The effects of the COVID-19 ‘lockdown’ on teaching and engagement in UK business schools

The global outbreak of COVID-19 led to a rapid shift to Working from Home (WFH). In universities and other parts of the education sector, on-line teaching and assessment become mandatory. We use research from a representative large-scale (n = 2,287) survey of business, management and economics academics in the UK to examine how prior on-line experience, learning during the ‘lockdown’, and work engagement, impacted their perceptions of on-line education. Results show that: (1) experience of on-line activity prior to the lockdown was substantially positively related to perceptions of working virtually, though perceptions differed by seniority; (2) experience of working on-line during lockdown did not enhance academic’s views of on-line delivery or any bias against on-line delivery, but it did increase positive attitudes towards on-line marking; (3) those able to maintain mental resilience and energy are considerably more likely to perceive on-line activity positively; but being more ‘dedicated’ or more ‘ensconced in work’ did not play a role. We explore the implications of these findings for the future of on-line work