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Exploring the Telecommuting Paradox.

Article  in  Communications of the ACM · March 2000

DOI: 10.1145/330534.330554 · Source: DBLP

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Al Ghurair University City University of Hong Kong
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 Mohamed Khalifa and Robert Davison
Exploring the Telecommuting
Paradox
A
ccording to a recent survey conducted by the
International Telework Association and Coun-
cil, 19.6 million U.S.-based employees
telecommuted in 1999 (www.telecommute.org).
Although some 62% of companies are reportedly
encouraging telecommuting [1], a mere 7% of
employees actually telecommute. This curious
dichotomy—the small number of telecommuters
despite the apparent plethora of telecommuting pro-
grams in organizations—has been characterized by
Westfall [3] as the “telecommuting paradox.”
The potential benefits of telecommuting are mani-
fold and make it appealing to both employers and
employees. Organizations can expect to see reduced
overhead costs in maintaining a central work facil-
ity, improved work productivity, greater staffing
flexibility, and better employee retention.
Telecommuters in turn can expect a better qual-
ity of life, more flexible work schedules, and
reduced transportation costs and travel dura-
tions. Possible drawbacks for the employer
include the cost of implementing telecommut-
ing programs, the difficulty management may
experience in supervising employees, and the
negative effects telecommuting may exert on
employee career development.
A significant weakness identified in previous stud-
ies is they only attempt to prove the potential bene-
fits of telecommuting, as perceived by employees
who currently do not telecommute or by employers
who hypothetically consider telecommuting benefits
in relation to the organization.
We describe briefly how we elicited the beliefs
of current telecommuters toward telecommuting
and then identify the key factors that contribute to
MARTIN MAYO
the decision to telecommute and the possible
implications of telecommuting.
In order to elicit the factors affecting the adoption
Viewpoint
and the level of telecommuting, we conducted semi-
structured interviews with 28 North American
telecommuters. These interviews were based on
Triandis’s [2] model of human behavior, which helps
explain telecommuters’ intention of their future level
of telecommuting. The model incorporates four
domains of contributory factors: behavioral attitudes
toward telecommuting, perceived consequences of
telecommuting, relevant social factors, and facilitat-
ing conditions.
Perceived consequences are: increased
economic benefits; improved quality of
home, work, and social life; and an
increase in work production. However,
respondents were concerned that career
development might be negatively impacted.
For instance, the influence of family, peers,
superiors, and subordinates were all seen as rel-
evant to the decision to telecommute. This sug-
gests that a particular group of people either
believes one should telecommute or overtly
encourages one to do so. Concerning facilitat-
ing conditions, relevant factors are the suitability
of work space at the telecommuting site (whether
home or a satellite site), self-efficacy (including com-
fort and confidence while working without assistance),
access to the appropriate technology, and the availabil-
ity of technical and logistic support.
After the initial survey, we conducted a follow-up
to determine the significance of the elicited factors in
explaining the telecommuters’ intention of future
telecommuting. Almost 16% of 650 current North
American telecommuters responded. Respondents
were asked to agree, disagree, or indicate their indif-
ference to the various factors that are expected to
affect their intention to telecommute in the future.
The results are presented in Table 1.
According to Triandis’s model [2], intentions are
COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACM March 2000/Vol. 43, No. 3 29
• Viewpoint
ment techniques and coordination that enable
Table 1. Telecommuters' beliefs. them to work remotely, yet keep in touch with
their colleagues. Failure to provide these tools in
Agree Indifferent Disagree
the working environment will act as a disincentive
Perceived % % %
consequences to telecommute, since the gains from eliminating
Economic benefits 82.6 13.1 4.3 unproductive time will be offset and improvements
Productivity 91.3 6.5 2.2 will not be evident.
Quality of work life 85.9 4.3 9.8 The principle social driver of telecommuting is
Quality of family life 79.1 14.3 6.6 peer influence, reflecting organizational culture. It is
Quality of social life 57.1 28.6 14.3 critical that the organizational culture not simply
Career development 50.5 27.5 22.0
accept the value or importance of telecommuting,
Social factor but actively and enthusiastically promote it. We
Superior influence 57.6 31.5 10.9 noted that peer influence was seen, perhaps surpris-
Family influence 71.1 22.2 6.7 ingly, to outweigh the influence of superiors. We
Peer influence 58.7 38.0 3.3
explain this by considering that even if superiors do
Subordinate influence 7.8 38.9 53.3
encourage telecommuting, the organizational culture
Facilitating conditions and hence the reward system must also support it as
Access to technology 89.2 8.6 2.2 a desirable behavior. Clearly, however, where the
Appropriate work space 91.3 1.1 7.6 organizational culture is favorable, the additional
Availability of support 81.3 4.4 14.3 influence of superiors—combined with their own
Self-efficacy at work 92.5 3.2 4.3
practice of this behavior, will provide additional
incentives to telecommute.
also determined by attitudes toward the behavior. The Self-efficacy has been found to be the most power-
attitudes are in turn influenced by the perceived conse- ful influence on the intention to telecommute. Self-
quences of the behavior. Consistent with the reported
positive beliefs regarding the perceived consequences Figure 1.Telecommuting factors:
of telecommuting, the respondents were mostly favor- Significance and relative importance.
able to this work arrangement. Over 85% of respon- Economic benefits
dents perceived telecommuting to be wise; over 90%
perceived it to be both good and pleasant. Only 3%
reported discomfort with telecommuting, indicating Productivity Intentions regarding
future level of
Perceived
they intended to reduce it in future. By contrast, 32% consequences telecommuting
indicated they would telecommute more in future; the Quality of life
other 65% were comfortable with their existing levels Technology
of telecommuting.
Perceived consequences, social factors, and facili-
Career Social
tating conditions are all found to be significant in development factors Facilitating Workspace
explaining the respondents’ intentions regarding the conditions
level of future telecommuting. Figure 1 presents the
significance of the domains and their constituent fac-
Family
tors. The significance was assessed using structural influence
equation modeling techniques.
Where perceived consequences are concerned,
Support
the key driving factor is productivity. According to Subordinate
influence
Westfall [3], employees are motivated more by self- Superior
Self-efficacy
influence Peer
interest than by altruism or commitment to orga- influence
nizational goals. They are also more concerned Key driver (most important effect)
about risks to themselves than are their managers. Significant effect
Telecommuters must have access to appropriate Insignificant effect
productivity tools, as well as good project manage-

