The Impact of Remote Leadership on the Global Business Organization

Introduction

Due to their scale and work in several countries at once, international business organizations must comply with many standards and laws than local companies. With the organization’s growth, the scope of its responsibility increases; with the growth of income, opportunities increase, generating free resources. These resources are usually invested in the company’s further development: marketing, capturing new markets, product diversification, and more (Kabwe & Okorie, 2019). With the development of technology, many business processes are significantly accelerated and automated, increasing the pace of development of companies and, accordingly, competition. As a result, international companies become more exposed to external global factors. The strongest in the market is the best to adapt to new conditions. As part of the economic crisis and pandemic, this is precisely the situation that has led to many changes in the established business processes of many organizations.

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many global companies to experiment with remote work on a scale like never before. While teleworking at multinational companies is not a new work model, most business firms have closed their offices indefinitely, instructing employees to work from home to contain the spread of the virus. At first, many international companies hoped to return to everyday life in a couple of months, but years later, millions of workers are still working remotely (Espitia et al., 2021). This trend has its obvious advantages: the selection of candidates for various vacancies is extrapolated to the international labor market, and there is no physical contact among employees, which is undesirable in a pandemic. Technological advances in software and hardware have made it possible to reduce the impact of switching to this mode of work for those who usually work full-time. Many video conferencing programs, interactive systems for interacting with a large group of human employees, and Internet traffic control programs such as Zoom, Timely, and CleverControl – began to develop thanks to the transition to remote work actively (Pratama et al., 2020). On the other hand, the possibility of interacting with customers directly, creating a working atmosphere, and the possibility of control by management are falling.

This workforce shift has increased the need for remote leaders to manage the organization’s goals and objectives. Organizational leadership has been the backbone and key to the success of firms in solving company problems and problems. Leaders of all sizes and positions are faced with the extraordinary task of managing employees remotely. Such a task still had to meet the requirements of social responsibility, the company’s mission, goals, and vision. The ability to adapt and mobility became critical for employees and managers, who had to maintain the efficiency of the company’s operations in the new conditions and adjust to the crisis. Experts in dealing with uncertainty and lack of sufficient information to make decisions have become highly valued (Hong et al., 2018). Thus, the influence of remote leaders and their popularity is an important area that requires research related to the effects of the pandemic and other external factors that contribute to the transition of employees of a business organization to a remote work mode.

This paper contains a literary review of aspects of remote leadership, the main types, the implementation of these styles, and theoretical justification. This section is followed by the research methodology section, which contains the concepts considered in the study and the primary methods for their quantitative assessment. They include collecting information from open official sources, such as annual reports of companies, on the dynamics of financial performance in recent years. The study was conducted using questionnaires of leaders from different business areas. Then, a regression analysis will be performed to find correlations between the number of remote employees, organizational structure and leadership style, and various financial indicators of the liquidity and relevance of the company based on both surveys and other available information. The description is followed by a section on results and their interpretation, detailing all outputs and possible predictions and limitations.

Literature Review

This section deals with the main aspects of remote work and leadership in general, especially in its implementation in this mode. The literature review turns into a retrospective of remote work and its development on an international scale. In addition, the central leadership styles are considered through the prism of their adaptation to the new working environment. The theoretical models used in this study to describe the processes are also included in this section.

Background and History

Over time, the development of technology has given rise to the possibility of remote communication. Within this opportunity, organizations saw remote workers as an opportunity, not a constraint (Hunter, 2019). In this regard, business processes have been gradually optimized, within which the physical presence of a person is no longer needed to share or convey information. Accordingly, the organization’s structure is also being transformed, becoming less hierarchical and more autonomous in each sector. At the same time, the consistency and messaging pace across sectors are increasing, which is critical within an international organization: information technology capital directly affects labor productivity (Arvanitis & Loukis, 2009). In this case, the leader’s task is to control the execution of the company’s operations within the organizational structure in the context of changing the way information is communicated between its levels. If the basic rules and roles of employees in the organization remain the same, responsibility can be transformed under a changing work environment, requiring specific skills from them.

For many large companies, employees themselves are one of the most important values. Apple and IBM, for example, offer ongoing learning and a welcoming environment built on inclusion and diversity (Apple, 2022; IBM, 2021). Showing care, attention, and appropriate attitude on the part of management requires appropriate competencies in the soft skills of a leader, such as teamworking, motivation, and conflict resolution. Managers in the workplace can influence the interlocutor with the help of non-verbal signs and interaction in the physical environment, among which moments of informal communication are possible. The remote leader, in turn, must be able to adapt these support mechanisms to the new environment without the possibility of physical contact, that is, only through the available means and communication channels (Vijaykar & Karhade, 2021; Kaveri & Mohan, 2020). If these processes are progressive and the company automates and introduces solutions requiring remote mode, employees have time to adapt to the new conditions. The case of the pandemic is fundamentally different precisely in this aspect – many companies were not ready for such drastic changes, as well as leaders and employees, respectively. The complexity of adaptation was that it was necessary to master new tools across the company for functions that did not require any tools in a physical office: communication, team discussion, and physical document management. Although international companies already had an experience of remote collaboration, the transition of offices to this mode from the very beginning significantly increased the time spent on such moments, not to mention the psychological aspects of adaptation.

The office provided access to hardware and software, certain archival records, and an established interaction system between employees. Each employee has a habit that everything they need is at hand. The sudden transition to remote work requires managers to consolidate all these mechanisms and make them available to employees in the new environment (Contreras et al., 2020; Kaveri & Mohan, 2020). At the same time, organizations often provide all the necessary technical equipment, including covering the associated costs of an employee for arranging a workplace, by the remote work policy and other labor standards, including, for example, the General Data Protection Regulation (Lueck, 2021). Now leaders must manage the organization’s resources within the framework of operations and provide support to employees at various levels, right down to the personal level.

Personal capabilities are now becoming a problem for the entire organization: if employees do not have access to the Internet, their laptop or smartphone with the necessary functions, and expensive software, the organization must provide the employee with all the necessary resources. For example, IBM has gone from adapting employees in the workplace to implementing a hybrid approach in operations. At first, the company viewed the cost of supporting employees at home as temporary, but now it is seriously considering abandoning many offices (Ford & Chang, 2021). The capabilities of employees in both modes are fixed at the level of policies of international companies: in-home offices, where there are no control systems, the time or amount of work of an employee is strictly regulated (Ford & Chang, 2021). With adaptation, the measures could be softened, forming the company’s current policy, which itself is already striving for this regime.

Some companies were able to quickly and effectively adapt to new conditions. McDonald’s has implemented a flexible leadership system to quickly respond to local groups, almost instantly implementing all kinds of requirements for operating offices and own establishments (Edeh et al., 2021). However, the individual characteristics of organizations created their own pace of transition. For example, IT companies such as IBM had the leading layer of their operations in a virtual environment, which only required the creation of working conditions and control for employees and the adaptation of key business processes, such as closing deals and interactions between management and employees (Ford & Chang, 2021). Companies from areas where complete headquarters relocation is not possible, such as the hotel business, were forced to differentiate this transition for specific departments while creating a safe environment for offline employees (Pham et al., 2022). In addition to the apparent differences in business industries, representatives of strict hierarchical organizational structures adapted differently from more autonomous ones. Written assurances of document flow in strict non-governmental organizations required streamlining and significant revision of the process (Chai & Freeman, 2018). At the same time, the absence of the need for such moments in more autonomous structures ensured a smoother transition to remote work.

