IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/teinso/v70y2022ics0160791x22001634.html

Remote work as a new normal? The technology-organization-environment (TOE) context

Author

Listed:
  • Ng, Peggy M.L.
  • Lit, Kam Kong
  • Cheung, Cherry T.Y.

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has established remote work as the new normal. However, the factors that influence the effectiveness of remote work are unexplored. Moreover, the relationships between remote work and job performance and emotional exhaustion are under-investigated. This study addresses these gaps by investigating the factors that influence the effectiveness and outcomes of remote work. The technology-organisation-environment (TOE) framework and the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) are used as a theoretical lens to examine the internal and external factors that affect remote work and work-life balance. An online cross-sectional survey of knowledge workers engaged in remote work in Hong Kong indicates that both external (technological competence, government support) and internal (work flexibility, attitude, perceived behavioural control) factors are significant predictors of successful remote work. Furthermore, remote work is positively associated with job performance but has no association with emotional exhaustion. These findings suggest that to ensure a successful transition to the new normal, governments and organisations should provide technical support to employees engaged in remote work. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Ng, Peggy M.L. & Lit, Kam Kong & Cheung, Cherry T.Y., 2022. "Remote work as a new normal? The technology-organization-environment (TOE) context," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:teinso:v:70:y:2022:i:c:s0160791x22001634
    DOI: 10.1016/j.techsoc.2022.102022
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160791X22001634
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.techsoc.2022.102022?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Chen, Chien-fei & Nelson, Hannah & Xu, Xiaojing & Bonilla, Gregory & Jones, Nicholas, 2021. "Beyond technology adoption: Examining home energy management systems, energy burdens and climate change perceptions during COVID-19 pandemic," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    2. Torres, Carla Cecilia, 2021. "Adaptation and Validation of Technostress Creators and Technostress Inhibitors Inventories in a Spanish-Speaking Latin American Country," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    3. Soroui, Sarah T., 2021. "Understanding the drivers and implications of remote work from the local perspective: An exploratory study into the dis/reembedding dynamics," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    4. Ediriweera, Amali & Wiewiora, Anna, 2021. "Barriers and enablers of technology adoption in the mining industry," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    5. Joar Vittersø & Sigmund Akselsen & Bente Evjemo & Tom Julsrud & Birgitte Yttri & Svein Bergvik, 2003. "Impacts of Home-Based Telework on Quality of Life for Employees and Their Partners. Quantitative and Qualitative Results From a European Survey," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 4(2), pages 201-233, June.
    6. Daniela Del Boca & Noemi Oggero & Paola Profeta & Maria Cristina Rossi, 2020. "Women's Work, Housework and Childcare, Before and During COVID-19," Working Papers 2020-043, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.
    7. Khan, Ali Nawaz, 2021. "A diary study of psychological effects of misinformation and COVID-19 Threat on work engagement of working from home employees," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    8. Tran Thi Hue, 2019. "The determinants of innovation in Vietnamese manufacturing firms: an empirical analysis using a technology–organization–environment framework," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 9(3), pages 247-267, September.
    9. Carnevale, Joel B. & Hatak, Isabella, 2020. "Employee adjustment and well-being in the era of COVID-19: Implications for human resource management," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 183-187.
    10. Ajzen, Icek, 1991. "The theory of planned behavior," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 179-211, December.
    11. Chieh-Yu Lin & Yi-Hui Ho, 2011. "Determinants of Green Practice Adoption for Logistics Companies in China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 98(1), pages 67-83, January.
    12. Stock, Ruth & Bednarek, Marei, 2014. "As They Sow, so Shall They Reap: Customers’ Influence on Customer Satisfaction at the Customer Interface," Publications of Darmstadt Technical University, Institute for Business Studies (BWL) 71820, Darmstadt Technical University, Department of Business Administration, Economics and Law, Institute for Business Studies (BWL).
    13. Jekelle, Helen Elena, 2021. "An Empirical Analysis of Key Antecedents of Workforce Diversity on Job Performance in Nigeria," OSF Preprints ybja2, Center for Open Science.
    14. Chatterjee, Sheshadri & Chaudhuri, Ranjan & Vrontis, Demetris, 2022. "Does remote work flexibility enhance organization performance? Moderating role of organization policy and top management support," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 1501-1512.
    15. Prodanova, Jana & Kocarev, Ljupco, 2021. "Is job performance conditioned by work-from-home demands and resources?," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    16. Jianxun, Chu & Arkorful, Vincent Ekow & Shuliang, Zhao, 2021. "Electronic health records adoption: Do institutional pressures and organizational culture matter?," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    17. Hensher, David A. & Beck, Matthew J. & Wei, Edward, 2021. "Working from home and its implications for strategic transport modelling based on the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 64-78.
