Remote work arrangement: An investigation on the influence of team’s innovative performance in multinational NGOs in Jordan

As the workforce worldwide goes through a transformative shift towards remote work


Introduction
Recalling that the organizations and businesses steadily operate in complex and dynamic environments, the ability of the work teams to innovate grows into a premier differentiator of organizational performance and success.The team's innovation performance (TIP) is a critical element of organizational success in the concurrent landscape, where the adaptability and creative problem solving are of paramount importance (Ye et al., 2019).The essence of TIP is embodied in synchronism of varied perspectives, skills, and talents within a group (Lui et al., 2023).According to Doblinger (2022), supportive organizational culture, effective collaboration, and open communication are integral factors that foster an organizational environment that is conducive to innovation.As the organizations aspire to remain competitive, an understanding of the factors that contribute to TIP attract researchers' and practitioners' attention and call for further research focus.
The remote work concept has passed through transformative evolution in the past years.It reshaped the traditional workplace notions and challenged the traditional boundaries of professional engagement.Remote work, which is also known as telework and telecommuting, denotes a work arrangement whereby the employees abide by their job responsibilities and perform their jobs from some location other than the traditional office (Shirmohammadi et al., 2022).
Organizations across various sectors are progressively embracing the remote work option in their work systems as a strategic response to the emerging needs and the expectations of their employees.Matli (2020) highlighted that the paradigm shift to remote work has important implications for the individual professionals, the broad dynamics of the organizational structures and productivity, and the workplace culture.Remote work has several advantages, including increased organizational flexibility, employee autonomy, cost savings, and wide access to a global pool of talents (Yarberry & Sims, 2021).Furthermore, remote work has contributed to operational resilience in the times of crises, thus serving as a critical strategy for survival during any global events that disrupt the traditional work arrangements (Chen & Hung, 2022).
Transition to the remote work arrangement has presented a myriad of opportunities that span the spectrum of an increased flexibility to ready access to a global pool of talents.Nonetheless, concerns rose as regards the likely disruption of team cohesion and the collaboration dynamics, which are quite crucial elements for innovation in those organizations.Moreover, potential differences between organizations in the digital infrastructure and accessibility to technology raise questions about the possibility that the technology, which is fundamentally intended to improve collaboration, may inadvertently lead to inequities among organizations in prospects for team innovation.This issue spotlights the need for in-depth examination of the interplay between remote work and TIP, especially in non-governmental organizations (NGOs).Effect of the remote work style on the TIP in the multinational NGOs in Jordan is not much clear owing to that, to the researcher's best knowledge, it has never been researched.The characteristic cultural norms in Jordan, which stress face-to-face interactions and interpersonal relations, further emphasize the need for investigating how the shift to remote work affects the communication patterns and creative problem solving in these organizations.The results of this study are anticipated to inform organizational strategies that maximize the remote work benefits while addressing the potential associated challenges in the unique context of the multinational NGOs in Jordan.

Remote work
Researchers and practitioners commonly draw upon multiple theories to thoroughly examine the complex ramifications of remote work.The remote work theory makes use of a variety of frameworks that explain the multifaceted nature of this emerging work arrangement.The Transaction Cost Theory (TCT), which is a principal theory in economics, hypothesizes that the organizations choose the remote structures to minimize the transaction costs that are associated with physical proximity (Chen & Hung, 2022).The Human Capital Theory (HCT), on the other hand, underscores the role of knowledge and skills in boosting remote work productivity (Matli, 2020).In addition, the Organizational Learning Theory (OLT) attempts to explicate how the organizations adapt over time to optimize the remote team performance (Yarberry & Sims, 2021).Many definitions have, thus far, been coined for the remote work arrangement.However, almost all of them centered around the utilization of modern technology by organizations for enhanced communication among their employees.For instance, remote work has been defined as a resilient work arrangement that enables the employees to carry their job responsibilities and perform their job tasks from other locations than the central workplace by using digital technologies for communication and collaboration (Erlicher & Pero, 2022).In this regard, Soroui (2021) described the remote work environment as an environment that corresponds to employees implementing job roles in places away from the traditional office setting by employing relevant emerging technology to connect with their supervisors and colleagues.According to Pianese et al. (2023), remote work implies a geographical separation between the workplace and the place in, and from, which the employee performs her/his due jobs, often using Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) to bridge the geographic gap.Remote work has three facets (Shirmohammadi et al., 2022): (i) Place flexibility Place flexibility refers to the freedom of the employees, and their ability to choose the location from which to perform their job duties like their homes, co-working spaces, or other environments away from the central office.
(ii) Time flexibility Time flexibility indicates the ability of the employees to have control over their work schedules, which allows them to determine when to do their job tasks.(iii) Technology acceptance Technology acceptance is a crucial aspect because successful implementation of the jobs in the remote work arrangement depends largely on adoption and effective use of various technologies.

