Boundarylessness and sleep quality among virtual team members – a cross-sectional study from Germany

Abstract

Background In the course of globalisation and digitalisation, new ways of work become increasingly prevalent. To remain competitive as an organisation, cooperation across time, place, and organisational boundaries becomes necessary. Virtual teamwork offers these advantages, but can also be both, an opportunity and a burden, for employees. The aim of this study is to gain first insights into job demands and resources in virtual teamwork to create a basis for deducing appropriate health promotion and prevention measures. Methods In this cross-sectional study, an online questionnaire was used to examine the relationship between boundarylessness as a job demand, psychological detachment as a personal resource, as well as perceived stress and sleep quality as health outcomes among 46 employees in virtual teamwork in Germany. Data collection lasted from October 2019 to January 2020. Validated scales were used for the questionnaire, except for virtuality. Due to insufficient operationalisation to date, a virtuality scale was developed based on the current state of research. The data were analysed with multiple regression analyses. Results The results show that virtuality and perceived stress impaired sleep quality of virtual team members in this sample. In contrast, successful psychological detachment from work was positively related to sleep quality. There were no significant results for boundarylessness. Virtual team members with managerial responsibility showed higher levels of psychological detachment. Conclusion The study provides first insights in the relationship between virtual teamwork and employee health in the German context. Further research, particularly on job demands in virtual teamwork, is needed to derive concrete health promotion and prevention measures.