Introduction

Employee turnover is a global problem as it has affected the organisation’s productivity, performance, and success for decades (Gebregziabher et al., 2020; Kakar et al., 2021; Andrus, 2021). More recently, the issue of employee turnover has been aggravated by the recent outbreak of COVID-19, as millions of people have lost their jobs and livelihood (Deniz, 2021; Zeynalli & Zeynalli, 2022), and has affected organisation productivity. In addition, employee turnover raises the cost of recruitment and selection, training and development, and employee capacity building (Gibbs, 2018; Kakar et al., 2022a, b, c). Gibbs (2018) has found that organisation productivity is severely affected by the turnover of employees, as work schedules are disrupted, and new employees are unable to perform. Moreover, employee morale, organisation commitment, and job satisfaction are also adversely affected by high turnover (Abbasi & Hollman, 2000; Asrar-ul-Haq et al., 2019). As such, reducing turnover and enhancing employee retention (ER), i.e., retaining those who are thinking of job turnover, has become essential for the success and productivity of the organisation.

ER refers to an organisation’s ability to retain its existing employees. Previous scholars have extensively studied it in the pre-COVID-19 pandemic era, and several factors have been identified as essential in reducing employee turnover and strengthening organisations’ efforts to retain their most valuable workers. For instance, Mignonac et al. (2006) found that ER is affected by external prestige and organisational identification, while Mcculloch and Turban (2007) and Kakar et al. (2022a, b, c) argued that satisfied employees and those who fit organisations always tend to stay with their organisations. Other factors that affect ER include work-life balance (Kakar et al., 2019), employees’ voice (Mohammad et al., 2020), workplace mentoring (Naim, 2018), employee engagement (Shahruddin & Daud, 2018), job embeddedness (Holtom & Darabi, 2018), and working environment (Samad & Saufi, 2017). Scholars have also studied ER to some extent during the COVID-19 pandemic and found it to be predicted by factors such as job security, job satisfaction (Aman-Ullah et al., 2021), career development opportunities (Al Kurdi et al., 2021), and human resource management practices (Kakar & Saufi, 2021; Tej et al., 2021). One of the most significant predictors of worker turnover during COVID-19 is their fear of getting infected by COVID-19. However, very limited attention has been paid to the impact of fear of COVID-19 on ER.

Fear of COVID-19 refers to an individual’s physiological and psychological reactions, thoughts, and feelings to the news and the possibility of being infected with COVID-19 (Jue & Ha, 2022). According to Labrague and de Los Santos (2021) and Yousaf et al. (2021), if fear of COVID-19 is not managed and guided, it can lead to poor organisational performance and result in the development of negative attitudes, including job stress (De los Santos & Labrague, 2021), burnout (Abdelghani et al., 2020), job insecurity, emotional exhaustion (Chen & Eyoun, 2021), turnover intention (Teng et al., 2021), and withdrawal behaviour (Liu et al., 2022). Given the adverse implication of fear of COVID-19, past scholarly works have identified that fear of COVID-19 can be lessened by a number of factors, including education and awareness (Mubarak et al., 2021), avoiding social media (Rehman et al., 2021), compliance with COVID-19 protocols such as maintaining proper distancing, using masks, and antiseptics. In addition, working from home or telecommuting has been one of the most effective responses to the COVID-19 pandemic at workplaces (Liu et al., 2021). For instance, telecommuting has reduced employee exposure to the virus, contained its spread (Iversen et al., 2022; Labrague & de Los Santos, 2021; Luo et al., 2021), and mitigated fear of COVID-19 (Iversen et al., 2022) by providing secure work from home option. However, very limited knowledge is available on the role of telecommuting in reducing the fear of COVID-19.

Telecommuting, also known as work-from-home or telework, refers to a flexible working arrangement where employees are encouraged and allowed to perform their official duties remotely with the use of technology. The use of telecommuting has augmented substantially amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and it is likely to stay in the post-pandemic era (Mohammadi et al., 2022). The general purpose of telecommuting is to offer employees opportunities for job continuity and smooth functioning of the organisation. For instance, during the COVID-19 lockdown, telecommuting was the only organizational resource that not only saved employees time, energy, and jobs (Golden, 2006; Liu et al., 2021; Masuda et al., 2017) but also kept businesses running. In addition, telecommuting ‘reduces organisations’ expenses and improves their productivity (Gaur et al., 2021). From employees’ perspectives, telecommuting positively affects their satisfaction level (Golden & Veiga, 2005), energy and resilience (Chi et al., 2021), productivity, and well-being (Barbuto et al., 2020). Telecommuting has also been found to help employees vent their work-family conflict (Gajendran & Harrison, 2007). In addition, telecommuting provides employees autonomy in managing their family and work life (Felstead et al., 2002; Kakar et al., 2022a) and enables them to work from home, thus reducing daily commute expenses (O’Brien & Yazdani Aliabadi, 2020) and human-to-human contact (Chai et al., 2022). Research shows that people prefer to use telecommuting in order to avoid contact (Chai et al., 2022) and thus mitigate the threat or fear posed by COVID-19 (Iversen et al., 2022; Messner, 2021). However, there is little knowledge of the impact of telecommuting on fear of COVID-19.

