Framing smart working in the Covid-19 era: a data driven approach
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.19245/25.05.OF.13.05.22Keywords:
smart working, Covid-19, data-driven approach, Twitter, Organizational design, Human Resources ManagementAbstract
In the last years, smart working has been introduced as an agile and dynamic way of working which provides high levels of performance, productivity, and job satisfaction in a “triple-win” configuration for customers, employees, and organizations. Although the advantages and disadvantages related to these new working practices have been recognized by the literature, how these new work practices, widely adopted during the Covid-19 pandemic, have been generally perceived on a massive scale is still unclear. Based on these considerations, this work aims to carry out a big data analysis in order to frame the collective perception about smart working. A large-scale text analytics study has been conducted on Twitter from January to June 2021. The data-driven approach identified the most frequently used macro-concepts about smart working by Twitter’s users: five perceived in a positive way (smartness, work-life balance, flexible approach, productivity, innovative working environment) and five perceived negatively (tech paralysis, technostress, technology hiccups, demotivation, social isolation). In this sense, the study offers several insights by generating useful implications for researchers and professionals both in the organizational design and psychological and Human Resources Management field.
References
Adams, R. J., Smart, P., Huff, A. S. (2017) “Shades of grey: guidelines for working with the grey literature in systematic reviews for management and organizational studies” International Journal of Management Reviews, 19(4): 432-454.
Ales, E., Curzi, Y., Fabbri, T., Rymkevich, O., Senatori, I., Solinas, G. (2018) Working in digital and smart organizations. Legal, economic and organizational perspectives on the digitalization of labour relations, Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.
Allen, T.D., Golden, T.D., Shockley, K.M. (2015) “How effective is telecommuting? Assessing the status of our scientific findings” Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 16(2): 40-68.
Alvesson, M., Kärreman, D. (2011) “Decolonializing discourse: Critical reflections on organizational discourse analysis.”Human relations, 64(9): 1121-1146.
Antoni, C. (2005) “Management by objectives–an effective tool for teamwork?” The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 16(2): 174-184.
Armenia, S., & Loia, F. (2022). Integrating Big Data Analytics, Systems Thinking and Viable Systems Approach Towards a Shift from Individual to Collective Intelligence and Collective Knowledge Systems. puntOorg International Journal, 7(1): 62-83.
Banda, J.M., Tekumalla, R., Wang, G., Yu, J., Liu, T., Ding, Y., Artemova, E., Tutubalina, E., Balsmeier, B., Woerter, M. (2019) “Is this time different? How digitalization influences job creation and destruction” Research policy, 48(8), 103765.
Barile, S., Polese, F. (2010) “Smart service systems and viable service systems: Applying systems theory to service science” Service Science, 2(1-2): 21-40.
Barley, S. R., Meyerson, D. E., Grodal, S. (2011) “E-mail as a source and symbol of stress” Organization Science, 22(4): 887-906.
Bednar, P.M., Welch, C. (2020) “Socio-technical perspectives on smart working: Creating meaningful and sustainable systems” Information Systems Frontiers, 22(2): 281-298.
Boorsma, B., Mitchell, S. (2011). Work-Life Innovation, Smart Work Life_Innovation_Smart_Work-pdf. Paradigm Shift Transforming: How, Where, and When Work Gets Done, San Jose, Cisco Internet Business Solutions Group (IBSG). Online at https://www.cisco.com/web/about/ac79/docs/ps/Work (accessed on 19 November 2021).
Boyer, R.H., Peterson, N.D., Arora, P. Caldwell, K. (2016) “Five approaches to social sustainability and an integrated way forward” Sustainability, 8(9): 878.
Bruns, A., Liang, Y.E. (2012) “Tools and Methods for Capturing Twitter Data during Natural Disasters” First Monday, 17(4): 1-8.
Bucea-Manea-Țoniş, R., Prokop, V., Ilic, D., Gurgu, E., Bucea-Manea-Țoniş, R., Braicu, C., Moanță, A. (2021) “The Relationship between Eco-Innovation and Smart Working as Support for Sustainable Management” Sustainability, 13(3): 1437.
Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development – CIPD (2008) Smart working, The impact of work organization and job design, London: Research insight.
Chen, H.T. (2015) 2nd ed., Practical program evaluation: Theory-driven evaluation and the integrated evaluation perspective, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Chowell, G. (2021) “A large-scale COVID-19 Twitter chatter dataset for open scientific research - an international collaboration” Epidemiologia, 2(3): 315-324.
Comacchio, A. (2021) “The Transformation of Work in the COVID-19 Era” puntOorg International Journal, 6(2): 87-98.
Conger, K. (2020) Facebook Starts Planning for Permanent Remote Workers on line at https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/21/technology/facebook-remote-work-coronavirus.html (accessed on 19 November 2021).
de Leede, J., Heuver, P. (2016) “New ways of working and leadership: an empirical study in the service industry”, In New Ways of Working Practices Advanced Series in Management, Vol. 16, pp. 49-71, Bingley, UK: Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
Deloitte (2018) The connected worker Charging up the business services workforce, London: Deloitte LLP.
