Virtual Workplace Research Articles

AACSB-Accredited Colleges and Universities: An Examination of Standard A5 as a Guide to Prepare Accounting Graduates for the Digital Workplace

Employers demand that accounting graduates are well-versed in information and communication technologies. The Association to Advance the Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) establishes Standards for business and accounting schools, colleges, and universities across the globe. This systematic literature review examines the peer-reviewed research surrounding AACSB-Standard A5 Information Technology Skills, Agility, and Knowledge for Accounting Graduates and Faculty. Specifically, how AACSB-accredited institutions employ Standard A5 to guide curriculum innovation and change management best practices is emphasized. Results underscore the importance and significance of Standard A5 in navigating continuous improvement curriculum efforts in higher education.

Investigating Digital Workspaces: Ethnographic Obstacles and Insights

Purpose- The current study investigates the intricacies of conducting digital workplace ethnography within professional environments, focusing on the critical challenges posed by technological constraints, increased digital workloads, the complexities of navigating virtual ecosystems, and limitations in remote collaboration tools and employee digital literacy. Design/methodology/approach- A mixed-methods research framework encompassed qualitative and quantitative methods. The study involved a pilot sample of 120 participants from a private IT firm, representing diverse roles including employees, managers, and IT professionals. To capture the breadth of digital challenges, structured interviews were administered, probing the participants' interactions with digital tools and assessing the organization’s broader digital culture. Statistical analyses, including correlation and chi-square tests, were utilized to evaluate the relationships between the impact of digital transformation on workplace collaboration and organizational adaptability. Findings-The research findings deliver a detailed exploration of these technological and cultural barriers and their broader consequences for the organization's operational efficacy. Research limitations/implications- Strategic implications are provided, which emphasize the enhancement of digital infrastructure, workforce training, and leadership development initiatives to foster a more resilient and adaptive digital work environment. Originality/value- This study explored workplace challenges within the realm of digital innovation. Drawing from existing research, it presents a solution to the existing problem in the form of Adopting Flexible Work Practices: and enhancing Digital Literacy with Training.

Employee engagement, telecommuting propensity, and employee performance in the virtual workplace

Employee engagement, telecommuting propensity, and employee performance in the virtual workplace

Hired by Artificial Intelligence: Digital Inclusion Practices for People With Disabilities

Artificial intelligence (AI) rapidly advances across various industries, including healthcare, finance, education, robotics, entertainment, and commerce. Human resource (HR) management plays a crucial role in AI, helping employees feel valued and creative. However, AI-powered systems often neglect the needs of people with disabilities, who often face barriers in digital environments. This paper aims to investigate digital inclusion practices for people with disabilities in AI-driven human resource management systems. It proposes a heuristic evaluation method for software accessibility assessment based on international standards. The objectives include researching best practices for digital workplace inclusion, studying international standards for software accessibility, and researching AI-powered recruitment systems. An experiment assessed the accessibility of color schemes for people with color blindness.

Digital transformation and the future of work: closing the digital skills gap

Purpose The purpose of this article is to discuss the near future digital technology landscape and propose several specific in-demand digital skills for organizations and individuals in the next few years. Design/methodology/approach This article reviews some recent publications from representative inter-governmental, governmental, non-governmental, and commercial organizations on the rise of digital technologies and corresponding growth in digital jobs. Within this context, several specific in-demand skills are proposed by the author who has written a book on the topic of digital transformation. Findings Rapid advancements in digital technologies continue to shape organizational practices and the future of work. To take advantage of emerging digital technologies and better compete in the marketplace, organizations and individuals need to upskill and reskill. Practical implications The main purpose of this article is to suggest a list of specific digital skills for executive management and human resources professionals to help prepare employees for digital jobs in the next few years. Corporate policy makers could introduce and promote these digital skills as part of the organizations’ training and development curriculum. In the area of talent management, organizations could also formulate hiring policies and assessment mechanisms to attract, develop, and retain employees with the requisite digital skills. For information technology and business professionals seeking to upskill and reskill, they could acquire these digital skills to enhance their current roles and prepare for the future digital workplace environment. Originality/value This article contributes to a better understanding of the digital technology landscape and digital skills. A list of specific in-demand skills is proposed to help organizations and individuals close the digital skills gap.