Team's innovative performance (TIP)
Research on the TIP is situated within some rich theoretical framework that compiles varied perspectives originating from organizational psychology and management theories, principles, and literature.Making use of team effectiveness theories, some studies (e.g., Setini et al., 2020) delved into the factors that affect the way teams in organizations cooperate and perform, with distinct focus on their capabilities for innovation.Psychological safety, which is a concept that finds roots in the organizational behavior field, springs as a critical factor that affects willingness of the team members in an organization to express creative ideas and take risks (Andersson et al., 2020).Besides, the transformational leadership theories inform and steer explorations of the leadership styles that inspire the teams and motivate them for innovative endeavors (Prabhu & Srivastava, 2023).This theoretical synthesis lays the foundations for empirical investigations that aim at uncovering the factors that boost, and those that curb, the ability of the work team to innovate and to effectively do so.In other respects, the theories contributed to formulation of definitions that clarify this notion in the managerial context.Team innovation was defined by Doblinger (2022) as creation of new and useful ideas, processes, procedures, and/or products that are carried out by a workgroup and adopted by its organization.The TIP concept was described by Ye et al. (2019) as the intentional introduction, into organization, workgroup, or team, of ideas, concepts, processes, procedures, and/or products that are new to the adopting unit and which are designed to benefit this unit, and their application by it.Xiong and Sun (2023), on the other hand, maintain that innovative performance, in the team context, is the generation and implementation of novel solutions to problems by workgroups that bring about heightened effectiveness in processes and production of services or products.For Lui et al. (2023), the innovative performance entails development and implementation of creative ideas in team context.As the foregoing paragraph unveils, the TIP is a multidimensional construct.It has several facets that reflect the ability of a team to produce, execute, and sustain creative ideas and outcomes.Ali et al. (2020) underlined that TIP has two main dimensions, namely, effectiveness and efficiency.Efficiency of innovation of the team expresses its ability to accomplish its innovation-related goals with optimum use of time, effort, and other material and immaterial resources.Effectiveness of innovation of the team, however, denotes the extent to which its innovative endeavors produce influential and valuable outcomes for the organization.