Diamond, F. (2021) Goodbye to January 2021, COVID-19’s Worst Month (So Far). on line at https://www.infectioncontroltoday.com/view/goodbye-to-january-2021-covid-19-s-worst-month-so-far- (accessed on 19 November 2021).
Dominguez, A. (2017) Do you know what smart working is? online at https://ehorus.com/ smart-working/ (accessed on 19 November 2021).
Errichiello, L., Pianese, T. (2019) “Toward a theory on workplaces for smart workers” Facilities (3/4): 298-315.
Estrada, S. (2020) Google extends telework option until summer 2021 on line at https://www.hrdive.com/news/google-telework-option-until-summer-2021/582784/ (accessed on 10 November 2021).
Faldetta, G., Frigotto, M.L., Lazazzara, A., Marchiori, M., Iacono, M.P, Scapolan, A.C. (2021) “Digital Technologies within and beyond the Workplace: Impacts, Ambiguities, and Transformative Trends” puntOorg International Journal, 6(2): 81-86.
Festa, G., Rossi, M., Kolte, A., & Situm, M. (2020). Territory-based knowledge management in international marketing processes–the case of “Made in Italy” SMEs. European Business Review, 32(3): 425-442.
Gajendran, R. S., Harrison, D. A. (2007) “The good, the bad, and the unknown about telecommuting: meta-analysis of psychological mediators and individual consequences” Journal of applied psychology, 92(6): 1524.
Gastaldi, L., Corso, M., Raguseo, E., Neirotti, P., Paolucci, E., Martini, A. (2014, September). Smart working: Rethinking work practices to leverage employees’ innovation potential. In Proceedings of the 15th International CINet Conference (100).
Hamel, G. (2007) The future of management, Cambridge: Harvard Business School Press.
Hill, E. J., Hawkins, A. J., Ferris, M., Weitzman, M. (2001) “Finding an extra day a week: The positive influence of perceived job flexibility on work and family life balance” Family relations, 50(1): 49-58.
HM Government (UK) (2015) PAS 3000:2015. ICS 03.100.01 Committee ZZ/3, Smart Working Code of Practice, 30 November 2015, BSI.
Hu, R. (2020) “COVID-19, smart work, and collaborative space: A crisis-opportunity perspective” Journal of Urban Management, 9(3): 276-280.
Iannotta, M., Meret, C., Marchetti, G. (2020) “Defining leadership in smart working contexts: a concept synthesis” Frontiers in Psychology, 11: 2448.
ILO (2021) Smart working to maintain workers’ mental health for business continuity in time of the pandemic on line at https://www.ilo.org/jakarta/info/public/pr/WCMS_819614/lang--en/index.htm (accessed on 19 November 2021).
Kane, G. C., Palmer, D., Phillips, A. N., Kiron, D. (2015) “Is your business ready for a digital future?” MIT Sloan management review, 56(4): 37.
Király, O., Potenza, M.N., Stein, D.J., King, D.L., Hodgins, D.C., Saunders, J. B., Demetrovics, Z. (2020) “Preventing problematic internet use during the COVID-19 pandemic: Consensus guidance” Comprehensive Psychiatry, 100: 152180.
Kirimtat, A., Krejcar, O., Kertesz, A., Tasgetiren, M.F. (2020) “Future trends and current state of smart city concepts: A survey” IEEE Access, 8: 86448-86467.
Kylili, A., Afxentiou, N., Georgiou, L., Panteli, C., Morsink-Georgalli, P. Z., Panayidou (2020) “The role of remote working in smart cities: Lessons learnt from COVID-19 pandemic” Energy Sources, Part A: Recovery, Utilization, and Environmental Effects, 1-16.
Lake, A. (2013) The Way We Work. A Guide to Smart Working in Government HM Government, Efficienty and Reform Group Service Desk
Lee, J., Davari, H., Singh, J., Pandhare, V. (2018) “Industrial Artificial Intelligence for industry 4.0-based manufacturing systems” Manufacturing letters, 18: 20-23.
Loia, F., Adinolfi, P. (2021) “Teleworking as an Eco-Innovation for Sustainable Development: Assessing Collective Perceptions during COVID-19” Sustainability, 13(9): 4823.
López-Igual, P., Rodríguez-Modroño, P. (2020) “Who is teleworking and where from? Exploring the main determinants of telework in Europe” Sustainability, 12(21): 8797.
Lwin, M.O., Lu, J., Sheldenkar, A., Schulz, P.J., Shin, W., Gupta, R., Yang, Y. (2020) “Global sentiments surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic on Twitter: analysis of Twitter trends” JMIR public health and surveillance, 6(2):19447.
Mari, E., Lausi, G., Fraschetti, A., Pizzo, A., Baldi, M., Quaglieri, A., Giannini, A.M. (2021) “Teaching during the Pandemic: A Comparison in Psychological Wellbeing among Smart Working Professions” Sustainability, 13(9): 4850.
