ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Organ. Psychol.
Sec. Employee Well-being and Health
Volume 3 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/forgp.2025.1596172
This article is part of the Research TopicImpact of Remote Work on Individual and Organizational Performance ConstructsView all 5 articles
Leading Teleworkers in Academia: Managers' Experiences and Expectations for the Future
Provisionally accepted
- 1Department of Community Medicine and Rehabilitation, Faculty of Medicine, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden
- 2Department of Occupational Health Science and Psychology, Faculty of Health and Occupational Studies, University of Gävle, Gävle, Sweden
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Telework is increasing in working life, especially in knowledge intense organizations as academic institutions. Managers are found crucial for performance and well-being outcomes in telework, but managers' perspective on leading teleworkers lacks attention. This study aimed to investigate academic managers' experiences of leading teleworkers prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic, and their expectations for future leadership in telework. A qualitative study based on interviews with 16 academic middle managers was performed. Findings were analyzed inductively by a phenomenographic research approach. The findings show that leading teleworkers was characterized by demands posed by remote and digital communication; regulation and policies; occupational health and safety management; and new norms for leadership. In conclusion, academic institutions need to improve organizational resources for managers' leading teleworkers to facilitate successful leadership and to secure sustainable work conditions for managers as well as for teleworking employees.
Keywords: Telework, managers, Leadership, Universities, Occupational Health, COVID-19, interviews
Received: 19 Mar 2025; Accepted: 09 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Widar, Boman, Heiden and Wiitavaara. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Linda Widar, Department of Community Medicine and Rehabilitation, Faculty of Medicine, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden
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