Remote work and team's innovative performance (TIP)
The relation between remote work and TIP is a multifaceted and controversial issue.Various factors can play roles in determining the nature and magnitude of this relationship, with the effect varying based on the contextual factors of the industry and organization and the characteristic dynamics of every involved team.For example, Abdulrahim and Yousif (2023) evaluated the effect of remote work on productivity of the workers in the financial sector using a survey that included 1,270 employees of insurance companies, financial companies, and banks in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.Their results indicated that remote work contributes to achievement of tranquility and work-life balance and enhances the physical and psychological comfort of the employees, which consequently increase their productivity.However, they spotlighted certain negative consequences that result from the limited direct contact between colleagues.In another example, Abou Abdallah (2022) investigated the relation between remote working and employee performance, taking into consideration the potential role of age or generation in moderation of this relationship.Analysis of data collected from 285 respondent employees in Lebanon unclosed that employee performance in all assigned roles is associated positively with remote working.However, this relationship was not significantly moderated by generation or age.Erlicher and Pero (2022) explored the organizational and technological changes concomitant with remote work during the period of the COVID-19 crisis and their effects on employee's participation, innovation, and autonomy.Through qualitative analysis of five cases, these researchers found that remote work led to increased employee's autonomy and participation and to appreciable teamwork performance, which, subsequently, enhanced innovation.However, the levels of innovation varied from organization to another.The cases of high innovation were characterized by cross-functional team development and an intensified use of the Industrial 4.0 technologies.Ferrara et al. (2022) performed meta-analysis of 20 research papers published in the period 2010-2021 and found that remote work has differing, and even mixed, consequences on the well-being and performance of employees since it influences their perceptions of themselves and their workplaces and contributes to their physical and mental health.In harmony with this, van der Lippe and Lippényi (2020) researched into effect of working from home on team performance in nine European countries and reported mixed results.The study sample consisted of 11,011 employees constituting 869 teams in 259 organizations.Their results pointed out that though working from home can be beneficial for some workers, it brings problems to them.In specific, it was found that the coworkers who work from home do negatively affect the team performance.Elshaiekh et al. (2018) discussed the concept, advantages, and disadvantages of remote working, in addition to few related issues that had been earlier underscored by experts and researchers.These researchers spotlighted both positive effects, e.g., job performance and happiness, and negative effects, e.g., lack of contact with colleagues and the time management pressures.Further, it examined the perceived effects of remote working on the worker's performance, including the reduced costs of travel and the likely savings in the time and resources.It is worth highlighting that the effect of remote work on team innovation is contingent highly on how the organization manages the challenges of remote work and the opportunities it presents and how it adapts to them.In view of all foregoing arguments, the following research hypotheses were developed: Hypothesis 1 (H1): Time flexibility has a significant positive effect on the team's innovative performance (TIP).Hypothesis 2 (H2): Place flexibility has a significant positive effect on the team's innovative performance (TIP).Hypothesis 3 (H3): Technology acceptance has a significant positive effect on the team's innovative performance (TIP).

Research design
In this study, the researcher adopted the positivist research philosophy, which stresses objective study of the phenomena through an empirical observation and testing of the hypotheses (Benton & Craib, 2023).In the context of investigation of effect of the remote work on the TIP, the positivist approach aligns with the objective of establishing causal relations and generalizable patterns based on quantifiable data.Moreover, this study is cross-sectional in nature with quantitative research design, considering recommendations of Spector (2019).The cross-sectional time horizon corresponds to collection of data at one point in time.This provides a snapshot of the relation between remote work and TIP.

Sample selection and data collection
Population of this study was employees of NGOs working in Jordan who were involved in remote work.The researcher found difficulty in accurate determination of the study population.Consequently, he adopted the stratified, random sampling approach and the study sample was stratified based on the type of the multinational NGO.A list of the NGOs that are operating in Jordan was obtained, and the potential participant employees were selected randomly from every predefined stratum.A power analysis was performed to determine the suitable sample size based on the desired level of confidence, effect size, and variability in the population.This analysis demonstrated that the sample size requirement was220.Then, the data collection tool, which was a self-reporting questionnaire, was passed to 350 employees of the study organizations to ensure retrieving an adequate number of valid questionnaire forms and meet the minimum sample size requirements.Two-hundred and eightyseven filled questionnaire forms were retrieved.Initial examination of which uncovered that there were 19 statistically-invalid forms among them.Thus, the valid forms that were employed in this study were 268 forms, corresponding to a response rate of 76.6%.
Outcomes of analysis of the demographic profiles of the sample members showed that the proportions of male and female employees in the study sample were 53.7% and 46.3%, respectively.It was also found that the predominant age group was people falling in the age range of 35-44 years, who constituted 45.9% of the sample members, followed by people aging 25-34 years, whose proportion in the sample was 36.9%, then the employees whose ages were 35 years or higher, who comprised 17.0% of all respondents.Furthermore, the study found that most of the sample members (41%) were project managers, followed by administrative staff, who constituted 33.9% of the sample; communications specialists (18.3%); and employees who perform other roles for the studied organizations (6.8%).Regarding the frequency of working on a remote work basis, the analysis revealed that the percentages of the sample employees who were working on this basis in those organizations always, regularly, and sometimes were 48.5%, nearly 39.2%, and around 15.3%, respectively.