Effective Organizational Strategies

Effective organizational strategies have a complex structure, as the leader must ensure all aspects of the transition to a remote mode and consider psychological and, in some cases, even personal factors. Although leaders have fewer opportunities for informal communication and personal assistance to employees, they can change the form of support in the form of remote access tools: instant messengers, video conferencing, and more (Golden & Gajendran, 2019). The interactive impact can now come in the form of encouraging emails and the provision of benefits in the form of paid counseling if the transition is difficult. Companies began to turn to the outsourced services of psychiatrists more often, and psychiatrists, in turn, began to use the possibilities of telemedicine more than 40 times (APA, 2021). Large organizations began to document policies to help employees work remotely, regulating opportunities not only to receive mental health services but also to give memberships to the gym, choose the time for an employee’s religious activities, and much more (Miller, 2019). Physical activity, time off, and the possibility of informal virtual communication with the leader can indeed be considered aspects of an effective strategy, the most recent research confirms an increase in the frequency of contact between employees among themselves, which has led to an increase in productivity in several cases (Yang et al., 2022). Regardless of the company’s operations, leadership style, and structure chosen, mental aspects are the key to the effectiveness of the strategy chosen by the remote leader.

In a short time, most of the strategies for improving efficiency, and planning, such as Kanban boards, Agile, and many others, have become available for most companies to use analogs on computers and smartphones remotely. With the help of these applications, managers were able to delegate tasks to employees in a new but rather convenient form, and employees received a visualization of their activities (Cong, 2021). Studies have shown that technical issues arise almost as often as communication and management issues, while technology is the primary driver of remote work (Ferreira et al., 2021). The small organization of people implies constant contact since the management now has no physical access to the employee. Practical strategy skills now include management competencies within communication applications such as Skype or Zoom and applications that provide remote access, electronic document management, and interactive interaction within operational activities.

Regardless of their ultimate goals and dynamics, organizational strategies experienced a change in the form of their principal activity as part of the transition to a remote mode. If the company was aimed at capturing a particular market share, then, for example, now meetings with potential customers have moved online, the possibility of concluding contracts has also become necessary, and it has become necessary to find an aggregator to organize the logistics of supplying goods under new restrictions (Oxelheim & Randøy, 2021). If we rely on the three components of the content of the organization’s strategy: communication, intention, and implementation – only the intention has not changed its form. Intention sets goals, and the majority of companies, if they have not faced a severe crisis or a complete shutdown of their activities under the restrictions imposed, are still focused on increasing net and gross profits and expanding. Companies suffered losses, but approximately 10% were able to find resources to financially support their employees to maintain productivity and implementation (Pokojski et al., 2022). The dynamics of change in communication have been described above.

Finally, companies must meet social responsibility requirements along with environmental responsibility (Yang et al., 2021). As a rule, it implies the values of recognition of diversity, inclusiveness, and high professional ethics (Latapí Agudelo et al., 2019). Stakeholder pressure during a crisis can significantly reduce employee performance: studies have shown that adapting corporate ethics to a new virtual environment reduces the likelihood of conflict situations (Mehmood et al., 2020). The remote mode of work makes it possible to get jobs more often for women who have to stay at home with children and people with disabilities who would find it difficult to get to the office physically. Considering the tendencies to protect the rights of people subjected to various kinds of structural discrimination, remote work is a new normal toward which a civilized society was moving. Along with this, creating employees’ rhythm of work, improving time management skills, and the ability to manage resources are other significant advantages that have begun to be noticeably developed among employees. Such skills make life easier for the manager since employees are given more responsibility for their operations without the need for control.

Qualities and Roles of Remote Leaders

The goal of remote leaders is to help the organization identify the most important goals and develop the best ways to achieve them. Leading an invisible team requires someone who can understand complex conditions and objectively examine problems rationally and impartially before making decisions (Wang et al., 2020). Another essential quality of remote leaders is effective communication and strategic planning for more efficient and profitable systems (Spagnoli et al., 2020). When working from home, leaders tend to be more involved in the work that becomes part of their personal lives: the schedule becomes irregular. Suppose leaders are effectively fulfilling their responsibilities in this mode. In that case, the positive aspects of this experience should be adapted to the operational activities of employees, primarily by encouraging the transition to remote work. However, according to research, about 30% of workers cannot work from home due to various subjective reasons (Bloom, 2020). At the same time, large companies such as IBM, after the experience of the pandemic, are considering hybrid and completely remote options as a different vector for the company’s development (Ford & Chang, 2021). Except in the extreme of not being able to work from home, leaders must, like the foundations of transformational leadership, lead by example in adapting work processes to their personal lives.

For many business sectors, such as the entertainment industry, hospitality, and tourism, the restrictions imposed almost wholly stop the ability to operate. These industries cannot function remotely, just like, for example, IT, marketing, or education. Accordingly, there are other organizations where the remote mode causes minor damage but forces not only to restructure the form of activity but to cope with a crisis. Organizations adjust to numerous legislative decisions in their geographic region, and in many cases, these decisions are large-scale and require rapid response in reforming operations in the marketplace. The most stringent restrictions on strict social distancing, gatherings of no more than four people in South Korea are not comparable to the relatively low ones in Mexico, where only wearing masks in public places is required (Han et al., 2020). On the one hand, companies working remotely do not need to adapt the physical office to government requirements, and employees do not need to contact other people during the journey to the office. On the other hand, leaders have less control over the movement of employees, which can violate restrictions on working hours, putting the company’s reputation at risk.

The ongoing digital transformation process, which affects both the necessary competencies of a leader and entire business development strategies. Numerous studies show that technology has always been the driving force behind innovation, as evidenced by empirical evidence from the chemical industry to IT (Ahuja & Morris Lampert, 2001). Progressive changes are associated with the digitalization of commerce, marketing, purchases, and much more. As interviews with e-retail leaders have shown, this transition creates a risk transformation, understanding scarcity, and company size in a new environment that requires adaptation (Johnson, 2010). Any technological opportunity always requires costs and risks at first, but the most effective implementation later becomes necessary to maintain competitiveness (Bilan et al., 2020). Offices controlled by directors in international companies represent a similar model in the transition to remote work; the difference is that each employee now has his workspace, to which the manager does not have physical access. Digital transformation has made such a regime possible in principle, thanks to remote communication, the creation of shared networks, e-commerce, and many other technological processes.

Remote work has allowed employees to better balance work and family. Many have begun to save money and time on the road, sleep better and work much better in a comfortable, stress-free environment. The balance between personal life and work is one of the critical factors in employee satisfaction. A study of banking employees has shown that remote work, in contrast to being physically present, has a more significant impact on work-life balance, which is primarily positive (Putra et al., 2020). In contrast to the physical mode, remote leaders will deal with this aspect more often, which slightly distinguishes their competencies from classical leadership. Research in this area also shows that traditional leaders are better at increasing the effectiveness of remote workers over time by creating an appropriate culture that includes behavioral and communication strategies for interaction (Basile & Beauregard, 2016). Figure 1 shows the dynamics of employee satisfaction in this study over time.

Remote Leadership Styles

Leadership is categorized into different styles that have distinctive qualities. According to research, if the pace of current telecommuting trends continues, more than 30 million Americans will be working remotely by 2025 (Brynjolfsson et al., 2020). The most common leadership styles are transformational, participative, situational, laissez-faire, servant, and adaptive. The context of the remote mode changes the form, methods of achieving goals, and control mechanisms in each of the above styles. The common thread among them is that telecommuting leads to a forced transition to autonomy, which can lead to improved productivity and well-being of employees and cause conflict and chaos. The task of management, in this case, is to increase the positive impact of such an irreversible transition and reduce the negative one.

Laissez-faire or non-intervention is the leadership style, the hallmarks of which were forced to appear remotely. Leaders who have a participatory style are deprived of the opportunity to be personally present during operations. Except in the case of constant monitoring via video or similar applications, many leaders are forced to move to a hands-off approach for two reasons. First, employees need to adapt to working from home, where all kinds of control systems can be negatively perceived as an attempt to encroach on personal space. According to research, these attempts are stressors that, according to research, under a laissez-faire policy, become the causes of conflict and destructive behavior of employees, leading to the decay of the social atmosphere and a drop in productivity (Skogstad et al., 2007). Secondly, the employee can give instant feedback without constant physical monitoring of the presence in the workplace.

