Browsing by Author "Pihlakoski, Leeni"

In recent years, remote work has increased due to the coronavirus pandemic, when millions of employees around the world had to abruptly switch to working remotely instead of from the office. This has highlighted the relevance of examining employee well-being in the new circumstances. Work engagement is seen as the optimal state of work well-being, and it is predicted by various factors. The aim of this study was to examine associations between remote work, job control and work engagement. Based on the job demands and job resources theory and prior findings on remote work and work engagement, three research questions were formed. The first hypothesis was formed to predict a positive association between remote work and work engagement, anticipating that respondents working remotely, even occasionally, would report higher work engagement scores compared to those exclusively working non-remotely. Additionally, this study aimed to examine the direct association between job control and work engagement anticipating that employees with the ability to control their working location would report higher work engagement scores than the respondents that could not choose where they conduct their work. The last aim of this study was to explore whether job control moderates the association between remote work and work engagement. Data material utilized in this study comes from the Finnish Working Life Barometer 2021. The sample consisted of 1714 observations including full-time employees in Finland. Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used to test the hypotheses. The results showed support for all hypotheses, revealing small statistically significant associations. Respondents engaging in remote work, even occasionally, reported higher work engagement scores than non-remote workers. Similarly, respondents with the ability to affect their working location showed higher work engagement scores than the respondents who were not able to affect their workplace. Additionally, it was found that respondents who could choose to perform work non-remotely reported higher work engagement scores than the respondents who were not able to choose non-remote work. This thesis sheds light on the associations between remote work, job control and work engagement. As remote work has become more common, these findings offer valuable insights for employers and employees alike. When planning remote work practices, it is important to consider the individual employee’s preferences in how and where they would prefer to conduct their work in order to foster work engagement.