Virtual Workplace Research Articles

Teams in the Digital Workplace: Technology’s Role for Communication, Collaboration, and Performance

This paper addresses the need for theoretical advancements in understanding team processes and the impact of technology on teams. Specifically, it examines the use of digital collaboration technologies by organizational teams and their effect on team communication and collaboration. Using the concept of affordances as a theoretical lens, the paper explores the potential relationships between technology affordances and essential team processes. It also provides an agenda for future research on social technologies and teams as well as novel methodological approaches for better understanding the ways in which digital technologies are affecting team processes and performance in the workplace.

Informal learning from dealing with software-related problems in the digital workplace

PurposeThis paper aims to examine the impact of problem-solving activities, emotional experiences and contextual and personal factors on learning from dealing with software-related problems in everyday office work.Design/methodology/approachTo measure the use of problem-solving activities, emotional experiences and the contextual factors of problem characteristics and learning in situ, a research diary was used. To measure team psychological safety (contextual factor) and personal factors, including the Big Five personality traits, occupational self-efficacy and technology self-efficacy, the authors administered a self-report questionnaire. In sum, 48 students from a software company in Germany recorded 240 diary entries during five working days. The data was analysed using multilevel analysis.FindingsResults revealed that asking others and using information from the internet are positive predictors of self-perceived learning from a software-related problem, while experimenting, which was the most common activity, had a negative effect on learning. Guilt about the problem was positively related to learning while working in the office (as opposed to remote work), and feeling irritated/annoyed/angry showed a negative effect. Surprisingly, psychological safety had a negative effect on perceived learning.Research limitations/implicationsMajor limitations of the study concern the convenience sample and the disregard for the sequence of the activities.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the limited empirical evidence on employees’ problem-solving activities and informal workplace learning in the software context. To overcome the shortcomings of previous studies using retrospective assessments and in-lab observations, this study uses the diary method to investigate in situ.

Dynamics of Task Conflict for Employees in the Virtual Workplace: Moderating Role of Relationship Conflict and Mediating Role of Team Mindfulness

In the modern-day workplace, conflicts among team members are often observeddue to multiple reasons. Therefore, it is important to study the different aspects associatedwith conflict dynamics. For this research study, the sample was selected from organizationsenabled by information and communication technology, where employees are virtually connected. As a result, this research becomes particularly relevant in post-COVID-19 scenarios.SPSS version 23 was employed for moderation and mediation analyses using the Process Macro developed by Preacher and Hayes (version 3.3). Additionally, linear regression analysis was conducted. The statistical tests demonstrated a significant direct effect of task conflict on the outcome variables, as well as the indirect effects of moderating and mediatingvariables. The moderating variable of relationship conflict had a significant impact on bothtask conflict and team mindfulness. The direct association of task conflict was also assessedusing simple linear regression analysis in SPSS. This research explored a novel relationshipamong variables in virtual and digital organizations, where psychological contract breachessometimes also contribute to conflict dynamics. Thus, the study has investigated this phenomenon from the overarching theoretical perspective of mindfulness theory. Valuable recommendations have been provided for future researchers based on the insights derived from this research.

Workplace Fear of Missing Out and Telepressure: How Digital Workplace Challenges Contribute to Employee Burnout?

Information and communication Technologies (ICT) have significantly changed the workplace environment. The rise of remote work and online business processes, especially in the post-pandemic period, has blurred the boundary between work and life balance for many employees, especially academics. The need to respond quickly to messages, e-mails, and work using information and communication technologies has led to an increase in Workplace Telepressure on academics. Increasing demand for information and networks to mitigate the impact of telepressure has led to an increase in workplace FOMO. These two sources of stress have contributed to the burnout experienced by academicians. In this study, the relationship between academicians' WPT, WFOMO, and burnout levels was examined. Data were collected from 286 academicians working in public and private universities using the convenience sampling method. The data were analyzed using SPSS 22 and Smart PLS 4 programs. The study results reveal that the Workplace Telepressure (WPT) levels of academicians have a significant effect on Burnout and Workplace-Fear of Missing Out (WFOMO). Additionally, WFOMO acts as a mediator role in the relationship between WPT and Burnout. These findings expand the existing literature on WPT and WFOMO, two emerging stress factors in the workplace, and provide recommendations for managers and policymakers.