Furthermore, prior studies acknowledge that the impact of telecommuting on essential work outcomes is not always direct; instead, it is mediated by other variables. For instance, in a meta-analysis study, Gajendran and Harrison (2007) found that relationship quality, work-family conflict, and perceived autonomy mediated the impact of telecommuting on job satisfaction and turnover intention. Fear of COVID-19 has also been examined as a mediating variable by researchers (Li et al., 2022; Üngüren & Kaçmaz, 2022). In light of the related literature and grounded in the COR theory (Hobfoll, 1989) and SET (Blau, 1964), this study predicts that fear of COVID-19 is likely to mediate the impact of telecommuting on ER. The COR theory suggests that employees are motivated to protect and preserve resources that provide valuable outcomes (Hobfoll et al., 2018), while SET emphasizes the mutual exchange of beneficial resources. These resources could be personal (time and energy, health, knowledge) and contextual (employment, home, and marriage; Ten Brummelhuis & Bakker, 2012). Previous scholars have used COR theory to explain telecommuting as a resource that saves time and energy and protects employees’ from resource depletion (Golden, 2006; Liu et al., 2021). Furthermore, telecommuting is especially valuable during COVID-19 as it reduces physical contact with coworkers, decreasing the spread and fear of COVID-19 (Iversen et al., 2022). As a result, decreased fear of COVID-19 enhances their retention (Selem et al., 2022; Tolksdorf et al., 2022).

The SET focuses on how individuals behave in response to resource acquisition within social relationships. The underlying premise of SET is that when an organization provides employees with resources such as rewards, benefits, and support (e.g., telecommuting), the employees feel obligated to reciprocate by engaging in behaviors that benefit the organization. Accordingly, in alignment with SET (Blau, 1964), we suggest that providing telecommuting could increase employee retention as they perceive this benefit as an investment in them by their organizations which is then returned through extending their length of stay with the organization.

In sum, based on the above discussion, this study aims to answer the following research question: To what extent does telecommuting affect ER and fear of COVID-19, and fear of COVID-19 affects ER? Does fear of COVID-19 mediate the relationships between telecommuting and ER?

In doing so, this study adds to the literature pertaining to employees’ attitudes by considering telecommuting role in reducing fear of COVID-19 and increasing ER. This study also postulates fear of COVID-19 as a crucial mechanism that unveils the relationship between telecommuting and ER. The study also contributes to COR theory and SET by considering telecommuting as a resource and highlighting the mechanism through which telecommuting influence ER.

Literature Review

Employees Retention

According to Ghani et al. (2022), ER is defined as the ability of an organisation to enhance the length of stay of employees within the organisation, while Frank et al. (2004) refer to it as “the effort by an employer to keep desirable workers to meet business objectives” (p.99). More specifically, ER refers to the ability of the organisation to reduce the turnover of its existing employees and extend their stay with the organisation. Research shows that, on the one hand, retaining employees can significantly boost the existing employees’ morale and motivation and thus improve organisation performance and productivity (El-Said, 2014). On the other hand, an organisation’s failure to retain their employees not only results in the loss of knowledgeable worker, but also increases the monetary cost of recruitment and selection, negatively affect the morale of existing employees, and create a sense of job insecurity among workers. In addition, poor employee retention reduces the competitive edge of the organisation and results in organisation’s closure. Therefore, scholars argue that employee retention is one of the global issues for business organisations (Ghani et al., 2022), especially in nonprofit organisations.

Fear of COVID-19

The root of the fear of COVID-19 goes back to 2019 when a novel coronavirus emerges in Wuhan, China. In general, fear refers to the psychological and physiological response elicited by dangerous external stimuli, while fear of COVID-19 is the concern, anxiety, and depression people experience in reaction to the possibility of being infected by COVID-19. The anxiety and fear triggered by COVID-19 have resulted in several health-related issues such as depression (Lee et al., 2020), anxiety, trauma, sleep disorder (Marvaldi et al., 2021), and suicide risk (Gunnell et al., 2020). Moreover, it has resulted in the closure of business organisations and the loss of millions of jobs (Langman & Schatz, 2021). Research shows that the employee involuntary layoff and voluntary turnover rate has amplified manifold during the COVID-19 pandemic. Although a safe and effective vaccine has been procured for the treatment of COVID-19, the appearance of new variants of COVID-19 is causing fear and uncertainty among business organisations. Numerous strategies such as social distancing, using masks, and cleaning have been embraced by business organisations to halt the spread of COVID-19 and reduce the fear among their employees. However, there is missing empirical evidence of whether COVID-19 fear can be reduced at the workplace with telecommuting.

