The dynamics of crisis home office and employee engagement

Abstract

Purpose

Drawing on the JD-R theory, this study investigates the effect of working from home on employee engagement and work-life balance considering work-life balance as the mediator in the working from home-employee engagement relationship and altruism as the moderator in the work-life balance-employee engagement relationship.

Design/methodology/approach

An online questionnaire using the snowball sampling approach was employed to collect data from 350 professional-level employees working from home due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling.

Findings

The findings indicate that work-life balance significantly affects employee engagement and confirm the moderating role of altruism in the relationship between work-life balance and employee engagement. However, work-life balance does not mediate the relationship between working from home and employee engagement.

Originality/value

These findings advanced JD-R theory in human resource management by focusing on a more humanistic and compassionate approach towards managing employees, particularly in the remote working context during turbulent times.

Citation

Hooi, L.W. (2024), "The dynamics of crisis home office and employee engagement", Evidence-based HRM, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/EBHRM-08-2023-0225