Mediation of work engagement towards productive behaviour in remote work environments during pandemic: testing the job demands and resources model in Japan

Abstract

ABSTRACT Based on the job demands and resources model, this study assumes that remote work, supervisory behaviours and employee job crafting are leveraged by work engagement to increase individual goal attainment. This mediating relationship was tested using survey data collected from 500 Japanese remote workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Multivariate hierarchical regression analyses were conducted separately by two groups: workers who started remote work before the pandemic and those who started after. Among the post-COVID-19 remote workers, employees’ goal attainment was improved by discretionary task crafting but was directly decreased by relational crafting. Furthermore, cognitive crafting increased goal attainment partially through the mediation of work engagement. Among the pre-COVID-19 remote workers, it was only frequency of remote work that influenced goal attainment.