Mascagna, F., Izzo, A.L., Cozzoli, L.F., La Torre, G. (2019) “Smart working: validation of a questionnaire in the Italian reality” Senses and Sciences, 6(3): 805-827.
McEwan, A.M. (2016) Smart working: Creating the next wave, Florida, USA: CRC Press.
Moretti, A., Menna, F., Aulicino, M., Paoletta, M., Liguori, S., Iolascon, G. (2020) “Characterization of home working population during COVID-19 emergency: a cross-sectional analysis” International journal of environmental research and public health, 17(17): 6284.
Mubaroq, S.R., Abdullah, A.G., Setiawan, A. G. U. S. (2020) “The evolution of smart working and sustainability in socio-technical perspective: a scientometrics technology analysis” Journal of Engineering Science and Technology, 15(3): 1868-1882.
Murmura, F., Bravi, L. (2021) “Digitization and Sustainability: Smart Working as an ICT Tool to Improve the Sustainable Performance of Companies
During the Covid-19 Pandemic” Digital Transformation in Industry, 44: 97-108.
Orlikowski, W. J. (2007) “Sociomaterial practices: Exploring technology at work” Organization studies, 28(9), 1435-1448.
Pahurkar, R. N., Nair, J., & Kolte, A. (2019). Measuring the impact of learning organization on employee retention, competitive advantage and financial performance in the BPO industry. International Journal of Recent Technology and Engineering, 8(3); 546-553.
Podsakoff, P.M., MacKenzie, S.B., Bachrach, D.G., Podsakoff, N.P. (2005) “The influence of management journals in the 1980’s and 1990’s” Strategic Management Journal, 26: 473-488
Rahman, M., Isa, C.R., Tu, TT. (2020) “A bibliometric analysis of socially responsible investment sukuk literature”Asian Journal of Sustainability and Social Responsibility, 5(7): 1-17.
Robelski, S., Keller, H., Harth, V., Mache S. (2019) “Coworking Spaces: The Better Home Office?” A Psychosocial and Health-Related Perspective on an Emerging Work Environment, 16(13): 2379.
Rodgers, R., Hunter, J. E. (1992) “A foundation of good management practice in government: Management by objectives” Public Administration Review, 27-39.
Rudolph, C. W., Allan, B., Clark, M., Hertel, G., Hirschi, A., Kunze, F., Zacher, H. (2021) “Pandemics: Implications for research and practice in industrial and organizational psychology” Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 14(1-2): 1-35.
Rufai, S.R., Bunce, C. (2020) “World leaders’ usage of Twitter in response to the COVID-19 pandemic: a content analysis” Journal of public health, 42(3): 510-516.
Sarti, D., Torre, T. (2017) “Is Smart Working a Win-Win Solution? First Evidence from the Field” Well-being at and through Work, 9: 231-254.
Shahi, G.K., Dirkson, A., Majchrzak, T.A. (2021) “An exploratory study of covid-19 misinformation on twitter” Online social networks and media, 22: 100104.
Siegl, A. (2021) Remote Working Skills: Empirical Evidence on the Relevance and Needs from Six EU Countries Ireland: Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment.
Singh, M. (2017) The Leadership Dilemma online at https://www. thecoachingcentre.co.za/downloads/Newsletters/leadershipdilemma.pdf (accessed on 19 November 2021).
Tarafdar, M., Pullins, E. B., Ragu‐Nathan, T. S. (2015) “Technostress: negative effect on performance and possible mitigations” Information Systems Journal, 25(2): 103-132.
Van Eck, N.J., Waltman, L. (2010) “Software survey: VOSviewer, a computer program for bibliometric mapping” Scientometrics, 84(2): 523–538.
Van Eck, N.J., Waltman, L. (2013) “VOSviewer manual” Leiden: Univeristeit Leiden, 1(1): 1-53.
Wang, P., Casner, R.G., Nair, M.S., Wang, M., Yu, J., Cerutti, G., Liu, L., Kwong, P.D., Huang, Y., Shapiro, L., Ho, D.D. (2021) “Increased resistance of SARS-CoV-2 variant P.1 to antibody neutralization” Cell Host & Microbe, 29 (5): 747-751.
Watson, G., Gallagher, K. (2005) Managing for results, London, UK: CIPD Publishing.
Yoo, Y., Henfridsson, O., Lyytinen, K. (2010) “Research commentary - —The new organizing logic of digital innovation: An agenda for information systems research” Information Systems Research, 21(4): 724-735.
Younis, E. M. (2015) “Sentiment analysis and text mining for social media microblogs using open source tools: an empirical study” International Journal of Computer Applications, 112(5).
Zheltoukhova, K. (2014) “Leadership in organizational practice: closing the knowing-doing gap” Strategic HR Review.
Zou, L., Lam, N.S.N., Cai, H., Qiang, Y. (2018) “Mining Twitter Data for Improved Understanding of Disaster Resilience” Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 108: 1422-1441.
