Getting the measure of remote e-working: A revision and further validation of the E-Work Life Scale

Abstract: 

Purpose: This paper aimed to revise and further validate the published E-Work Life (EWL) scale.

The EWL was originally developed to assess theoretically relevant aspects of the remote e-working experience related to four main areas: organisational trust, flexibility, work-life interference, and productivity.

Design/methodology/approach: A number of changes were implemented to the scale (i.e., including new items, rewording of existing items) following a recent qualitative study conducted by the authors. The two studies outlined in this paper, conducted within discrete remote e-working populations, resulted in a validated and adjusted 20-item version of the scale.

Findings: Study 1 performs Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) on data from a sample of 399 U.K. remote e-workers (57.9% female) to check the factor structure of the revised version of the EWL scale and the reliability of the posited dimensions. Results provided support for a 20-item scale, replicating the factorial structure of the original version. Study 2 tests and confirms the factorial structure of the final 20-item EWL scale in an independent sample of 366 U.K. remote eworkers (48.6% female). Study 2 provides further evidence of EWL scale’s reliability and validity, with the four factors of the scale being significantly correlated with positive mental health, detachment from work, and technostress.

Originality: The EWL is a very timely and important tool which provides an overall framework of the key areas that are affecting remote e-workers’ life; whose greater understanding may better prepare organisations to adapt work arrangements and introduce support policies and guidance.

Maria Charalampous, Christine Anne Grant, Carlo Tramontano; Getting the measure of remote e-working: a revision and further validation of the E-work life scale. Employee Relations: The International Journal 2 January 2023; 45 (1): 45–68.