‘Distant but close’: Leadership behaviours, psychological distance, employee coping and effectiveness in remote work contexts

Abstract

Drawing on construal level and conservation of resources theories, our paper focuses on the psychological distance employees experience from their manager in remote work contexts. We specifically examine the role of three leadership behaviours (initiating structure, consideration and vision communication) on employees' perceptions of psychological distance from their manager and the subsequent effects on employee task, emotion and avoidance coping and individual effectiveness outcomes. Using data from two independent studies (Study 1: a four‐wave time‐lagged online study of remotely working 338 participants; Study 2: a four‐wave time‐lagged study of 202 hybrid working professionals), we found that consideration and vision communication reduced employees' perceptions of psychological distance from their manager, while psychological distance decreased task coping. Support for a serial mediation model was also found, with consideration and vision communication indirectly influencing task performance and consideration indirectly influencing organizational citizenship behaviours and withdrawal behaviours via psychological distance and then via task coping. Our research results provide new insights into the role of leadership in remote work contexts and highlight the implications of psychological distance from the leader for employees' coping responses and individual effectiveness.