Employees’ perceptions of relational communication in full-time remote work in the public sector
Open accessAbstract
The global COVID-19 pandemic has led to numerous changes in society. This paper aims to understand how the abrupt transfer to remote work is reflected in employees' perceptions of relational communication at their work. Our research question is as follows: What kinds of perceptions and profiles regarding relational communication can be found among full-time remote workers? A sample of 1, 091 Finnish public sector employees with virtually no previous experience in remote work completed an open-ended survey during the first wave of the pandemic. The findings present 17 aspects of relational communication that the respondents mentioned as having changed because of moving to remote work. These aspects divide the respondents into three groups: those who found remote work as a challenge for relational communication, those who found it as an opportunity for relational communication, and those whose perceptions were ambivalent. The respondents' individual characteristics are presented alongside their perceptions. The results reflect the diversity of relational communication in organizations, highlighting its importance to well-being and coping. The practical implications of the study reflect the typical time and place of relational communication in traditional organizing, offering insights into how to develop a culture that enables relational communication in remotely working organizations.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Some followers experienced an increase in support by their supervisors during COVID.
“The lack of social support was explained by followers feeling reluctant to ask for help through ICTs or by describing that remote work needs higher levels of support, which was not available.Others experienced an increase in support by their supervisors during COVID”
From Leadership and technostress: A systematic literature review (2025) · cites this paper as Jämsen et al. (2022)
The lack of social support was explained by followers describing that remote work needs higher levels of support, which was not available.
“The lack of social support was explained by followers feeling reluctant to ask for help through ICTs or by describing that remote work needs higher levels of support, which was not available.Others experienced an increase in support by their supervisors during COVID”
From Leadership and technostress: A systematic literature review (2025) · cites this paper as Jämsen et al. (2022)
The lack of social support was explained by followers feeling reluctant to ask for help through ICTs.
“The lack of social support was explained by followers feeling reluctant to ask for help through ICTs or by describing that remote work needs higher levels of support, which was not available.Others experienced an increase in support by their supervisors during COVID”
From Leadership and technostress: A systematic literature review (2025) · cites this paper as Jämsen et al. (2022)
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
Using thematic analysis in psychology
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006) · Qualitative Research in Psychology · doi:10.1191/1478088706qp063oa · Cited by 194,414 · see citing works
Qualitative Research Methods: Collecting Evidence, Crafting Analysis, Communicating Impact
Tracy, S. J. (2012) · Cited by 3,635 · see citing works
Gajendran, R. S., & Harrison, D. A. (2007) · Journal of Applied Psychology · doi:10.1037/0021-9010.92.6.1524 · Cited by 2,616 · see citing works
Structural Topic Models for Open‐Ended Survey Responses
Roberts, M. E., Stewart, B., Tingley, D. H., Lucas, C., Leder-Luis, J., Gadarian, S. K., Albertson, B. L., & Rand, D. G. (2014) · American Journal of Political Science · doi:10.1111/ajps.12103 · Cited by 1,969 · see citing works
Golden, T. D., Veiga, J. F., & Dino, R. N. (2008) · Journal of Applied Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0012722 · Cited by 841 · see citing works
Telecommuting, professional isolation, and employee development in public and private organizations
Cooper, C. D., & Kurland, N. B. (2002) · Journal of Organizational Behavior · doi:10.1002/job.145 · Cited by 739 · see citing works
