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Does "Out of Sight" Mean "Out of Mind"? An Empirical Investigation of the Career Advancement Prospects of Telecommuters

IGI Global
Information Resources Management Journal
Authors:
Donna Mccloskey at Widener University
Donna Mccloskey
Magid Igbaria
Magid Igbaria
Magid Igbaria
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Abstract

The fear that telecommuting will have a negative impact on career advancement prospects has been a barrier to telecommuting acceptance. This study sought to examine whether professionals who telecommute on a part-time basis did indeed experience less advancement prospects than their non-telecommuting peers did. The results indicate that this fear is unfounded. Telecommuting did not have a direct effect on career advancement prospects or an indirect effect through job performance evaluations. Additionally, the level of telecommuting participation did not have an impact on career advancement. Employees who telecommuted more frequently did not experience significantly different job performance evaluations or career advancement prospects than those who telecommuted less. The paper concludes with the limitations of this study and directions for future research.
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Does "out of sight" mean "out of mind"? An empirical investigation of ...
Donna Weaver McCloskey;Magid Igbaria
Information Resources Management Journal; Apr-Jun 2003; 16, 2; ProQuest Central
pg. 19
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... By reducing these interactions, teleworking may disrupt the connection with peers (Golden, 2006). Physical distance can become psychological distance, potentially resulting in telecommuters being "out of sight, out of mind" and perceived as not actively working toward shared goals (McCloskey & Igbaria, 2003). ...
... However, contrary to Hypothesis 2B, the weakening of relationships with colleagues in relation to teleworking did not significantly impact life satisfac-tion. This result aligns with previous literature showing that although teleworking can harm workplace relationships (McCloskey & Igbaria, 2003), this does not necessarily reduce life satisfaction (Gajendran & Harrison, 2007). Employees may adapt to teleworking and find ways to compensate for the loss of workplace social interactions (Tietze, 2002). ...
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