MOTIVATION AND REMOTE WORKING: CASE STUDY OF ONE NATIONAL HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTION IN KAZAKHSTAN

Abstract

The COVID19 pandemic has upended our life in many aspects. When the virus raged in 2020, many countries announced a state of emergency and launched a complete lockdown. In the conditions of the severe lockdown, social isolation and remote working came to the fore and were applied by all organizations, including higher education institutions. Kazakhstani institutions also pursued this route by launching remote work options for all university staff. This single descriptive qualitative case study explores motivation of university staff who worked remotely during the period of pandemic. Overall, 15 university staff members were interviewed. Data analysis revealed some fluctuations in motivation of university staff when they worked remotely during the pandemic. Along with this, it was clear that working remotely affected the perception of work and work setting by revealing both advantages and disadvantages. Thus, this research fills in the gap in the previous literature on motivation, focusing particularly on the period of the pandemic and remote working by bringing in the perspective of university staff.