    18. Alpha Kaleb Gill & Danish Siddiqui, 2020. "How Flexible Work Arrangements Affects Affective Organizational Commitment, and Work-Life Enrichment in Pakistan¡¯s Service Industry: The Role of Time Planning, Work-Life Conflict, and Engagement," Human Resource Research, Macrothink Institute, vol. 4(1), pages 269-313, December.
    19. Srisathan, Wutthiya A. & Naruetharadhol, Phaninee, 2022. "A COVID-19 disruption: The great acceleration of digitally planned and transformed behaviors in Thailand," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    20. Marinho, Marcelo & Amorim, Luís & Camara, Rafael & Oliveira, Brigitte Renata & Sobral, Marcos & Sampaio, Suzana, 2021. "Happier and further by going together: The importance of software team behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    21. Wang, Yi-Shun & Li, Hsien-Ta & Li, Ci-Rong & Zhang, Ding-Zhong, 2016. "Factors affecting hotels' adoption of mobile reservation systems: A technology-organization-environment framework," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 163-172.
    22. Young-Jae Kim & Jeong-hyung Cho & Seung-Woo Kang, 2020. "Study on the Relationship between Leisure Activity Participation and Wearing a Mask among Koreans during COVID-19 Crisis: Using TPB Model," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(20), pages 1-10, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Tiberius, Victor & Chen, Nicole & Bartels, Mirko & Oelsnitz, Dietrich von der, 2024. "Breaking out! A netnography study on motives of a digital nomad lifestyle," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    2. Gang Li, 2023. "Digital Inequality and Household Income Distribution: Evidence from Rural China," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 18(6), pages 3061-3087, December.
    3. Ransome Epie Bawack & Jean Robert Kala Kamdjoug & Denis Dennehy, 2024. "Digital Platform Continuance During the Great Resignation: Evidence from Knowledge Workers in Europe and Africa," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 26(6), pages 2391-2412, December.
    4. Kumar, Aman & Shankar, Amit & Behl, Abhishek & Pereira, Vijay & Kapoor, Payal & Papa, Armando, 2025. "Implementing enterprise metaverse as a means of enhancing growth hacking performance: Will adopting the metaverse be a success in organizations?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).
    5. Mirjana Pejić Bach & Amir Topalović & Lejla Turulja, 2023. "Data mining usage in Italian SMEs: an integrated SEM-ANN approach," Central European Journal of Operations Research, Springer;Slovak Society for Operations Research;Hungarian Operational Research Society;Czech Society for Operations Research;Österr. Gesellschaft für Operations Research (ÖGOR);Slovenian Society Informatika - Section for Operational Research;Croatian Operational Research Society, vol. 31(3), pages 941-973, September.
    6. Qi, Qiao & Du, Xiaojun & Hou, Yingying & Li, Zhitang, 2025. "Planning a clean future: energy policy communication and energy technology innovation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 335(C).
    7. Areeba Khan & Saboohi Nasim, 2025. "Mapping research on the subjective well-being of knowledge workers: a systematic enquiry deploying bibliometrics," Management Review Quarterly, Springer, vol. 75(1), pages 911-954, February.
    8. Migyeong Yang & Soobin Jang & Michelle Goh & Daeho Lee, 2024. "The effects of working from home on technical efficiency within the service industry: A meta‐frontier approach," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 45(4), pages 2189-2195, June.
    9. Nripendra Rana & Jawaher Abdulrahman Alomar & Kumod Kumar & Ransome Epie Bawack & Muhammad Ovais Ahmad, 2025. "The Role of Technical and Top Management Support in the Continuance of Intention to Use Business Analytics," Post-Print hal-05325248, HAL.
    10. Islam, Nazrul & Rakshit, Sandip & Paul, Tripti, 2025. "Antecedents and consequences of social robots adoption for SMEs - Reimaging emerging technologies in the context of the new normal," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 210(C).
    11. Konstantina Ragazou & Ioannis Passas & Georgios Sklavos, 2022. "Investigating the Strategic Role of Digital Transformation Path of SMEs in the Era of COVID-19: A Bibliometric Analysis Using R," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-19, September.
    12. Yang, Heetae, 2024. "The utility of remote work solutions in the post-pandemic era: Exploring the mediating effects of productivity and work flexibility," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    13. Khadija Ashraf & Kangjae Lee & Geunhan Kim & Jeon-Young Kang, 2024. "Sales in Commercial Alleys and Their Association with Air Pollution: Case Study in South Korea," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(2), pages 1-19, January.
    14. Aqueeb Sohail Shaik & Safiya Mukhtar Alshibani & Girish Jain & Bhumika Gupta & Ankit Mehrotra, 2024. "Artificial intelligence (AI)‐driven strategic business model innovations in small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises. Insights on technological and strategic enablers for carbon neutral businesses," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(4), pages 2731-2751, May.
    15. Jinyan Wen & Donghua Tan & Honglue Wang & Yanxiao Gao, 2025. "How Do Alliance Networks Affect Firms’ Capability of Influencing Technological Standardization? Configuration Analysis Based on the TOE Framework," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(21), pages 1-21, October.
