Date of Conferral

2022

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Management

Advisor

Kenneth Levitt

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the remote working trend, causing workplace leaders to be challenged and remote employees to feel meaninglessness and lose interest in their work. The subjective nature of meaningful work and enforced remote work is a relatively recent socioeconomic phenomenon, creating a gap in the literature regarding how middle managers foster meaningful work for employees in a remote work environment. The purpose of this qualitative narrative inquiry study was to understand how middle managers fostered meaningful work for employees in a remote work environment during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were collected from semistructured interviews with 10 middle managers who were responsible for managing employees during the shift to remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic. The critical event approach was used to analyze the data and four conceptual categories emerged: (a) middle managers’ personal stories of experience with remote work, (b) middle managers’ experiences in leading meaningful remote work experiences, (c) managerial challenges of remote employee engagement during the pandemic, and (d) middle managers’ voices on fostering meaningful work for remote employees. The findings in this study have potential implications for positive social change by creating greater understanding of meaningful interventions and meaningful leadership practices that can enhance work engagement. As remote work increases in the future and across industries, understanding factors that diminish virtual employees’ work meaning and engagement is essential to improve the well-being of the future workforce.

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