Jehn, K. A., & Shah, P. P. (1997) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.72.4.775 · Cited by 561 · see citing works
Fonner, K. L., & Roloff, M. E. (2010) · Journal of Applied Communication Research · doi:10.1080/00909882.2010.513998 · Cited by 514 · see citing works
The fundamental topoi of relational communication
Burgoon, J., & Hale, J. L. (1984) · Communication Monographs · doi:10.1080/03637758409390195 · Cited by 510 · see citing works
Adjusting to epidemic-induced telework: empirical insights from teleworkers in France
Carillo, K., Cachat‐Rosset, G., Marsan, J., Saba, T., & Klarsfeld, A. (2020) · European Journal of Information Systems · doi:10.1080/0960085x.2020.1829512 · Cited by 359 · see citing works
Wiesenfeld, B. M., Raghuram, S., & Garud, R. B. (2001) · Journal of Management · doi:10.1177/014920630102700205 · Cited by 343 · see citing works
The Rules of Virtual Groups: Trust, Liking, and Performance in Computer-Mediated Communication
Walther, J. B., & Bunz, U. (2005) · Journal of Communication · doi:10.1111/j.1460-2466.2005.tb03025.x · Cited by 292 · see citing works
Workplace Relationship Quality and Employee Information Experiences
Sias, P. M. (2005) · Communication Studies · doi:10.1080/10510970500319450 · Cited by 284 · see citing works
Factors contributing to virtual work adjustment
Raghuram, S., Garud, R. B., Wiesenfeld, B. M., & Gupta, V. (2001) · Journal of Management · doi:10.1177/014920630102700309 · Cited by 253 · see citing works
Organizing Relationships: Traditional and Emerging Perspectives on Workplace Relationships
Sias, P. M. (2009) · Sage eBooks · doi:10.4135/9781452204031 · Cited by 247 · see citing works
van Zoonen, W., & Sivunen, A. E. (2021) · European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology · doi:10.1080/1359432x.2021.2002299 · Cited by 235 · see citing works
Self-citationNew Technology, Work and Employment in the era of COVID‐19: reflecting on legacies of research
Hodder, A. (2020) · New Technology Work and Employment · doi:10.1111/ntwe.12173 · Cited by 233 · see citing works
Social support in the workplace between teleworkers, office‐based colleagues and supervisors
Collins, A. M., Hislop, D. W., & Cartwright, S. (2016) · New Technology Work and Employment · doi:10.1111/ntwe.12065 · Cited by 213 · see citing works
Leonardi, P. M., Treem, J. W., & Jackson, M. H. (2010) · Journal of Applied Communication Research · doi:10.1080/00909880903483599 · Cited by 211 · see citing works
Antecedents of employee job satisfaction: Do they matter?
Alegre, I., Mas‐Machuca, M., & Berbegal‐Mirabent, J. (2015) · Journal of Business Research · doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2015.10.113 · Cited by 208 · see citing works
The Impact of Teleworking on Work Motivation in a U.S. Federal Government Agency
Caillier, J. G. (2011) · The American Review of Public Administration · doi:10.1177/0275074011409394 · Cited by 169 · see citing works
Getting away from them all: Managing exhaustion from social interaction with telework
Windeler, J. B., Chudoba, K. M., & Sundrup, R. Z. (2017) · Journal of Organizational Behavior · doi:10.1002/job.2176 · Cited by 163 · see citing works
Coworker Relationships and Informal Communication in High-Intensity Telecommuting
Fay, M. J., & Kline, S. L. (2011) · Journal of Applied Communication Research · doi:10.1080/00909882.2011.556136 · Cited by 158 · see citing works
Forssell, R. (2016) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2016.01.003 · Cited by 137 · see citing works
Whillans, A. V., Perlow, L. A., & Turek, A. (2021) · Information and Organization · doi:10.1016/j.infoandorg.2021.100343 · Cited by 123 · see citing works
Hur, W., Kim, B., & Park, S. (2014) · Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries · doi:10.1002/hfm.20587 · Cited by 117 · see citing works
Oksanen, A., Oksa, R., Savela, N., Mantere, E., Savolainen, I., & Kaakinen, M. (2021) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2021.106853 · Cited by 107 · see citing works
Get Noticed and Die Trying: Signals, Sacrifice, and the Production of Face Time in Distributed Work
Cristea, I. C., & Leonardi, P. M. (2019) · Organization Science · doi:10.1287/orsc.2018.1265 · Cited by 103 · see citing works
Trust, Performance, and the Communication Process in Ad Hoc Decision-Making Virtual Teams