Economic and legal regulation of resident activities of Diya City

The article is devoted to the study of the peculiarities of economic and legal support for the activity of an enterprise that is a resident of Diya City. Based on the analysis, it was concluded that in the conditions of the digital economy there can be economic systems in which there are intra-system organizational economic legal relations and intra-economic legal relations. In intra-system organizational economic relations, their participants are legally equal, therefore management in the form of coordination within the system will be implemented on the basis of economic dominance, which ensures mutually beneficial interaction between the participants of this system. A resident of Diya City, created in the form of a company with limited or additional liability on the basis of an economic contract, can transfer the powers of the executive body to another legal entity. It is expedient to define the requirements for such a legal entity as fully as possible in the Diya City resident statute. The contract for the performance of the powers of the executive body of the resident of Diya City must contain the following essential conditions: subject, price, term of the contract, financial and economic indicators that must be achieved by the resident of Diya City as a result of management, deadlines for their achievement, conditions for control and reporting, grounds for early termination of the contract. Before concluding an agreement on the transfer of powers to the executive body of the resident of Diya City to comply with the legal economic order on the basis of the previous agreement, it is advisable for the parties to organize mutual checks: audit, compliance, due diligence, etc. On the basis of an economic outsourcing contract, including an IT outsourcing contract, a resident of Diya City can involve professional, highly specialized companies in his own economic system. Such a feature of outsourcing as the duration of the relationship between the parties in this relationship will be optional, as it may arise for the implementation of a certain project. Digitization allows the enterprise to move from such organizational forms as management, regulation, control mainly to coordination, because with digitalization, the enterprise creates digital structural units and digital management bodies, and digital (virtual) workplaces become the basis.

The power of play: gamification in virtual workplace training

ABSTRACT Organizations face growing pressure to upskill their employees and provide effective and engaging training, leading to significant investments in virtual workplace training (VWT). However, the effectiveness of VWT, particularly when incorporating game elements, remains unclear. To address this, this study examined the impact of gamification intensity on perceived autonomy and its effect on training outcomes. Additionally, it explored whether self-efficacy played a moderating role in these relationships. Using a between-subjects design, we manipulated gamification intensity (low, medium and high levels) and asked 355 employees to complete a VWT and a retention test. In contrast to our expectations, gamification intensity negatively affected perceived autonomy. Furthermore, perceived autonomy had a positive impact only on affective but not on performance-related training outcomes. Also, we found no evidence of the mediating role of perceived autonomy or the moderating role of self-efficacy in these relationships. Regarding the retention test, gamification intensity negatively affected perceived autonomy and both affective and performance-related training outcomes. Our findings challenge the belief that gamification intensity enhances satisfaction and training success and underscore the importance of autonomy in VWT. We discuss how our findings can guide researchers and practitioners to promote sustainable training success in organizations.

Investigating the impact of comfort-zone quality in e-work settings

This study analyzes face-to-display workers' environments and investigates how their habits affect both brick-and-mortar and virtual workplaces. A qualitative study with 20 respondents using a photovoice strategy via snowball sampling was employed. The study aims to shed more light on some of the factors associated with the e-workplace environment. All respondents stated that work cannot be done efficiently and effectively without a comfortable workspace. Data demonstrate that the blurring of the distinction between home and office as a workspace has undeniably accelerated recently. Results show that work-anywhere technologies have empowered e-workers to be highly productive. For some, the balance between family and work has been a challenge. Males and females proceed completely differently when setting up home offices. Employees see ICT as an enabler and motivator for productivity; however, self-care is becoming a must when working remotely. For many, this is a new experience that they have to adjust to. The results obtained show similarities between brick-and-mortar and virtual workplaces and indicate that there is a process of "domestication," i.e., of moving selected features of the traditional workplace to the home office.

The Value of Work Flexibility: Staff Perceptions in Higher Education

ABSTRACT Increases in the technological availability of the digital workplace and shifting expectations after the COVID-19 quarantines in 2020–2021 have caused a significant increase in institutional capacity, and employee expectation of flexible work options in higher education. An analysis of institutional practices and experiences of higher education employees is needed to build a scant body of research on the topic and guide higher education leadership as they engage in policy development. By better understanding what workers in higher education value, leadership can more accurately assess and improve crucial organizational practices and policy through work flexibility such as recruitment, retention, and employee satisfaction. In this study, interviews with academic advisors representing 16 different Association of American Universities (AAU) institutions were conducted to better understand how employees define work flexibility, its meaning to them as employees, and how it impacts them as individuals. Our study revealed four primary themes centered on how higher education employees want the ability to customize their role, be treated with compassion, feel trusted in the workplace, and have clarity around work flexibility expectations.

Conceptualizing work-life integration: A review and research agenda

The COVID-19 pandemic and global teams have significantly contributed to the rise of virtual teams and digital workspaces requiring a fundamental shift in viewing work and life as an integrated construct. While a vast majority of literature exists on work-life it is fragmented by sub-constructs like work-family conflict, family-to-work conflict, work-home interference, etc. The current paper looks at work-life integration as a harmonious amalgamation of an individual's personal and professional demands beyond just work and family commitments. The paper attempts to synthesise this literature across 116 articles and propose a comprehensive, future-relevant model of work-life integration that will guide future researchers and practitioners alike. The paper expands the existing academic knowledge by proposing an integrated model of work-life relationships including 5 key aspects of individual and self, work and career, home and family, community and connecting, and finally health and wellbeing. The recommendations from the paper can also better equip practitioners to manage work-life integration in virtual or hybrid workplaces and help HR practitioners design policy interventions for the same.