    16. Teichmann, Fabian & Boticiu, Sonia & Sergi, Bruno S., 2023. "RegTech – Potential benefits and challenges for businesses," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yang, Heetae, 2024. "The utility of remote work solutions in the post-pandemic era: Exploring the mediating effects of productivity and work flexibility," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    2. André Spithoven & Bruno Merlevede, 2025. "The socio-economic consequences of remote working: evidence from the European administrations in Brussels," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 74(1), pages 1-23, March.
    3. Gupta, Somya & Hassen, Majdi & Pandey, Dharen Kumar & Sahu, Ganesh P., 2024. "Cognitive, affective, and normative factors affecting digital insurance adoption among persons with disabilities: A two-stage SEM-ANN analysis," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    4. Hongping Yuan & Yu Yang & Xiaolong Xue, 2019. "Promoting Owners’ BIM Adoption Behaviors to Achieve Sustainable Project Management," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(14), pages 1-18, July.
    5. Ying Teng & Kuo-Chung Shang & Hui-Chih Wang & Szu-Yu Kuo & Chin-Shan Lu, 2025. "The implementation of blockchain adoption in China’s manufacturing industry: the technology organization environment (TOE) method," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 12(1), pages 1-11, December.
    6. Hao Zhang & Jie He & Xiaomeng Shi & Qiong Hong & Jie Bao & Shuqi Xue, 2020. "Technology Characteristics, Stakeholder Pressure, Social Influence, and Green Innovation: Empirical Evidence from Chinese Express Companies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-19, April.
    7. Dincbas, Tugba & Ergeneli, Azize & Yigitbasioglu, Hakan, 2021. "Clean technology adoption in the context of climate change: Application in the mineral products industry," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    8. Luis Manuel Ruiz-Gómez & Julio Navío-Marco & Luisa Fernanda Rodríguez-Hevía, 2018. "Dynamics of digital tourism’s consumers in the EU," Information Technology & Tourism, Springer, vol. 20(1), pages 59-81, December.
    9. Mäntymäki, Matti & Najmul Islam, A.K.M. & Turel, Ofir & Dhir, Amandeep, 2022. "Coping with pandemics using social network sites: A psychological detachment perspective to COVID-19 stressors," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).
    10. Tiberius, Victor & Chen, Nicole & Bartels, Mirko & Oelsnitz, Dietrich von der, 2024. "Breaking out! A netnography study on motives of a digital nomad lifestyle," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    11. Wischaya Silanoi & Phaninee Naruetharadhol & Khwanjira Ponsree, 2023. "The Confidence of and Concern about Using Mobile Banking among Generation Z: A Case of the Post COVID-19 Situation in Thailand," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-20, March.
    12. Seger-Guttmann, Tali, 2019. "Customers' irrational beliefs: Scale development and validation," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 54-66.
    13. Hensher, David A. & Beck, Matthew J., 2023. "Exploring how worthwhile the things that you do in life are during COVID-19 and links to well-being and working from home," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    14. Niemann, Christoph Constantin & Mai, Robert & Dickel, Petra, 2022. "Nurture or nature? How organizational and individual factors drive corporate entrepreneurial projects," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 155-169.
    15. Tahlyan, Divyakant & Said, Maher & Mahmassani, Hani & Stathopoulos, Amanda & Walker, Joan & Shaheen, Susan, 2022. "For whom did telework not work during the Pandemic? understanding the factors impacting telework satisfaction in the US using a multiple indicator multiple cause (MIMIC) model," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 155(C), pages 387-402.
    16. Drago, Carlo & Errichiello, Luisa, 2024. "Remote Work admist the Covid-19 outbreak: Insights from an Ensemble Community-Based Keyword Network Analysis," FEEM Working Papers 341640, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM).
    17. Youssef, Mayada Abd El-Aziz & Eid, Riyad & Agag, Gomaa, 2022. "Cross-national differences in big data analytics adoption in the retail industry," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    18. Hashemi, Hossein & Rajabi, Reza & Brashear-Alejandro, Thomas G., 2022. "COVID-19 research in management: An updated bibliometric analysis," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 795-810.
    19. Gianluca Vagnani & Corrado Gatti & Luca Proietti, 2019. "A conceptual framework of the adoption of innovations in organizations: a meta-analytical review of the literature," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 23(4), pages 1023-1062, December.
    20. Siu-Kei Woo & Chih-Jui Pai & Yi-Te Chiang & Wei-Ta Fang, 2023. "Predicting the Protective Behavioral Intentions for Parents with Young Children Living in Taipei City and New Taipei City Using the Theory of Planned Behavior for Air Polluted with PM2.5," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(3), pages 1-20, January.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:teinso:v:70:y:2022:i:c:s0160791x22001634. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/technology-in-society .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.