Telecommuting

Telecommuting is defined as “a work practice that involves members of an organisation substituting a portion of their typical work hours (ranging from a few hours per week to nearly full-time) to work away from a central workplace-typically principally from home-using technology, to interact with others as needed to conduct work tasks” (Allen et al., 2015) p.44. Telecommuting, also known as telework, flexplace, and remote work (Allen et al., 2015; Rudolph et al., 2021), is a technology-driven mode of work in which employees work outside the office, usually from home, a remote area, or at a site other than the ordinary workplace. Although the term telecommuting was first used in the US during the 1970s oil crisis as an energy conservation measure (Allen et al., 2015), however, interest in telecommuting has increased extensively during the COVID-19 pandemic (Rudolph et al., 2021). During the COVID-19 pandemic, 50% knowledgeable US workforce have transitioned to telework or telecommuting (Brynjolfsson et al., 2020), with some suggesting it will stay even during post-pandemic. Junça-Silva et al. (2022) reported that over 70% of the future workforce would be working from home at least five days a week. Moreover, governments worldwide are using telecommuting to reduce people’s interaction, and thus the spread of COVID-19. Thus, telecommuting is a new style of working that has not only changed employees’ work style but also adversely affected their lifestyle and health, such as back pain, eye strain, and community relations (Kubo et al., 2021). In addition, it has been seen as a way to reduce face-to-face contact (Van Dyne et al., 2007), stress, and anxiety among workers (Handy & Mokhtarian, 1996) and enhance their productivity (Nayak & Pandit, 2021). Following COR theory, Choi (2019) and Masuda et al. (2017) found that telecommuting as a resource enhances employees’ engagement and reduces their voluntary turnover.

Underpinning Theories

Researchers have utilized COR theory (Hobfoll et al., 2018) and SET (Blau, 1964) in explaining the relationship between telecommuting and ER. The COR theory posits that employees with sufficient resources are less vulnerable to workplace stressors (Hobfoll et al., 2018), such as fear of COVID-19, which has emerged as a significant workplace stressor that has depleted employees’ emotional, psychological, and physiological resources. This theory further that when individual resources are exhausted, they try to seek new resources to prevent further resource lost. As such, telecommuting is the most relevant organisation resource vital for co** with fear created by COVID-19 by preserving employees’ resources (e.g., physical energy, health, and psychological well-being) of which they could have been deprived without telecommuting (Wright & Cropanzano, 1998). Furthermore, SET posits that when employees receive benefits from their organisation, they are likely to reciprocate it with positive attitudes (Blau, 1964), such as job satisfaction and lower turnover intention (Choi, 2019; Kakar et al., 2018). Given that telecommuting offers employees benefits (time, energy, and costs; Golden, 2006; Liu et al., 2021)), they will return the organisation’s favour by staying with the organisation for a longer time (Tsen et al., 2022). In contrast, if telecommuting is not available for employees, they are more likely to turnover and look for alternative jobs that best suit them.

In summary, the integration of COR theory and SET predicts that an organisation’s investment in telecommuting is a crucial resource that not only protects employees from workplace stressors, such as fear of COVID-19 and turnover (Choi, 2019; Jamal et al., 2021) but also fosters a sense of obligation among employees to reciprocate with positive workplace behavior and attitudes (Tsen et al., 2022). Thus, following COR theory and SET, we predict that telecommuting is related to fear of COVID-19 and ER. Prior studies have also used SET and COR theory as a theoretical foundation in explaining the impact of telecommuting on work-related outcomes (Choi, 2019; Kakar et al., 2018; Wright & Cropanzano, 1998).

Hypotheses Development

Telecommuting and ER

Drawing on COR theory and SET, this study proposes that telecommuting influences ER. The COR theory posits that employees are interested in conserving and protecting the resources they value. During the COVID-19 pandemic, employees experienced a depletion of personal resources, including energy and time, which resulted in increased levels of stress, anxiety, and depression (Reizer et al., 2022). Telecommuting can play an essential role in hel** employees conserve their resources by eliminating travel time, reducing commute expenses and energy costs, and saving personal energy (Chai et al., 2022; Nguyen, 2021; O’Brien & Yazdani Aliabadi, 2020; Van Dyne et al., 2007). With the availability of these retained resources (e.g., physical energy, time, and commute expenses), the telecommuter can enjoy a better quality of life and work (Choi, 2019; Jamal et al., 2021), work-life balance and job satisfaction (Jamal et al., 2021), which in turn results in positive work outcomes such as ER.

