Legacy imprints and categorisation shifts: How interpretations of job demands and resources change in abrupt transitions to virtual work

Abstract

What happens when workers experience abrupt transitions to virtual working? Drawing on interviews with employees who were unexpectedly shifted to virtual work overnight, we show that people carry legacy imprints: expectations from face-to-face settings that shape how they initially classify job features as demands or resources. When lived experience in the virtual context contradicts these expectations (e.g. online social gatherings feel exhausting; proximity to family while working proves energising), workers reclassify job characteristics. We show that expectation–experience mismatch explains this categorisation shift at the individual level. On the contrary, when expectations are confirmed (or cognitive overload crowds out reflection) reclassification does not occur. We recast demands/resources as interpretive and dynamic during abrupt transitions rather than fixed attributes, offering an extension to Job Demands-Resources theory. We discuss implications for supporting employee well-being through sudden change and turbulent contexts, including designing short feedback loops for reflection and avoiding static assumptions about what counts as a demand or a resource.