The role of self-regulatory abilities in predicting performance while teleworking: A cross-sectional and a panel study during the COVID-19 pandemic

Scholars have argued that individual characteristics promoting self-regulation such as self-efficacy and self-goal setting were crucial for employees to cope effectively with the challenges of teleworking during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, research simultaneously exploring these specific self-regulatory abilities in relation to various performance dimensions is scarce. Thus, we examined whether self-efficacy and self-goal setting are related to proficiency, adaptivity, and proactivity while teleworking during the pandemic using a cross-sectional design (Study 1) and tested the directionality of these relationships using a two-wave cross-lagged panel design (Study 2). The degree of telework was considered a moderator for these relationships in both studies. Study 1 (N = 830) findings indicated that both self-efficacy and self-goal setting were positively related to all performance dimensions and that the degree of telework moderated the regression of adaptivity on self-efficacy to a small extent. Study 2 (N = 263) findings showed that self-efficacy at Time 1 had a positive effect on self-goal setting, proficiency, and adaptivity, measured at Time 2, whereas self-goal setting at Time 1 did not predict significantly any of the performance dimensions at Time 2. We also found evidence that adaptivity positively influenced self-efficacy over time. Our results provide important insights into the nature and directional relationships between self-regulatory abilities and different performance dimensions while teleworking during the pandemic.