SET provides another theoretical foundation for understanding the impact of telecommuting on ER. The basic premise of SET is that employees tend to reciprocate any good treatment from the organsiation with positive bahviours and attitude. In the context of telecommuting, telecommuting sends signals to employees that the organization values them and cares about their well-being. For instance, telecommuting provides employees the benefits of working remotely, better work and family life, and job satisfaction (Jamal et al., 2021). In the norms of reciprocity, employees will reciprocate these favours by showing high commitment to the organisation (de Vries et al., 2018) and lowering their intention to quit the job (Choi, 2019; Kakar et al., 2019). However, in case of the non-availability of such benefits, employees may look for alternative jobs that may meet their needs.

Prior research also provides empirical evidence of the influence of telecommuting on employee turnover and intention to leave. For instance, Choi (2019) found that employees exhibit positive attitudes and less voluntary turnover if given flexible work arrangements. Tsen et al. (2022) found that employees who perceived themselves as job independent and had access to flexible work and Flexi leave had lower turnover intention. Van Dyne et al. (2007) argue that organisations use telecommuting as a way to attract and retain qualified professionals. According to Yang et al. (2021), organisations can increase employee attachment and retention by providing benefits such as telecommuting and family-friendly practices. Furthermore, employees also perceive organisation investment in telecommuting as a signal of trust and support, therefore, enhancing their commitment and retention (Gajendran & Harrison, 2007). de Vries et al. (2018) found that telecommuting creates positive emotions, which results in employee engagement. Engaged workers are happily engrossed in their work and find it hard to detach themselves from work (Schaufeli et al., 2006); therefore, they are more likely to stay with the organisation (Rai et al., 2019). Thus, based on COR theory, SET, and related literature, this study hypothesises that:

  • H1: Telecommuting is positively related to ER.

Relationship between Telecommuting and Fear of COVID-19

Despite the fact that working from home or telecommuting has become the most popular work mode during the COVID-19 pandemic, empirical evidence of the relationship between telecommuting and fear of COVID-19 is missing in the previous literature. Generally, the purpose of telecommuting is to provide employees flexibility in doing their job from remote locations. In addition, telecommuting helps environmental concerns by reducing carbon emissions, traffic congestion, and accidents. Moreover, it provides employees benefit such as improved work-life balance, job performance, less stress, and daily commute expenses and non-transportation-related benefits (Jamal et al., 2021; Mohammadi et al., 2022; Nguyen, 2021). From the employer’s perspective, telecommuting saves organisation operational costs such as expenses of stationery, utility bills, office spaces, and parking. Moreover, during the COVID-19 crisis, telecommuting usage has increased manifolds to ensure business continuity and avoid social contact, and stop human-to-human transition of COVID-19 (Chai et al., 2022; Nguyen, 2021). However, empirical evidence of the relationship between telecommuting and COVID-19 fear is limited in the literature.

Following COR theory, we predict that telecommuting relates negatively to fear of COVID-19. The COR theory posits that if and when employees’ resources are threatened, they adopt a defensive posture in order to preserve their resources or divest their resources to stop resources from further loss (Hobfoll, 2001). Fear of COVID-19 is one of the factors that has resulted in mental issues such as depression, anxiety, and stress (Khattak et al., 2020; Reznik et al., 2021). According to Hobfoll (1989) and Hobfoll et al. (2018) COR theory, these mental issues are due to psychological resource depletion. Furthermore, COR theory holds that telecommuting, among the job resources available in the workplace, plays a significant role in buffering the depletion of psychological resources such as fear created by COVID-19. For instance, telecommuting provides a flexible work schedule, save travelling and commuting cost, and improve employees’ health and well-being. Therefore, the resources they save because of telecommuting may be used by the employees to offset the resource depletion caused by fear of COVID-19.

Some research has stated that telecommuting reduces fear of COVID-19. For instance, Milne et al. (2020); Nguyen (2021) argue that organisations have implemented telecommuting to prevent COVID-19 infection from further rise by limiting interpersonal contact among workers and reducing the human-to-human transmission of COVID-19. Mauras et al. (2021) found similar results: employees who used telecommuting at school were more effective in controlling the spread of COVID-19. Mohammadi et al. (2022) noted that people prefer to telecommute to avoid the risk of being infected with COVID-19. According to Cordeiro-Rodrigues (2020), counteractive measures (e.g., telecommuting), create social distancing and thus reduces the risk of being infected with COVID-19. Jeon (2020) argue that people fear COVID-19 less when they think that COVID-19 is not risky. Hubbard et al. (2021) argue that people who are at greater risk of infection from COVID-19 fear COVID-19 more. Iversen et al. (2022) reported that people who were working from home “report less fear of COVID-19 than those who do not have this opportunity” (p. 1460). Therefore, following COR theory and related literature, we hypothesise that:

  • H2: Telecommuting is negatively related to fear of COVID-19.

