The current global situation is characterized by great uncertainty at the international level, resulting from, among other things, the COVID-19 pandemic declared by the World Health Organization (WHO) in March 2020 (Raghavan et al., 2021). The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has had a direct and protracted impact not only on public health systems, but also on government finances, resulting in serious harm to the global economy. Among other issues, the impact was of such magnitude that it led to many companies going bankrupt in various sectors (Tucker, 2020), especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) due to their greater vulnerability (Bartik et al., 2020). This situation poses considerable challenges for decision-makers in companies, as they are subject to extreme pressure, and their final decisions will have far-reaching consequences for the future of the global economy (Murugan et al., 2020). The scenario described is completely unprecedented, rendering the forecasts made for the Spanish economy just a couple of years ago totally useless. Similarly, some of the business strategies used in the past or that worked in previous economic crises are no longer helpful (e.g., Bauzá & Melgosa, 2020; CincoDías, 2021; Economía Digital, 2020).

In this context, among the different measures adopted by companies around the world in order to face this situation, the use of telework stands out (Eurofound, 2020; Milasi et al., 2021; Raghavan et al., 2021). Although the number of people teleworking part-time or full-time had been gradually increasing over the years prior to the outbreak of the virus, the pandemic has undoubtedly contributed to accelerating the use of different forms of telework, especially to ensure business continuity (International Labour Organization, 2020). This is certainly the case in Spain, where many companies have chosen to use telework in order to deal with this situation (Economía Digital, 2020; Gascueña, 2020). In fact, studies have shown that more than 60% of Spanish companies that remained active during the first half of 2020 resorted to telework to try to maintain activity as much as possible, with almost half applying it to over 60% of their workforce (Economía Digital, 2020).

Telework is an element of information and communication technology (ICT) whose adoption can bring significant benefits to businesses in areas as diverse as the management of key stakeholders (Dickson & Clear, 2006; Vitola et al., 2013). Key stakeholders include those groups without whose continued involvement the firm cannot survive (Benn et al., 2016; Clarkson, 1995), such as employees and customers, and who have the power to influence management decisions (Mitchell et al., 1997). The relationship with these stakeholders is undoubtedly key for any organization, as it is a fundamental interface between the organization and various external stakeholders (Da Camara, 2006; Davies & Miles, 1998; Schultz et al., 2001).

In general (although more evident in service environments), it is observed that customer decisions are significantly influenced by the behavior of employees and by their perception of the organization. Not surprisingly, employees can contribute, among other aspects, to the construction of the brand, helping to unite the internal culture with the brand identity (de Chernatony, 1999). For this reason, employees' assumptions, values, attitudes, and beliefs can potentially influence purchasing decisions and customer relationships with the organization. Indeed, the relationship between positive employee behavior and higher levels of customer satisfaction, as well as other organizational outcomes, has been observed in certain contexts (e.g., Da Camara, 2006).

Based on these ideas, the aim of this research is to analyze the intention of Spanish companies to continue using telework once the pandemic is over, while considering the influence that the management of one of the key stakeholders, that of employees, is likely to have on this intention. This line of study is undoubtedly of great interest, since the use of telework can have important repercussions not only on the management of companies, but also on such key aspects as the various goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, especially goals eight, nine, eleven, and twelve. Therefore, the main contribution of this study is due to its novelty, since it is the first to show how a correct management of the variables that contribute to employee engagement may encourage the use of telework in SMEs, even though the COVID-19 pandemic has ended. In addition, it is verified that if a manager has a university education, then this not only has a positive impact on the intention to continue using telework, but also a positive and significant impact on the performance of employees in relation to competitors.

In the following section, the outline of the research will be described. The relevant literature on employee management and its influence on the intention to use telework post-pandemic will then be presented. This review will enable the various research hypotheses to be developed. Subsequently, the empirical research will be presented, which was carried out after collecting data on 1,879 Spanish SMEs and applying binary logistic regression models. After describing the main results, the article concludes by summarizing the main conclusions, limitations, and future lines of research.

This section will present a review of the relevant literature in order to highlight the influence that the management of the key employee stakeholder group is likely to exert on the future use of telework as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic.

With the data collected, four different binary logistic regression models were performed to test the hypotheses using Stata software. In Model I, the independent variables were regressed on the dependent variable; in Model II, bidirectional moderations were added. The control variables were incorporated into Models III and IV.

The goodness of fit of the model was then analyzed using the following indicators. First, the standard pseudo-R2 in the logistic regressions is shown, which indicates the overall fit of the model. However, these R2 should not be analyzed and compared with the Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) R2, since in logistic regression these values are usually much lower (Camisón-Haba et al., 2019; Tödtling et al., 2009). Second, the Hosmer-Lemeshow test was performed, where a p-value below 0.05 implies that the model does not fit at a significance level of 5%. Third, the correct classification, measured as a percentage, indicates what proportion of the predicted outcome has been correctly classified. Therefore, the higher the percentage, the higher the model fit.

