ABSTRACT

This study examined how the COVID-19 pandemic and related work-from-home (WFH) mandates impacted the use of computer-mediated communication (CMC) channels in the workplace and how the use of CMC channels influenced the perceived quality of supervisory relationships. A survey was administered during spring 2020 to a sample of U.S. employees required to work remotely due to COVID-19. The findings indicated a significant relationship between the use of text messaging and rapport, a signal that the building or maintaining of interpersonal rapport in today’s workplace may require more personal (and less formal/traditional) channels of communication. The results also revealed that employees with higher levels of CMC apprehension had lower rapport with their supervisors. The findings have implications for organizations that may have moved (or will move) to more remote work settings, and suggestions are offered for mitigating the impact of CMC-only interactions on supervisory relationships.

摘要

本研究调查了 COVID-19 大流行和相关的在家工作 (WFH) 指令如何影响工作场所使用计算机介导的通信 (CMC) 渠道，以及 CMC 渠道的使用如何影响监督关系的感知质量。2020 年春季对因 COVID-19 而需要远程工作的美国员工样本进行了一项调查。研究结果表明使用短信和融洽关系之间存在显着关系，这表明在当今工作场所建立或维持人际关系可能需要更多个人（和不太正式/传统）的沟通渠道。结果还显示，对 CMC 忧虑程度较高的员工与上司的关系较低。