Attitude, aptitude, ability and autonomy: ther emergence of "off-roaders", a special class of nomadic worker

This is an electronic version of an article published in Harmer, B. M., & Pauleen, D. J. (2010). Attitude, aptitude, ability and autonomy: the emergence of ‘offroaders’, a special class of nomadic worker. Behaviour & Information Technology, 1-13. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0144929x.2010.489117 Behaviour & Information Technology is available online at: www.tandfonline.comFreedom to choose when, where and on what to work might be viewed as mere telework. However, when we mix the adoption of ubiquitous technologies with personalities that take pleasure in problem solving and achievement for its own sake, a strong need for autonomy, the freedom to work wherever and whenever the mood strikes, and add a dash of entrepreneurial spirit, then perhaps we are seeing an emergent class of worker, and even the possibility of new organisational forms. This research draws on adaptive structuration theory to search for evidence of a different way of working, hidden among otherwise familiar patterns. It concludes by considering what implications the employment of such individuals might have for management processes with organisations

A literature review on the factors influencing employees' preference towards telecommuting

Telecommuting is one of the possible solutions to several problems, especially traffic congestion, parking demand in large cities around the world. It is one of the transportation demand management measures to control increase in the travel demand by private vehicles during peak hours. It is apparent that the growth in the number of private vehicles in many Universities has been exerting tremendous pressure on the road infrastructure, parking supply and related traffic facilities. The increase in the number of private vehicle trips in International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) has made congestion during peak hours resulting in long queue of vehicles entering and leaving the campus, parking along the road side resulting in decrease in road capacity and increase in environmental damages. Physical extension of the road network to overcome the traffic problems is not always possible due to the limited availability of land space and other resources. Telecommuting is one of the potential measures to overcome the increasing number of private vehicles on-campus by allowing potential employees to telecommute especially at home. The possible adoption of telecommuting by potential employees is an area of concern before it can be considered for implementation. The purpose of this paper is to analyse literature on telecommuting aspects including factors contributing towards preference to telecommute

Exploring the experiences of the self-employed teleworkers in managing border between work and family towards a balanced life

Work-Family Balance is a concept where an individual is able to manage his or her work and at the same time accomplish family commitments. Even though work and family are from different domains but each of these domains will influence the other domain with either positive or negative effect. The issue of balancing these two domains has received a significant share of attention in published works. Nevertheless, these issues remain unsolved. Tele-working still does not provide a positive effect on family as well as life issues. There is evidence that this is caused by a strong resentment from the teleworkers themselves. However, there are very few studies that had been done, to indicate the effect is caused by any major resentment from the teleworkers. Due to these inconsistencies, there is a need for further investigation on the issue of balancing the domains of the teleworkers. The purpose of this study is to explore the experience encountered by the self-employed teleworkers and to look into the factors that influenced them in managing the boundary to balance work and family life. The characteristics of the boundaries were analyzed, in order to understand the nature of the interactions between work and home. These characteristics were then used to explain the extent in which individuals are able to control the boundary between work and family life in attaining a balance between these two domains. This study employs a qualitative methodology, using a single case study. Seventy six (76) self-employed teleworkers were selected as respondents. In this study, three data collection techniques were used: 1) face to face interviews; 2) online open ended survey; and 3) observations of online discussion forum. As for the data analysis, the interpretive technique was used. The findings that have emerged from this study showed that factors such as time- management, discipline, family support, motivation, and patience can influence the self- employed teleworkers in their attempt to balance their work and family life. This study has contributed to the body of knowledge by identifying the factors that are practiced by the self-employed teleworkers in managing the boundary to achieve the work-family balance. The findings have also shown that patience is a key factor for the teleworkers. Recommendations for further research include the conducting of a similar study but with a different set of potential employment. This is important to better understand the working arrangement, without incurring any family and personal problems, in balancing work and family life. This can further improve the quality of work-family life

