The Innovative Behavior During Work from Home in Indonesia: The Role of Job Autonomy and Work Engagement

Abstract

Covid-19 pandemic changes the way people work, with many companies implementing work from home policy as a new way of working. Employees must adapt to the new policy, which requires organizations to create an optimal working environment to enable employees to have positive behavior and performance to support the company's business. This study examines the effects of job autonomy and work engagement on innovative work behavior in Indonesia's Work from Home situation. This study is conducted through primary data collection using a quantitative research design, with questionnaires collected from 286 employees from various industries who work under the Work from Home policy. Data collected are further being analyzed using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) to test the overall construct of the research model. This study shows that a high level of job autonomy has a positive and significant effect on work engagement and innovative work behavior. In contrast, work engagement is a significant driver of innovative work behavior and partially mediates the positive effect of job autonomy on innovative work behavior. Implementing a policy that could provide more control and freedom to employees when performing their job could increase employees' level of engagement and innovative behavior. This study has two significant contributions: first, enriching academic references in the field of human resources related to job autonomy, work engagement, and innovative work behavior variables, and secondly, providing insights for leaders and human resources department of organizations when implementing practical working policy in Work from Home situation in Indonesia.