Exploring how brain health strategy training informs the future of work.

The workplace typically affords one of the longest periods for continued brain health growth. Brain health is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as the promotion of optimal brain development, cognitive health, and well-being across the life course, which we expanded to also include connectedness to people and purpose. This work was motivated by prior work showing individuals, outside of an aggregate setting, benefitted from training as measured by significant performance gains on a holistic BrainHealth Index and its factors (i.e., clarity, connectedness, emotional balance). The current research was conducted during the changing remote work practices emerging post-pandemic to test whether a capacity-building training would be associated with significant gains on measures of brain health and components of burnout. The study also tested the influence of utilization of training modules and days in office for individuals to inform workplace practices. We investigated whether 193 individuals across a firm's sites would improve on measures of brain health and burnout from micro-delivery of online tactical brain health strategies, combined with two individualized coaching sessions, and practical exercises related to work and personal life, over a six-month period. Brain health was measured using an evidenced-based measure (BrainHealth™ Index) with its components (clarity, connectedness, emotional balance) consistent with the WHO definition. Burnout was measured using the Maslach Burnout Inventory Human Services Survey. Days in office were determined by access to digital workplace applications from the firm's network. Regression analyses were used to assess relationships between change in BrainHealth factors and change in components of the Maslach Burnout Inventory. Results at posttest indicated that 75% of the individuals showed gains on a composite BrainHealth Index and across all three composite factors contributing to brain health. Benefits were directly tied to training utilization such that those who completed the core modules showed the greatest gains. The current results also found an association between gains on both the connectedness and emotional balance brain health factors and reduced on burnout components of occupational exhaustion and depersonalization towards one's workplace. We found that fewer days in the office were associated with greater gains in the clarity factor, but not for connectedness and emotional balance. These results support the value of a proactive, capacity-building training to benefit all employees to complement the more widespread limited offerings that address a smaller segment who need mental illness assistance programs. The future of work may be informed by corporate investment in focused efforts to boost collective brain capital through a human-centered, capacity-building approach. Efforts are underway to uncover the value of better brain health, i.e., Brainomics© - which includes economic, societal, and individual benefits.

Improving the Research Desktop Experience for OpenStack VDI

Using virtual machines with dedicated rendering and remote access capabilities, virtual workplaces for various usecases can be created, and then accessed from anywhere at any time. If this is to happen on a large scale in the cloud, so-called VDI for the dynamic provision of virtual desktops play an increasingly important role. A sustainable VDI should be freely available to everyone for modification and redistribution at no cost, be scalable, and should support various desktop use cases with different resource requirements. Some use cases involve hundreds of similar VM running in parallel, which requires proper resource planning.

Digital workplace: A conceptual model for better performance in the IT industry

BACKGROUND: Designing the future workplace as flexible and location independent is one of the actions every leader can take for better performance at individual or organizational levels. OBJECTIVE: The study aims to provide a deep understanding of the concept of a digital workplace, identifies its key components/digital tools from selected IT companies, create a digital workplace as a conceptual model and analyze how it (DWP) impacts the performance of the organization and its employees in the IT industry. METHODS: The survey was conducted through a structured questionnaire from 500 IT employees of the top 15 IT software service companies in Bengaluru. The percentage method was adopted to analyze the data to create a proposed conceptual model. RESULTS: The digital workplace, a conceptual model, was created based on the literature reviewed and the data collected from respondents of IT companies. The conceptual model included Digital workplace, Employees Efficiency, Engagement, Digital Competency, Employee, and organizational performance. The results showed that the digital workplace has a strong relationship with major digital components, which positively impact the organization’s performance in the IT industry. CONCLUSIONS: The proposed conceptual model showed how the digital workplace and other factors impact the organisation’s performance in the IT industry.

A Human Factors Approach to Improve Layout Design for A Virtual Reality-based Training Platform

In manufacturing industries, equipment arrangement, and layout design are critical factors that directly influence productivity, workplace safety, and workers’ performance. Link analysis, as a human factors approach, has been widely used in industries for many years to improve layout design and machinery arrangement. This approach considers humans' physical and cognitive capabilities and movement limitations to find an optimal design. Virtual reality significantly impacts our society from product design to worker training. Hence, effective virtual training platforms require the same attention to layout design as manufacturing work settings which offer efficient testing of multiple layouts. This research focuses on developing a virtual 3D printing laboratory for workforce training and has used a link analysis and user perception study to improve the layout of the virtual workplace. The research demonstrates the importance of layout design in virtual training platforms and the potential benefits of utilizing link analysis in optimizing layout design.