Research instrument
A structured, self-reporting questionnaire was employed as the research and data collection tool for determining the effect of remote work on TIP of staff of multinational NGOs in Jordan.This questionnaire was inspired and enlightened by extensive review of relevant literature.The questionnaire was written in English owing to the fact that one of the essential requirements for recruitment in the multinational NGOs is candidate's proficiency in the English language.To simplify data collection and speed it up, the questionnaire was sent to the likely research participants electronically by electronic mail (e-mail).Collection of the research data extended over the period September 3 to November 26, 2023.Reminders were sent frequently to those targeted employees who were late in responding.The questionnaire was covered with an introductory letter that provided clarification of the research objectives and stressed voluntary participation and informed consent.On the other hand, the first section of the questionnaire was devoted to collection of respondent's demographic information while the subsequent section presented the items relating to every single research variable.Scoring of the respondents' levels of agreement with the various items of the questionnaire was based on five-point Likert scale, with a range of scores of 1, corresponding to strong disagreement, to 5, denoting strong agreement.
Remote work was the predictor variable.It was addressed by 14 items that were borrowed from Shirmohammadi et al. (2022).This section was aimed to approximate respondents' opinions on the remote work style through three, first-order constructs: time flexibility, place flexibility, and technology acceptance.The time flexibility construct was measured using four items, e.g., I can typically distribute my work hours throughout the day when working remotely.Place flexibility was assessed by four items, e.g., Place flexibility facilitated collaboration with team members or partners located in different geographic regions.The technology acceptance construct, however, was assessed by means of six items, e.g., Remote work technologies are compatible with the tools and systems I use.
Team's innovative performance was the dependent variable in this study.It was a first-order, latent construct that was intended for scrutinizing the opinions of the respondents on (i) effectiveness of group collaboration in generation of innovative ideas and (ii) recognition by organization of employees' efficiency in presenting new ideas.This variable was assessed by using six items that were adopted from Ali et al. (2020).

Statistical analysis
In the effort to evaluate the effect of remote work on TIP, structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed using the AMOS software.Descriptive statistics were calculated to generate a summary of the research variables.The statistical descriptives of primary consideration were the means and standard deviations of the respondents' scores on each study variable.Additionally, correlation analysis was employed to test for potential mutual relations between variables in terms of significance, strength, and direction.Potential multicollinearity too was examined using this analysis.Validity and reliability of the research model (Fig. 1) were evaluated using confirmatory factor analysis in the AMOS software environment.Structural equation modeling additionally helped in extraction of goodness-of-fit indices for the structural model and path coefficients in this model.

Measurement model
Evaluation of the measurement model is integral to SEM and an essential element of which.It helps in furthering our understanding of how a latent construct is measured by its observed indicators (Hair et al., 2020).It is critical to discuss validity and reliability of the measurement model to ensure that the selected indicators do accurately capture the theoretical concepts under study through confirmatory factor analysis (Widaman & Olivera-Aguilar, 2023).In this analysis, the researchers usually resort to, and extract, specific statistical indicators like the factor loadings, reliability coefficients, and discriminant and convergent validity indicators to validate their measurement models.In this regard, Table 1 provides the(i) means and standard deviations of respondents' scores on the research variables, (ii) coefficients of correlations among variables, and (iii) values of measures of goodness-of-fit of the measurement model.  1 shows that the factor loadings fell in the range of 0.524-0.824.These values indicate robust connections because they all exceeded the 0.50 threshold of factor loadings (Shrestha, 2021).Values of the average variance extracted (AVE) ranged from 0.512 to 0.535.As such, they surpass the recommended threshold of 0.5.This pinpoints that a considerable proportion of the variance in the latent variable was captured by its indicators and confirms the convergent validity of this model (dos Santos & Cirillo, 2023).In addition, the values of the maximum shared variance (MSV) were well below 0.5, which affirm the discriminant validity of the model (Rönkkö & Cho, 2022).In agreement with this, values of the square root of AVE were consistently higher than the correlation coefficients, which corroborate the discriminant validity finding (Rasoolimanesh, 2022).Moreover, the values of the composite reliability lie in the range of 0.810-0.872,which are all above the threshold value of 0.7 (Fu et al., 2022).These values do indicate high internal consistency of latent variables.In conclusion, the current evaluation results (Table 1) verify validity and reliability of the measurement model and support soundness of indicator variable selection (Fig. 1) and ability of each variable to contribute to explanation of TIP in NGO's operating in Jordan.

