My research focuses on leadership employee engagement and work in remote and hybrid contexts using qualitative quantitative and mixed-methods approaches. I am particularly interested in how leadership and people management practices shape well-being performance and sustainable work outcomes.
The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic shook the entire world. All sectors, industries, organisations, and more importantly, people were affected by multiple restrictions implemented by their respective governing bodies. Federal lockdowns and all the emerging laws and regulations associated with them have forced organisations worldwide to transition their operations to remote environments. The implications from the organisations’ perspective vary from leadership to management, structure to operations, and training and development to policy making. However, from the employees’ perspective, the implications vary from general well-being to work engagement, satisfaction to motivation, and followership to trust. Nonetheless, remote work has other implications, such as productivity, the impact of social distancing, work-life balance, and isolation concerns. Therefore, this article aims to present critical thinking and comprehensively analyse the existing literature on remote working, transformational leadership, and work engagement contexts. Theoretical and practical gaps are discussed, and recommendations for future research could contribute to our better understanding of remote leadership and its practical elements. Remote working environments are believed to be permanent working arrangements for many organisations and employees; hence, scholars and practitioners must explore them to further depths.
Purpose This paper explores how remote employees perceive transactional and passive-avoidant leadership styles in the context of their work engagement in fully remote environments. While research on these styles and their relationship with work engagement exists in traditional contexts, limited attention has been given to their impact on distributed teams, especially from a qualitative perspective. Design/methodology/approach A multiple case study was conducted in Ireland and the UK, drawing on nineteen remote employees recruited via purposive sampling. Semi-structured interviews were conducted online and were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis to capture employees’ perceptions of transactional and passive-avoidant leadership in relation to remote work engagement. Findings Transactional methods (e.g. rewards and structured feedback) offer short-term engagement and motivation benefits but can suffer without empathetic, context-aware management. Surprisingly, passive-avoidant behaviours benefit experienced, self-motivated employees if supported by trust and open communication, though less experienced or confident staff may feel neglected. Research limitations/implications The limited, region-specific sample (Ireland and the UK) and cross-sectional design affect broader generalisability. Future research should utilise larger, more diverse samples and longitudinal methods to track how leadership styles and engagement evolve in distributed teams. Originality/value This study is among the first qualitative inquiries into transactional and passive-avoidant styles in fully remote environments. It expands our understanding of how remote leaders can mitigate the global challenge of workforce disengagement by balancing autonomy, transactional methods, empathy and appropriate oversight.
Calling for long term collaboration or contributors to the fields: digital governance, public administration, Smart Corrections. Target in…