There is a theory that autonomy, which gives employees independence, contributes to the disclosure of the creative potential of people. This theory is supported by studies that show a connection between the implicit autonomy motive and creative production both from school age and in an older sample, where the relationship between the leader and employees is also essential (Baum & Baumann, 2019; Volmer et al., 2012). Paradoxically, the more the leader communicates with employees, the more they demonstrate creativity and creativity with the autonomy granted (Volmer et al., 2012). Within the framework of this autonomy, the leader’s main task is to create conditions for open, ethical communication, both voice and text. The social environment should encourage innovation since the virtual environment itself is, in a certain sense, a forced but innovative solution for many people and organizations.

Participative leadership in reflecting the remote work mode implies many group activities: videoconferencing, sharing interactive use of working software. Like servant leadership, the manager is constantly in touch with employees to control the process and help its participants. A similar approach is used for transformational leadership, but the goal of this style is a positive change. In all three cases, the leaders set an example, which has a positive relationship with employee performance and engagement instead of styles based on transactional leadership (Limsila & Ogunlana, 2008). Consequently, the leader must have the skills to confidently use the software and help employees adapt to the use. If the work involves a constant presence at the workplace, the leader should also be with his team, if possible, without absences.

An important psychological aspect of the servant leadership approach is vital to apply regardless of the chosen style. Many employees have experienced adaptation problems, burnout, and the inability to concentrate at home, as they needed psychological support against the background of the imposed restrictions – many lost their jobs, experienced the consequences of lockdowns, and the inability to see relatives, and friends, and much more. This information, as a rule, was obtained by remote surveys through specially compiled scales of stress and burnout (Hayes et al., 2020). This phenomenon has been referred to as professional and social isolation, which reduces employees’ productivity for various reasons when staying at home for a long time. For example, research has shown that lockdown can lead to reduced sleep quality, anxiety, and feelings of loneliness. Research findings are similar for teleworking compared to much earlier in a pandemic context (Mann & Holdsworth, 2003; Xiao et al., 2020). The servant-leader always supports his employees emotionally, inspiring them to mutual respect and putting the employee’s well-being over the client’s satisfaction (Canavesi & Minelli, 2021). In the face of brutal layoffs, mass layoffs, and financial constraints, this type of long-term leadership in remote work has proven the best adaptive.

Adaptive leadership offers the most flexible self-awareness of both the leader himself and all employees of the organization. This style sets adaptive tasks for the company, each of which does not have a single correct and obvious solution. The conditions of uncertainty that characterize the pandemic experience imply the need for constant adaptation. For example, the restaurant business that was able to adapt and quickly connect to food delivery aggregators and create the possibility of online orders could save a certain percentage of revenue and closure (Serbulova et al., 2020). In addition, according to empirical studies, this style is primarily consistent with the non-financial sustainability of the business, which in turn contributes to financial success (Akhtar et al., 2016). The role of a leader in such an approach varies from task to task and, depending on talents and competencies, can be ranked among all leadership styles.

Moreover, a new kind of collaborative leadership has emerged during the era of telecommuting. This phenomenon was born from the spread of autonomy, the consolidation of virtual teams, and the distribution of responsibilities and shared responsibility for the result (Pavez & Neves, 2021). Within the framework of this approach, the involvement of employees is significantly increased, while the figure of the leader itself is not excluded but may be formal. A survey through surveys showed that when using collaborative leadership tools, in addition to involvement, the power and responsibility of each employee increases, and psychological factors become essential. When conflicts arise, as a rule, the leader in this situation has less power and, accordingly, the means to resolve it; in a virtual environment, the situation becomes more complicated (Kramer & Crespy, 2011). The virtual environment often involves asynchronous communication, which, by definition, is less efficient and controllable between the leader and the employee.

Concept of a Remote Leadership

The resulting model, taking into account the specifics of some business sectors, will show the effectiveness of various leadership styles and the dependence of the number of remote workers on the company’s financial performance. According to the studies, the success and sustainable development of the company does not only depend on the positive dynamics of specific financial indicators but also depends on compliance with the requirements of social and environmental responsibility, the presence of corporate ethics, charity events, and other events that form the image and position of the company (Maden et al., 2012; Waler & Dyck, 2014). Reputation is the degree of stakeholder evaluation based on profitability and intangible assets such as CSR, but the degree of influence is subjective. There are essential behaviors of remote leaders that have a qualitative impact on the success of an organization. These behavioral roles affect the relationship between employees and their supervisors, as do influence the psychological state of each other in a virtual environment (Mann, S., & Holdsworth, 2003; Xiao et al., 2020). They act as intermediaries and mentors between the management team and remote workers. Human relations and goal achievement roles are essential to success in global organizations for remote executives.

Theoretical Framework

There are several theories, the practical application of which would be necessary for remote mode; however, in this paper, the model of George Homans is used. The model includes three main elements: tasks, interactions, and attitudes. From the manager, employees receive tasks, perform them, and establish interaction, which is likes, dislikes, feelings, and attitudes. The more frequent the interactions, the stronger the attitudes, and vice versa (Treviqo & Tilly, 2015). The longer the interaction, the more identical the attitudes and the more similar the employees. They have standard norms and what they value together. Norms are fulfilled the better, the more cohesive the community is. Norms can be better enforced than formal rules. Violators may be subject to informal sanctions.

The more people interact with each other, the more positively they can relate to each other. The reverse is also true: the more positive the relationship, the more intense the interactions. However, having set the initial conditions for the group’s existence, the external system influences what is happening in the group to an even lesser extent since what J. Homans called the internal system appears, which includes group norms, ways of interaction, and joint activity. However, the external and internal systems are in a specific interaction (Treviqo & Tilly, 2015). Change in technology leads to changes within the group, and new ways of working together can then be turned into technology.

First of all, this model focuses on the aspect of forming a team or group, taking into account three critical dimensions – physical, cultural, and technological. All these aspects are somehow important in the conditions of remote interaction. Management mechanisms of management also lie in three planes. Using the terms of the model, the leader can give tasks and provide interactions within which attitudes are formed. In addition, this model has previously been used only to address issues of distribution of power and building ethics in the company (Chen & Choi, 2005). Although these factors are also aspects of leadership, the current processes are complex and multifaceted.

This model will make it possible to form a questionnaire for leaders better, providing work within the same terminology, which considers an activity’s technological and psychological aspects. Technology in the model acts as a mechanism for forming new attitudes and norms, while the technological factors of the virtual external environment affect the categories of interaction between employees and management. Through the prism of this theory, it is possible to observe how the specific practical implementations identified in the surveys will affect the group effectiveness and interaction of employees subordinate to the leader.

According to Homans’ theory, success in a team is achieved through mutually acquired benefits. Within companies, success is most often seen in financial performance; as a result, this indicator will be tracked to measure success (Treviqo & Tilly, 2015). The leader’s task is to find a compromise or unite the company’s interests and each employee who forms new attitudes or transforms them into new conditions. Aspects of interaction continue to form or are formed from scratch for new teams; the leader must determine the vector and create a comfortable environment and technical equipment for such installations. At the same time, tasks from the leader that are of interest to the company should be carried out, and the formed attitudes create a background that provides a valuable foundation for the formation of motivation and satisfaction of the interests of employees.

Therefore, the survey will be twenty-five questionnaires self-completed by various business organizations to study the chosen area. HR and an accessible management team will help answer online questions related to leadership work and managing a remote workforce, as this is a standard research method in organizations (Flores, 2019). Each section of the questionnaire will have a selective overview and consist of different personal and work data categories. A Likert scale will be used: 1-strongly disagree, 2-disagree, 3-moderately, 4-agree, 5-strongly agree. The collected data will be analyzed using static packages such as SPSS.

Organization Performance

Productivity is an individual achievement after putting effort into a particular work. In the global business structure, productivity is a unique phenomenon influenced by various variables such as environmental factors, workability, and employee motivation. Thus, the performance of an organization is highly dependent on the individual work of remote leaders to influence and bring change to their teams effectively. The performance and achievement of international companies suffer in direct proportion when remote executives do not make practical personal contributions, as the PLS-SEM study on 307 respondents showed (Chatterjee et al., 2022). Organizational achievement creates inspiration and opportunity for employees working remotely, resulting in exceptional effort, commitment, and willingness to take on the challenge.

