Michael N. Bagley

The impact of gender, occupation, and presence of children on telecommuting motivations and constraints

Accurate forecasts of the adoption and impacts of telecommuting depend on an understanding of what motivates individuals to adopt telecommuting and what constraints prevent them from doing so, since these motivations and constraints offer insight into who is likely to telecommute under what circumstances. Telecommuting motivations and constraints are likely to differ by various segments of society. In this study, we analyze differences in these variables due to gender, occupation, and presence of children for 583 employees of the City of San Diego. Numerous differences are identified, which can be used to inform policies (public or organizational) intended to support telecommuting. Most broadly, women on average rated the advantages of telecommuting more highly than men – both overall and within each occupation group. Women were more likely than men to have family, personal benefits, and stress reduction as potential motivations for telecommuting, and more likely to possess the constraints of supervisor unwillingness, risk aversion, and concern about lack of visibility to management. Clerical workers were more likely than managers or professionals to see the family, personal, and office stress-reduction benefits of telecommuting as important, whereas managers and professionals were more likely to cite getting more work done as the most important advantage of telecommuting. Constraints present more strongly for clerical workers than for other occupations included misunderstanding, supervisor unwillingness, job unsuitability, risk aversion, and (together with professional workers) perceived reduced social interaction. Constraints operating more strongly for professional workers included fear of household distractions, reduced social and (together with managers) professional interaction, the need for discipline, and lack of visibility to management. Key constraints present for managers included reduced professional interaction and household distractions. Lack of awareness, cost, and lack of technology or other resources did not differ significantly by gender or occupation. Respondents with children rated the stress reduction and family benefits of telecommuting more highly than did those with no children at home. Those with children were more likely than those without children to be concerned about the lack of visibility to management, and (especially managers) were more likely to cite household distractions as a constraint.

ANALYZING THE PREFERENCE FOR NON-EXCLUSIVE FORMS OF TELECOMMUTING: MODELING AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS

This study examines three models of the individuals preference for home- and center-based telecommuting. Issues concerning the estimation of discrete models when the alternatives are non-exclusive are discussed. Two binary logit models are presented, one on the preference to telecommute from a center versus not telecommuting from a center (adjusted ρ2 = 0.24), and the other on the preference to telecommute from a center over telecommuting from home (adjusted ρ2 = 0.64). A nested logit model is also estimated on the following four alternatives: preferring not to telecommute, preferring either form of telecommuting, preferring to telecommute from home, and preferring to telecommute from a center (adjusted ρ2 = 0.35).The results of the models illustrated the importance of attitudinal measures in measuring an individuals preference to telecommute. Oblique factor scores representing workplace interaction, stress, workaholism, internal control, and commute stress were statistically significant in some or all of the models. Other explanatory variables which were found to be consistently significant were education, job suitability, and age. Most respondents preferred either to telecommute from home or were indifferent between either form of telecommuting, which raises the question as to whether there really is a sizeable market niche to be filled by telecommuting centers, and hence whether they may make a significant contribution to transportation demand reduction.

Modeling employees' perceptions and proportional preferences of work locations: the regular workplace and telecommuting alternatives

In this paper, measures of job and workplace perceptions are developed, and the importance of those and other measures to the desired proportions of work time at each of 3 locations (home, workplace, and a telecommuting center) is examined. Using data from 188 participants in the Neighborhood Telecenters Project, 4 job context perception factors were identified: productivity, job satisfaction, supervisor relationship, and co-worker interaction. Four generic workplace perception factors were identified: personal benefits, work effectiveness, autonomy, and supervisor comfort. A multinomial logit model of the desired work time allocation found the generic variables job suitability, personal benefits, and work effectiveness to be significant and positively related to greater desired proportions of time at the associated location. These variables capture the major elements previously hypothesized to influence telecommuting preference in a parsimonious fashion. The model explained 55% of the theoretical maximum amount of information in the data, and did not violate the Independence of Irrelevant Alternatives assumption.

Using Technology in Education When and Why, Not How

As teachers, we need to be aware of possible and probable uses of technology, so that we can iden tify techniques and methods that further our educational goals. For example, video teleconferencing, electronic mail (e mail), and a variety of Internet-based resources are being used at colleges and universities all over the country. Howev er, it is important to note that technology merely provides tools that teachers can use to improve or facilitate the learning process. A report titled The Fourth Revo lution (Carnegie Commission on Higher Education, 1972) proposes two useful cri teria for deciding whether any new teach ing technique should be used: