Identifying Factors Affecting Teleworking Productivity During COVID-19 Pandemic Using Fuzzy Techniques

Abstract

Recognizing and managing the factors affecting employees’ productivity are important issues. However, the importance of these factors has not been much studied by management researchers. On the other hand, today, teleworking as one of the factors affecting the global economy is a topic that has been considered by scholars and its importance during the spread of COVID-19 has become much debatable. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to identify the factors affecting teleworking during COVID-19 pandemic. The present study consists of two parts: qualitative and quantitative. In the qualitative section, with a systematic review of the related studies, the dimensions and indicators of the employees’ productivity have been extracted in the form of a model with 7 dimensions and 21 indicators, including: physiological and psychological factors, social factors, organizational factors, technological factors and situational factors related to the work environment. Thus, using the content analysis method, a model with 7 dimensions and 21 indicators was extracted and approved by a panel of academic experts. In the quantitative part, 35 experts of Tadbirgaran Brokerage Company, using an expertly designed questionnaire, determined the weight of the factors and the relationships between them using the fuzzy best-worst method and fuzzy DEMATEL techniques The results revealed that, among the main factors, the phsilogical factors are the most important and the technological factors are the least important factors. Additionally, it was found that, among the sub-indicators, the effect of physical condition and the gender of the employees are the most important and the quality of work is the least important indicators.

Keywords

• teleworking employees’ productivity
• teleworking
• best-worst fuzzy technique
• fuzzy dematel technique
• covid-19 disease