Workplace environmental comfort in remote working: the impact on organizational identification

The COVID-19 pandemic period was marked by the widespread usage of online technologies worldwide. In March 2020, it was estimated that over 6.6 million Italian workers worked remotely (i.e., 41% of the active national workforce). Little attention is given to the home environment’s impact on an individual’s well-being, especially in cases when the private and work environments are indistinguishable. Furthermore, little research has been done on the relationship between remote working and maintaining organizational identification. This study aims to investigate the relationship between the domestic work environment, satisfaction with smart working, need to belong, and organizational identification. The study involved 464 Italian remote workers. The perceived workplace environmental quality indicators (PWEQI) have been developed, and a moderate-mediation model was tested. It was discovered that while a higher perception of comfort improves satisfaction with smart working, the latter has a negative impact on organizational identification, particularly in workers who have a low need to belong. It is argued that working at a distance does not result in lower productivity but rather in a broader emotional disengagement from the organization, which could lead to high turnover intentions.