A Closer Look into Remote Work: Examining Resources within Remote Work Arrangements with Outcomes of Job Performance and Work-Family Conflict

Remote work has become a popular topic within organizations and the popular press. However, academic research has been inconclusive as to whether remote work is related to benefits of increased job performance and lessened work-family conflict. This study examined remote work resources to gain an in-depth understanding of how remote work relates to job performance and work-family conflict. One hundred fifty-one salespeople participated in two time-lagged surveys regarding remote work resources (autonomy, feedback, access to information and interaction with one’s supervisor), outcomes (subjective and objective job performance and work family-conflict) and demographics. Remote work resources were not significantly related to job performance. Contrary to hypotheses, more control over work schedule and control over work process were related to more FIW. In support of hypotheses, more interaction with one’s supervisor was related to less FIW and more access to information was related to less WIF. There was no support for hypothesized mediation or moderation but exploratory analyses revealed that proactive personality moderated the relationship between interaction with one’s supervisor and objective job performance such that the relationship was stronger for less proactive employees than for more proactive employees. Overall, findings support the value of fine-grained analysis of remote work’s resources to provide a nuanced look into their relationships with outcomes