The influence of text-based technology-mediated communication on the connection quality of workplace relationships: the mediating role of emotional labor

Abstract

Teleworking experienced exponential growth worldwide during the Covid-19 lockdown. It is very likely that once the limitations for travelling and gathering are over, an important share of the work of organizational members will still be done remotely. We offer a new set of considerations for employees that communicate remotely via text-based technology-mediated communication (TMC) by focusing on the emotional labor challenges associated with TMC and how these challenges influence the connection quality of workplace relationships. We also delineate the mediating effects of two outcomes of TMC, decreased co-presence and informational and interactional demands, in this process. We build on previous literature, especially Walther’s (1996) triadic theory of impersonal/interpersonal/hyperpersonal TMC, to support our theoretical assertions. We develop specific propositions and a theoretical model related to the mediating effects of decreased co-presence, informational and interactional demands, and emotional labor on the link between text-based technology-mediated communication (TMC) and the connection quality of workplace relationships.