Required to work from home: examining transitions to digital communication channels during the COVID-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT

This study examined how the COVID-19 pandemic and related work-from-home (WFH) mandates impacted the use of computer-mediated communication (CMC) channels in the workplace and how the use of CMC channels influenced the perceived quality of supervisory relationships. A survey was administered during spring 2020 to a sample of U.S. employees required to work remotely due to COVID-19. The findings indicated a significant relationship between the use of text messaging and rapport, a signal that the building or maintaining of interpersonal rapport in today’s workplace may require more personal (and less formal/traditional) channels of communication. The results also revealed that employees with higher levels of CMC apprehension had lower rapport with their supervisors. The findings have implications for organizations that may have moved (or will move) to more remote work settings, and suggestions are offered for mitigating the impact of CMC-only interactions on supervisory relationships.

KEYWORDS:

• COVID-19
• organizational communication
• communication management
• computer-mediated communication
• social information processing theory

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Rory McGloin

Rory McGloin, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Connecticut. His current work is focused on improving communication skills through organizational training and development programs. Rory is also interested in the process of developing communication skills amongst individuals participating in entrepreneurial accelerator programs.

Amanda Coletti

Amanda Coletti is a doctoral student in the Department of Communication at the University of Connecticut. Her research interests include science communication, training and development, and narrative storytelling. Amanda also has experience programming and delivering storytelling workshops related to developing science communication skills.

Emily Hamlin

Emily Hamlin is a doctoral student in the Communication Ph.D. program in the Department of Communication at the University of Connecticut. Her research interests include organizational communication, particularly relational development in workplace environments. Emily also has experience collecting data on the effectiveness of organizational training and development workshops.

Amanda Denes

Amanda Denes Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Connecticut. Her research focuses on communication in various types of interpersonal relationships, such as the association between communication in interpersonal relationships and people’s physiological, psychological, and relational health.