IS THE EXTENDED VIRTUAL WORKFORCE HERE TO STAY? - A qualitative case study of how virtual work becomes the new normal

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to create a better understanding of how virtual work becomes the new normal in organizations. To reach this understanding, an organization where virtual work has been established as a new way of working after having been forced to move to virtual spaces as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic will be analyzed. Specifically, by investigating how the employees have made sense of the adjustments carried out in practice during the establishment of virtual work. Theory: The study builds on the organizational path dependence: a process view framework developed by Sydow and Schreyögg (2011). This framework brings the opportunity to identify practical actions and decisions that have taken place during the establishment of virtual work and to analyze if these adjustments can be deemed to have been drivers for virtual work becoming the new normal. Thus, enabling to study this establishment from a process approach. Method: A qualitative case study was conducted. The data material was collected through 29 retrospective interviews. Two interviews were unstructured with two employer representatives, whilst 27 interviews were semi-structured and open-ended with employees in shifting hierarchical roles within the organization. These were coded according to grounded theory and thematically analyzed. Result: The empirical findings revealed that the practical adjustments in terms of decisions and actions taking place during the establishment of virtual work could be identified as drivers for virtual work becoming the new normal. It was found that these had triggered self-reinforcing mechanisms that had led to a lock-in on a path of a hybrid-version of virtual work. This result shed light to the favorable aspects of studying virtual work from a process approach as it was shown that by analyzing the process unfolding over time, practical mechanisms causing virtual working to be the new normal were revealed. Further, the findings disclosed that attitudes shifted throughout the process, showing that attitudes were a byproduct of the actual practical adjustments taking place.