Motivational Factors Influencing Telework during the COVID-19 Pandemic

During the COVID-19 pandemic, teleworking has proven to be an effective countermeasure to overcome the spread of this disease while enabling businesses to continue. However, little is known about the extent of their adjustment to daily life routine, interaction among self-control, assignments, family life matters, and coordination with colleagues. This study explores the impact of motivational factors on the performance of teleworkers. An exploratory study was conducted using an in-depth interview with 27 interviewees who work in Thailand and have more than a year of experience switching between being a teleworker and working on-site. The NVivo and SPSS software were performed to reveal deeper data insights and apply non-parametric tests in order to compare findings with various demographic profiles. The findings revealed that environment, time management, and reward are the strongest motivational factors, whereas labour intensity and job security present the weakest relationships with teleworkers’ performance. Numerous implications and strategies to enhance their performance for both organizations and workers are provided. Firms can support a well-prepared environment and manage the flexibility of working time to increase employees’ effectiveness. Moreover, the result-oriented approach can be one of the tools in evaluating their performance rather than attending to their full working time at home. Doi: 10.28991/esj-2022-SPER-016 Full Text: PD

Work environment choice among knowledge workers : a mixed methods investigation

As a result of technological advances, workers have become increasingly mobile; people can perform work in a whole host of new locations. Teleworking arrangements challenge traditional managerial practices, however, and call attention to the tensions between attempting to control or surveil workers to extract maximum effort while also granting workers spatial autonomy. Through a synthesis of labor process and self determination theories, work environment choice is examined. Specifically, this dissertation (1) integrates these two theories to build propositions regarding the relationships between location autonomy, motivation, productivity, creativity, and well-being, (2) builds a model of influential factors impacting work environment choice among knowledge workers, and (3) tests the impact of perceived location autonomy and intrinsic motivation on worker productivity and well-being. Current studies of work environment-task fit assume that individuals are assigned to a space where they complete their work tasks. In contrast, this study, via a mixed methods approach using data from mobile knowledge workers in a university setting (i.e. undergraduate students, graduate students, and faculty), adds to the literature by examining situations in which workers can choose their work environments. Through this examination I identify how perceptions of location autonomy and intrinsic motivation affect the work environment choice process and the outcomes of worker productivity and well-being

COVID-19: A new meaning of telework: Based on an online survey of the employee’s perceptions

The Covid-19 pandemic forced organizations to adopt telework as the only solution to maintain activity in a scenario of mandatory confinement. The pandemic has created room for research of individual and organizational options. Our study explores the level of satisfaction of teleworkers on several dimensions. Additionally, it compares two types of teleworkers, those who were already working in this regime and those who joined remote work during the pandemic. This exploratory research is based on an online survey, applied in 2021, which allowed the collection of data on 156 teleworkers. The empirical results show a very positive perception regarding individual productivity, flexibility and autonomy in scheduling work tasks, work-life balance, due to the flexibility that teleworking allows. These are considered the main advantages of teleworking that have become mandatory. On the other hand, isolation emerges as a negative aspect within the domains studied. In addition, the boundaries between work and family responsibilities have become blurred, which can cause conflict between these two roles. Regarding the organization, respondents admit that managers played a more difficult role in managing their teams remotely during the pandemic. Teleworkers consider, however, that there was reliable support, even remotely. Regarding the future, the workers who participated in the study consider the experience positive and intend to continue teleworking in a post-pandemic future, but in a hybrid mode.A pandemia de Covid-19 obrigou as organizações a adotar o teletrabalho como a única solução para manter a atividade num cenário de confinamento obrigatório. Ao nível académico abriu espaço novo para investigação ao nível individual e organizacional. O nosso estudo explora o nível satisfação dos teletrabalhadores num conjunto de dimensões do teletrabalho. Além disso, compara dois tipos de teletrabalhadores, os que já exerciam a sua atividade neste regime e os que aderiram ao trabalho remoto durante a pandemia. Esta pesquisa de natureza exploratória baseia-se num inquérito online, aplicado em 2021, que permitiu a recolha de dados sobre 156 teletrabalhadores. Os resultados empíricos mostram uma perceção muito positiva relativamente à produtividade individual, à flexibilidade e autonomia na programação das tarefas de trabalho, e ao equilíbrio trabalho-vida pessoal, devido à flexibilidade que o teletrabalho permite. Estas são consideradas as principais vantagens do teletrabalho que se tornou obrigatório. Do seu lado, o isolamento surge como um aspeto negativo, dentro dos domínios estudados. Acresce ainda que as fronteiras entre o trabalho e responsabilidades familiares se tornaram mais confusas, devido á pandemia, o que pode provocar conflito entre estes dois papéis. Relativamente à organização, os inquiridos admitem que os gestores desempenharam um papel mais difícil na gestão remota das suas equipas, durante a pandemia. No entanto os teletrabalhadores consideram, todavia, que houve acompanhamento, mesmo remotamente. Relativamente ao futuro, os trabalhadores que participaram no estudo consideram a experiência positiva e pretendem continuar em teletrabalho num futuro pós-pandémico, mas num modo híbrido