With the modernization of technology and software applications, remote leaders have at their disposal a variety of technologies that help them make effective decisions. They can influence their productivity through Zoom, Skype, and Google meetings with their teams. Despite the limited knowledge of technology among team members, remote leaders must choose the right leadership path to get the best results from remote workers and influence the worker’s attitude toward their duties. In addition, similar psychological issues for all of their teams on the same track are a significant challenge for remote leaders in achieving active participation.

The productivity and efficiency of a company are most often measured using financial indicators. Various ratios of organizations in financial activities understand the relevance, liquidity, and ability to repay their short-term obligations. These figures, as mentioned above, dropped markedly during the onset of the pandemic due to restrictions and a decrease in the purchasing power of many people. In this study, it is proposed to use a particular set of financial ratios that best demonstrate the success of the company’s operations in various aspects.

The financial indicators are reporting or calculated data that characterize various aspects of an enterprise’s activities related to the formation and use of its monetary funds and savings. Financial indicators are expressed in absolute and relative terms, such as norms, ratios, and values. Analysis of financial indicators is one of the methods for assessing the state of the enterprise and its capabilities in the future. It serves as the basis for strategic planning, helps managers identify resources and directions for the enterprise’s subsequent development, finds its strengths and weaknesses, and determines investment attractiveness.

This work relies on four leading company indicators: liquidity, asset turnover, profitability, and market value. Liquidity indicators in a pandemic or a global crisis reflect the company’s readiness to cope with its obligations in a problematic situation. This indicator reflects the company’s ability to adapt to an economic crisis, a critical ability, as identified above. The current ratio will be used to assess liquidity.

Due to restrictions, asset turnover could have dropped significantly due to lower revenues after the pandemic so this indicator will be considered separately in two periodizations, like all other financial indicators. How well and adequately a company uses assets during a crisis reflects the effectiveness of its management. Keeping this indicator at the same level in a difficult situation can indicate good leadership in the company, and if the leader was able to even better to use assets during a crisis, then this fact is a clear sign of high competence. It should be noted that this indicator is also essential for investors, who can see the degree of effective use of assets invested in the company and signal either the profitability of deposits or problems in management. The asset turnover ratio can be obtained by dividing net income by the company’s total assets.

A company’s top profitability ratios evaluate its profitability potential concerning its revenues, operating expenses, and other critical financial ratios. In a crisis, a company can reduce the cost of producing products or services to maintain profit concerning the gross profit ratio. Return on investment shows the company’s ability to competently manage incoming investments, which is also expressed through net profit. These ratios also demonstrate a different share of the success of the company’s management by the leader, however, at a level closer to operational activity. Here we will consider the gross profit ratio, operating profit ratio, net profit ratio, and return on investment.

Market value ratios shape the prices of a company’s shares. While dynamics within these financials could be driven by external factors beyond the pandemic, operations, and the global crisis will be the most important determinants. These indicators are far from the company’s operations and are of more interest to investors than managers. However, the enterprise’s market value, PE ratio, and other indicators affect the company’s investment attractiveness, opening up the opportunity to receive funds in a difficult period if these indicators remain normal and show growth, despite external factors. It should be noted that in any case, their positive dynamics depend on the activities of managers and best reflects their performance in quantitative terms. The PE ratio and Earnings per Share will be considered part of these ratios.

Methodology

This section provides the main techniques used to find answers to questions on this issue, and also explains the choice of a quantitative research method over others. This is followed by a roadmap of the study with a detailed explanation of the hypotheses under consideration, the design of the questionnaire, and further processing of the data to calculate statistical significance.

Methodology Options

Questionnaires and quantitative approaches, including statistics and mathematical analysis, are a priority methodology option utilized in the studies presented in the literature review chapter. This type of research is quite common in many business industries as a tool for collecting data for various purposes (Saris & Gallhofer, 2014). Most of these are in-house surveys looking for relationships between two or three selected variables, with samples ranging from 150 people. As a rule, the assessment of financial indicators is rarely carried out in the context of the number of remote employees, therefore, this study will be of scientific novelty and will be relevant.

Qualitative methods in relation to the understanding, interpretation and interpretation of empirical data at the moment can be used as attempts to build theories on the experience of international companies already using remote leadership. However, in the current environment, a new experience trend has been established for many companies regarding this phenomenon (Ford & Chang, 2021; Galanti et al., 2021). As a result, to begin with, a quantitative assessment is required, which is chosen as a priority in this study over qualitative and, accordingly, over mixed ones. The implementation of mixed methods requires more data collection methods, which will require more resources, including human and time (Creswell & Creswell, 2017).

This study involved the targeted research group of 25 executives of different ranges from the professional community on LinkedIn, representing companies from five business sectors: IT, marketing, education, analytics and design. All 25 participants confirmed and took part in the survey. This study will be distinguished by a small sample, and, as a result, the created questionnaire will be analyzed using regression analysis.

The dependent variable in this study is the so-called success of the company, which will be manifested through a comprehensive assessment of all the above financial indicators. In other words, survey results and other explanatory variables will be compared over time with each of the highlighted financial ratios to get the complete picture of the company in terms of remote leadership. The independent variables are the following: leadership style, the main list of possible options will be taken from the results of a survey of managers’ questionnaires. The second independent variable is the number of remote workers in the company or branch. These two variables are the most important in this study. In addition to them, the availability of international experience, the mental state of employees according to surveys of managers, the general atmosphere in the team, and technical equipment stand out. In this paper, only statistically significant results will be presented, as well as those that may be critical for the interpretation of the leading indicators.

Regression analysis can explain the nature of the correlation between the listed variables or their absence. One way or another, the presence of linear regression will prove the effectiveness of the remote node and the selected style, or vice versa, depending on the direction of the trend line, which can be rising or falling (Rawlings et al., 2000). A more complex polynomial regression may suggest the nature of the relationship between a company’s financial performance and telecommuting. This type explains more complicated relationships between the selected variables and is not considered in this paper. The nature of this correlation may spur further research in this area, which may suggest new integrated management practices for leaders.

Finally, the analysis by style will be the most practical, the results of which leaders can apply immediately. In the literature review, a theoretical analysis of leadership styles was given, but there will be experimental confirmation or refutation within the framework of the selected company or industry. As a result, not only a quantitative representation of the impact of remote work on the company’s liquidity and profitability will be obtained, but also the most effective leadership methods for this. A mechanism for further evaluation of leadership methods and this mode of operation will also be obtained if the results obtained are statistically significant and confirm or refute the hypothesis. The high indicators of correlation between the variables found will allow companies to more adequately assess the impact of aspects of the remote mode on the company’s overall work.

Questionnaire Design

The first considered aspect is the chosen leadership style: information about the most successful styles can be critical in the results of this study. Secondly, this is the influence of international experience: as mentioned above, large companies somehow have experience of remote interaction between countries, how much this experience helps adapt to new conditions, and whether scale matters. Thirdly, the leaders in the questionnaire should immediately clarify in advance what percentage or how many of their employees worked remotely before the pandemic and how much became after. Then, the questionnaire will ask to evaluate their mental state in the leader’s opinion, the general atmosphere in the team, and the occurrence of problems with technical equipment and support. In shifting the focus from employees to management methods themselves, the leader will also need to evaluate the extent and quality of the change in their approaches, the time devoted to each employee, and a personal and quantified assessment of the operational performance of the company’s department.

