Abstract:
The adoption of remote work increased since the COVID-19 pandemic, with many
organisations not prepared for the shift. The growing interest for organisations to sustain
remote work policies called for an understanding of the impact on collaboration and
knowledge sharing. The study aimed to understand the influence remote work has on
collaboration and knowledge sharing by investigating the relational-social factors that
provides a social presence for collaborators online. A qualitative study based on 14
semi-structured interviews was conducted with majority of individuals from the financial
services industry in Johannesburg, South Africa. The findings of the study revealed that
the shift to remote work brought benefits as well as challenges for collaborators, people
that formed relationships and had a history of working together before remote work,
collaborated better than those without. Individual with no history of working with member
in the team (new joiners) struggled to build relationships, thus feeling isolated. The
research contributes to the body of knowledge by developing a conceptual model that
aim to aid other researcher interested in relational-social factor to improve virtual
collaboration. The research provides a contribution towards improving social presence
to achieve successful collaboration and knowledge sharing.
