Managers Attitudes towards Teleworking: Organizational and Institutional Antecedents Pascale Peters

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Managers Attitudes towards TeleworkingOrganizat
ional and Institutional Antecedents Pascale
Peters and Stefan Heusinkveld Radboud University
Nijmegenp.peters_at_fm.ru.nl
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Introduction telework adoption

• Telehomeworking is a growing work practice
• Telework in NL most common in service sector
• Telework practices and policies associated with
  organisational characteristics (Peters
  Batenburg, forthcoming)
• ? Compatibility of organisational practices and
  culture with telework practice is important!
• Managers attitudes bottleneck in telework
  uptake!
• Managers attitudes additional factor in uptake
  of telework
• Especially line managers expectations regarding
  productivity gains are important (compared with
  HRM-managers attitudes) (Peters and Batenburg,
  forthcoming)
• ? Human agency factor is important for adoption
  of telework!

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Theory of Reasoned Action (Fishbein Ajzen, 1980)

• Outcomes Peters Batenburg in line with Fishbein
  Ajzens theory
• Basic assumptions
• Belief based attitudes and subjective norms
  predict intentions and intentions, in turn,
  affect performance or behavior.
• Comments and modifications (Vallerand et al.,
  1992)
• Little attention to the antecedents of attitudes
  and subjective norms
• Attitudes also affected by normative beliefs and
  motivations to comply

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Research problem

• Question What factors shape managers
  belief-based attitudes?
• Theories used in this study to explain
  attitudes-formation/ adoption of management
  ideas
• Diffusion theory (Rogers, 1995) Emphasizing
  efficiency gains and rationality
• Institutional theory (DiMagio Powell, 1983)
  Emphasising legitimacy regarding initiating
  adoption of ideas and practices (Tolbert
  Zucker, 1983 Staw Epstein, 2000)

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Diffusion theory (Rogers, 1995)

• Compatibility thesis
• Organizational practices and culture need to be
  compatible with telework practice (cf. Daniels,
  Lamond and Standen, 2000).
• Hypothesis
• Compatibility arguments also play a role in
  managers attitude formation
• Indicators (Peters Batenburg, forthcoming)
• Percentage higher educated workers in firm
• Mobile workers
• Individual bonus
• Flexible working hours
• Flexible organisational culture

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Institutional theory Mimetic Pressures

• 1 Uncertainty/ mimetic pressure hypotheses
• A Criticism to new management ideas and practices
  is the basis attitude of the informed manager, as
  unconditional adoption would be at odds with
  management professionalism (Ten Bos
  Heusinkveld, 2007) and their perceptions of being
  in control (Sturdy, 1997).
• Indicator
• Awareness of diffusion of formal telework
  policies in comparable organisations in their
  sector.
• B In response to uncertainty, managers attitudes
  adapt when similar organizations in the field
  have adopted a specific management idea or
  practice, as they seek to be in line with what is
  generally regarded as rational and legitimate
  (DiMagio and Powell, 1983).
• Indicator
• Share of comparable organisations in the sector
  with formal telework policies

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Institutional theory Normative pressures

• Professionalization/ socialisation hypotheses
• A Managers abilities to understand and recognize
  the value of new ideas or practices as solutions
  to organizational problems affect their
  adoptions.
• Indicator Educational/vocational training level
  of manager
• B Managers attitudes towards new management
  ideas and practices depend on their
• cognitive frames and their positions in the
  organisation, as the associated consequences
  regarding power and control issues and management
  costs differ across subgroups.
• C Line managers are more vulnerable to mimetic
  pressures than staff managers, as they are more
  focussed on serving the organizations interest,
  rather than enlarging their own professional
  territory.
• Indicators
• Position in the organisation (HRM-manager versus
  Line manager)
• Interaction Position Mimetic indicators

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Methodology

• Written questionnaire Keuzes in Tijd en Plaats
  (2003)
• N 476 private firms in the Netherlands (gt 99
  employees)
• Agricultural sector and hospitality sector
  excluded
• Respondents 20 line managers 80 HRM-managers
• T-tests regression analyses and MANOVA
• Dependent variables managers expectations
  towards productivity gains and towards social
  work aspects
• Independent variables compatibility indicators
  and institutional pressure indicators
• Control variables sector organizational size
  computer use by employees

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Dependent variables

• (1) Telecommuting will decreases mutual learning
  among employees
• (2) Telecommuting will decrease cooperation
  amongst employees
• (3) Telecommuting will lead to isolation of
  employees
• (4) Telecommuting decreases employees org.
  commitment
• (5) Telecommuting will increase productivity
• (6) Telecommuting improves employees
  concentration
• (7) Telecommuting increases employees
  motivation
• Two factors (PAF, Oblimin)
• Respondents view on the social work-related
  consequences of telecommuting (Cronbachs alpha
  0.78) Items (1) (learning), (2) (cooperation),
  (3) (isolation) and (4) (commitment)
• Respondents view on the assumed productivity
  gains (Cronbachs alpha 0.68) Items (5)
  (productivity), (6) (concentration) and (7)
  (motivation)

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Main findings Attitudes towards productivity

• No support for compatibility thesis when
  controlled for institutional pressure indicators
• Higher educated managers have more positive
  attitudes
• Staff managers have more positive attitudes
  towards telehomework than line managers
• Being familiar with percentage of peer
  organizations having adopted formal telework
  policies is associated with more opposition,
  especially among line managers
• However, only line managers are more vulnerable
  to mimetic pressures (interaction effect).
• ? Support for mimetic and normative pressure
  thesis

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Main findings Attitudes towards social work
aspects

• No support for compatibility thesis when
  controlled for institutional pressure indicators
• Control variables managers in larger
  organizations have more positive attitudes
  towards social work aspects
• Higher educated managers have more positive
  attitudes towards consequences for social work
  aspects
• Staff managers have more positive attitudes than
  line managers
• No mimetic effects were found
• ? Support for normative pressure-thesis, not for
  mimetic pressure thesis

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Conclusion

• Educational background of manager important
  factor in attitude formation/uptake of management
  ideas
• Attitude formation not rationally driven by the
  presence of compatible organizational practices
  and cultures
• Mimetic pressure important in attitude formation
  regarding productivity, especially among line
  managers
• Normative pressures important in attitude
  formation
• Unconditional acceptance of telework higher
  among staff managers. as it increases their
  legitimacy and power in the organization

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Discussions

• Management implications?
• Can HRM-managers be champions in the organization
  to promote telework ideas and practices?
• Equal results in study among other staff
  managers, like facility managers?
• Influence of coercive pressures as presented in
  Collective Agreements or the European Framework
  Agreement?
• Differences among managers within organizations?
• Cross-national differences?
• Thank you!!!