Fear of COVID-19 and ER Retention

Fear is one of the most common themes of COVID-19 pandemic literature (Ahorsu et al., 2020). People all around the world are experiencing fear, such as fear of being infected with COVID-19, fear of contact with infected people, or fear of death from COVID-19. Research shows that when people experience fear of COVID-19, they may adopt several maladaptive behaviours and attitudes. For instance, employees may engage in withdrawal behaviour and cyberloafing (Reizer et al., 2022). COVID-19 fear may also result in future career anxiety (Mahmud et al., 2021) and high turnover intention among workers (Chen & Eyoun, 2021; Labrague & de Los Santos, 2021). Although prior scholarly works have provided empirical evidence that fear triggered by COVID-19 leads to high turnover, however, we are unaware of a single study that has studied the effect of fear of COVID-19 on ER. Following COR theory and related literature (Hobfoll et al., 2018; Reizer et al., 2022), we predict that fear of COVID-19 results in the depletion of physical and psychological resources. Consequently, employees who experience fear at the workplace tend to avoid further resource loss by not staying with the organisation.

Prior research also provides empirical evidence of the impact of fear of COVID-19 on employee retention and turnover intention. Turnover intention and ER are different concepts (Mitchell et al., 2001). The former refers to employees’ willingness to leave, while the latter refers to the percentage of employees remaining with the organisation. Some scholars argue that turnover is the opposite of retention (Papachristou et al., 2015) and is used interchangeably with retention (Halter et al., 2017). For example, Labrague and de Los Santos (2021) found that employees tend to quit their job when they experience fear of COVID-19 at the workplace. Tolksdorf et al. (2022) conducted a systematic literature review and found similar results that fear of COVID-19 was a significant predictor of employee turnover. In another study among hospitality workers, Selem et al. (2022) reported that fear of COVID-19 reduces employees’ psychological well-being, resulting in turnover intention. We extend the literature by contending that a high level of fear regarding COVID-19 will likely reduce employee retention. Thus, based on the above-mentioned literature and theories, we hypothesise that:

  • H3: Fear of COVID-19 is negatively related to ER.

Fear of COVID-19 as a Mediator between Telecommuting and ER

We argue that telecommuting may have a positive impact on employee retention (ER) by reducing their fear of COVID-19. More explicitly, fear of COVID-19 is likely to mediate the effect of telecommuting on ER, and this mediation is explained by COR theory. According to this theory, the perceived risk of COVID-19 threatens employees’ emotional, psychological, and physical resources, resulting in fear of COVID-19 (Majeed et al., 2021). This fear further depletes employees’ resources (e.g., physical, emotional, and psychological), prompting them to seek new employment to prevent further resource depletion. The COR theory further posits that organizational support is a crucial resource in lessening unfavourable resource loss (Hobfoll et al., 2018). Following COR theory, we argue that telecommuting is an instrumental organisational resource that protects employees’ resource loss by reducing their fear of COVID-19 against the perceived risk of COVID-19. For instance, telecommuting decreases the fear of getting infected by reducing unnecessary contact with others and blocking the source of infection (Chai et al., 2022). Employees who perceive a lower risk of COVID-19 infection are less likely to worry or fear COVID-19 (Gritzka et al., 2022) and are more likely to remain with the organization. Furthermore, telecommuting as an organisational resource provide employees with various benefits such as employees flexible work arrangements, work-life balance, protection from infectious diseases, health, and well-being (Onken-Menke et al., 2017; Lee & Sirgy, 2019; Reizer et al., 2022). These benefits are likely to result in increased employee satisfaction (Jamal et al., 2021) and greater retention within the organisation (Choi, 2019).

In addition to the theoretical support, empirical studies also substantiate the fear of COVID-19 mediating role between telecommuting and ER. For instance, telecommuting reduces the spread of COVID-19 in the workplace (Mauras et al., 2021) and makes people less vulnerable to COVID-19 (De Coninck et al., 2020). This decreases the chances of being infected (Gritzka et al., 2022; Ullah et al., 2021), resulting in lower levels of employee fear and worry. Those who fear COVID-19 less at workplaces are more likely to stay with the working organisation. Thus, we hypothesise that:

  • H4: Fear of COVID-19 mediates the relationship between Telecommuting and ER.

Methodology

A cross-sectional research methodology based on a quantitative approach was employed to examine the effect of telecommuting on ER and fear of COVID-19 and the latter’s subsequent effect on ER. The sample size required to test the proposed model of the study at p < .05, power of 0.95, and an alpha of .80 was determined using Gpower 3 software (Faul et al., 2007), which displayed a minimum sample size requirement of 89 participants. However, considering the recommendation of Ringle et al. (2015), the sample size for the study was enlarged.

