How management support and diversity factors affect employee performance within the digital workplace

Abstract

PurposeWe aimed to determine how remote management support (MS) practices and staff diversity influenced employee performance (EP) within the digital workplace (DW) during the COVID-19 pandemic. The article highlights the challenges managers face in achieving EP in the DW compared to traditional work environments.Design/methodology/approachWe developed a theoretical model (MS→DW→EP) and tested it based on the computer-assisted web interview (CAWI) conducted in mid-2022. Factors of primary, secondary and organizational diversity moderated the relationship between the variables. We purposely selected a sample of 1,000 respondents with remote working experience.FindingsThe results show that the DW partially mediates the relationship between MS and EP. The greater the uncertainty in managing people, the more flexibility, trust and job satisfaction required in the DW to achieve EP. Organizational diversity influenced the model more (i.e. teamwork vs individual work) than the primary and secondary diversity (i.e. gender and education).Research limitations/implicationsAlthough the sample size was large, we cannot consider it statistically representative.Practical implicationsZoomers and Millennials reflect full mediation in the model that supports EP.Social implicationsBroader work autonomy, smaller organizations and teams as well as hybrid work arrangements, reduce the necessity for in-person meetings with superiors.Originality/valueSupervisors had to reduce control over the DW while expanding organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) to enhance job satisfaction and thus ensure the expected EP during the pandemic. We may consider allowing an employee to postpone work as a new managerial activity within MS.