The Impact of Virtual Workplaces on Employee Productivity: A Comprehensive Study

The Impact of Virtual Workplaces on Employee Productivity: A Comprehensive Study

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

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.

The dual economics in the labour process: managerial contradictions and indirect control

One of the greatest impacts of Braverman’s Labour and Monopoly Capital is the discovery of a ‘control imperative’ within the capitalist production process. Whereas his equation of capitalist domination and Taylorism has been heavily criticized early on, the capabilities of the expanded use of digital technologies at the workplace have raised the question of whether a Taylorist mode of control is on the advance once again. The article challenges this perspective by addressing managerial problems that go beyond the problem to transform labour power into actual labour. Taking up Sohn-Rethel’s theory of ‘dual economics’, we argue that the necessity to reconcile contradictory requirements of the ‘economics of the market’ and the ‘economics of production’ poses an equally crucial challenge for management. Whereas that ‘problem of reconciliation’ remained latent in the Fordist era, tensions between the two logics of economics have now increasingly become a problem to solve within the course of controlling the labour process. Drawing on our own research on ‘the inner marketization of the firm’ over the last 15 years, we discuss ‘indirect control’ as a mode of control that precisely addresses the problem of reconciliation and considers recent changes in the course of digitalization. On the basis of our empirical findings, we describe the contradictory forms of activating and restricting subjectivity in the digital workplace and its implications for the legitimation of managerial power and capitalist domination.

Immersive gathering: insights into virtual workplace meetings

In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, the prevalence of remote business meetings through videoconferencing platforms such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams has substantially increased. While remote meetings provide benefits such as increased efficiency, flexibility, and environmental sustainability, they may also reduce meeting engagement, hamper conversational flow, or cause fatigue. This study investigates whether social Extended Reality technology can serve as a viable alternative for videoconferencing for remote business meetings. Employees from three distinct organizations in the Netherlands convened through Meta Horizon Workrooms, a collaborative virtual platform. Afterwards, participants were inquired about their perspectives on Extended Reality during semi-structured interviews that focused on the meeting’s engagement, conversational flow and the system’s usability. The study’s findings highlight the benefits of Extended Reality for remote business meetings, as participants reported improved interaction, more togetherness, and a better conversational flow. Embodied virtual reality was identified as useful in supporting nonverbal communication by allowing for more natural interaction and turn-taking, similar to face-to-face interactions. Nonetheless, challenges associated with avatar realism and the developing technological state of Extended Reality present barriers, rendering current widespread adoption a difficult task.

Burnout in the Digital Age: Rethinking Workplace Culture for Well-Being and Retention

This article explores how digital workplace cultures can enable or diminish employee burnout and retention. The article argues that the rise of constant digital connectivity has blurred boundaries between work and personal life, enabling overwork as the norm. Two key stressors exacerbated by digital workstyles - the inability to disconnect from work and information overload - are shown to directly contribute to burnout risks like emotional exhaustion. The impacts of burnout on individual well-being as well as organizational costs relating to disengagement, turnover and lost intellectual property are examined. The article then discusses how systemic culture change interventions focusing on boundary setting, workload management, supportive leadership and collective well-being can help companies address burnout by shifting priorities towards sustainable employee engagement.

Essential skills for a global workplace: Revisiting the DINAMITE model for post-pandemic higher education

This paper investigates some of the recent terminology and concepts used to describe the type and nature of transferable skills that are developed and nurtured in students in higher education, with a particular focus on the DINAMITE1 model. The DINAMITE model was developed by the author in 2021 following research with employers in three different countries. This paper seeks to evaluate the relevance and suitability of this model in 2024 from the perspective of fellow pedagogical researchers at the author’s home institution in Scotland. An online, semi-structured focus group with eight academics was held in February 2024. A thematic analysis was applied to the data and compared to recent literature on transferable skill development in higher education. The findings suggest there is a lack of clarity and coherence concerning the different terms and concepts that are used to describe transferable skills within the context of higher education; however, there is strong awareness and understanding of the fundamental importance of these skills. The DINAMITE model has both strengths and weaknesses as a conceptual tool for understanding the transferable skills that are necessary for a global digital workplace. Therefore, this paper proposes a revised version of the DINAMITE model based on the recommendations of the participants. Further research is needed to examine a wider range of academic, student and employer opinions on the terminology and concepts used to describe transferable skill development within higher education. A universally accepted model would enable key stakeholders to devise a more cohesive approach to transferable skill development in preparation for the workplace.