In total, the researcher self-administered 500 questionnaires (i.e., from November 2021 to April 2022) among participants using convenience, a non-probability sampling technique. Out of 500 questionnaires distributed, 326 were received back, representing a response rate of 65.2%. Among 326 cases, 19 cases were with missing values, which were subsequently deleted from the data set. Thus, the final data set for the analysis was 307. Of the sample of 307, there were 70.68% (n = 217) male, and 29.32% (n = 90) female, consisting of Office Manager 72.96% (n = 224), District Managers 12.70% (n = 39), Managers (8.79%; n = 27), and provincial heads (5.54%; n = 17).

Instruments

In this study, multi-item measures were used to assess employees’ perceptions of telecommuting, fear of COVID-19, and retention. All study items were rated on a five-point Likert scale ranging from “strongly disagree = 1 to strongly agree = 5”. ER was measured with a three items scale developed by Kundu and Lata (2017) with a reliability scale of 0.823. The scale sample item is “I am likely to stay in this organisation for the next five years”. Telecommuting measures consisted of six items developed by Madero Gómez et al. (2020). Sample items include questions such as “I can cover my work responsibilities from home (home office)”. Likewise, Ahorsu et al. (2020) fear of COVID-19 seven items scale was used for the assessment of employees’ fear of COVID-19. An example of the scale is “It makes me uncomfortable to think about coronavirus-19”.

Data Analysis and Results

Descriptive Analysis

The study variables’ mean, correlations, and deviation of the data from the mean among variables are depicted in Table 1. Consistent with our predictions, telecommuting and fear of COVID-19 were negatively correlated. Likewise, the correlation of telecommuting with ER was positive, while fear of COVID-19 and ER were negatively correlated.

Table 1 Descriptive statistics
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Common Method Bias (CMB)

Since the data was self-reported (employees) and collected from single sources, therefore, Common Method Bias (CMB) may be a concern in this study. To evade the issue of CMB, we used procedural remedies recommended by Podsakoff et al. (2012). First, the questionnaire was pre-tested to make them clearer and more understandable. Second, the respondents were ensured anonymity and confidentiality of the responses. Furthermore, we conducted Harman’s single-factor test to avoid CMB. For that purpose, we loaded the endogenous and exogenous variables of the study on a single fixed un-rotated factor in principle axis factoring. The results showed that all variables explained 38.39% variance, which is less than the threshold value of 50%. Thus, CMB was not an issue in the study.

Model Analysis

Since this study aims to explain the amount of variance in ER, therefor, PLS-SEM was an appropriate choice for the analysis of the conceptual model. Besides, PLS-SEM has the ability to assess the structural model (i.e., relationships among latent constructs) and measurement model (i.e., the relationship between latent constructs and their respective indicators). PLS-SEM is also appropriate when the study objectives are to explore rather than confirm a theory. Hence, the model of the study based on PLS-SEM was tested using the statistical software SmartPls3.2.9. In PLS-SEM, the model assessment is carried out in two stages: (1) measurement model and (2) structural model (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1
figure 1

Conceptual model; the dashed line shows the mediation

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Measurement Model Analysis

To assess the measurement model, we conducted confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) using PLS algorithm in SmartPLS 3.2.9 software. The results of the CFA were used to determine the reliabilities and validities of indicators and latent constructs. Indicators are assumed to be reliable if the values of standardized factor loadings are ≥0.70. As shown in Table 2 and Fig. 2, all indicators used in the model exceeded the minimum threshold of 0.70, thus rendering support for acceptable reliability. The values of Cronbach Alpha and Composite reliability are presented in Table 2 and show that latent constructs of the model are reliable.

Table 2 Measurement model
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Fig. 2
figure 2

Measurement model

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Furthermore, we assessed construct validity, which represents the extent to which a measure actually reflects the construct that it is intended to assess. Two common measures of validity are convergent and discriminant validity. Convergent validity, which represents the extent to which indicators are truly measuring the underlying construct, was verified through average variance extracted (AVE). As revealed in Table 2, the AVE values for each construct were ≥ 0.50, thus providing support for the convergent validity of the indicators of each construct.

Discriminant validity, “which represents the distinctiveness of a variable from all other variables of the model” (Kakar & Khan, 2022; p. 283), was verified through the Fornell-Larcker criterion and the Heterotrait-Monotrait ratio of correlations (HTMT). The Fornell-Larcker criterion assumes that the AVE from two constructs should be higher than the square root of correlations between the two constructs. The results shown in Table 3 depict that AVE from two constructs is higher than the correlations between the said constructs, thus providing support for discriminant validity. The value of HTMT of all constructs were also below the recommended threshold of 0.90 (See Table 4), thus further affirming discriminant validity (Henseler et al., 2014). Since HTMT does not provide an estimate of its standard error, therefore, it is necessary to run an inferential test to see whether the HTMT is lower than 1.0 (Franke & Sarstedt, 2019). For the said purpose, we constructed a 95% confidence interval (CI; 97.5% upper bounds and 2.5% lower bound). The results revealed that none of the CI included 1, thus showing that HTMT values are significantly different from 1 (Benitez et al., 2020). Thus, the results support the acceptance of discriminant validity. Moreover, the collinearity of the model was assessed through VIF, and all values of VIF ranged between 1.442 and 2.678, which were below the cutoff of 5. (Hair et al., 2022).

