Wright, T. A., & Cropanzano, R. (2007). The happy/productive worker. In J. Marocchio (Ed.), Research in Personnel and Human Resource Management, 26, 269-313. Amsterdam Netherlands: Elsevier.
  59. Zheng, X., Zhu, W., Zhao, H., & Zhang, C. (2015). Employee well-being in organizations: Theoretical model, scale development, and cross-cultural validation. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 36(5), 621-644.