Examining the effects of negative work outcomes on telecommuting

Abstract

Despite telecommuting’s tremendous growth in the last decade, it appears some employees are still hesitant to work from home. This study investigated whether the perceived consequences of telecommuting (social isolation, professional isolation, career harm, job insecurity, long work hours, and coworker resentment) influence employees’ willingness to telecommute or telecommuting intensity. An online survey was distributed to contacts of the principal investigator through social and professional networking sites and email. Using regression analysis, the results showed that coworker resentment is a barrier to telecommuting as perceived coworker resentment was negatively related to both employees’ willingness to telecommute and telecommuting intensity. The results also showed that perceived social isolation, perceived long work hours, and telecommuting normativeness are all positively related to telecommuting intensity.