Table 3 Fornell-Larcker Criterion
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Table 4 Heterotrait-Monotrait ratio of correlations
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Structural Model

As mentioned above, the structural model describes the hypothesized relationships among constructs (Fig. 3). The criteria for the assessment of the structural model are R-square (R2), Q2, Q2 predict, f2, and the path coefficients significance. R2 is a measure of the model’s explanatory power, and its values of 0.19, 0.33, and 0.67 are considered weak, moderate, and substantial, respectively (Chin & Dibbern, 2010). The model depicted in Fig. 2 explained moderate variance (i.e., 23.5%) in the endogenous variables ER and 31.6% in fear of COVID-19.

Fig. 3
figure 3

Structural model results

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Q2 defines the model’s predictive relevance, and Q2 < 0 implies that the model’s predictive relevance is poor, while Q2 ≥ 0 indicates that the model has sufficient predictive relevance (Chin & Dibbern, 2010). In the present study, the Q2 for ER was 0.163, and fear of COVID-19 had Q2 of 0.193, respectively.

Next, we estimated each path’s effect size (f2) in the structural model. According to Cohen (1988), the f2 values ranged from 0.02 to 0.35 and above. The greater the value of f2, the greater the exogenous construct effect on the endogenous construct. The results revealed that telecommuting had a weak effect on ER (f2 = 0.034) and a moderate effect on fear of COVID-19 (f2 = 0.463). The effect size of fear of COVID-19 on ER was 0.107.

Finally, the hypothesized relationships between latent constructs were estimated through path coefficient analysis using bootstrap** (5000 subsample and two-tailed test) procedure. As shown in Table 5, the path coefficients between telecommuting and ER were positive and significant (β = .196, t = 2.659, p < 0.05), indicating that telecommuting positively influenced ER. Telecommuting was also found to have a negative and significant influence on fear of COVID-19 (β = −.562, t = 14.32, p < 0.05), implying that provisions of telecommuting decrease employees’ fear of COVID-19. Furthermore, the results also showed that fear of COVID-19 had a negative and significant effect on ER (β = −.347, t = 5.272, p < 0.05), indicating that when employees are provided flexible work arrangements, they are more likely to stay with the job.

Table 5 Structural Model Results
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This study has also proposed that fear of COVID-19 will mediate the influence of telecommuting on ER. Following Preacher and Hayes (2008) recommendations, we estimated the mediated effect using a bootstrap** approach with 5000 sub-samples. The results (see Table 6) showed that the indirect effect of telecommuting on ER via fear of COVID-19 was positive and significant (β = 0.195, t = 4.572, p < 0.05), indicating that the influence of telecommuting is transferred through fear of COVID-19.

Table 6 Mediation Results
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Discussion

This study aims to determine if costly ER can be maintained with the use of telecommuting, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study also targets to examine the influence of telecommuting on fear of COVID-19 and fear of COVID-19’s subsequent impact on ER.

The findings from this study demonstrate that organisations that use telecommuting tend to experience high retention of their valuable employees. This finding is consistent with the theoretical arguments of COR theory and social exchange theory. As COR theory has suggested, employees tend to benefit (e.g., protect physical and psychological resources) from work environments that are not stressful, which help them in investing saved resources (e.g., energy and time) into work responsibilities, which in turn improves organisational efficiency and productivity (Hobfoll et al., 2018). Such positive experiences and perceptions of a less stressful work environment tend to strengthen employees’ stay with the organisation. The SET suggests that employees tend to reciprocate organisation support with positive attitudes (Blau, 1964). Those who telecommute or who are authorized to use telecommuting develop positive attitudes such as work-life balance and job satisfaction and are less likely to quit the job (De los Santos & Labrague, 2021; Jamal et al., 2021; Kakar et al., 2022a). Besides, the finding that telecommuting increases ER is also in agreement with the work of (Choi, 2019; Tsen et al., 2021), who found that flexible work arrangement such as telecommuting reduces employees’ voluntary turnover.

The results of the study also found that organisation investment in telecommuting is likely to lessen the worries and fright of COVID-19 among workers. This finding implies that the fear created by COVID-19 is likely to recede with greater use of telecommuting. This is because telecommuting enables employees to work remotely and thus reduces their physical contact with office workers. Reduced physical contact among people and social distancing facilitated by telecommuting are one of the most viable means of stop** the spread of COVID-19 (Brailovskaia et al., 2021; Mohammadi et al., 2022) and the fear created by COVID-19. The study also concurs with the arguments of Nguyen (2021) that the use of telework leads to less interpersonal interaction which in turn reduces the human-to-human transmission of COVID-19. Thus, the findings of this study suggest that the use of telecommuting reduces fear created by COVID-19 by reducing the people-to-people transmission of COVID-19, which, in turn, reduces fear of COVID 19.

