REMOTE WORK MANAGEMENT AND OPERATIONAL PERFORMANCE: A CROSS-SECTIONAL ANALYSIS OF TELECOMMUNICATION FIRMS

Abstract

Disruptive times happen, and there is a chance of unpreparedness confronting the populace. However, it offers opportunities to adopt new methods or reinforce alternative processes in delivering value to customers. Remote work has always been practised globally, but the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic reinforced its practice. This study examined the connection between remote work management practices (RWMPs) and the operational performance of companies in the Nigerian telecommunication industry. The study’s population comprised the workers of the four (4) prominent telecommunication firms in Nigeria. The telecommunication firms in Nigeria at the point of time of this study were GLO, MTN, AIRTEL, and 9Mobile. A well-structured questionnaire was administered to 400 randomly selected respondents from a target population of 7,756, with 340 participants completing the survey, providing valuable primary data for this study. Descriptive statistical tools and structural equation modelling (SEM) were employed to analyze the data collected. Findings from the empirical study showed that RWMPs significantly and positively influence companies' operational performance in the Nigerian telecommunication industry. It was found that RWMPs substantially improve the operational performance of telecommunication companies in a developing economy like Nigeria. Consequently, it was recommended that the management of the companies in the Nigeria telecommunication industry provide more ICT facilities and other resources to sustain their RWMPs. To ensure that the operational performances of these firms will continue to improve at a geometrical rate management should not allow their staff to waste productive hours in their daily commute to work. The study was limited to telecommunication firms in Nigeria, therefore future studies could expand the scope to include other countries or regions, enabling a more comprehensive understanding of the phenomenon.