As a result, these indicators will be estimated using the Homans model. The leader will personally assess the interaction processes between employees, their psychological state, their tasks, and formed attitudes. All questions will be divided into three main sub-items, evaluated according to the Homans model. A leader can contribute to creating technologies, attitudes, and norms; the leader is looking for ways to communicate goals and objectives; Finally, the leader influences the psychological mood of interactions in the team. The phrases that participants will rate on the questionnaire using the Likert scale will contain statements based on the literature review and research. These statements will evaluate the intervention in the operational process, interact with employees from different angles, and try on the manager’s main manifestations of leadership styles. The results obtained will allow us to conclude the style, form, methods, and approaches in the terminology of Homans. The model will allow the interpretation of quantitative statistical data.

Finally, leaders will be allowed to comment freely on critical aspects of success within the company. Such aspects include teamwork, technical capabilities in remote mode, the consequences of social and professional isolation, mechanisms for working with clients in a new environment, and the impact of significant external factors. In addition to these issues, leaders will be able to comment on issues that they think are important in this context. In order to preserve confidentiality, the names of the participants will be hidden, and only the statistical indicators of their results and the names of the companies under consideration by industry are given in this work.

Reliability and Validity

This study is quantitative in that it relies on numerical and measurable data such as financial ratios and questionnaire scores. To do this, it is needed to determine the degree of reliability using the t-test tool, since, for example, in ANOVA analysis of variance, a quantitative continuous data type is needed, discrete data is less desirable (Creswell & Creswell, 2017). This criterion will show how the results obtained with a recognized level of confidence can be extrapolated to larger samples with the same questions (Creswell & Creswell, 2017). The survey was administered in three phases according to the Dillman model, involving a preliminary letter via email, a letter with a questionnaire and a final cover letter, which resulted in the duration of this event taking up to three weeks (Creswell & Creswell, 2017). The reliability of the instrument is achieved by repeating the same results under the same conditions, so it is necessary to exclude the possibility of error at this stage.

In this experiment, a five-point Likert scale will be used. According to research, among various scale divisors from 1 to 5, it has the highest p-value of about 0.11 and, accordingly, validity, which was confirmed by numerous tests through Monte Carlo simulation (Louangrath, 2018). Accordingly, the collection of quantitative data will be carried out by questionnaires of respondents to evaluate statements on hypotheses. The survey tool will be an e-mail distribution, and financial information will be obtained through the analysis of official sources. All of these activities are primarily aimed at obtaining measurable answers to research questions, which is the basis of data collection (Creswell & Clark, 2017). Due to the rather small sample, the p-value will be taken equal to 0.1.

Ethics

The code of ethics of the American Sociological Association was taken as the basis for regulating ethical issues. According to the main principles, the cover letter to the participants in the experiment gave a complete picture of the level of professional competence of the researcher, according to principle A, clear boundaries for the use of answers and responsibilities of the parties, according to principle B (ASA, 2018). The conduct of the experiment is regulated only by the questions of the study and the goal set, in addition to it, the participants should not provide any third-party information, and researchers can only use it within the framework of this work. Principle D and F on human rights and respect for them allowed survey participants to remain anonymous and report only on business areas and chosen leadership style (ASA, 2018). Following the basic principle E, postulating social responsibility, eliminates ambiguous, unethical questions, uncomfortable situations for the participants in the experiment (ASA, 2018). The purpose of the study is primarily aimed at finding the relationship between the success of the company and aspects of remote work, its results are not a ready-made guide for companies, but are illustrative, recommendatory in the considered conditions for practical activities.

Research Questions and Question Validation

The main research questions and hypotheses are summarized in Table 1, showing which statements test those hypotheses. The details of the answers to the questions were preliminarily agreed with the participants, within which the researchers and the leaders came to an agreement on non-disclosure of the names and names of the companies that the respondents represent. Each of the statements was evaluated from one to five, except for the first and second questions about the style of the leader and the dynamics of the number of employees in the company. The participants, for their part, in exchange for the condition of anonymity, agreed to give honest and direct answers, without hiding or embellishing the performance of their company. Figure 2 shows the dependence of hypotheses and questions with the Homans model.

Table 1. Question table

Limitations

This research is limited by the relationship between remote leadership and organizational effectiveness. Other global organizational factors such as economics and culture are not considered. It determines the reliability of the results since all aspects of the success of multinational companies are not taken into account. This study focuses on the timescale of the global organization during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the long-term implications require in-depth study. The recent fallout from the virus is a severe limitation on the approach to data collection and contact with research-related companies.

Results

Introduction

In the framework of this work, questionnaires of a target group of 25 managers from professional communities are studied, a detailed description of which is given below. Questionnaires were sent via e-mail, the results are presented in the form of diagrams. Statistical significance will be assessed using the t-test tool. Four hypotheses are analyzed, which are presented in the questionnaire in Table 1. Then, an analysis was made of the financial performance of companies from five selected industries and a search for a correlation between these results and the dynamics of the number of remote employees.

First of all, it was necessary to decide on industries where non-remote work is not critical but is an option for employees and, they had to visit the office or be onsite workers. Such industries involve almost no physical contact with the client; most of the interaction takes place within the framework of electronic interaction. These most relevant business areas include IT, private education, marketing, analytics, management, and design. Each of these areas has several professions that are most in demand in the labor market worldwide due to the relevance and effectiveness of the technologies used (Phillips, 2020). The search for leaders from professional communities took place precisely in these areas.

As a result, leaders representing five of the business sectors listed above were selected for places from twenty-five questionnaires. The IT sector was represented by leaders, each of whom is a manager or team leader in web development teams, testers, mobile application developers, and Python and Java specialists. The marketing industry was represented by leaders from the areas of SEO, SMM, targeting, and Internet marketers. Game design companies, graphic design companies, and UX / UI developers represent the design industry. Education and analytics specialists are also take part in this study. Figure 3 shows the number of leaders in the selected industries.

The distribution of demographic characteristics is shown in Figure 4 and was not used as any variable for the analysis. This is due to the fact that this study primarily answers the questions of the effectiveness of separately chosen leadership styles, certain aspects of management, but does not aim to find a relationship between the gender or age of leaders. However, this information is provided here for the purpose of possible further research.

Overall, the samples for each industry were relatively small when compared to studies of remote workers (Kaveri & Mohan, 2020; Lueck, 2021; Chatterjee et al., 2022). As mentioned above, twenty-five leaders received the questionnaires by email and completed the Likert scale questions and supplemented the questionnaires with answers to open-ended questions within the predetermined time frame. The list of companies considered in the article is also partially anonymized at the request of some participants. The results section of this article is presented as follows: first, it is a graphical representation of the statistical data on the Homans model of information obtained from the questionnaires. The numbers and relative sizes of teleworkers within companies are then presented, followed by a regression analysis on the four dimensions of organizational success reflected in financial measures collected from company public data sources. All calculations were carried out in two periodizations: in the pre-pandemic period and the current one. The interpretation of the results goes hand in hand with the quantitative information presented.

Questionnaire Analysis

A preliminary breakdown of the business industry and chosen leadership style in Q1 is shown in Figure 5. It is worth noting that most leaders whose professions are more related to information technology have not changed their style after switching to remote work from the office (Taucean et al., 2016). The processes of their communication almost always took place with the help of various tools of Internet communication, due to which the main difficulties in the way of transition were psychological problems associated with isolation and a forced shift in the balance between personal life and work. Other managers have lost their usual mechanisms for monitoring employees, and such a process does not always lead to adverse effects (Taucean et al., 2016). Many noted an involuntary transition to adaptive leadership; in Homans terminology – the leaders faced the task of maintaining the norms and attitudes: the values, mission, and vision of the company in the processes taking place in the new conditions and environment.

It can be seen that, in general, the styles were distributed relatively evenly; only adaptive, laissez-faire, and joint stand out in number, which are the most suitable for the remote mode, according to the literature review. Next, Figure 6 shows the number of remote workers before and after the pandemic in the respective industries. This information was obtained entirely from the questionnaires of managers in Q2.

