Collaborative integration, workplace flexibility and scholarly productivity: Evidence from the COVID-19 outbreak.

Area of Science:

• Scholarly communication
• Organizational behavior
• Economics of science

Background:

• The COVID-19 pandemic created a natural experiment to study scholarly productivity.
• Pre-pandemic research identified productivity patterns around the Chinese New Year (CNY).

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on scholarly productivity.
• To analyze the roles of collaborative integration and workplace flexibility in this impact.

Main Methods:

• Utilized data on journal and working paper submissions (quantity and quality).
• Identified a productivity discontinuity around the Chinese New Year.
• Assessed the effects of social distancing and work-from-home policies.

Main Results:

• A negative impact of COVID-19 on scholarly productivity (quantity and quality) was observed post-CNY.
• Collaborative integration and workplace flexibility were key channels for this detrimental effect.
• Virtual communication partially mitigated but could not fully replace face-to-face interaction.

Conclusions:

• While virtual tools aid productivity, they are not a complete substitute for in-person collaboration.
• High workplace flexibility can decrease productivity in self-management-reliant fields.