Telecommuting's past and future: a literature review and research agenda

Abstract

Purpose-Telecommuting continues to be a topic of interest for practitioners and researchers alike. There are significant numbers of employees currently involved in telecommuting around the globe. Organizational implications, global workforce implications and the scarcity of scholarly publications make this research topic one that warrants our further investigation. The purpose of this paper is to explore the literature to identify the substantive work, examine the state of this phenomenon as of to date, particularly the failure and success factors, provide valuable insight to the practitioners and research directions to researchers Design/methodology/approach-An extensive literature review was conducted in an effort to identify the significant, substantive work to date. We reviewed two major business data bases and limit our review to refereed journals because of the rigorous review process that these articles go through before publication. Findings-A schema was identified to help categorize topics found in the literature. A framework model is proposed to further explore the relationships between the motivating factors for telecommuting and the resulting outcomes from telecommuting programs. Practical implications-The literature review and the model should be useful information for both practitioners and researchers in a variety of disciplines including management, communication, and information technology. Originality/value-Few published papers have attempted to thoroughly review the telecommuting literature. Many of the articles concentrate solely on the individuals who telework. This review, looks at many facets of the telecommuting phenomenon like the workers, their managers, the organization as well as the technological and environmental issues.

Télétravail et leadership : déterminants des pratiques efficaces de direction*

“…Cette donnée exclut les télétravailleurs du Japon. démontrent entre autres que les programmes de télétravail bien gérés engendrent généralement une augmentation de la productivité des employés, réduisent le taux d'absentéisme, contribuent à la rétention du personnel et donc à la diminution du taux de roulement, offrent de nouvelles possibilités de recrutement de personnel et permettent de diminuer les coûts de location d'espaces de bureaux (Butler et al 2007;Kirk, Belovics, 2006;Siha, Monroe, 2006). Par exemple, les recherches conduites par l'International Telework Association and Council (ITAC) montrent une augmentation moyenne de 22 % de la productivité pour les entreprises qui adoptent des pratiques de télétravail.…”

“…Le dirigeant doit par exemple faire face au possible sentiment d'isolement de ses employés et à leur insécurité vis-à-vis de leur carrière (Cooper, Kurland, 2002;. Il est également confronté à des défis en ce qui a trait au contrôle des employés, aux choix technologiques, aux différences culturelles et aux communications (Baker et al, 2006;Hylmö, 2006;Kurland, Egan, 1999;Siha, Monroe, 2006).…”

Enhancing the Implementation of Telecommuting (Work from Home) in Malaysia

“…The telecommuting programme can be used to reduce traffic jams and improve air quality (Siha et al, 2006). Hence, the telecommuting programme is seen not only as beneficial to employees and employers around the world but also to society.…”

“…According to Siha and Monroe (2006), potential productivity increase is the key to company decisions to utilise telecommuting. As long as jobs and people are selected carefully for telecommuting, any concerns over productivity are mitigated.…”

A study on the effect of teleworking on quality of work life

“…Teleworking has become one of the most popular methods for saving employees' time and energy and there are various studies on learning more about the effects of teleworking on quality of life (Illegems et al, 2001;Siha & Monroe, 2006;Wellman & Haythornthwaite, 2008). Baruch (2000), for instance, explored how teleworking was perceived by employees and highlighted its possible advantage and pitfalls.…”