Teleworking: Role of psychological well-being and technostress in the relationship between trust in management and employee performance

Purpose: The COVID-19 pandemic and technological advancements have enabled employees to telework. Referring to this emerging phenomenon, the authors aim to examine how employees' levels of trust in management mediated by psychological well-being impact their performance as they telework. Deploying the theoretical lens of person-environment misfit, the authors also explore the role of technostress in the trust-wellbeing-performance relationship. Design/methodology/approach: The data was collected from 511 full-time service sector employees across Indian organizations through a structured survey questionnaire. The proposed moderation-mediation model for this study was tested using structural equation modeling and bootstrapping method. Findings: Structural equation modeling results indicate that trust in management significantly impacts employee performance while teleworking. While psychological well-being was observed as a significant mediator, technostress played the moderator role in the trust-performance relationship. The moderated-mediation effect of psychological well-being in the trust-performance relationship was stronger when technostress was low and weaker when technostress was high. Research limitations/implications: The authors extend the person-environment misfit theory in the context of telework, highlighting the role of technostress that may impact the trust-wellbeing- performance relationship in such work settings. Practical implications: The study informs leaders and managers on balancing delicate aspects such as employee trust and well-being that significantly impact performance as they telework. The authors also highlight the critical role of managers in respecting employees' personal and professional boundaries to alleviate technostress. Originality/value: The authors make a novel theoretical contribution to the emerging literature on teleworking by examining the trust-psychological wellbeing-performance link and the role of technostress in this relationship.