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The COVID-19 Pandemic and the Digital Transformation of Workplace: The Social Representation of Home-Office

Author

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  • Luiz Antonio Joia

    (Brazilian School of Public and Business Administration, Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV EBAPE), Rio de Janeiro 22231-010, Brazil)

  • Lineu Fachin Leonardo

    (Brazilian School of Public and Business Administration, Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV EBAPE), Rio de Janeiro 22231-010, Brazil)

Abstract

In March 2020, with the World Health Organization declaring COVID-19 a pandemic and prescribing social isolation to combat this coronavirus, companies began to implement home-office, with employees working from their homes through Information and Communication Technology. Thus, this study aims to identify how Human Resources professionals in Brazil made sense of the home-office policy adopted by their companies during the COVID-19 pandemic, given that this country was severely impacted by this disease, which led to the implementation of social isolation for several months. In consideration of this, this research applied the Social Representation Theory, operationalized via the evocation of words technique and implicative analysis. In doing so, a positive and less comprehensive view of Human Resources professionals was identified vis-à-vis the academic literature in relation to the enactment of home-office via companies during the COVID-19 pandemic, which may be due to the time interval in which this research was carried out, the consequent impacts resulting from the implementation of the home-office at the time of data collection, and the very fact that most of the literature researched came from developed countries and not from the Global South where this research was carried out. Flexibility and Quality of Life were the dimensions most associated with the social representation of home-office according to Human Resources professionals. However, the productivity dimension related to working in a home-office showed dubious and inconclusive results. Finally, some challenging aspects related to this model of work raised by the scientific literature were not mentioned by the respondents, indicating a mismatch between the academic literature and the understanding of Human Resources professionals about the role of home-office during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Suggested Citation

  • Luiz Antonio Joia & Lineu Fachin Leonardo, 2023. "The COVID-19 Pandemic and the Digital Transformation of Workplace: The Social Representation of Home-Office," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(20), pages 1-20, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:20:p:14987-:d:1261814
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Luiz Antonio Joia & Flavia Michelotto, 2020. "Universalists or Utilitarianists? The Social Representation of COVID-19 Pandemic in Brazil," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-18, December.
    2. Luiz Antonio Joia & Flavia Michelotto & Manuela Lorenzo, 2022. "Sustainability and the Social Representation of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Missing Link," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-19, August.
    3. Groen, Bianca A.C. & van Triest, Sander P. & Coers, Michael & Wtenweerde, Neeke, 2018. "Managing flexible work arrangements: Teleworking and output controls," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 36(6), pages 727-735.
    4. Eva Thulin & Bertil Vilhelmson & Martina Johansson, 2019. "New Telework, Time Pressure, and Time Use Control in Everyday Life," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-17, May.
    5. Luiz Antonio Joia & José Carlos P. Correia, 2018. "CIO Competencies From the IT Professional Perspective: Insights From Brazil," Journal of Global Information Management (JGIM), IGI Global, vol. 26(2), pages 74-103, April.
    6. Francisco Antonio Coelho Junior & Cristiane Faiad & Mariana Carolina Barbosa Rego & Wilsa Maria Ramos, 2020. "What Brazilian workers think about flexible work and telework?," International Journal of Business Excellence, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 20(1), pages 16-31.
    7. Purificación López-Igual & Paula Rodríguez-Modroño, 2020. "Who is Teleworking and Where from? Exploring the Main Determinants of Telework in Europe," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(21), pages 1-15, October.
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