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To free ride or contribute? The effects of enforced working from home on employees' engagement in the corporate online forum.

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Title: To free ride or contribute? The effects of enforced working from home on employees' engagement in the corporate online forum.
Authors: Liu, Yang1 (AUTHOR) liu.yang0115@hdu.edu.cn, Chen, Yuan2 (AUTHOR) chen.yuan@shufe.edu.cn, Xu, Yuchen2 (AUTHOR) wayne_xyc@163.sufe.edu.cn
Source: Information Technology & People. 2026, Vol. 39 Issue 4, p1937-1959. 23p.
Subjects: Telecommuting, Internet forums, Job involvement, Public health, Organizational behavior, Telematics, COVID-19 pandemic
Geographic Terms: Wuhan (China)
Abstract: Purpose: The COVID-19 pandemic fundamentally transformed workplace dynamics, compelling organizations to transition employees to work from home abruptly. Since corporate online forums played an important role as an online communication channel during the shift, this paper aimed to investigate the effect of enforced working from home (WFH) on employee engagement behaviors in such forums during COVID-19. Design/methodology/approach: Leveraging the Wuhan lockdown as a natural experiment, this study employed a year-to-year difference-in-differences approach to analyze a unique panel dataset from a large company. Findings: We found that enforced WFH increased passive engagement but significantly reduced active contributions. We also found an interesting recovery effect: while the drop in contributions subsided within a month of adaptation, elevated login and free-riding behaviors persisted. Further heterogeneity analyses uncovered critical disparities: male employees contributed less, senior employees participated less in low-cost activities, while employees under a stricter containment policy exhibited a smaller decrease in contributions. Practical implications: Our findings provide insights for organizations to design equitable engagement incentives, recalibrate forum management strategies, and prioritize mental health support in future WFH policies. Our results also inform policymakers on tailoring containment measures to mitigate unintended workforce online disengagement. Originality/value: Our study advances WFH research by analyzing enforced remote work's impact on corporate forum engagement during COVID-19. It also enriches pandemic-related literature by incorporating crisis-specific factors and highlighting recovery patterns and policy-driven heterogeneity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Copyright of Information Technology & People is the property of Emerald Publishing Limited and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Database: Engineering Source
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DbLabel: Engineering Source
An: 193784303
AccessLevel: 6
PubType: Academic Journal
PubTypeId: academicJournal
PreciseRelevancyScore: 0
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  Data: To free ride or contribute? The effects of enforced working from home on employees' engagement in the corporate online forum.
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Liu%2C+Yang%22">Liu, Yang</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<i> liu.yang0115@hdu.edu.cn</i><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Chen%2C+Yuan%22">Chen, Yuan</searchLink><relatesTo>2</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<i> chen.yuan@shufe.edu.cn</i><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Xu%2C+Yuchen%22">Xu, Yuchen</searchLink><relatesTo>2</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<i> wayne_xyc@163.sufe.edu.cn</i>
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="JN" term="%22Information+Technology+%26+People%22">Information Technology & People</searchLink>. 2026, Vol. 39 Issue 4, p1937-1959. 23p.
– Name: Subject
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Telecommuting%22">Telecommuting</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Internet+forums%22">Internet forums</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Job+involvement%22">Job involvement</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Public+health%22">Public health</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Organizational+behavior%22">Organizational behavior</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Telematics%22">Telematics</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22COVID-19+pandemic%22">COVID-19 pandemic</searchLink>
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  Label: Geographic Terms
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Wuhan+%28China%29%22">Wuhan (China)</searchLink>
– Name: Abstract
  Label: Abstract
  Group: Ab
  Data: Purpose: The COVID-19 pandemic fundamentally transformed workplace dynamics, compelling organizations to transition employees to work from home abruptly. Since corporate online forums played an important role as an online communication channel during the shift, this paper aimed to investigate the effect of enforced working from home (WFH) on employee engagement behaviors in such forums during COVID-19. Design/methodology/approach: Leveraging the Wuhan lockdown as a natural experiment, this study employed a year-to-year difference-in-differences approach to analyze a unique panel dataset from a large company. Findings: We found that enforced WFH increased passive engagement but significantly reduced active contributions. We also found an interesting recovery effect: while the drop in contributions subsided within a month of adaptation, elevated login and free-riding behaviors persisted. Further heterogeneity analyses uncovered critical disparities: male employees contributed less, senior employees participated less in low-cost activities, while employees under a stricter containment policy exhibited a smaller decrease in contributions. Practical implications: Our findings provide insights for organizations to design equitable engagement incentives, recalibrate forum management strategies, and prioritize mental health support in future WFH policies. Our results also inform policymakers on tailoring containment measures to mitigate unintended workforce online disengagement. Originality/value: Our study advances WFH research by analyzing enforced remote work's impact on corporate forum engagement during COVID-19. It also enriches pandemic-related literature by incorporating crisis-specific factors and highlighting recovery patterns and policy-driven heterogeneity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
– Name: AbstractSuppliedCopyright
  Label:
  Group: Ab
  Data: <i>Copyright of Information Technology & People is the property of Emerald Publishing Limited and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
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RecordInfo BibRecord:
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      – Code: eng
        Text: English
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        PageCount: 23
        StartPage: 1937
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      – SubjectFull: Telecommuting
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Internet forums
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Job involvement
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Public health
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Organizational behavior
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Telematics
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: COVID-19 pandemic
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Wuhan (China)
        Type: general
    Titles:
      – TitleFull: To free ride or contribute? The effects of enforced working from home on employees' engagement in the corporate online forum.
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            NameFull: Liu, Yang
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            NameFull: Chen, Yuan
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            NameFull: Xu, Yuchen
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            – D: 01
              M: 05
              Text: 2026
              Type: published
              Y: 2026
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            – TitleFull: Information Technology & People
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