Pilar de Luis Carnicer

Teleworking and workplace flexibility: a study of impact on firm performance

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to explore the relationship between teleworking adoption, workplace flexibility, and firm performance. Design/methodology/approach – Empirical survey of a representative sample of 479 small‐ and medium‐sized firms. Data gathered through interviews with company managers using a structured questionnaire. A t‐test used to analyse the mean differences of flexibility dimensions between companies, and a regression analysis used to study the impact of teleworking and other flexible workplace practices on firm performance. Findings – Firm performance is positively related to the use of teleworking, flexitime, contingent work and spatial decentralisation. Teleworking firms use more flexitime, have more employees involved in job design and planning, are more intensively managed by results, and use more variable compensation. The relationship of teleworking and external workplace flexibility is not so conclusive. Measures of external flexibility like subcontracting or contingent work are not associated with teleworking but spatial decentralisation is positively associated. Research limitations/implications – A limitation of this research is the measurement of flexibility at the firm level and the use of cross‐sectional data. To the extent that organisations may obtain functional and numerical flexibility by means of their relations to other organisations in networks, the most appropriate unit of analysis may be the network which it has implications for future longitudinal studies. Practical implications – Flexibility is a source of competitive advantage. Enhancing flexibility may be costly in the short run, but it gets easier over time. Firms become more flexible because their managers emphasise the importance of flexibility and because they practice being flexible. A self‐reinforcing process then begins. The relationships between the different forms of flexibility are important to understand the interaction between the dynamic control capacity of management and the responsiveness of the organisation. Originality/value – The article analyses the relationship between teleworking adoption and other flexibility dimensions.

A technology acceptance model of innovation adoption: the case of teleworking

This paper develops a model of teleworking adoption based on the principles of the technology acceptance model. The framework integrates three categories of factors influencing on teleworking adoption: technological, human resources, and organisational factors. The model fills a gap in the teleworking literature by developing research propositions that take into account different theoretical perspectives to study teleworking adoption.

Team empowerment: an empirical study in Spanish University R&D teams

This paper analyses the results of a survey to university R&D teams about the moderator role of some variables on the relationship between team empowerment and team performance and organisational attitudes. The results support the positive impact of team empowerment on team performance and organisational attitudes. Regarding the moderator role of the analysed variables, the data indicate that teams labour flexibility and age diversity decrease the positive effect of team empowerment on performance. Perceived work-based social support positively moderates the impact of team empowerment on team productivity, whereas perceived work-based organisational support moderates its impact on customer service. Finally, perceived fairness and teams gender diversity are also positively related to job satisfaction.

Modelling the adoption of teleworking: an empirical study of resources and organisational factors

This paper analyses the differences between teleworking adopters and non-adopters in a sample of Spanish companies. The results indicate that teleworking adopters use more information and communication technologies, invest more resources in R&D, have a larger percentage of knowledge workers and salespeople in the workforce, and have a larger geographical market. The employees have greater access to the internet and electronic communication, are more trained in the use of information and communication technologies, and are more involved in their job design and planning. Regarding the business organisation, teleworking adopters use more human resource flexible practices and variable compensation, outsource more activities, and manage employees by objectives.