An Exploratory Case Study of the Influences Personal Abilities and Self-Efficacy have on Performance for Remote Workers.

Abstract

This dissertation explores the personal abilities and self-efficacy variables that have an influence on performance in the context of remote work, advances in technology and the global spread of COVID-19. The recent pandemic has forced many companies to increase employees’ physical proximity from their place of work and, in order to maintain service levels, precipitated a vast expansion in remote working. The research aims of this study were developed to investigate which tools remote workers have available to overcome obstacles in a virtual environment and the challenges faced while performing their jobs. To represent these objectives and provide structure to the research, the following research questions were proposed: 1. What is the importance of self-efficacy for employees in performing their tasks when working remotely? 2. What are the challenges remote workers face when performing their job? The study has an extensive literature review of the pertinent subjects relevant for remote work which allowed for the development of a conceptual framework and informed the approach for primary research. This dissertation takes the form of an exploratory qualitative case study methodology and semi-structured interviews as a data-gathering tool, this approach was selected after considering the research questions and the context of this dissertation. This research contributes to the existing literature by proposing that organisations address certain core issues when adopting remote work as a business strategy, and the role of personal abilities and self-efficacy during the evaluation of the performance of remote workers.