Evidence-based recommendations for recorded-meetings policies

Recordings of virtual meetings have become a common part of virtual and hybrid workplace environments. Meeting recordings offer potential benefits (e.g., speedy transcript production, expedited information sharing, searchable information, inclusion of visual and tonal expressions) and drawbacks (e.g., difficulty discussing sensitive issues, employee privacy, limited off-the-record capabilities, and employee concerns over sharing recordings). Given this variance, policies for virtual meetings are a necessity. Managers can successfully implement a policy by cocreating policy preferences with employees in open-ended and nonjudgmental conversations that openly discuss potential benefits, drawbacks, and employee concerns. Topics such as when to record, when not to record, how to gain consent, and who will have administrative and sharing rights should be covered. Areas of less urgency that may yet be part of these discussions include accessibility concerns, the use or rejection of software features, where and for how long meeting recordings should be stored, and such emerging issues as the use of virtual reality and AI tools. Managers should deliver policy preferences to a group of representatives from Human Resources, Information Technology, and the executive team to compose the policy, request a legal review, and to introduce and implement it in the organization.

Employee Identification with Digital Workplace Platforms and Employee Engagement

Employee Identification with Digital Workplace Platforms and Employee Engagement

Digital workplace health promotion: a pilot study during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in Germany

PurposePreventing diseases and promoting health is most effective in large settings like the workplace. Digital workplace health promotion (DWHP) became more popular during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. While e-health appliances have received research interest, little is known regarding the target populations' perspective on and potentials of the DWPH.Design/methodology/approachAn online pilot study was done in Germany in June 2021. The study is representative regarding age, gender and education. The user perspective on DWHP was investigated using 12 quantitative and 2 qualitative items.FindingsThe majority of the 690 participants perceives DWHP as valid long-term addition to regular workplace health promotion. Nearly 55.7% use DWHP when available, but most (65.4%) do not use these offers more than regular ones. Spontaneous participation is relevant for about 55%. Problems occur due to technical equipment (29.4%) and premises (36.3%). Open remarks highlight specifics to be observed in offer design, for example, data security issues.Research limitations/implicationsTo conclude, DWHP has a high potential to improve health at the workplace initiatives regarding participation rates, outcomes and costs. Challenges can be overcome by ensuring data protection and skills, which can be transferred to other life domains, improving population health. The potentials of DWHP for population health via spillover effects, employee well-being and employer branding have not yet been reached.Originality/valueThe aim of this study is giving a first overview of employee views on and use of DWHP.

Workarounds and shadow IT – balancing innovation and risk

A significant amount of research has been carried out into the way in which employees use workarounds and shadow IT to cope with the complexity of enterprise applications. There is a similar situation in the use of clinical record applications. However neither qualitative or quantitative survey techniques give any indication of the scale of the adoption of workarounds. In both enterprise and clinical settings workarounds can either introduce a substantial element of corporate risk or provide a basis for process innovation. The research that has been carried out primarily focuses on data-rich processes and little attention has been given to workarounds in a digital workplace where the processes may be significantly more complex that in enterprise data processes

Protecting the Gender Rights of Healthcare Professionals in the Digital Workplace

