View full metadata
THIS DOI METADATA WAS LAST UPDATED: 2026-01-13 18:53
Cite as
-
Full Title
STUDI ORGANIZZATIVI
-
Publisher
FrancoAngeli
-
ISSN
0391-8769 (Printed Journal)
1972-4969 (Online Journal)
-
Journal Issue Number
2
-
Journal Issue Designation
2
-
Journal Issue Date
2025
-
Full Title
Digital remote work and changes in managerial control
-
By (author)
-
First Page
33
-
Last Page
58
-
Language of text
English
-
Publication Date
2025/12
-
Copyright
2025 FrancoAngeli srl
Main description
The article contributes to the ongoing debate on the evolving spatiotemporal dynamics of organizational structures, work practices and relationships, and workplace interactions. It explores to what extent technology – and the associated spatiotemporal restructuring of organized work – is re-shaping the forms of managerial control within employment. These forms are stylized into three ideal types, which have been previously conceptualized drawing on an extensive body of qualitative and quantitative organizational research. Using data from the 2015 and 2021 European Working Conditions Surveys, the analysis reveals that digital remote work has significantly accelerated the emergence of "controlled autonomy" as a form of managerial control. However, this impact is less pronounced compared to that of digitalization and a broader trend that has been redefining employment for several decades. Moreover, the study finds that digital remote work increases the tension between work and other life domains, highlighting the ambivalent nature of controlled autonomy. The article concludes by suggesting that controlled autonomy may become the dominant form of managerial control in the long term, though it questions whether this trend will truly enhance employment.
Reference list of
10.3280/SO2025-002002
Unstructured Citation
Albano, R., Curzi, Y., Fabbri, T. (2018), “Work autonomy, control and discretion in Industry 4.0”, in Cantoni, F., Mangia, G. (eds.), Human Resource Management and Digitalization, New York / Torino, Routledge / Giappichelli: 95-113.
Unstructured Citation
Angelici, M., Profeta, P. (2024), “Smart working: work flexibility without constraints”, Management Science, 70(3): 1680-1705,
https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2023.4767
Unstructured Citation
Appay, B. (2007), “Dualismes et paradoxes au travail. L’autonomie controlée”, Sociologia del lavoro, 105: 19-34.
Unstructured Citation
Bathini, D.R., Kandathil, G.M. (2019), “An orchestrated negotiated exchange: Trading homebased telework for intensified work”,
Journal of Business Ethics, 154: 411-423,
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-017-3449-y
Unstructured Citation
Berdicchia, D., Masino, G. (2023), La sfida del Job crafting, Bologna, Tao Digital Library,
Unstructured Citation
Bisht, N.S., Trusson, C., Siwale, J., Ravishankar, M.N. (2023), “Enhanced job satisfaction under tighter technological control:
The paradoxical outcomes of digitalisation”, New Technology, Work and Employment, 38(2): 162-184,
https://doi.org/10.1111/ntwe.12222
Unstructured Citation
Carreri, A., Gosetti, G., Masiero, N. (2023), “Digitalization of relational space in the service triangle: The case study
of retail banking”, Frontiers in Sociology, 8: 1141879,
https://doi.org/10.3389/fsoc.2023.1141879
Unstructured Citation
Elliott, A. (2019), The Culture of AI: Everyday Life and the Digital Revolution, Abingdon/New York, Routledge.
https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315387185
Unstructured Citation
Feldman, E., Reid, E. M., Mazmanian, M. (2020), “Signs of our time: Time-use as dedication, performance, identity, and power
in contemporary workplaces”, Academy of Management Annals, 14(2): 598-626,
https://doi.org/10.5465/annals.2018.0148
Unstructured Citation
Fullin, G., Pacetti, V., Recchi, S. (2024), “Progettare il lavoro ibrido: lo spazio come strumento organizzativo nella fase
post-emergenziale”, Cambio. Rivista sulle trasformazioni sociali, 14(27):15-32,
https://doi.org/10.36253/cambio-16113
Unstructured Citation
Gregg, M., Kneese, T. (2019), “Clock as a mediating technology of organization”, Media Studies, 35, https://repository.usfca.edu/ms/35,
https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198809913.013.9
Unstructured Citation
Leclercq-Vandelannoitte, A. (2021), “‘Seeing to be seen’: The manager’s political economy of visibility in new ways of working”,
European Management Journal, 39(5): 605-616,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emj.2020.11.005
Unstructured Citation
Leclercq-Vandelannoitte, A., Isaac, H., Kalika, M. (2014), “Mobile information systems and organizational control: beyond
the panopticon metaphor?”, European Journal of Information Systems, 23(5): 543-557,
https://doi.org/10.1057/ejis.2014.11
Unstructured Citation
Maggi, B. (2016), De l’agir organisationnel. Un point de vue sur le travail, le bien-être, l’apprentissage. Livre II - Régulation du travail et bien-être, Bologna, TAO Digital Library,
Unstructured Citation
Marini, D. (2018), Fuori classe. Dal movimento operaio ai lavoratori imprenditivi della Quarta rivoluzione industriale, Bologna, Il Mulino.
Unstructured Citation
Moro, A., Rinaldini, M., Staccioli, J., Virgillito, M.E (2019), “Control in the era of surveillance capitalism: an empirical
investigation of Italian Industry 4.0 factories”, Journal of Industrial and Business Economics, 46: 347-360,
https://doi.org/10.1007/s40812-019-00120-2
Unstructured Citation
Pianese, T., Errichiello, L., da Cunha, J.V. (2023), “Organizational control in the context of remote working: A synthesis
of empirical findings and a research agenda”, European Management Review, 20(2): 326-345,
https://doi.org/10.1111/emre.12515
Unstructured Citation
Ponzellini, A.M. (2023), Lavoro, tecnologia e libertà. Tempo e spazio del lavoro nell’era dell’Intelligenza Artificiale, Milano, Guerini next.
Unstructured Citation
Simon, H. A. (1947), Administrative Behavior: A Study of Decision-making Processes in Administrative Organization, New York, Macmillan 19572.
Unstructured Citation
Sitkin, S.B., Long, C.P., Cardinal, L.B. (2020), “Assessing the control literature: Looking back and looking forward”, Annual
Review Of Organizational Psychology And Organizational Behavior, 7: 339-368,
https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-012119-045321
Unstructured Citation
Stark, D., Pais, I. (2020), “Algorithmic Management in the Platform Economy”, Sociologica, 14(3): 47-72,
Unstructured Citation
Terssac, G. de (1992), Autonomie dans le travail, Paris, PUF.