An assessment of tendencies toward teleworking using TAMs: lessons from Covid-19 era for post-pandemic days

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJWHM-10-2021-0198
• Published date: 23 September 2022
• Date: 23 September 2022
• Pages: 38-56
• Subject Matter: Health & social care,Healthcare management,HR & organizational behaviour,Human resource policy,Employee welfare
• Author: Hossein Nosratzadeh,Ali Edrisi

An assessment of tendencies

toward teleworking using TAMs:

lessons from Covid-19 era for

post-pandemic days

Hossein Nosratzadeh and Ali Edrisi

K.N. Toosi University of Technology, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Purpose –During the Covid-19 period, when human beings are socially isolated, telework is a viable solution

to safeguard employees’health. Because many employees have never experienced such a working system and

organizations have not planned for it before the pandemic, imposing employees to telework has adversely

affected their productivity and efficiency. This study aims to identify factors affecting individuals’tendency

toward teleworking during the pandemic, which can lead to practical solutions for the post-pandemic era.

Design/methodology/approach –Through the use of technology acceptance models, a conceptual model

was designed. Data used to assess the model were cross-sectional and derived from 229 questionnaires filled

out by employees in Tehran. The AMOS24 software processed the corresponding structural equation model.

Findings –The results from the cross-sectional data indicated that attitude toward telework and perceived

behavioral control over the system were significantly correlated directly with the intention to telework, while

perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use of telework were correlated indirectly. Therefore, the integrated

model predicts behavioral intentions better than single models performed separately.

Originality/value –Psychological and mental health research describing adoption intentions of telework,

particularly those focusing on employees, is still lacking. To the best of the authors’knowledge, this is the first

study in this regard that has used a conceptual model derived from two technology acceptance models during

the Covid-19 outbreak. An era in which the extent of the pandemic has forced employees to experience such

working systems and thus the importance and practicality of teleworking have been more evident to nearly

every individual.

Keywords Telework, Employee behavior, Workplace health management, Structural equation modeling,

Psychosocial health, Behavior change

Paper type Research paper

1. Introduction

On March 11,2020, World Health Organization(WHO) declared theCovid-19 global epidemica

pandemic, stating that prevention of the spread of Covid-19 is paramount (WHO, 2020a).

Countriesinstitutedsocial activityrestrictionsthat vary in severityfrom one country toanother.

In the meantime,governments advised companies to adopt teleworking to reduce the potential

spread of Covid-19 in working environments. Teleworking keeps people on the job while

protectingthem from Covid-19 (Belzunegui-Eraso and Erro-Garc

es, 2020;WHO, 2020b). It has

playeda crucialrole in managing global healthrisks and the economic crisis(Belzunegui-Eraso

and Erro-Garc

es, 2020). However, most companies and organizations have not been prepared

for a pandemic exceptfor the health care sector. The issue also illustrated a considerable gap

between surveillance regulations for teleworking and the teleworkers in many countries,

IJWHM

16,1

38

Besides the authors mentioned, no other individuals contributed to this study.

Conflict of interest: This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the

public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

Availability of data and material: On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that the

raw/processed data required to reproduce these findings cannot be shared at this time as the data also

form part of an ongoing study.

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:

https://www.emerald.com/insight/1753-8351.htm

Received 29 October 2021

Revised 18 May 2022

5 August 2022

4 September 2022

Accepted 5 September 2022

InternationalJournal of Workplace

Health Management

Vol. 16 No. 1, 2023

pp. 38-56

© Emerald Publishing Limited

1753-8351

DOI 10.1108/IJWHM-10-2021-0198

includingIran. In detail, the Iraniangovernment had neglectedteleworkers’well-being, quality

of life and mental health. A survey of UK workers reportedthat the mental health of 18% of

employeeshad been negativelyaffected by actionstaken by their employers.Furthermore,over

25%, having to work from home, said that nothing their employers or colleagues did either

contributedto or enhancedtheir mental healthsince the emergenceof Covid-19 (Franklin, 2020).

Sutartoet al. (2021) also statedthat working from homeduring the pandemiccaused an increase

in the prevalence of depression, anxiety and stress in Indonesia.

With the Covid-19 pandemic looming in the background, it becomes more likely that

people and firms will switch to telework to complement their regular working hours (Hallin,

2020). Yet, the perceptions of teleworking may vary during Covid-19 since it has been actively

encouraged by employers and authorities rather than being chosen freely. Individuals’

perceptions and attitudes are born based on their beliefs, which direct their behaviors (Lee

et al., 2006). Several models explore individuals’intention to use (IU) new systems. These

models are often built based on a theoretical foundation and transitions theories, or generally

behavioral theories, where acceptance and establishment of new information technology (IT)

are known as an attitude (AT), a behavioral intention or behavior, leading to the acceptance of

transitions. For instance, anyone who is willing to study technological acceptance by users

must understand the models for technology acceptation, like the technology acceptance

model (TAM) and theory of planned behavior (TPB) (Chuttur, 2009). It is possible to use the

mentioned models to illustrate the influence of factors like AT, subjective norms (SN) and

perceived usefulness (PU) in a technology’s acceptance by individuals.

The intentions of individuals toward teleworking have been investigated in many studies

using the data for pre-pandemic days. As it is now understood, it has been hard to predict how

significant and influential teleworking could become. However, this research looks at

responses of people who had to or wished to telework while Covid-19 restricted people’s daily

lives. TAM and TPB have been integrated here to discover how employees perceive

teleworking as well as the actions that can be taken to motivate them toward teleworking

during the Covid-19 pandemic. With the integration of the models, we can explore different

influential factors with the full potential of both models. This study focuses on the capital city

of Iran, Tehran, where many people have had to get accustomed to working at home without

any dedicated training or experience and in the absence of standard regulations for

preserving teleworkers’mental health. The profound impact of Covid-19 on people’s lives will

not soon be forgotten. Thus, the results of this research can assist managers and

organizations in administering their offices and workers better in the post-pandemic era. As

far as we know, the current study is the first to describe the adoption intentions of telework

using technology acceptance models in the age of the Covid-19 outbreak. Accordingly, the

authors argue that the findings provide theoretical contributions to the literature and insights

that can be used globally and locally.

2. Literature review

2.1 Teleworking and consequences

The development of IT and public access has transformed most human activities and

behaviors, and people often do their daily routines on the Internet. Accordingly, people

started to exploit these facilities optimally and replace the traditional methods with new ones.

For example, over the last few years, online shopping has gained tremendous popularity,

received significant attention worldwide and thus caused reduced visits to shopping malls

(Edrisi and Ganjipour, 2017). Another example would be the transition to teleworking, which

has replaced traditional working practices. The idea of “telework”was introduced by Nilles in

1976, and the details of teleworking were studied extensively later. Recently, increased traffic

levels have adversely influenced the quality of life, well-being and economic productivity

Assessment of

tendencies

toward

teleworking

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