Descriptive statistics
The values of the descriptive statistics that are listed in Table 1 disclose that the sample NGO employees did, in general, demonstrate high levels of agreement on remote work advantages.Specifically, the respondents' mean score on the place flexibility scale was the highest (M = 3.77), followed by their mean levels of agreement on the technology acceptance scale (M= 3.75) and the time flexibility scale (M= 3.71).Though, their mean score on the TIP (M= 3.62) reflects medium level of agreement.
The values of the associated standard deviations of respondents' scores on the study variables reflect variability around the corresponding mean scores.Slightly higher variability was observed in respondents' views on TIP (0.907) and place flexibility (0.882) than on time flexibility (0.837) and technology acceptance (0.814).In other respects, the correlation matrix (Table 1) reveals positive relationships between the predictor variables and TIP, where the values of the coefficients of correlation ranged from 0.566 to 0.584.These values suggest that time flexibility, place flexibility, and technology acceptance have moderate contributions to TIP in NGOs in Jordan.This implies that the increase in one, or all, of these variables is conducive to an increase in TIP.Moreover, these correlation coefficient values pinpoint reasonable degree of independence of predictors, which negates presence of multicollinearity among these three variables because none of the correlation coefficient values exceeded the accepted threshold of multicollinearity, that is, 0.80 (Kyriazos & Poga, 2023).

Structural model
The structural model is the analytical backbone of SEM.It allows researcher(s) to test the hypotheses and explore interconnections among the variables of interest (Collier, 2020).This section introduces the outcomes of investigation of the proposed relations and hypotheses (Fig. 1) and presents an explanation of the effect of remote work on TIP in multinational NGOs in Jordan.
Fig. 2 displays the structural model of the present study and the values of the goodness-of-fit indices that were employed in evaluation agreement to the results of analysis of the observed data with the conceptual model (Fig. 1).

Fig. 2. Structural model for impact of remote work on teams 'innovative performance in NGOs in Jordan
The fit indices summarized by Fig. 2 are indicative of strong alignment between the results of analysis of the observed data and the hypothesized model.The CMIN/DF ratio had the value of 1.748, which is well below the proposed cutoff value of 3 (Rolke & Gongora, 2021).The Comparative Fit Index (CFI) and Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI) had the values of 0.966 and 0.943, respectively, which both exceed the acceptable threshold of 0.90.These values point out favorable fit relative to the concomitant baseline models (Jin, 2020).Additionally, the Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) had the value of 0.036, which is lower than the recommended cutoff value of 0.08 (Shi et al., 2020).In fact, it supports excellent fit.In sum, the values of the foregoing four model fit indices confirm that the specified SEM provides a highly satisfactory representation of the relations among the research variables (Fig. 1 and Fig. 2).
The coefficients of the paths in the structural model are given in Table 2.These outcomes of path analysis uncover significant, positive associations between TIP and the remote work variables.Specifically, the results support a statistically-significant, positive, medium-strength relationship between time flexibility and TIP (β= 0.351, t= 5.36, p< 0.01).This finding provides evidence in support of the first research hypothesis (H1), which is, accordingly, accepted.Place flexibility too had a statistically significant, positive, medium-strength relationship with TIP (β = 0.448, t= 6.42, p< 0.01).Accordingly, the second hypothesis (H2) is accepted.The same applies to technology acceptance, which, too, had significant, positive relation with TIP, but of low strength (β= 0.298, t= 4.20, p< 0.05).Thereupon, the third research hypothesis (H3) is accepted.