<p>數位科技發展迅速，增加民眾生活的便利性、擴展資訊與學習的無限性、縮短人際互動距離、豐富生活，物聯網或科技裝置於醫療場域及照護器材的使用更是日益普及。然而，數位科技及網路的發達，也使有心人藉由網路、資訊媒介或數位環境而產生的網路跟蹤、監視、騷擾、蒐集、窺視、貶抑、威脅等新興性別暴力樣態多元、層出不窮，對隱私權、人身安全造成巨大衝擊、傷害，更對社會產生廣泛的影響。在醫療照護場域中，因疾病、創傷等需要被照護者，受專業醫療或護理人員之專業悉心照護後而心生敬慕、追求甚或追蹤騷擾之案件並非少見，尤其醫護照護體系現仍以女性為多的情形下，認識數位網路科技帶來的性別暴力議題、維護醫護人員職場及生活中性平權益、專業尊嚴，實值重視，亦是醫護職場安全的重要指標之一。</p> <p> </p><p>The rapid advancement of digital technology has increased the convenience of people’s daily living, expanded the possibilities of information and learning, shortened the distance between people in interpersonal interactions, and enriched people’s lives. The Internet of Things and technological devices have been increasingly applied in medical settings and equipment. However, people with bad intentions have inflicted various forms of gender-based violence using Internet, media, or digital environment, including cyberstalking, monitoring, harassment, collecting personal information, voyeurism, disparagement, and threatening, causing serious damage to privacy and personal safety and affecting society broadly.Incidents of patients admiring, pursuing, or even stalking and harassing healthcare professionals after receiving their care are not uncommon, particularly under the circumstance that most nursing professionals are women. Understanding the issues of gender-based violence brought about by digital and Internet technologies and safeguarding the gender equality and dignity of healthcare professionals at work and in life are critical for maintaining the safety of healthcare workplaces.</p> <p> </p>

Digital Workplace Skills: Designing the Integrated Learning of Accounting and Microsoft Excel

The ubiquitous use of Microsoft Excel among accountants has resulted in calls for students to become capable in its use to enhance their success when entering the accountancy profession. The objective of this paper is to investigate if, and how, an integrated learning approach can be designed to develop accounting students’ Microsoft Excel skills as part of their learning experience within first-year financial accounting modules. The study deployed a design-based research (DBR) methodology, an emerging approach in accounting education. The study involved 68 first-year accounting undergraduates in the participatory design of a blended learning intervention across three design iterations, including integrated learning of financial accounting and Microsoft Excel. The results demonstrate that perceived Microsoft Excel skill levels among participants improved as a result of the intervention, coupled with an expression of high confidence levels in use of the software. The students valued the authentic learning experience obtained and felt it would benefit them in future employment. The research findings provide guidance to accounting educators wishing to augment their students’ understanding with digital workplace skills and competency.

Exploring Neighborhood Differences in Bicycling Accessibility to Physical and Virtual Workplaces

Health concerns brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic, coupled with technological advancements over the past two decades have altered the traditional workplace setting. Some professionals in the tertiary and quaternary economic sectors have grown accustomed to virtual working environments, whereas others, including essential workers, have experienced less flexibility in this regard and continue to commute to physical work settings. During the pandemic, residents of underresourced communities, who were more likely to adopt lower-cost shared-use travel modes and would have benefited from good access to high-quality bicycling infrastructure, embodied a greater share of the nonhealthcare workforce who was required to commute to a physical work setting. This circumstance highlighted a need for research that examines bicycling accessibility to workplaces distinguished by telework potential, with a hypothesis that underresourced communities with more limited mobility options have poorer bicycling access to traditional workplace settings. In response, this study, which describes the application of a novel bicyclist routing algorithm, investigated how these differences in job accessibility relate to variations in the social context of neighborhoods where bicyclist commute trips originate, and the level of traffic stress incurred by a current or prospective bicyclist along modeled routes in Flagstaff, AZ. Study findings, which in part confirmed its hypothesis while also noting a latent demand for bicycling to physical workplaces along low-stress facilities, offer unique insights into how the changing nature of work should be accounted for as active transportation planners and policy makers seek to provide safer and more robust bicycle networks to their diverse communities.

Metaverse in the Virtual Workplace

The emergence of digital technologies has significantly transformed the workplace by enhancing productivity and improving employee wellbeing. One of the latest technological advancements in the workplace is the metaverse, which has tremendous potential to facilitate collaboration in virtual teams. In this study, we conducted a comprehensive bibliometric analysis to identify core research themes on applying metaverse in the workplace. Our findings reveal core themes, including an avatar, computer graphics, immersion, virtual world and virtual reality. We also developed a theoretical and conceptual framework to define a metaverse in the workplace, which includes individual, team and organizational factors as well as contextual moderators that influence its implementation. Finally, we propose a definition of a metaverse in the workplace as a 3D virtual immersive environment where employees interact with each other using their avatar identities, perform work tasks, and have autonomy and opportunities for creativity. Our study contributes to the growing body of research on the practical applications of a metaverse in the workplace. It highlights the importance of considering various factors for its successful implementation.

