Remote Locations Are not All the Same: Determinants of Work Well-Being Among Home-Based and Mobile e-Workers

This chapter analyses the impact of remote e-work on workers’ well-being by exploring whether their perception of work-related stress and job satisfaction vary as a function of the type of remote location. It also explores whether organizational autonomy and discretion as well as work intensification have a differential impact on home-based and mobile e-workers’ job satisfaction and work-related stress. The main results suggest that compared to home-based e-workers, mobile ones perceive a greater number of work intensification dimensions as drivers of work-related stress, some of which (i.e. frequent work interruptions, working during one’s free time and time pressure) also have a significant negative impact on job satisfaction. Moreover, although several organizational autonomy and discretion variables positively affect mobile e-workers’ job satisfaction, only discretion over work pace is also significant to reduce their work-related stress. Our findings contribute to advance the understanding of current trajectories of the micro-level organizational transformations associated with the use of new digital technologies, offering insights into the ability of today’s European organizations to leverage the opportunity they open up to shape novel work practices that meet their organizational members’ needs.