Venkatesh, V. and Johnson, P. “Telecommuting Technology Implementations: A Within- and Between-Subjects Longitudinal Field Study,” Personnel Psychology (55:3), 2002, 661-687. [Nominated for the William A. Owens Scholarly Achievement Award for the best publication in a refereed article in the field of industrial and organizational psychology]
View Abstract
This research examines the impact of technology design on the acceptance and long-term use of telecommuting systems. Specifically, we compare employee acceptance and sustained use of a traditional system designed based on the common “desktop metaphor,” with a virtual-reality system designed to enhance social richness and telepresence. This 1-year study incorporated a within- and between-subjects examination of 527 employees across 3 locations of a large organization. Results showed much higher telecommuter acceptance and use of the virtual-reality system. Strong support emerged for the hypotheses that higher social richness and higher telepresence leads to higher telecommuter motivation and higher sustained use of the system.