Altschuller, S., & Benbunan‐Fich, R. (2010) · Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication · doi:10.1111/j.1083-6101.2010.01529.x · Cited by 88 · see citing works
Understanding Communication Research Methods: A Theoretical and Practical Approach
Croucher, S. M., & Cronn-Mills, D. (2021) · Cornerstone (Minnesota State University, Mankato) · doi:10.4324/9781315167664 · Cited by 85 · see citing works
Hislop, D., Axtell, C., Collins, A., Daniels, K., Glover, J., & Niven, K. (2015) · Information and Organization · doi:10.1016/j.infoandorg.2015.10.001 · Cited by 83 · see citing works
Regts, G., & Molleman, E. (2012) · Human Relations · doi:10.1177/0018726712454311 · Cited by 83 · see citing works
Nurmi, N., & HINDS, P. J. (2020) · Organization Studies · doi:10.1177/0170840620937885 · Cited by 83 · see citing works
Yperen, N. W. V., Wörtler, B., & Jonge, K. M. M. D. (2016) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2016.02.068 · Cited by 77 · see citing works
Hood, A. C., Cruz, K. S., & Bachrach, D. G. (2016) · Journal of Business and Psychology · doi:10.1007/s10869-016-9436-y · Cited by 65 · see citing works
Social support in the workplace for physicians in specialization training
Mikkola, L., Suutala, E., & Parviainen, H. (2018) · Medical Education Online · doi:10.1080/10872981.2018.1435114 · Cited by 65 · see citing works
Laughing Matters: A Case Study of Humor in Multicultural Business Negotiations
Vuorela, T. (2004) · Negotiation Journal · doi:10.1111/j.1571-9979.2005.00049.x · Cited by 58 · see citing works
Topic modeling for analyzing open-ended survey responses
Pietsch, A.-S., & Lessmann, S. (2018) · Journal of Business Analytics · doi:10.1080/2573234x.2019.1590131 · Cited by 58 · see citing works
Communication Skills, Social Support, and Burnout among Advocates in a Domestic Violence Agency
Babin, E. A., Palazzolo, K. E., & Rivera, K. D. (2012) · Journal of Applied Communication Research · doi:10.1080/00909882.2012.670257 · Cited by 48 · see citing works
Relational Communication Messages and Leadership Styles in Supervisor/Employee Relationships
Mikkelson, A. C., Sloan, D., & Hesse, C. (2017) · International Journal of Business Communication · doi:10.1177/2329488416687267 · Cited by 44 · see citing works
Solomon, D. H., Dillard, J. P., & Anderson, J. W. (2002) · Human Communication Research · doi:10.1111/j.1468-2958.2002.tb00801.x · Cited by 38 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Leadership and technostress: A systematic literature review
Rademaker, T., Klingenberg, I., & Süß, S. (2025) · Management Review Quarterly · doi:10.1007/s11301-023-00385-x · Cited by 59 · see citing works
Afota, M., Provost Savard, Y., Léon, E., & Ollier‐Malaterre, A. (2024) · Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology · doi:10.1111/joop.12494 · Cited by 40 · see citing works
Qin, Y. S. (2025) · International Journal of Strategic Communication · doi:10.1080/1553118x.2024.2417669 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
- Authors
- Jämsen, R., Sivunen, A., & Blomqvist, K.
- Affiliations
- University of Jyväskylä (FI)
- Lappeenranta-Lahti University of Technology (FI)
- Corresponding author
- Jämsen, Rasa
- Venue
- Computers in Human Behavior
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2022-07
- Volume
- 132
- Pages
- 107240
- ISSN
- 0747-5632 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC8847075
- OpenAlex
- W4213145402
- Cited by
- 98
- References
- 41
- Citations by year
- 2026: 16 · 2025: 27 · 2024: 26 · 2023: 20 · 2022: 9
- FWCI
- 29.50
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Computers in Human Behavior (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Jyväskylä University Digital Archive (University of Jyväskylä) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- Business Finland (40981/31/2020)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Work-Family Balance Challenges
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Team Dynamics and Performance
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Technostress in Professional Settings
- Keywords
- relational communication, remote work, public sector employees, COVID-19 pandemic, employee perceptions, organizational culture, well-being, coping, workplace communication
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
