Phd in PSYCHOLOGY AND SOCIAL NEUROSCIENCE

Thesis title: The emerging psychosocial risks for employees: remote working and technology. A meta-analysis, a longitudinal study, and a multilevel investigation

Technological advancement has deeply changed the “classical" way of work, bringing to a broad adoption of remote work. Moreover, its diffusion is increased due to the recent COVID-19 epidemic outbreak. Remote work has revolutionized the concept of work and provided an opportunity for a more flexible and balanced approach to employment. On the other hand, it has also exacerbated phenomena such as social isolation and increased workload. This dissertation includes three independent studies whose main contributions are: (a) to highlight the most important generic and occupation-specific work characteristics of remote work, and to quantify by meta-analysis their associations with workers’ health, assessing the moderation role of COVID-19, age and presence of children; (b) to identify in a prospective way the influence of remote work and the use of technology on workers’ private life and work engagement over three years period, and (c) to examine, adopting a multilevel approach, how remote work-related psychosocial risks are linked to workers’ health and performance, assessing the mediating role of self-efficacy, at the individual-level, and the influence of integration climate on workers’ health and performance, at the organisational-level. The findings of the present dissertation reinforce the importance of a correct implementation of remote work in organisations. It highlights the need to prioritize the well-being of remote workers, considering factors such as, isolation, burnout, and work-life integration by delving into the dimensions of self-efficacy, social support, team collaboration, creativity, and communication within the context of remote work.