The impact of telework on public service motivation: exploring the role of authentic leadership in pre- and post-pandemic contexts

This study explores the diverse impacts of telework on public service motivation while examining the direct and moderating effects of authentic leadership. Leveraging two-year datasets from Korea in 2016 and 2021, the present analysis reveals the following insights. Mobile document approval negatively affects public service motivation, whereas videoconference and authentic leadership demonstrate positive influences. Authentic leadership exhibits intriguing moderating effects: pre-COVID-19, it mitigated the negative impact of work from home and amplified the negative effects of mobile document approval. However, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, its role shifts, exacerbating the negative effects of both work from home practices and mobile document approval.