Abstract:
ABSTRACT A large proportion of employees regularly work from home despite doubts about their ability to be innovative while working remotely. The relationship between working from home and innovative work behaviour is a pressing issue that has produced ambivalent research results, presumably because the mechanisms that underpin the relationship are poorly understood. The present study addresses this issue by differentiating spatial, temporal, and task‐related flexibility as mediators between working from home and innovative work behaviour. To test our hypotheses, we conducted an online survey with 173 knowledge workers from a variety of German organizations. After running confirmatory factor analyses, we used covariance‐based structural equation modelling for data analysis. Our results show that working from home is positively related to all three dimensions of employees' perceived job flexibility—spatial, temporal and task‐related. Spatial and task‐related flexibility are positively related to innovative work behaviour, whereas temporal flexibility has a negative relationship. All three mediation pathways are significant. The study contributes to the literature by pointing out the importance of differentiating among the three dimensions of flexibility and challenging the assumption that autonomy is universally beneficial. While spatial and task‐related flexibility are positively related to innovative work behaviour, temporal flexibility might be a threat to innovation. Therefore, organizations should be aware of the differential effects of the flexibility dimensions as a one‐dimensional view of working from home is under‐complex.