30 March 2000/Vol. 43, No. 3 COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACM

 efficacy implies that telecommuters can function with-
out relying on assistance on how to use the technology
or how to perform their tasks effectively. This finding
reflects the importance of job suitability and the need
for formal training: telecommuters should know how
to make best use of their time and have the ability,
willingness, and motivation to work remotely from
other people and from technical support facilities.
Telecommuting programs should therefore focus on
those people and tasks that are suitable and train
telecommuters and their managers accordingly.
The telecommuting paradox is a reflection of
this work arrangement to penetrate organizational
life. To address it, organizations need to understand
telecommuting drivers and identify what they see as
their goals in implementing a telecommuting pro-
gram. The factors we have identified as drivers for
telecommuting can be used by organizations with
focus groups of potential telecommuters so as to learn
more about how telecommuting could be imple-
mented. In particular, potential telecommuters need
to consider their own expectations, for example, their
self-efficacy and productivity, in order to understand
how telecommuting can work best for them. They
might consider what productivity tools are most suit-
able for their work, or what a training program con-
sists of for it to be both effective and relevant. Finally,
at the organizational level, there may need to be a
culture change—a change to a new paradigm of work
arrangements and reward schemes that will encourage
more people to telecommute. c
References
1. McKendrick and Assocs. Telecommuting is popular in theory ... but
seldom used in practice. J. Accountancy, 183, 4 (1997), 13.
2. Triandis, H.C. Values, attitudes and interpersonal behavior. Nebraska
Symposium on Motivation: Beliefs, Attitudes and Values. University of
Nebraska Press, Lincoln, Neb., 1979, 195–259.
3. Westfall, R.D. The telecommuting paradox. Info. Systems Manag. Fall,
1997, 15–20.
Mohamed Khalifa (isskhal@is.cityu.edu.hk) is an associate
professor at City University of Hong Kong. Robert Davison is
an assistant professor at City University of Hong Kong.
© 2000 ACM 0002-0782/00/0300 $5.00

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