Table 2 shows the estimated logistic regression coefficients of the proposed models. In both tables, the sequential addition of variables increases the explanatory power of the models. Both goodness-of-fit measures -Hosmer-Lemeshow and Correct Classification- show the high adequacy of the different models.

The main purpose of this paper is to investigate the intention of Spanish companies to continue using telework once the pandemic is over. To this end, we consider the impact that the management of one of the key stakeholders, that of employees, is likely to have on this intention. There is no doubt that this line of research is of great interest in the post-pandemic context, not only because of the repercussions that arise in the management of the companies themselves, but also in aspects of such relevance as the achievement of various goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, especially goals eight, nine, eleven, and twelve.

In order to achieve this aim, an exhaustive review of the relevant literature on these variables was carried out, allowing a series of hypotheses to be put forward, which included the direct influence of the variables of manager’s university studies, employee management in general, employee performance in relation to competitors, and the company's orientation towards innovation on the intention to continue using telework after the end of the pandemic. In addition, the variable manager's university education was proposed as a moderator of the relationships between: (i) overall employee management and the intention to continue using telework after the pandemic; and (ii) employee performance relative to competitors and the intention to continue using telework after the pandemic. A number of control variables were also considered, namely firm size measured by number of employees, firm age measured in years, firm expectations in terms of number of employees, measured on a three-point scale, and firm expectations in terms of turnover, also measured on a three-point scale.

In order to test the proposed hypotheses, a sample of companies located in Spain was collected through a telephone survey of managers during the first half of 2021. In order to participate in the study, companies had to have between 6 and 249 employees. SMEs were chosen for this study due to the relevance that this type of company represents in the total Spanish business fabric. The fieldwork was conducted within the context of the research project "Economic impact of COVID-19 on SMEs in Spain", promoted by the "Ibero-American Observatory of MSMEs". The design of the questionnaire ensured an adequate collection of statistical information at all times. The sample totaled 1,879 SMEs. The analysis of the results obtained through various binary logistic regression models led to several interesting findings, which allowed us to accept all the proposed research hypotheses, and which also corroborated the proposed moderating effects.

Among the results obtained, it is first worth highlighting the importance of the variable manager’s university studies on the intention to continue using telework after the pandemic. This finding is in line with Martin and Staines (1994) and Gordon et al. (2012) demonstrating the positive benefits of managerial education in SMEs and their organizational model. This is followed in importance by the (much weaker) influence of the variables company innovation orientation and employee performance versus competitors on the intention to continue to use telework after the pandemic. The influence of employee performance versus competitor performance on the intention to continue to use telework after the pandemic is not only minor, but also inverse: i.e., higher employee performance versus competitor performance contributes to a lower intention to use telework after the pandemic. Among the reasons that may contribute to understanding this phenomenon, according to Barbosa (2013), is that managers often claim that they feel a loss of control when running the business remotely. In line with this, Bentley et al. (2016) point out that social isolation and negative organizational results by the teleworker are negatively associated with telework. Furthermore, the moderating effect of the variable manager's university education on the hypotheses posed with the independent variables of employee management in general and employee performance versus competitors is corroborated, reinforcing once again the importance of the manager having a university education, reinforcing that teleworking contributes to improving the competitiveness of companies versus competitors (Kanellopoulos, 2011). In sum, this is a novel study that shows how both the correct management of variables linked to employee motivation and the manager’s university education have a positive impact on the intention to continue using telework in SMEs after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Among the findings of this study, we can highlight the importance of the manager’s university education, especially in the type of companies analyzed, i.e., SMEs, not only for its direct impact on the intention to use telework once the pandemic is over, but also for its moderating effects on other relationships. In addition, the competitive orientation is of essential relevance for the SMEs analyzed, which is not surprising considering that telework constitutes an element of information and communication technologies that contributes to innovation in business processes. Finally, one should not overlook the importance of considering variables related to employee performance in relation to competitors, as well as employee management in general, which also has an impact on the intention to continue teleworking after the pandemic.

Among the limitations of this work is the sample of companies analyzed, which only included SMEs, as well as the time horizon considered, which was at the peak of the pandemic. Finally, as future lines of research, we propose the study of other types of companies apart from SMEs and the consideration of variables related to other stakeholders, such as customers and suppliers, as well as other time periods.

This research was supported by the Universidad Internacional de La Rioja - UNIR (Funder Identifier: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100017407) through the Observatorio Competitividad Pequeña y Mediana Empresa UNIR-FAEDPYME programme (Proyecto B0036).