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This paper explores flexible working practices (FWPs) and takes a critical view that argues a need to consider not only access to digital technological resources but also the vast array of factors that constrain one’s ability to use technology for its intended benefits, as constituting the digital divide post-COVID-19 lockdown.

Using a critical evaluation of the extant literature, we engage in a conceptual undertaking to develop theoretical propositions that form the basis for future empirical undertakings. To theoretically ground the arguments raised, we deploy the ontological lens of actor-network theory to illuminate the socio-technical dimensions of the digital divide in light of FWPs.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the need to adopt socially distanced work practices has become a reality for many organisations. We find that the adoption of FWPs, enabled by digital technologies, simultaneously signals hidden inequalities. We also develop a conceptual framework which depicts user responses in different technology environments that can either be limiting or enabling for individuals’ work productivity.

With regards to the digital divide, attention has often focused on access to digital technologies, as the term “digital divide” portrays. The implication is that the array of factors and resources that individuals are heterogeneously networked to, which also constitute the digital divide, is often taken for granted. We take a different ontological view that brings to the fore other factors at play within an individual’s network of relations.

本文擬探索彈性工作安排,並以批判性的觀點、去論證當我們探討2019冠狀病毒病封鎖解除後的數字鴻溝究竟是由什麼組成時,我們必須考慮數字技術資源的使用權限,以及關注各個有關的因素,因這些因素限制了我們從應用技術獲得預期效益的能力。

我們對現存文獻作批判性的評價,藉此參與一項概念性的工作,以便能建立可以成為將來實證性工作基礎的理論命題;為使提出的論點能得到理論上的依據,我們使用行動者網絡理論的本體論鏡頭,去闡明鑒於彈性工作安排的數字鴻溝的各個社會技術維度。

由於2019冠狀病毒病大爆發的關係,許多機構和組織都因實際情況而需採用保持社交距離的工作安排。我們發現、當我們採用有賴數字技術的發展而成行的彈性工作安排時,我們同時也會使不為人知的不平等狀況浮現出來;我們也注意到、不同的技術環境會限制個人的工作生產力,又或相反地助其建立工作生產力;就此,我們建立了一個可以描繪就這些不同的技術環境、用戶會如何回應的概念框架。

就數字鴻溝而言,人們的關注總放在數字技術使用權限的差異上,就如數字鴻溝這個術語所塑造的形象一樣。這種關注可能帶來的影響是即使有不同的因素和資源、即使個人會以各種形式與不同的因素和資源聯繫起來,而這些因素和資源構成了數字鴻溝,人們卻把這些因素和資源視為理所當然。我們採用不同的本體論觀點,希望藉此使個人關係網絡內起著作用的其它因素能突顯出來、免被忽視。

This study examines some pertinent individual-level factors and consequences of consumers' continuous social media brand engagement (SMBE) practices. Further, this study examines the moderating effect of other-efficacy to deepen the understanding.

Online survey data collected from 785 respondents, through a convenience sampling technique on Facebook, was analyzed through structural equation (SEM) modeling with AMOS 23.0.

The findings suggest that compatibility with lifestyle, perceived information quality and escapism, which significantly drive consumers' continuous engagement with brands on social media. However, perceived enjoyment does not. Other-efficacy duly moderates consumers' continuous SMBE practices. While continuous SMBE significantly drives consumer-based brand equity (CBBE), continuous SMBE does not have any significant relationship with consumers' subjective well-being (SWB).

This study reports robust findings on the effects of individual-level factors that drive consumers' continuous SMBE practices. However, the study only focused on Facebook brand pages. This is a limitation for generalizability of results because the research did not take a holistic view of all types of social media.

The research suggests a need for managers to project their brands and share relevant and stimulating information throughout their continuous SMBE with consumers to build strong consumer–brand relationships. Managers should also engage consumers with interesting social media messages as well as both informative and transformative creative strategies to excite them. This will further give consumers a reason to continuously interact with the brand on social media platforms.

This study is one of the very few works to tease out pertinent factors that drive consumers' continuous SMBE practices. The paper integrates the consumer-level factors and moderating effects of other-efficacy through the lens of Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) and Uses and Gratification Theory (UGT) to make a significant contribution to the SMBE literature.

Working-from-home (WFH) models represent one of several types of flexible work practices gaining ground in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Of particular interest is the increase in the use of digital technology platforms for work collaboration and communication. These have been largely well received in terms of their potential to mitigate disruptions to business activity and employee work life in the absence of in-person work contexts. Research indicates that the sales and adoption of many digital platforms have witnessed sharp increase since the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic. These have contributed to creating seamless organisational collaborations, shared access to electronic data and new organisational processes to mirror previous in-person work arrangements. Many organisational members have had to upskill at rapid rates to catch up with these developments. Despite the benefits to employees, managers and organisations in terms of facilitating continued remote work, we illuminate the hidden inequities within this work model and highlight the unintended consequences from the standpoint of gender, race and the digital divide. We identify key aspects of WFH that represent underlying factors which create conditions for inequities and illustrate these with a case study. Additionally, we analyse the role of technology as a platform for WFH, noting impacts on employee well-being, team dynamics, as well as manager-employee relations. We conclude by raising implications for managers, offering recommendations to rebalance the inequities identified, such as developing an inclusive organisational culture, creating systems to access and evaluate employee feedback as well as developing appropriate response mechanisms that support particularly vulnerable groups.