Research on the Path of Improving Digital Literacy of Teachers in Vocational Colleges

Digital Literacy of Teachers is an important condition to realize the high-quality development of vocational education, and also the key to improve the quality of talent training, which determines the professional qualification and core competitiveness of students in the future digital workplace. Higher vocational colleges should build a big data platform, strengthen the intelligent management of education and teaching work, improve the behavior supervision of digital literacy, form a collaborative governance system and sustainable development ecology, and help improve Digital Literacy of Teachers.

Building a digital workplace in the era of industry 4.0 and the digital economy

In the era of technological disruption or better known as the industrial era 4.0, the transformation of corporate change has become a permanent feature of organizational management. Rapid technological developments trigger technological disruptions plus the COVID 19 pandemic has doubled the disruption effect, making companies rely more on data and information processing systems for their business interests. Using IT to challenge companies to become more sophisticated is "best practice" for organizational change management. Companies are required to be more sensitive to corporate culture and become better after the transformation of change. one of the concerns of the company in the transformation of change is the digital workplace, where the digital workplace is more than a physical workplace, but also includes a work environment and work situation that is very flexible and utilizes technological innovation to create good work productivity. The digital workplace creates a “smart” work environment that provides more flexibility and autonomy so that employees can manage their tasks and collaborate using technological resources regardless of time and place restrictions. This article will discuss in detail how to build a Digital Workplace in the Industrial Age 4.0 and the Digital Economy. Coherently this paper will discuss the main things in building a digital workplace, including: (1). Challenges in introducing digital work, (2). Digital workplace transformation with two sides of the New Ways of Working (NWW). (3). Digital workplace transformation with a reduced – deinstitutionalized logic approach. (4). The dark side of the digital workplace and the hope of reducing the side effects of the digital workplace (5). The digital workplace and company performance

Towards Metaverse: Utilizing Extended Reality and Digital Twins to Control Robotic Systems

Digitalization shapes the ways of learning, working, and entertainment. The Internet, which enables us to connect and socialize is evolving to become the metaverse, a post-reality universe, enabling virtual life parallel to reality. In addition to gaming and entertainment, industry and academia have noticed the metaverse’s benefits and possibilities. For industry, the metaverse is the enabler of the future digital workplace, and for academia, digital learning spaces enable realistic virtual training environments. A connection bridging the virtual world with physical production systems is required to enable digital workplaces and digital learning spaces. In this publication, extended reality–digital twin to real use cases are presented. The presented use cases utilize extended reality as high-level user interfaces and digital twins to create a bridge between virtual environments and robotic systems in industry, academia, and underwater exploration.

Credibility and trust of information privacy at the workplace in Slovakia. The use of intuition

PurposeEmployees may feel overwhelmed with information privacy choices and have difficulties understanding what they are committing to in the digital workplace. This paper aims to analyze the role of different thinking styles for effort reduction, such as the use of intuition, when employees make decisions about the credibility and trustworthiness of workplace information privacy issues in Slovakia. While the General Data Protection Regulation sets precise requirements for valid consent, organizations are classified as data controllers and are subject to credibility judgments by their employees.Design/methodology/approachData was collected from 230 employees in Slovakia using a survey questionnaire. Quantitative analysis using SPSS was conducted to describe employees thinking preferences when judging the credibility of information privacy in their organizations.FindingsThe survey participants revealed their perceived credibility and trust in personal data protection and thinking preferences. Unconscious thinking is the type of effort reduction often reported by participants, who perceive high credibility and trust in personal data protection. This study can help managers and data controllers in small- and medium-sized enterprises in reflecting about the way in which people use different thinking processes for decision-making about information privacy in their organizations.Research limitations/implicationsThis study set out to explore how decision-making processes at the workplace relate to credibility of data practices. Focusing on the use of different types of intuition, the authors explored whether the preference for a specific decision-making style can explain the perceived credibility of data practices. The part of the workforce in the sample did not have a strict predisposition to use either intuitive or rational thinking.Practical implicationsThe contribution provides scholars with an overview of the field of intuition, a field that is likely to grow given the challenges of digitalization for organizations, such as shitstorms, cyberattacks and whistleblowing.Originality/valueThe most well-known concepts from intuition research, e.g. the dual process theory, and practice are tested simultaneously, therewith contributing to the applied literature on domain-specific preferences for intuition and deliberation in decision-making.