The role of self‐regulatory abilities in predicting performance while teleworking: A cross‐sectional and a panel study during the COVID‐19 pandemic

Scholars have argued that individual characteristics promoting self‐regulation such as self‐efficacy and self‐goal setting were crucial for employees to cope effectively with the challenges of teleworking during the early stages of the COVID‐19 pandemic. Yet, research simultaneously exploring these specific self‐regulatory abilities in relation to various performance dimensions is scarce. Thus, we examined whether self‐efficacy and self‐goal setting are related to proficiency, adaptivity, and proactivity while teleworking during the pandemic using a cross‐sectional design (Study 1) and tested the directionality of these relationships using a two‐wave cross‐lagged panel design (Study 2). The degree of telework was considered a moderator for these relationships in both studies. Study 1 (N = 830) findings indicated that both self‐efficacy and self‐goal setting were positively related to all performance dimensions and that the degree of telework moderated the regression of adaptivity on self‐efficacy to a small extent. Study 2 (N = 263) findings showed that self‐efficacy at Time 1 had a positive effect on self‐goal setting, proficiency, and adaptivity, measured at Time 2, whereas self‐goal setting at Time 1 did not predict significantly any of the performance dimensions at Time 2. We also found evidence that adaptivity positively influenced self‐efficacy over time. Our results provide important insights into the nature and directional relationships between self‐regulatory abilities and different performance dimensions while teleworking during the pandemic.