Keywords

1 Introduction

The current pandemic crisis has changed lifestyles and work habits of people worldwide, who had to work productively and stay in touch with their work obligations and workloads [1, 2]. The mandatory work from home (WFH), caused different effects on people’s well-being [3]. The main advantages of teleworking refer to program flexibility, time and cost savings and promotion of work life balance and mental health [4]. On the contrary, many scholars [4, 6] mention increased work stress due to extended working hours, constant accessibility of the remote worker, lack of control in communication and task overload, reduction in professional development opportunities, complexity of communication, and time required to resolve such issues [6]. There has been limited research on the association between personality and teleworkers’ well-being [1, 6,7,8]. Many scholars point that telework heightens job satisfaction, strengthens supervisor collaboration, and fosters better work-family equilibrium [9]. On the contrary, studies highlight possible drawbacks, including amplified work stress and depression occurring at higher levels, burnout and poor sleep, due to constant availability, communication ambiguity, task overload, and escalated work-family conflicts [1, 5] which can significantly impact both on productivity and subjective well-being [10]. The present study aims to investigate the impact of the telework environment on the negative and positive feelings of subjective well-being for the five-factor model of personality, underlining any differences between males and females, which is the main contribution of the research.

2 Big Five Personality Traits and Affect Toward Work from Home (WFH)

There is relationship between the Big Five personality traits and peoples’ attitudes toward work from home [7, 10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18]. Conscientiousness is characterized by being cautious, responsible, organized, efficient, and competent [16, 21]. Time management, self-organization, and self-motivation are some of the fundamental qualities that teleworkers should have and they are mainly found among female teleworkers [16, 19, 20, 22,23,24]. Conscientiousness and Openness to Experience are positively associated with higher productivity from home, especially for females who do not have parenting obligations [26]. However, Entringer and Gosling [27] showed that loneliness increased significantly for women and for conscientious individuals. Taking these into account, we suggest that: H1. There is a positive relationship between consciousness and positive feelings towards teleworking. Extroverts tend to prefer sociability and interaction with others, and teleworking provides them opportunities to increase their contacts with people outside of work [14]. Men’s preference to teleworking is related to their greater extraversion levels, which thrive on social connections [20, 24]. On the other hand, extrovert females, especially mothers who had to take heavier responsibilities for caring, even teaching children, did not prefer teleworking, because they did not have time to communicate with other people [28]. The effects of extraversion on the acceptability of WFH and its effects on employees’ mental health need further investigation [16]. As a result, we expect that: H2. Extraversion has a positive relationship with positive feelings towards teleworking.

Agreeable people appear to have an easier time engaging with social situations and achieving goals, both of which lead to the development of a sense of well-being [17]. People with agreeable personalities enjoy teleworking because they believe it matches their nature and is more flexible and handier. Boca et al. [19] proposed that gender-based attitudes toward working from home based on parental responsibilities resonates with the agreeableness trait. Women's heightened agreeableness inclines them to accommodate their family’s needs, making telework an attractive option [14, 25, 29, 30]. Meanwhile, men's lower agreeableness could contribute to their preference for conventional work setups [19]. From the above, we suggest that: H3. Agreeableness has a positive relationship with positive feelings towards teleworking for women and a negative relationship for men. As telework relies on new technological processes and work methods, it is assumed that employees who are open to experience are better suited to these unconventional work environments [14]. People with high scores on that trait, are more adventurous and open to new responsibilities [31]. As a result, it is anticipated that the experience of teleworking would be enjoyable for them [14, 18]. On the contrary, in some sectors such as the public sector, employees have showed less flexibility and a strong resistance to this change mainly from women [32]. Research [33] found males to be higher in openness to experience. However, teleworking increased the workload for women, leading to a clash between their family and work roles [34], leading to a negative attitude to this new way of working [35]. Thus, we expect that: H4. Openness has a positive relationship with positive feelings towards teleworking. Finally, insecurity, instability, and emotionality are all related with neuroticism [36]. Neurotic people are more prone to be pressured by daily duties, making them unsatisfied and unhappy [13, 18]. Smith et al. [8] mentioned that neurotic personalities may struggle to adjust to remote work since telework may enhance their anxiety. Regarding the differences between genders, studies agree that females are higher in neuroticism [14, 37, 38] due to their strong need to manage boundaries (for example between work and family obligations) which is very complicated in teleworking conditions. Taking these into account, we propose that: H5. Neuroticism has a negative relationship with positive feelings towards teleworking.

3 Materials and Methods

After defining the research objective and assessing its complexity during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic (February–April 2021), the authors conducted a quantitative online survey. The relationships between variables were examined using a 20-item questionnaire with a 5-point Likert scale. The sample was convenient as it comprised 230 teleworkers who were easily accessible, allowing for a cost-effective and efficient data collection process ad enabling us to apply a reasonable statistical analysis and come to valid conclusions. The sample was divided into males and females and a regression analysis determined whether the five personality factors are related to positive and negative feelings in each group. The data was empirically tested using SPSS software version 24 and R language. To ensure the credibility of the research, we compared the current results with those in the literature.

4 Results

The linear components in the data were verified using a PCA with Varimax rotation. Rotated component Matrix is presented in Table 1. The 69.54% of the variance in the dependent variable can be explained by the independent variables (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism, positive feelings, and negative feelings). There is an alpha coefficient of 0.72 for openness, 0.74 for conscientiousness, 0.77 for extraversion, 0.72 for neuroticism, 0.68 for agreeableness, 0.71 for negative feelings and 0.78 for positive feelings. Regression analysis for males (Table 2) indicated that there is a statistically significant and positive relationship between extraversion with positive feelings, agreeableness with positive feelings and neuroticism with negative feelings. There is also a statistically significant and negative relationship between conscientiousness with negative feelings and neuroticism with positive feelings. Regression analysis for females (Table 3) showed that there is a statistically significant and positive relationship between extraversion with positive feelings, agreeableness with positive feelings and neuroticism with negative feelings.

Table 1 Rotated component matrixa
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Table 2 Results of regression analysis for males
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Table 3 Results of regression analysis for females
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5 Discussion and Conclusions

This study examined the dynamic relationship between Big Five personality traits and teleworkers’ well-being, taking into account possible gender differences. The results suggest that certain personality traits may indeed influence workers’ attitudes toward teleworking, with a remarkable effect on their well-being. Extraversion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness were associated with positive attitudes toward telework, whereas neuroticism had a negative effect on teleworkers’ well-being. These results are consistent with recent studies [8, 14,15,16,17]. There were significant gender differences in the relationships between personality traits and teleworkers’ well-being. In particular, a negative relationship between conscientiousness and negative feelings toward telecommuting was more pronounced in men, a finding that contrasts with current research [16, 19, 20] and supports the findings of Entringer and Gosling [27]. The remaining three hypotheses were all confirmed and aligned with the literature. The results include the use of personality traits during the telework process, the promotion of employee well-being related to telework experiences based on gender differences. They can significantly help organizations to plan better teleworking policies and provide a tailored support, enhancing job satisfaction and productivity as well as employees’ well-being.