This study also found that fear of COVID-19 is negatively related to ER. That is, the higher the fear of being infected, the lesser the employees will stay with the organisation. Although limited attention has been given to the relationship between fear of COVID-19 and ER, other scholarly works have found that fear of COVID-19 results in high employee turnover. For instance, in line with this study’s findings, Labrague and de Los Santos (2021) found that increased fear of COVID-19 is associated with increased turnover intention. The result is also in line with Mahmud et al. (2021) that fear created by COVID-19 makes people anxious about the future of their careers. The findings also coincide with other studies (Ahorsu et al., 2020; Abd-Ellatif et al., 2021; Teng et al., 2021), in which employees with high fear and anxiety experienced stress at the workplace and found their job less enjoyable and showed a lower willingness to stay with the organisations.

Accordingly, we found that fear of COVID-19 mediated the relationship between telecommuting and ER, partially supporting H4. It indicates that telecommuting strongly reduces fear of COVID-19, implying that the use of telecommuting decreases the chances of being infected with COVID-19 and thus, as a result, reduces fear of COVID-19. Subsequently, employees who feel and experience less fear of COVID-19 at the workplace tend to stay with the organisation. The mediating role of fear of COVID-19 between telecommuting and ER is consistent with the COR theory assertion that people tend to use saved resources from organisational supports (e.g., telecommuting) to deal with stressful events (e.g., fear of COVID-19), which in turn, results in work outcomes that are advantageous to the organisation such as job satisfaction, organisation commitment (Abilash & Siju, 2021), and ER.

Implications of the Study

This study focuses on the implications of telecommuting during the time COVID-19 pandemic and adds to scanty telecommuting, fear of COVID-19, and ER literature. Building upon COR theory and SET, the present study added new insights to the growing literature on telecommuting and its direct and indirect impact on ER through fear of COVID-19. To our knowledge, this study is one of the few that have investigated the relationship between telecommuting, ER, and fear of COVID-19 during the pandemic. Besides, specifying fear of COVID-19 as a psychological mechanism between telecommuting and ER is another novel theoretical contribution of the study. The present study recommended that telecommuting not only helps curtail the spread of COVID-19 but also reduces fear created by COVID-19. This is because telecommuting provides employees with a flexible working arrangement where employees can work remotely. Remote working, in return, will reduce human-to-human physical contact, which will stop the transmission of COVID-19 from person to person. Thus, when employees believe that working at home will reduce the chances of being infected by COVID-19 at the workplace, they are less likely to fear COVID-19 and will tend to stay with the organisation. Thus, for the management to enhance employee retention, they must adopt telecommuting. For instance, management and practitioners can provide their employees with electronic equipment such as laptops and personal computers. Besides, management may provide training on telecommuting for their business activities. The provisions of such telecommuting facilities will reduce the fear of COVID-19 and strengthen employees’ stay with the organisation.

Limitations and Future Research

Although the study has significant practical implications for business organisations, some limitations must be considered in future work. For instance, this study is cross-sectional, and it limits the inference of causality. Therefore, future researchers shall use longitudinal data to test the model of the study. Besides, the data for the study was collected at one point in time; future researchers may use time lag data for a better understanding of the relationships among variables of the study. Furthermore, all variables of the study were self-reported; therefore, CMB may have affected the findings of the study. However, this study has no issue with CMB, and we invite future scholars to replicate the same model in a different context, location, and industry. Future researchers may use experimentation and content analysis to study the impact of telecommuting on ER and the fear of COVID-19. Since the dawn of the COVID-19 outbreak, the significance of telecommuting has increased. Therefore, it would be interesting if future researchers conduct comparative studies by comparing the implications of telecommuting before COVID-19 and post-COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, we have found in this study that the impact of telecommuting on essential work outcomes such as ER is not always direct; instead, it is mediated by fear of COVID-19. Therefore, future scholars may also examine other variables, such as work-life balance, job satisfaction, and job autonomy, as mediating mechanisms between telecommuting and ER. Scholars argue that organizational culture, support and trust are mandatory for adopting telecommuting (Lebopo et al., 2020; Rudolph et al., 2021). Therefore, future researchers shall examine organizational trust, culture, and support as moderating variables of the impact of telecommuting on work-related outcomes. Since the adoption of telecommuting increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, future are advised to conduct comparative studies that compare the implications of telecommuting during the COVID-19 pandemic with those in a post-COVID-19 world.