Virtual Work as a Job Demand? Work Behaviors of Public Servants during Covid-19

Abstract

The study models the abrupt introduction of virtual work during the COVID-19 pandemic as a job demand within the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model. Using survey data from 1,173 public servants collected during the second national lockdown in Germany, we assess the relationships between several job and personal resources with organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), and the relationship between virtual work and counterproductive work behavior (CWB). Additionally, we analyze the moderating role of virtual work for the relationship of resources and OCB, as well as the moderating role of resources for the relationship of virtual work and CWB. Our results show that the direct effects of the resources and the demand for virtual work on workplace behaviors point in the expected direction, while only one out of ten hypothesized interaction effects could be found. These results contribute to theoretical insights about the multiplicative or additive nature of the JD-R model. In addition, virtual work relates positively to both CWB and OCB, which informs the debate about virtual work being a hindrance demand or a positive challenge in the public sector.

Keywords:

• COVID-19
• counterproductive work behavior
• organizational citizenship behavior
• job demands-resources model
• virtual work

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Lena Lenz

Lena Lenz is a research assistant at the chair of Organization and Management at the University of Hamburg. Her research interests are new forms of organizing and behavioral outcomes of new work practices, using quantitative methods.

Fabian Hattke

Fabian Hattke is an Associate Professor for Administration and Organization Theory at the University of Bergen and Lecturer for Organization and Leadership at the University of Hamburg. His current research focuses on the behavioral aspects of bureaucratic organization.

Janne Kalucza

Janne Kalucza was a postdoctoral researcher at the chair of Organization and Management at the University of Hamburg at the time of the research project. Her research focused on bureaucratic red tape, administrative burden, and the digitalization of bureaucratic encounters, as well as new forms of organizing using quantitative methods. Now she works as an IT manager specializing in digital process management.

Friederike Redlbacher

Friederike Redlbacher was as a postdoctoral researcher at the chair of Organization and Management at the University of Hamburg at the time of the research project. Her research focused on agile meetings, interaction dynamics, and collaborative innovation processes, which she explored through case studies using mixed methods. Now she is CEO at Symbolon AG.