Abstract
COVID-19 pandemic propelled teleworking for most firms to conduct work and sustain businesses. However, teleworking invades work-and-personal boundaries and hinders some employees from conducting complex tasks, potentially leading to layoffs. Did the teleworking trend during COVID-19 lead to unfair employee layoffs while companies sustained businesses using teleworking? Did the gender of a company leader predispose them to leverage telework differently because of the work-and-personal boundary predisposition? Motivated by these puzzles, we explore the impact of teleworking on business continuity and employee layoff, differentiated by leadership gender. The firm-level dataset used in this study comes from multiple surveys conducted by a reputable international financial institution with a worldwide presence. Ordinary least square estimation reveals that teleworking has positive impacts on business continuity but adverse effects on employment. We also found subtle moderating effects of female leadership in samples of eight countries with different income levels. Theoretically, this study contributes to our understanding of both technological and human factors during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. It also provides practical implications on IT for development with consideration of income levels.
Recommended Citation
Ning, Xue; Gregg, Dawn; and Khuntia, Jiban, "Teleworking during COVID 19 Pandemic Crisis : Influences of Female Leadership on Business Continuity and Employee Layoff in Eight Countries" (2021). GlobDev 2021. 12.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/globdev2021/12