THE INFLUENCE OF EMPOWERING LEADERSHIP IN REMOTE WORKING ENVIRONMENTS : A qualitative study of how empowering leadership influences self-leadership and internal branding

Abstract: When Covid-19 arrived, the rapidly accelerating transformation in the commercial sector faced a significant challenge. The circumstances of the pandemic helped to further show that it is possible for many employees to work remotely. The outcome of this transition is now obvious because more people than ever before work remotely or in hybrid arrangements. There has not been immensely much research completed on the remote working environments, which leaves questions to be asked. For example, whether employees are provided with the tools they need to efficiently perform their work? More importantly, is there a risk that people get distanced from their employer and lose their loyalty towards the company? If so, there is a big responsibility to be had as a leader and manager to maintain the employees loyalty and to keep them feeling as an important part of the company. Furthermore, in a remote working environment there is a bigger gap in social interaction between colleagues and towards the company overall, this in turn makes a great risk for forgetting, or missing the brands values, vision and culture. Can that gap lead to employees feeling even more disconnected from their employer?The relevance of managers' presence and their capacity to keep staff motivated when they are working remotely has been emphasized in prior research on the topic. Additionally, it has been discovered that self-leadership plays a crucial role in maintaining motivation and productivity while working remotely. Studies have also shown that working remotely improves job satisfaction, flexibility, and work-life balance, which all lower stress. We observed that the relationship between empowering leadership, self-leadership, and internal branding was absent from earlier study. What we saw missing from previous research is the connection between empowering leadership, self-leadership and internal branding. Therefore, the purpose of our study is to develop a deeper understanding of the influence empowering leadership has on self-leadership and internal branding in remote working environments.To answer this we develop our research question which reads; "How does empowering leadership impact self-leadership and internal branding in remote environments?". We decided to carry out qualitative research in order to be able to respond to our inquiry. Eight employees who work remotely roughly half the time participated in semi-structured interviews.According to the study's findings, employees saw remote work as beneficial, and working from home had no negative effects on their productivity. Remote work produced positive results, for example less stress. Additionally, the study showed how employees attitude and loyalty to the company could be benefitted by granting them more autonomy and control over their work. However, the study also found that the coherence to coworkers was thought to be the most negative aspect of remote work. However, it could potentially be avoided by applying concepts from empowering leadership and internal brandingtheories.