title: The role of organisational support in teleworker wellbeing: a socio-technical systems approach.
abstract: The prevalence of telework and other forms of mobile working enabled by digital technology is increasing markedly. Following a socio-technical systems approach, this study aims to examine the role of organisational social support and specific support for teleworkers in influencing teleworker wellbeing, the mediating role of social isolation, potentially resulting from a person-environment mismatch in these relationships, and possible differences in these relationships between low-intensity and hybrid teleworkers. Teleworkers' (n = 804) perceptions of support and telework outcomes (psychological strain, job satisfaction, and social isolation) were collected using an on-line survey of teleworking employees distributed within 28 New Zealand organisations where knowledge work was undertaken. Organisational social support and teleworker support was associated with increased job satisfaction and reduced psychological strain. Social isolation mediated the relationship between organisational social support and the two outcome variables, and some differences were observed in the structural relationships for hybrid and low-intensity teleworker sub-samples. These findings suggest that providing the necessary organisational and teleworker support is important for enhancing the teleworker-environment fit and thereby ensuring desirable telework outcomes.
authors.affiliation: New Zealand Work Research Institute, AUT University, Auckland, New Zealand. Electronic address: tim.bentley@aut.ac.nz.
authors.forename: T A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Bentley
authors.affiliation: New Zealand Work Research Institute, AUT University, Auckland, New Zealand.
authors.forename: S T T
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Teo
authors.affiliation: New Zealand Work Research Institute, AUT University, Auckland, New Zealand.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: McLeod
authors.affiliation: New Zealand Work Research Institute, AUT University, Auckland, New Zealand.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.affiliation: Department of Computing and Information Systems, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bosua
authors.affiliation: Department of Management, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gloet
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004651:Employment / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D008297:Male; D010559:Personnel Management; D012934:Social Isolation / Q000523:psychology; D012944:Social Support; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D017132:Workplace / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000523:psychology
keywords: Job satisfaction; Job stress; Organisational support; Social isolation; Socio-technical systems; Telecommuting; Telework