Telecommuting and residential locational preferences: a case study of the Netherlands

Abstract

Traditionally, along with stages of the life cycle and changes in people's Wnancial status and their household composition, the commute distance has been identiWed as one of the main explanatory factors for residential locational preferences and subsequent migration Xows. In the Netherlands, telecommuting is rapidly becoming popular and is expected to aVect residential locational preferences. A hypothesis that can be raised is that telecommuting has an impact on the eVect that commute distance has on residential preferences. Based on this hypothesis, this paper investigates the role of telecommuting alongside the traditional factors currently explaining residential locational preferences. The paper provides evidence that, in the Netherlands, telecommuting has enabled people to commute longer distances. The eVect of telecommuting on the probability of relocating, however, is not signiWcant. Telecommuting appears to have a limited eVect on residential location preferences, but traditional factors, such as life cycle stages, remain the dominant explanatory factors.

A Prospective on Zelinsky's Hypothesis of the Mobility Transition

“…The effect is strongest for residential mobility, hinting that the use of ICTs may actually enhance residential rootedness and attachment to place. This conclusion is consistent with research in transportation geography that shows that the ability to work remotely from home with the aid of ICTs need not result in higher rates of residential mobility; rather, remote working is more likely a way to ameliorate the negative effects of a long commute and in fact in some cases help to hold people in place (see Ory and Mokhtarian ; Muhammad and others ; Ettema ). Thus, Zelinsky's predictions regarding the effect of ICTs on geographic mobility were correct, but that they have not been fully appreciated until recently.…”

Virtual Practices and Migration Plans: a Qualitative Study of Urban Young Adults

“…However, ongoing virtualization might have effects pointing in other directions that do not necessarily support moves. Increased virtual access to people and activities in other places could, in principle, allow people to remain settled (Kesselring, 2006;Muhammad et al, 2007). Social media could for example help to sustain contact with friends and family living at great distances, reducing social motives for migrating (Diminescu, 2008;Vilhelmson and Thulin, 2012).…”

Telework: Urban Form, Energy Consumption, and Greenhouse Gas Implications

“…There have been some other notable policy experiments, including Mokhtarian, Collantes, and Gertz () who examine 218 workers in California from 1988 to 1998, and find that teleworkers tend to live further from their main job site, yet fail to find any causality in the suburbanization of households due to telework. Similarly, Ory and Mokhtarian () and Muhammad et al () each find that, controlling for demographics and other socioeconomic characteristics, telework does not cause changes in household location. While these studies are informative, especially regarding the main issues and stylized facts of telework, the data available are much too limited to determine the long‐run effects (a shortcoming noted by Ory and Mokhtarian ).…”