Virtual teams are here to stay: how personality traits, virtuality and leader gender impact trust in the leader and team commitment

Teleworking has, today, become a necessity for many organizations, so effective virtual team management is critical. This study analyzes the influence of the personality traits of virtual team workers on team efficiency. To do so we examine the effects of subordinates’ personalities on the trust they give the virtual team leader and the impact of this trust on commitment to the team. We also discuss how the team's degree of virtuality and the leader’s gender influence the relationship between personality and trust. The findings showed that extroversion has a positive effect on trust felt in the leader, and that this trust has a positive effect on commitment felt toward the team. On the other hand, it was observed that neuroticism had a more negative effect on trust in more virtual environments. The leader’s gender had no significant effect. The study offers advice for virtual team management and discusses its limitations and future research directions

A Dark Side of Telework: A Social Comparison-Based Study from the Perspective of Office Workers

Telework became a necessary work arrangement during the global COVID-19 pandemic. However, practical evidence even before the pandemic also suggests that telework can adversely affect teleworkers’ colleagues working in the office. Those regular office workers may experience negative emotions such as envy which, in turn, can impact work performance and turnover intention. In order to assess the adverse effects of telework on regular office workers, the study applies social comparison theory and suggests telework disparity as a new theoretical concept. From the perspective of regular office workers, perceived telework disparity is the extent to which they compare their office working situation with their colleagues’ teleworking situation and conclude that their teleworking colleagues are slightly better off than themselves. Based on social comparison theory, a model of how perceived disparity associated with telework causes negative emotions and adverse behaviors among regular office workers was developed. The data were collected in one organization with telework arrangements (N = 269). The results show that perceived telework disparity from the perspective of regular office workers increases their feelings of envy toward teleworkers and their job dissatisfaction, which is associated with higher turnover intentions and worse job performance. This study contributes to telework research by revealing a dark side of telework by conceptualizing telework disparity and its negative consequences for employees and organizations. For practice, the paper recommends making telework practices and policies as transparent as possible to realize the maximum benefits of telework

The relationship between telework and job characteristics: a latent change score analysis during the COVID‐19 pandemic

During the COVID-19 pandemic, a sizable proportion of employees conducted home-based telework to contain virus spreading. This situation made it possible to investigate the relationship between telework and job characteristics. Many positive and negative associations between telework and job characteristics have been proposed in the literature, but most studies relied on cross-sectional data as well as narrow samples (e.g. employees voluntarily choosing to telework). Repeated measures designs investigating the association between telework intensity and job characteristics using less selective samples are currently rare. To address this research gap, we collected data at two time points in Germany during the COVID-19 pandemic (n = 479) and investigated if change in telework intensity was associated with change in 19 job characteristics using structural equation modeling. Our analyses showed that—in contrast to several prior cross-sectional studies—telework intensity had a small to moderate association with only two out of the 19 job characteristics: Work scheduling and decision-making autonomy. Hence, the study challenges the previously assumed manifold positive and negative associations between telework intensity and job characteristics and adds to the debate about the role of telework intensity as an antecedent of work design. Future studies should investigate the generalizability of the findings to non-pandemic work contexts

An examination of telework and the physical impacts on community and regional development

In this research, the practice of teleworking and the related physical impacts on communities and regions is examined. Telework is a relatively new form of work that substitutes information technology for travel to a regular place of work. As a result, there are potentially significant physical impacts on spatial development patterns, land use relationships, transportation systems, and environmental quality. This study first addresses the larger context of the telework phenomenon by characterizing the macroeconomic shift to an Information Economy. The body of the research focuses on home-based telecommuting and telecenter-based telecommuting, which are the two most prevalent forms of telework. In the United States, the current number of teleworkers is estimated at 20 million people, and long-term projections forecast a steady rate of adoption. The major forces facilitating the adoption of telework are identified and discussed. The findings regarding the physical impacts indicate a reduction in the number of commute trips and miles traveled, which result in lower auto emissions and potential reductions in traffic congestion. The indirect effects of telecommuting are latent demand for travel and an increased potential for dispersed development patterns. Future impacts of telework will largely be dictated by the frequency of telework activity among the growing population teleworkers projected, and the interplay of existing development factors which have generally led to the decentralization of metropolitan areas