2013 Awards for Excellence

Citation

(2014), "2013 Awards for Excellence", Management Research Review, Vol. 37 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/MRR-01-2014-001

2013 Awards for Excellence

Article Type: 2013 Awards for Excellence From: Management Research Review, Volume 37, Issue 1

The following article was selected for this year’s Outstanding Paper Award for Management Research Review

Is telework effective for organizations? A meta-analysis of empirical research on perceptions of telework and organizational outcomes

Brittany Harker Martin and Rhiannon MacDonnell
Haskayne School of Business, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada

Purpose – Telework is an alternative work relationship with demonstrated positive benefits for individuals and society, yet it has not been implemented with enthusiasm by most organizations. This could be due to the lacking, consolidated evidence for management regarding whether or not telework is a good thing for the firm. The purpose of this paper is to integrate multidisciplinary literature that reports effects of telework on organizational outcomes with the aim of providing a clearer answer to the question: is telework effective for organizations?
Design/methodology/approach – Meta-analytical methods were used, beginning with an interdisciplinary search for effect sizes in eight databases. Limited to scholarly journals and dissertations, results included 991 articles scanned for inclusion criteria. The independent variable is telework, measured as a dichotomous variable. Dependent variables are outcomes of interest to organizations: productivity, retention, turnover intention, commitment, and performance. In total, 22 studies were double coded and meta-analyzed using Hunter and Schmidt’s approach, followed by five exploratory moderator analyses: level of analysis, level of the employee, response rate, proportion of females, and country of the study. Significant results are discussed.
Findings – Review and meta analysis of 32 correlations from empirical studies find that there is a small but positive relationship between telework and organizational outcomes. Telework is perceived to increase productivity, secure retention, strengthen organizational commitment, and to improve performance within the organization. In other words, it is indeed beneficial for organizations. All five hypotheses are supported. H1 (productivity), rc=0.23 (k=5, n=620), (95 percent CI=0.13-0.33). H2 (retention), r=0.10 (k=6, n=1,652), (95 percent CI=0.04-0.16). H3 (commitment), r=0.11 (k=8, n=3144), (95 percent CI=0.03-0.18); moderator analysis shows sample age is significant (F(1,4)=4.715, p<0.05, R2=0.80). H4 (performance), r=0.16 (k=10, n=2,522). H5 (organizational outcomes), r=0.17 (k=19, n=5,502), (95 percent CI=0.1-0.20).
Originality/value – To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first meta-analysis of telework research at the organizational level, providing a unique contribution to the field in filling the gap between research on effects to the individual and society. Additional contributions resulted from the moderator analyses: first, in finding that the relationship between telework and performance is moderated by whether or not the sample was one individual per firm, or many individuals from one; and second, in finding that the relationship between telework and organizational commitment is moderated by age. Thus, the paper provides unique contributions with both scholarly and practical implications.

Keywords:

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Outstanding reviewers

Christos Braziotis

Olof Brunninge