Figure 6 shows a trend that the number of remote workers has only increased since the start of the pandemic. Initially, there were no remote employees at all; for some organizations, this transition has lasted and only accelerated due to external factors. The distribution of remote employees is approximately the same since the consent to participate was mainly given by middle managers, where the number of employees under their control does not exceed 100 people. The main retention factors for onsite workers were clarified in an open question: they include employees who need access to specific hardware or face-to-face interaction with customers despite restrictions. Figure 7 shows the average percentage of growth by industry. The IT, design and analytics sectors are experiencing the lowest growth rates due to the already large number of employees working remotely, while these changes were new for education and marketing.

Further, Figure 8 shows the dependence of the benefits of international experience in the transition to a remote mode in organizations and industries. The information was taken from the H1 part of the questionnaires. The following points were evaluated on a five-point Likert scale: international communication tools can be adapted for smaller branches; remote interaction technologies between countries are applied locally after the pandemic; leaders were able to adapt their tasks and norms to the new conditions without hindrance. The average value for each industry was then calculated from the weighted average vote, where each of the items had the same weight. Consequently, there were again more positive results for the IT companies, marketing, and analytics industries. Comparing this result with similar studies of previous years, it can be concluded that it is in these areas that the influence of international experience extends to the individual effectiveness of employees, which results in the productivity of the entire company (Hultman et al., 2011).

In general, each of these industries is, to a different extent, associated with the use of information technology in its operational activities; however, the effectiveness of adapting these tools to specific non-operational tasks differs. The virtual sphere implies not only the main functionality of companies but also the possibility of communication and interactive interaction between employees (Vijaykar & Karhade, 2021). Figure 8 illustrates the following hypothesis that remote leaders can positively influence the mental state of employees, it is presented in the H2 section of questionnaire. Problems of social exclusion, work-life balance, communication with each employee separately, and adaptation of communication and behavioral norms are the variables that are assessed in this question. Even within the framework of this activity, the leader must be revealed as a person who is deeply competent in matters of psychology. However, employees’ problems can often be personal in nature, which will affect performance, but the leader’s sphere of influence does not extend. However, the results were significantly lower on all measures than those testing the first hypothesis.

This figure shows that the sphere of analytics, IT, and design suffered the most. Adjustment in education and marketing has been better with adjusting communication norms and a more flexible work-life balance. Most leaders in design work with each employee individually, as creativity and uniqueness are critical competencies in this area (Baum & Baumann, 2018). In general, leaders singled out psychological problems as a negative aspect of the impact on productivity, which is difficult to correct by managerial decisions. However, figure 10 shows which leadership styles have been most effective in working with the atmosphere in the team.

Naturally, servant leadership received the highest of the ratings since, in this type of leadership, the psychological state of employees is considered a critical determinant of their satisfaction and involvement (Canavesi & Minelli, 2021). The participants explained the relatively low indicators of participative leadership resulting from conflict situations due to the inability to find a compromise due to the tense and stressful situation amid the pandemic. Adaptive leadership is seen as the most suitable for remote leadership and, at the same time, has a positive effect on the atmosphere within the team (Akhtar et al., 2016). Specific problems are presented as adaptive tasks in the company’s interests, which become a mechanism for influencing interactions between employees and forming flexible attitudes that contribute to efficiency. The participants as a promising direction highlight joint leadership, but the methods of its use are still in constant practical development since the beginning of the XXI century (Wilhelmson, 2006).

Managers, in general, did not single out technical equipment as a problem that could affect the productivity of employees. Moreover, many representatives of design and IT work on their own devices, laptops, and computers; therefore, the transition in terms of software will be the most painless. Representatives of education highlighted noticeable changes; for some of them, the transition from offline learning to online mode was quite laborious (Lai & Bower, 2019). Here, weighted voting was applied only to those responses that played a relevant role in the evaluation of the answers from section H3. If the employee did not need help with hardware or software, the manager’s responses to these questions were not taken into account in the statistics.

The main aspects of the assessment included the already mentioned assistance with hardware and software, consultations, intervention of the management on the technical equipment of the employee, the use of outsourcing services or delegation of technical issues, and, finally, own example of a leader in the use of technology (Fowkes, 2020). In the IT field, management is required to have technical competencies, especially given that many team leads are former developers (Moradi, 2020). There are no apparent results of understanding the implementation of technologies in other industries. Nevertheless, almost all leaders tried to set their example. Only representatives of the design and analytics sector turned to outsource, while in the marketing industry, leaders of this study consulted their employees more often than others (Giest, 2018). Finally, the weight of indicators for each industry was calculated separately, taking into account the necessary and excluded parameters, as shown in Figure 11.

Despite the relatively large number of issues in various areas during the transition to a remote mode, most companies in this study generally coped with them. According to executives open question’s answers, psychological problems had a more significant impact on the workflow than technical or operational problems. In a few cases, managers reported that there were still problems with technical issues: much of this is due to funding issues. The next questionnaire sector H4 reflects the leader’s opinion and information about the company’s financial performance. Many companies’ revenues fell immediately after introducing the first restrictions, as discussed in the sections above (Ashraf, 2020). However, in the field of IT and digital marketing, in some cases, there was even an increase, a rush demand, that some leaders thought about the rapid expansion of the headquarters.

The survey asked leaders to account for lower revenues amid the global economic crisis despite varying dynamics. In this regard, the division into pre-pandemic and post-pandemic periods will be made only in the regression analysis section to find a correlation between financial performance and the number of employees in companies. In addition, this H4 section of questions contains statements about the main operational business processes of the company and their speed, optimization, and the reflection of these dynamics on financial performance. Figure 12 reflects the weighted responses of industry leaders.

As it can be seen in the diagram, design suffered the most in the financial plane. The leaders in the field of analytics were able to maintain the most even dynamics. In education, management adapted to the new conditions, improving overall financial efficiency against the backdrop of declining sales (Brinia et al., 2021). According to the leaders’ answers, such a transition for the IT industry and marketing only affected for the better, despite the potential psychological problems. The increased demand for IT products and the need to move marketing campaigns online due to the restrictions imposed, respectively, are reflected in the financial performance of companies in these industries (Maresova et al., 2018). The results of the correlation of assessments of the financial performance of companies with leadership styles are quite interesting. It is worth noting that some leaders admitted that they were inclined to change their style under the pressure of external conditions but still insisted that the basic mechanisms of their management have so far remained the same. In this regard, the dynamics of changing styles after the pandemic is not reflected in these statistics. The dependence of financial indicators on leadership style is shown in Figure 13.

Servant and adaptive leadership show the best results in improving operational processes and optimization, apparently since such styles were in the lead and in the ability to work with the mental state of employees (Canavesi & Minelli, 2021). Laissez-faire has the best sales and financial performance because most of the leaders with such styles work in the field of IT and marketing, which have maintained and even increased revenue in times of crisis (Baum & Baumann, 2018). Participative leadership is proving to be the most inappropriate for adapting to remote work, although it may be able to change the dynamics over a longer distance (Akpoviroro et al., 2018). Management mechanisms in joint leadership lead to better optimization of business processes but still do not contribute to a positive impact on financial performance (Wilhelmson, 2006).

At the end of the questionnaire, an open-ended question allowed for a free-form list and explanation of those aspects that were not covered in the study but had a significant impact on the effectiveness and process of working remotely. Among these moments, the process of working with clients stands out. Executives say that employees were more or less confident users of modern technology, while this transition was challenging for some clients from the design and education sectors. Companies have the opportunity and interest in the availability of competencies on technical issues among employees, especially in related areas, but they cannot guarantee the same knowledge from customers. Problems could arise, ranging from communication tools to complexities in e-commerce. Customers, as a rule, spent more time adapting to new conditions than employees of the company (Sizova et al., 2021).

All results were calculated by weighted voting after statistical processing of the received answers. Values ​​above one showed that the answers were generally close to the maximum and, as a result, the aspects in the hypotheses did not cause problems and had only positive dynamics. Values ​​below one implied worsening of the indicator in question in the industry or company. As a result, the obtained data can lead to one coefficient of companies’ adaptation to new conditions. The industry average for each of the above items with a weighted vote based on data from the questionnaires will be presented in Figure 13. Technical issues H3 and international experience H1 received the least weight as determinants of the effectiveness of the company and employees in particular. The psychological impact H2 of external factors and the company’s financial performance H4 had a much more significant influence on the company’s internal processes according to the open question answers. The weights for financial activity, psychological influence, technical issues, and international experience were 0.35, 0.35, 0.15, and 0.15, respectively.