Discussion and conclusions
This study explored the effect of remote work on TIP in multinational NGOs that are operating in Jordan.Since the conventional workplace boundaries dissolve in the remote work arrangement, a further insight into how remote work affects innovation in these organizations is crucial.A salient advantage of remote work for the multinational NGOs in Jordan is that it allows for diversity within the work teams.By transcending the geographic boundaries and limitations through remote work, these organizations become more able than before to assemble teams with members from diverse cultural backgrounds.This paves the way for construction of a rich mosaic of perspectives, which, according to Erlicher and Pero (2022), can develop innovative approaches to problem solving in organizations and encourages their adoption and development.Indeed, the remote work style raises the level of flexibility to an extent that has pronounced implications for TIP.Furthermore, the employees are empowered in this work arrangement to set their own individual work times and places in a way that accords with their personal preferences and productivity styles.Besides, the employee autonomy imparted by the remote work arrangement cultivates results-driven culture that encourages the team members to concentrate on the outcomes rather than to abide by rigid schedules.This autonomy grows into a strong catalyst for creativity and innovation because the engaged employees start to feel empowered to scrutinize unconventional solutions and creatively contribute to the overarching aims, goals, and objectives of their organizations.
The remote work arrangement provides the multinational NGOs in Jordan with an unprecedented access to a global pool of talents.In the case when certain skills are lacking locally, assembling work teams with specialized and diverse expertise becomes a high strategic advantage.Infusion of global talents in organizations does not only boost the capabilities of those organizations, but also introduces variety, or pool, of perspectives on, and approaches to, problem solving, thereby ensuring a continual innovation culture.The positive influence of remote work on a team's innovation interprets into tangible economic benefits.As an example, reducing the need for the physical office space and lowering the overhead costs enables the multinational NGOs to strategically direct their resources towards innovative initiatives and projects.These arguments flow in harmony with the perspective of Elshaiekh et al. (2018) who maintain that efficient resource utilization that is allowed by the remote work style enhances capacity of the organization to address pressing global concerns and considerations by constructing positive feedback loop in which the cost savings contribute to an elevated innovation performance.The remote style of work leans heavily on advanced communication technologies that play a coral role in shaping individual's, and, subsequently, team's, innovation in organizations, in general, and in the multinational NGOs in Jordan, in particular.The seamless integration of the suitable technology in this work arrangement facilitates effective and efficient communication among the team members, regardless of the geographic locations from/in which they work.In effect, the appropriate collaborative tools nurture real-time idea sharing, which is an essential requirement of the working environment where innovation can flourish.The technological mainstay of remote work improves the ability of the organization to adapt to the global challenges and execute innovative solutions.

Recommendations
By acknowledging the theoretical underpinnings of innovation performance and translating them into practical measures, the organizations can not only identify challenges of the remote work arrangement, but also harness its adverse effects on the TIP while maximizing its benefits.The results of the current study have theoretical and practical implications.Theoretically, the positive effects of remote work on the TIP in the multinational NGOs that operate in Jordan can be maximized by adoption of relevant principles that can be drawn from diverse theoretical standpoints.To start with, breeding a psychological safety culture lines up with theories that emphasize the importance of creating an environment in which the team members feel secure and encouraged to express creative and novel ideas with no fear of criticism.Considering the transformational leadership theories, the leaders of NGOs should adopt practices that motivate and inspire remote teams.Doing so provides compelling autonomy and vision to fuel innovation and drive it.Further, incorporation of agile approaches that are rooted in the Complexity Theory can improve collaboration, adaptability, and iterative processes.This ensures that the remote teams can respond effectively to the challenges of the work environment.
Practically, use of virtual collaboration tools is of paramount importance.According to resource-based perspectives, an effective utilization of technology is a principal factor.The NGOs are due to invest in state-of-the-art virtual collaboration tools in order to facilitate knowledge sharing, project coordination, and seamless communications between the remote team members.Formulation of structured policies for remote work is critical for the organizations to become better able to address the organizational behavior concerns concomitant with remote work.A well-established policy defines expectations, both organization and employees; promotes individual and collective accountability and provides support mechanisms for the remote teams and their members.That all aligns with theories that stress the importance of presence and enforcement of clear organizational effectiveness guidelines.Moreover, for the NGOs to warrant and reinforce team cohesion, they ought to prioritize virtual team-building activities.Those activities, which are grounded in the social identity and the team effectiveness theories, contribute to establishment of trust, enhancement of collaboration, and cultivation of positive team culture, which, eventually, act together to promote the innovative performance of the remote work teams.

Fig. 1 .
Fig. 1.Conceptual research model.The anticipated relationships between each of the three remote work dimensions under study (time flexibility, place flexibility, and technology acceptance) and TIP are depicted in Fig. 1, which, additionally, spotlights the three hypotheses posited in the current study.

Table 1
Means and standard deviations of respondents' scores on the research variables, coefficients of correlations among variables, and measures for measurement model evaluation.