Disentangling the pros and cons of flexible work arrangements : curvilinear effects on individual and organizational outcomes

The use of flexible work arrangements (e.g., remote, hybrid) has spread during the pandemic and cumulative studies provide mixed findings on the positive vs. negative consequences of these working methods for employees and organizations. The present study examined the potentially curvilinear effects of employees' attitude towards flexible work options (i.e., flexible work orientation; FWO) on individual- (i.e., performance, job satisfaction, stress, work-to-family conflict, family-to-work conflict) and organization-related outcomes (i.e., organizational social support, organizational justice, affective organizational commitment). Anonymous survey data were collected in 2021 from 1061 in-person and flexible workers nested within 100 Italian organizations. Measurement invariance across the two subsamples was supported and subsequent structural model analyses suggested a differential pattern of results for in-person and flexible workers. Results indicated a curvilinear U-shaped relationship between FWO and organizational support, justice, commitment and job satisfaction for the in-person subsample as compared to a positive linear relationship for flexible workers. Moreover, in both samples of flexible and in-presence workers, FWO exerted a positive linear effect on performance and a mainly negative linear effect on stress, WFC and FWC. Overall, flexible workers displayed linear relationships among all the study variables, whereas in-person workers showed the curvilinear effects of FWO on support, justice, commitment and satisfaction, all of which increased at high levels of employees' positive attitude towards FWO. Results are discussed in light of the globally elevated rates of flexible work arrangements and mixed findings on their implementation.