In this Figure 14, it can be seen that financial performance has become the leading determining indicator of the coefficient of adaptation to new conditions. The industries are located identically if compared with Figure 12. At the same time, the index of influence on the mental state of employees that has the same weight as the leader has a different location by industry in Figure 9. Therefore, financial performance as a mechanism for assessing the company’s efficiency was chosen correctly. This fact will be approved by the statistical significance calculations at the end of the chapter.

A similar adaptation rate for leadership styles is shown in Figure 15. Laissez-faire has high rates only due to maintaining a positive financial performance due to the leadership representation of this style in IT companies. Due to well-developed mechanisms for dealing with the mental consequences of a pandemic among employees, servant leadership showed the best result of the calculated coefficient. Technological aspects and international experience again turned out to be approximately on the same level and did not significantly affect the results in a weighted vote. As stated, adaptive, servant, and joint are the most appropriate leadership styles in the designated industries when working remotely. This information can help companies and leaders considering implementing remote mode use the critical approaches and control mechanisms specific to the selected styles.

The laissez-faire style in IT is pretty standard due to the specific competencies, which need a certain degree of autonomy (Baum & Baumann, 2018). The manager is more concerned with negotiating contracts and project management than direct intervention in the operational process. This fact explains the autonomy of almost all employees of the considered IT companies in the hardware and software used (Baum & Baumann, 2018). International experience in this industry implies the use of advanced technologies and applications, as this aspect is critical in maintaining the competitiveness of companies (O’Donell et al., 2002). In this regard, the leaders practically did not have to adapt the norms of communication and attitudes to the new regime since the means of communication remained the same.

Declining product sales have hardest hit the design industry. Design development requires the realization of creative potential from employees, who, as a rule, endure crises more difficultly. Leaders in this field were more likely to work with each employee individually but could not offer sufficient relief from the effects of social and professional isolation and create a work-life balance (Orzel & Wolniak, 2022). International experience has also helped design leaders to a lesser extent in adapting, but many see these difficulties as temporary. A positive attitude helps maintain growth in related areas that often turn to design services – IT and marketing, as well as a significant transition of a large number of people and businesses online, where the creation of unique content will be an even more important characteristic of the competitiveness of any company in the market (Orzel & Wolniak, 2022).

The sphere of private education assumes the most extended contact with clients even after the transition of employees to a remote work mode. In this regard, so much attention is paid to the psychological aspects in this industry – more than in any of the considered ones (Yildirim & Elverici, 2021). Information technology tools have long been firmly integrated into the usual education processes but have not yet allowed the industry to be fully integrated into the virtual environment (Manegre & Sabiri, 2020). As leaders claim, live contact continues to be valued by many in the profession and clients. In connection with this, the lowest rates of technical equipment of employees from this area are observed. Managers are faced with the need to compromise between legislation, mass character, and efficiency (Yildirim & Elverici, 2021).

If we consider the most suitable style for remote management, then servant and adaptive are objective favorites in comparison. According to past research, the best styles are derived from transformational leadership, which includes adaptive and servant (Lombardo, 2011). The servant considers the psychological issues that have proven to be important in the context of the adaptation process. Servant leadership puts employees first in its values, giving them the most attention (Canavesi & Minelli, 2021). Indeed, leaders with this style were more likely to devote time to each employee individually and, using familiar mechanisms, establish appropriate interaction and installation processes in the new environment, as the analysis of questionnaires showed. As a rule, according to Homans, each employee is clearly aware of his goal and personal benefit, which contributes to efficiency and productivity at the level of the entire company.

Adaptive leadership is highly relevant in the face of uncertainty (Thomé et al., 2016). The pandemic created just such a background, where each industry was forced to adapt to new conditions dictated by external factors (Lin et al., 2021). Adaptive tasks are set as tasks in the company’s interests, which take into account only the current situation (Thomé et al., 2016). There is practically no routine and certainty in actions in such organizations, but all employees are highly mobile and competent in their fields (Lin et al., 2021). At the same time, leaders take full responsibility for the proposed solutions and are always ready to admit their mistakes with a new solution. Therefore, these two styles should be considered by the leaders of companies that are switching to a remote work mode to find a balance between psychological factors and maintaining the company’s financial activity.

According to the questionnaire, four hypotheses H1 – H4 were put forward. Responses were analyzed by t-test for statistical significance. Responses on a Likert scale of 4 and 5 were taken into account, which implied an affirmative answer to the statements provided, influencing the hypotheses. A standard error was calculated for each of the presented statements in the H1-H4 section of the questionnaire. t =1.96 is the value used for the 95% confidence level. Table 2 shows the resulting statistical significance values. The questionnaires showed that the most significant differences between samples by industry are in matters of international experience and technical equipment H1 and H3. Psychological factors and financial performance H2 and H4, taken with a large weight in the calculation of the adaptation rate, have less significance in the differences, but still exceed the level of confidence, which this fact can confirm the hypotheses with a confidence level of 95%. If the same values of the survey results are divided by leadership styles, the statistical significance will be somewhat different, it is presented in Table 3.

Table 2. Statistical significance for H1-H4 questionnaire sections by industry samples

Table 3. Statistical significance for H1-H4 questionnaire sections by styles samples

The statistical significance of the difference in the samples between styles on the t-test was determined in the H2 and H3 hypotheses about the mental state and technical equipment. Financial performance varied significantly between style samples, while the effect of style on international experience was not confirmed in this survey. Comparing the results with the Homans model, we can conclude that sentiments and interactions are indeed key factors in establishing a social group in remote management, while activities and company’s success have less influence. Further research is related to the search for a correlation between the number of remote employees and the financial performance of companies from these industries. The results obtained will also be tested using the t-test.

Remote Workers and Financial Indicators Correlation

The number of remote workers has increased significantly since the introduction of pandemic restrictions. This fact is proved by the results of the survey of managers. However, these data were given to small departments of international companies. A broader scope is the search for correlations in international companies from these areas between the financial indicators of organizations indicated in the Methodology section and the dynamics of the number of remote employees in the period before the pandemic, after it began, and to the present moment. Among the 25 executives, one company was selected in each industry, which contains publicly available information on the number of remote employees and has up-to-date financial indicators in annual reports. In order to maintain confidentiality, the affiliation of specific study participants to organizations is not disclosed.

This work was carried out with significant assumptions and limitations in order to test the second question of the H4 questionnaire, stating “the increase in the number of remote employees increased the whole financial efficiency of the company”, according to the data on the number of remote employees provided in sections of the same questionnaire. “The whole financial efficiency of the company” in this statement means the quantitative indicators, that show liquidity, asset turnover, profitability and market value of the organization. In all the companies examined, the number of remote employees has increased, which allows considering this issue as a separate hypothesis in this section. However, the process of earning a company can be influenced by many external and internal factors that do not depend on the chosen variable. The survey participants also informed that there was no staff turnover and significant change in workflow tasks in the particular departments of the companies in question. It is also assumed that the group of employees who remained in the offices and the remote employees started with the same performance rating, recorded in the company’s financial indicators. The units controlled by the leaders did not undergo changes in human resources. Summarizing all of the above and taking into account these assumptions in the results, this study can be carried out in order to find a different point of view on the results of the second question of H4 questionnaire, presenting the quantitative dependence of four groups of financial indicators on the dynamic number of remote employees.

Data from the following companies were analyzed: Alphabet Inc., Accenture Interactive, Deloitte Digital, SAP, and Bright Horizons. First, information was obtained from open sources of annual reports on the number of employees and the approximate percentage of those who work remotely among them. Here, the trend of a significant increase in the number of remote workers during the pandemic and a slight decrease to the present moment when many pandemic restrictions have already been lifted. Tables 4 and 5 show these quantitative indicators. Table 6 shows the estimated number of remote workers in each company listed.