Using SIM-TLX to investigate the potential impacts on cognitive load while undertaking tasks in a virtual workplace

PurposeThe ability to measure cognitive load in the workplace provides several opportunities to improve workplace learning. In recent years, virtual reality (VR) has seen an increase in use for training and learning applications due to improvements in technology and reduced costs. This study aims to focus on the use of simulation task load index (SIM-TLX), a recently developed self-reported measure of cognitive load for virtual environments to measure cognitive load while undertaking tasks in different environments.Design/methodology/approachThe authors conducted a within-subject design experiment involving 14 participants engaged in digit-recall n-back tasks (1-back and 2-back) in two VR environments: a neutral grey environment and a realistic industrial ozone facility. Cognitive load was then assessed using the SIM-TLX.FindingsThe findings revealed higher task difficulty for the 2-back task due to higher mental demand. Furthermore, a notable interaction emerged between cognitive load and different virtual environments.Research limitations/implicationsThis study relied solely on an n-back task and SIM-TLX self-report measure to assess cognitive load. Future studies should consider including ecologically valid tasks and physiological measurement tools such as eye-tracking to measure cognitive load.Practical implicationsIdentifying cognitive workload sources during VR tasks, especially in complex work environments, is considered beneficial to the application of VR training aimed at improving workplace learning.Originality/valueThis study provides unique insights into measuring cognitive load from various sources as defined by the SIM-TLX sub-scales to investigate the impact of simulated workplace environments.

Factors Affecting Employees’ Intention to Work Through the Metaverse Platform

While the benefits of digital transformation are widely acknowledged, the uptake of Metaverse as a new digital workplace remains limited. This study focused on Self-Determination Theory to examine the factors influencing employees’ intention to use the Metaverse platform for their business within medium and large organisations in Malaysia. The analysis of 295 responses noted that competence and relatedness, and improvements in performance and well-being in the Metaverse platform can significantly enhance employees’ attitudes towards the platform while autonomy does not. The study further revealed that digital competence does not significantly moderate the relationship between employees’ attitudes and their behavioural intentions towards using the Metaverse. These results suggest that organisations should focus on fulfilling the psychological needs of their employees to encourage technology adoption. Thus, this study highlights the importance of addressing human factors when aiming to increase staff engagement and acceptance of the innovative digital workplace. By exploring the importance of employees’ intrinsic motivation factors on the adoption of a specific and current digital platform, the model was thus able to address a novel and practical aspect of technology

Analysis of the Use of I-Nindya Digital Workplace in the Mailing System at PT X

This research was conducted with the aim of finding out the use of the application, the effectiveness of the application, as well as the barriers that occur in using the mailing system in the I-Nindya Digital Workplace application. This research design uses qualitative research with a case study approach to provide a comprehensive overview of the use of the I-Nindya Digital Workplace application in the mailing system. The research sample selection technique uses a non-probability sampling method with a purposive sampling method. Data collection techniques were carried out using several methods, namely observation, interviews and documentation. Meanwhile, data validity techniques were carried out using the triangulation method. The results of this research indicate that the use of I-Nindya Digital Workplace in the correspondence system has not been fully implemented in a systematic manner. The effectiveness of using the I-Nindya Digital Workplace application is effective and quite satisfactory in helping to make correspondence work easier. However, this application has not been used optimally by all human resources in the company. Barriers to using I-Nindya Digital Workplace in the mail system are caused by human resource factors and features in the application. One solution to overcome these barriersis to carry out routine application maintenance. Therefore, it is hoped that the results of this research can provide suggestions and input regarding the use of I-Nindya Digital Workplace in the mailing system for future improvements.

Implementation of mindfulness at work considering digital support: A qualitative study with a systems theory approach

Current research states the benefits of implementing mindfulness within the workplace. In large corporations, financial and personnel resources for a mindfulness-based intervention may exist, but successfully implementing interventions within a corporation may also require changes in the workplace culture as a whole. This study aims to depict the integration of a mindfulness-based intervention in a digitally augmented setting to promote mindfulness in the digital workplace. Because change in an organization cannot be managed one-dimensionally, systems theory is implemented within this study to meet the requirements of a complex system. Interviews with experts working in or with large companies on the topic of mindfulness in new work contexts disclose an integration process. Subsequently, information is extracted from the interviews and the content is qualitatively analyzed to find answers to the research question. Differentiated results from (a) employees’, (b) employers’, and (c) consultants’ perspectives, with information about input (1), throughput (2), and output (3) of a mindfulness-based intervention in the corporate setting were stated, for example, with respect to communication by using the employees’ language as well as internal resources, such as social media and communication platforms. Guidelines for implementing digitally-supported mindfulness at work are derived and discussed.