Abstract:
The emergence of telework as a mainstream work arrangement has significantly
transformed modern travel and tourism organisations, particularly in the wake of the
COVID-19 pandemic. In Sri Lanka, however, telework is still at a primitive stage,
with limited empirical evidence on its impact, especially concerning women working
in travel agencies. This study aims to examine the impact of telework on employee
engagement among women employees in Colombo District travel agencies, using the
Job Demands–Resources (JD-R) model as the theoretical foundation. Specifically, it
investigates how the key dimensions of telework – social support, job autonomy and
feedback – affect employee engagement. Adopting a positivist philosophy and a
quantitative research design, data were collected through structured questionnaires
from 183 women employees across ten selected travel agencies. Given the difficulty
of directly accessing women teleworkers in the tourism sector, the snowball sampling
technique was employed, a method previously validated in quantitative studies where
hard-to-reach populations are involved. Data analysis was conducted using
descriptive statistics, correlation and multiple regression in SPSS. The findings reveal
strong positive relationships between telework dimensions and employee
engagement, with feedback exerting the greatest influence, followed by job autonomy
and social support. Collectively, these predictors accounted for 85.5% of the variance
in employee engagement, underscoring their significant explanatory power. The
study highlights the need for well-structured telework policies that promote effective
communication, supportive work environments and autonomy to strengthen remote
employee engagement. By offering localised evidence, this research contributes to
the limited literature on telework in Sri Lanka’s tourism research and provides
practical insights for managers and policymakers to optimise teleworking
frameworks that enhance women employees’ motivation and productivity
