Telecommuting and Digital Incivilities

Extract

[...] Firstly, regarding the on-site group, overall, a low score is observed in terms of digital incivilities. In fact, at the level of communication, the score obtained is 1.9/5, which reveals little aggressive or sarcastic communication. Similarly, the score of 1.7/5 in the non-reactivity dimension demonstrates the professionalism of workers who attach importance to responding quickly to their emails or other forms of exchange, which are facilitated by being close to their colleagues and being able to see them in case of need, to obtain the desired information quickly. [...]

[...] Thus, the results allow us to validate our hypothesis: remote work increases digital incivilities. It would therefore be interesting to set up reflection groups to promote communication and avoid tensions. For example, it would be possible to reflect on the implementation of regular exchange times to promote communication and information transmission, to propose training on written communication, to establish a charter good digital conduct or even establishing rules regarding working hours, to avoid employees working remotely from receiving emails at unacceptable hours and being pointed out for not responding to emails sent outside of their working hours. [...]

[...] The results show a significant difference between the two groups, confirming that digital incivilities are more present in remote work: t = -8.5, p=2.3×10?10. The p-value is less than 0.05, which allows us to reject the null hypothesis and conclude that the difference is significant. This finding is explained by different causes. First, being in remote work generates social isolation, and the disappearance of real contacts can lead employees to experience more incomprehension and therefore frustration in not being able to easily access the data they need, sometimes feeling left out9. [...]

[...] If this literature review highlights a correlation between the new working conditions induced by telecommuting and the increase in digital incivilities, it is because remote communication favors anonymity and disinhibition, thus amplifying the probability of inappropriate behaviors (Laborde, 2019). These findings lead to the problem: Does telecommuting in the company have an impact on the frequency of digital incivilities between colleagues? This study explores the link between telecommuting practices and digital incivilities, assuming that telecommuting tends to accentuate these incivilities by modifying social interactions and amplifying misunderstandings. [...]

[...] The company context and the personalities of the employees may influence the results4. It will be important to consider these influencing factors to propose an objective and acceptable conclusion. The questionnaire was distributed to the participants via the software Psytoolkit, to ensure anonymity. To analyze the responses afterwards, they will be coded with values that, once added together, will give the score for each of the dimensions. The Shapiro-Wilk will be applied to check the distribution of the data5 and a Student's t-test6 will be carried out to compare the mean scores of the 'on-site' and 'remote work' groups. [...]