Federal Telework Intensity, Perceived Organizational Support, and Perceived Supervisor Support as Predictors of Affective Commitment in a Post-Pandemic Environment

The COVID-19 pandemic forced many governments to transition to non-traditional work such as telework (Lunde et al., 2022). However, in a post-pandemic environment, federal agencies required their employees to return to the offices (Office of Management and Budget, 2021), which led employees to agency hop, looking for more accommodating work arrangements (The Committee on Oversight and Accountability, 2022). Therefore, the researcher sought to determine if telework intensity (TI), perceived organizational support (POS), and perceived supervisor support (PSS) predicted employee organizational commitment (OC). The researcher used a quantitative correlational cross-sectional survey to assess 202 federal employees from two Department of Defense organizations. The survey included demographic questions, an item assessing employees’ TI, and POS, PSS, and OC scales. The researcher evaluated the demographic items using descriptive statistics and correlational and regression analysis for the POS, PSS, and OC items. The results indicated no correlation between TI and POS, PSS, or OC. However, significant positive correlations were found between POS, PSS, and OC. Additionally, POS significantly positively predicted OC. The results also show that teleworking individuals demonstrated higher mean OC scores than non-teleworking co-workers. In this regard, organizational leaders and human capital development practitioners should endeavor to increase employees’ POS and PSS through targeted, structured initiatives as they can contribute to higher OC. Keywords: telework intensity, organizational commitment, perceived organizational commitment, perceived supervisor commitment