Homeworking Heaven or Hell During the COVID-19 Pandemic?: Lessons for the Job Demands-Resources Model in the Context of Homeworking

Peter Kruyen; R.T. Borst; Beatrice I.J.M. Van der Heijden; Stéfanie André; Marjolein Missler; Pim Scheerder

doi:10.1177/0734371X231198163

Homeworking Heaven or Hell During the COVID-19 Pandemic? Lessons for the Job Demands-Resources Model in the Context of Homeworking

Peter Kruyen
, R.T. Borst
, Beatrice I.J.M. Van der Heijden
, Stéfanie André
, Marjolein Missler
, Pim Scheerder

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

During the COVID-19 pandemic, public servants in many countries were required to work from home. In this study, we explore Dutch public servants’ experiences of mandatory homeworking by conducting a template analysis. Based on an in-depth examination of 985 written accounts, we inductively expand an a priori template derived from the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) framework, to understand and analyze public servants’ experiences of this new situation. We found homeworking in general had positive effects on public servants’ individual performance and health-related well-being but a predominantly negative impact on happiness well-being. Furthermore, we found that the impact of homeworking on the job demands and job resources seems to depend on the specific clusters of these job demands and resources. Our findings are translated into propositions that extend the JD-R framework.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1-31
Number of pages	31
Journal	Review of Public Personnel Administration
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/0734371X231198163
Publication status	Published - 27 Sept 2023

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2023.

Funding

Funders
We thank the editorial team of <italic>Binnenlands Bestuur</italic>-in particular Hans Bekkers-for their research assistance. Moreover, we thank the anonymous reviewers and the editor for their thoughtful comments and suggestions.

Keywords

COVID-19
JD-R framework
individual performance
large-scale homeworking
well-being

Access to Document

10.1177/0734371X231198163Licence: CC BY-NC

Cite this

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title = "Homeworking Heaven or Hell During the COVID-19 Pandemic?: Lessons for the Job Demands-Resources Model in the Context of Homeworking",

abstract = "During the COVID-19 pandemic, public servants in many countries were required to work from home. In this study, we explore Dutch public servants{\textquoteright} experiences of mandatory homeworking by conducting a template analysis. Based on an in-depth examination of 985 written accounts, we inductively expand an a priori template derived from the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) framework, to understand and analyze public servants{\textquoteright} experiences of this new situation. We found homeworking in general had positive effects on public servants{\textquoteright} individual performance and health-related well-being but a predominantly negative impact on happiness well-being. Furthermore, we found that the impact of homeworking on the job demands and job resources seems to depend on the specific clusters of these job demands and resources. Our findings are translated into propositions that extend the JD-R framework.",

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