Table 4. Percent of remote employees in companies 

Table 5. Number of employees in companies 

Table 6. Number of remote employees in companies

Tables 7-11 are presented below, reflecting the company’s financial performance for the indicated three periods according to pre-selected indicators. Data is also taken from companies’ annual reports, and in rare cases, some ratios have been calculated from the same data. These organizations, in general, practically did not experience a significant economic shock caused by the crisis due to pandemic restrictions. Nevertheless, the dynamics of many indicators are not evident, and therefore the search for correlation will be carried out by groups of these financial values: liquidity, asset turnover, profitability, and market value.

Table 7. Alphabet Inc Financials 

Table 8. Accenture Interactive Financials 

Table 9. Deloitte Digital Financials 

Table 10. SAP Financials 

Table 11. Bright Horizons Financials 

For each company, calculations were made separately. As a result, a comprehensive assessment of the dependence of the leading financial indicators on the number of remote employees in the company was obtained. The regression analysis results are shown in summary table 12, where the coefficients for each of the sections of financial indicators with a weighted average vote are also calculated. The final values ​​are presented as an R-square, which is closer to one, the stronger the correlation between these variables.

Table 12. R-squares for financials by companies

According to the obtained data of statistical significance, with the accepted confidence level of 95% and, accordingly, t = 1.96, the asset turnover and market value indicators can be extrapolated to the general population, the result turned out to be statistically significant. At the same time, the correlation between the company’s profitability and liquidity and the number of remote employees is small and does not have a close statistical relationship.

The regression analysis, in turn, considered in more detail the dependence of financial indicators and their components on the number of remote employees. At Deloitte, this factor was necessary for performance and efficiency; at Alphabet Inc., no such correlation was observed. The highest dependence on liquidity is observed at SAP, which indicates the importance of the remote work mechanism for adapting to new conditions in the field of analytics (Motamarri et al., 2022). At the same time, the company has the highest dependence of asset turnover on the number of remote workers. Market value measures are most correlated with the ratio of remote workers everywhere except in the marketing industry. These mechanisms are not evident in their qualitative interpretation; there is likely an influence of other factors that are not considered in this work.

IT company Alphabet showed the most negligible dependence on the number of remote employees since the regime change processes do not significantly affect its well-established integrated information development system – most employees constantly reside and interact in a virtual environment (Alves et al., 2021). At the same time, indicators of liquidity and profitability in web design, which are closely related to the IT structure, have a much higher correlation indicator. Despite possible psychological challenges due to the pandemic, creatives in the design industry appreciate the balance of personal work and family more, improving their productivity with positive changes in this area (Orzel & Wolniak, 2022). The education sector, represented by Bright Horizons, has a high correlation between market value and asset turnover. Teachers could work more online, and technologies and tools for distance learning began to develop quite quickly (Yildirim & Elverici, 2021). These factors affected the company’s financial results.

Discussion

Results Implications

It can be concluded that the growing popularity of studying aspects of remote leadership in international companies is needed primarily to improve the organization’s performance. At the moment, the potential for the effectiveness of the transition to remote work has not been fully utilized due to somewhere lack of experience, somewhere external solid factors, and the mechanisms for combating, which have not yet been fully mastered by leaders. It has been proven for a long time that technology is the engine of progress and competitiveness of organizations, just as the mental state of employees is a key factor in the financial performance of almost any company (Kostopoulos et al., 2011; Kim et al., 2011). This paper evaluates these criteria through the prism of remote leadership, which, due to the global external factor of the pandemic, has become widespread in the world and required a reassessment of the impact on employee engagement and other key indicators (Galanti et al., 2021). The survey of leaders provides an opportunity to identify the most promising management styles in the five industries considered, where the transition to remote work is a topical issue (Ford & Chang, 2021). As a result, these results have not only statistical significance for further scientific research, but also scope for practical implementations, confirmed by a statistically significant survey.

Recommendations

Recommendations for practical implementations are the ability to apply certain style features that have proven to be most suitable for remote leadership in these five industries. The basics of servant and adaptive styles have proven themselves in the most important four aspects that affect the success and progress of the company, according to the analysis of the questionnaires. The theoretical importance lies in a detailed analysis of the responses of leaders who, by their own example, experienced the transition to a remote work mode.

Failure to follow these recommendations can lead to the main identified problems raised in this study: mental health and technical equipment. According to the results of questionnaires, other leadership styles in their foundations do not involve such a detailed inclusion of the leader in processes that are usually closer to personal life in balance with work (Putra et al., 2020). As a consequence, engagement and satisfaction may fall, leading to a drop in performance (Putra et al., 2020). Leaders can adapt their approaches to the new environment in order to maintain these important characteristics of work.

Further Research

The task of assessing the effectiveness of the company as a whole is multifactorial and multicriteria. In the specific conditions of the transition to a remote mode, leadership has the opportunity to transform under the influence of international experience, the virtual environment, and the general atmosphere in the team (Wang et al., 2021). Although other external and subjective factors may have influenced the final results of this study, the main task of testing the hypotheses was achieved. Further research may go deeper into each factor separately, differentiating aspects of remote leadership (Wang et al., 2021; Waizenegger et al., 2020). Such assessments are needed for further integration, creating a unique model that implements a practical approach within a particular industry.

Mathematical studies of quantitative indicators can be further processed using modern machine learning techniques, neural networks, or fuzzy logic. In economics and forecasting, many quantities are approximate, and therefore work in fuzzy algebra can give more detailed results (Ferrer-Comalat et al., 2020). The methodology can be extended not only to mathematical modeling methods but also to the information industry. Obtaining universal models is possible due to the steps for solving highly technical problems.

In addition to the methodology, further work in this area may optimize the variables under consideration. Accounting for such aspects as satisfaction, involvement, qualifications of employees, peculiarities of working with clients, and cultural and social components can also significantly impact the results of assessments of the company’s performance as a whole (Galanti et al., 2021). Finally, the distribution of the model proposed in this paper for a broader range of business sectors and companies, working with data without considering the pandemic, can also be considered promising areas for developing this issue. Further research implications can also include extrapolation to other industries, validation of statistical significance by another tools, and consideration of different models that describe interaction and governance in organizations.

Conclusion

This work conducts an in-depth analysis of the literature on the transformation of leadership processes in the context of the transition to a remote work mode. Each leadership style is considered in detail in its original meaning, as well as through the prism of remote leadership. Digital transformations, international experience, and general trends that have come to various business sectors with the pandemic provide a starting point for this study. The theoretical analysis shows that remote leadership can influence the company’s efficiency through tasks, interactions, and attitudes, which are explained by the Homans theory. Literature analysis has shown that these three aspects include the psychological factor, experience in international activities, technical equipment issues, and the company’s financial performance. Together they add up to the interest and capabilities of employees, which is the key to successful interaction, efficiency, and productivity.

A questionnaire for managers was built on this model, and a regression analysis was carried out. These two tools made it possible to comprehensively assess remote leadership styles in various industries and the impact of this mode on the company’s productivity, expressed in financial terms. Adaptive and servant styles have proven to be the most effective for remote leadership. The most important aspects of adapting to new conditions were the psychological factor and financial performance, a comprehensive assessment that turned out to be higher than other styles. The IT industry and marketing survived the consequences of the crisis more quickly due to the increased demand for the services of these companies in the new reality. The rest of the styles and industries received a detailed assessment of each factor of remote leadership that affects efficiency.

Finally, the regression analysis showed that the relationship between the number of remote employees and financial performance is relatively small, having a more point and, at the same time, multi-criteria character. Each industry reacts differently to the forced or planned transition of employees to remote work, and different groups of financial indicators show this fact. In particular, during the transition, companies are subject to changes in financial indicators of market value and asset turnover, which is explained by investors’ reactions to the global crisis and the dynamics of the purchasing power of the target audience, respectively.

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