Int. Journal of Business Science and Applied Management, Volume 4, Issue 1, 2009
Teleworking in United Arab Emirates (UAE): An empirical
study of influencing factors, facilitators, and inhibitors
Mohamed G. Aboelmaged
Ajman University of Science and Technology
Po Box 346, Ajman, UAE
Tel: +971 (50) 6300652
Email: gaboelmaged@yahoo.com
Abdallah M. Elamin
King Fahd University of Petroleum and Mineral (KFUPM)
Po Box 488, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia
Tel: +966 (5) 98509634
Email: elnagar@kfupm.edu.sa
Abstract
This research constitutes an empirical study of influencing factors, facilitators, and inhibitors to the
choice of teleworking mode in the UAE context. The research reveals that gender, marital status,
nationality, residence location, and work profession are relevant, whereas educational level, Internet
use, number of children, age, and years of experience are irrelevant influencing factors for the choice of
teleworking mode. Furthermore, the research identifies six distinct facilitators and seven distinct
inhibitors. The perceived importance of most identified facilitators and inhibitors to the choice of
teleworking mode in the UAE context are found almost similar among the respondents. An exception,
however, is made to the association between choice of teleworking mode and individual freedom,
travel overload, cost reduction, and union resistance. The study outlines the limitations of the present
research and suggests some practical implications and recommendations for managers.
Keywords: teleworking, information technology, facilitators, inhibitors, UAE
Mohamed G. Aboelmaged and Abdallah M. Elamin
19
1 INTRODUCTION
Teleworking has recently received a considerable amount of attention both at the academia and
professional world, as one of the remarkable changes in business practices (Morgan, 2004). The last
few years have witnessed an increasing interest in the concept of teleworking, particularly in Europe
and USA. Current predictions suggest that teleworking may become a common mode of working in
future, as Knight (2004) points out that 20 million people in Europe will be teleworking by 2007,
taking the enterprise boundary with them.
The concept of using information technology to work at a distance from the regular work site,
referred to initially as telecommuting working and later as teleworking. The term first came to wider
public attention in the USA in the early 1970s, when it was initially coined by Nilles in 1973 (Nilles,
1994), and it has been described as a growing trend and the future way of organizing work. In some
publications, telecommuting and teleworking are often used interchangeably, but telework is generally
used in a broader sense, covering a wider array of distributed work. In general, the motives of
telecommuting are mainly aimed at achieving travel-time savings, while teleworkers (which may
include telecommuters) attempt to work in alternative workplaces.
2 LITERATURE REVIEW
Various authors (e.g. Mann, 2000) have pointed out the diverse meanings assigned to the term
"teleworking". Accordingly, several researchers have tried to establish their own definition. For
example Nilles (1994) states that teleworking is ―...the partial or total substitution of
telecommunications technologies, possibly with the aid of computers, for the commute to work‖. In the
same vein, Mokhtarian (1991) contends that the term refers to ―...working at home or at an alternate
location and communicating with the usual place of work using electronic or other means, instead of
physically traveling to a more distant work site‖. Due to such an inconsistency shaping the definition of
the term, one could argue that the definitions applied to telework can be grouped in two main blocks;
on the one hand those that emphasize the location of the teleworker and on the other hand, those that
stress the use of information communication technologies (ICT).
The empirical literature on teleworking has grown significantly over the last decade and most
studies are western-based. Researching teleworking in developing world is unsurprisingly new, an Arab
world being no exception. According to Cooper and Schindler (2003), literature can be descriptive,
conceptual, empirical, or case study in nature. This section reviews the mainstream empirical
teleworking literature.
On empirical side of teleworking research, researchers present results from surveying and
analyzing large number of teleworkers, prospected teleworkers, or companies. Golden (2006), for
example, use a sample of 393 professional-level teleworkers in one organization to investigate the
intervening role of work exhaustion in determining commitment and turnover intentions. Similarly,
Neufeld and Fang (2005) conduct two-phased research study to point out that teleworker beliefs and
attitudes, and the quality of their social interactions with managers and family members, were strongly
associated with productivity. In the similar thought, Thériault et al., (2005) assess differences between
home-based working and teleworking behavior among genders and professions considering age groups,
household status, car access location within the city and travel distances. They conclude that gender,
professional status, and age are influencing factors to the choice to teleworking. For example, older
workers are more likely to telework than younger ones, with the exception of lone parents which are
seeking for more flexibility. Furthermore, Carnicer et al. (2003) analyze the results of a survey about
labor mobility of a sample of 1,182 Spanish employees. Their study indicates that women have lower
mobility than men, and that the mobility of men and women is explained by different factors such as
employee‘s perceptions about job satisfaction, pay fairness, and employment stability. In a study of
emotional impact of teleworking, Mann (2000) found that respondents of two service industries in the
UK perceive teleworking advantages as follows: less travel (57%); more freedom/flexibility (57%);
better working environment (50%); fewer distractions (43%); cheaper (29%); freedom to choose
comfortable clothes (14%); freedom from office politics (7%); and easier to complete domestic chores
(7%). On the other hand, Mann (2000) found the perceived disadvantages of teleworking include
isolation (57%); longer hours (50%); lack of support (28%); less sick leave (21%); career progression
(14%); and cost (7%). Similarly, Mannering and Mokhtarian (1995) explored the individual's choice of
teleworking frequency as a function of demographic, travel, work, and attitudinal factors. They show
that the most important variables in explaining the choice of frequency of teleworking from home were
the presence of small children in the household, the number of people in the household, gender of
Int. Journal of Business Science and Applied Management / Business-and-Management.org
20
respondent, number of vehicles in the household, whether respondent recently changed departure time
for personal reasons, degree of control over scheduling of different job tasks, supervisory status of
respondent, the ability to borrow a computer from work if necessary, and a family orientation. In
addition, Yap and Tng (1990) conducted a survey of the attitudes of female computer professionals in
Singapore towards teleworking. The study reveals that 73% of the 459 respondents were in favor of
teleworking. Most would prefer to work at home 1 to 3 days a week and at the office on the other days,
rather than working at home full time. They would telework only in times of need (e.g. when they have
young children) and were concerned with work and interaction-related problems which might arise
from teleworking. Furthermore, Yap and Tng (1990) suggest that teleworking will be of particular
interest to employees who are married, those with a high proportion of work that can be done at home,
those who find their journey to work frustrating, and those with supervisors and coworkers who are
supportive of teleworking.
3 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
The objective of this research is twofold:
1. To examine the influence of specific demographic and individual variables on the choice
for teleworking mode.
2. To examine the differences in employees' perception of importance of the facilitators and
inhibitors based on their choice of the teleworking mode.
4 RESEARCH RATIONALE
The rationale behind the study was driven by the fact that most of the teleworking literature has
generally taken their roots in the developed countries, most notably North America and Western
Europe (Kowalski and Swanson (2005). This point indicates that there is a gap worth filling in the
literature resulting from the lack of studies in developing contexts. Considering the uniqueness of the
UAE economical, political and socio-cultural contexts, this study would contribute to filling that
identified gap.
Though the benefits of teleworking are widely accepted within the literature, there is very scarce
empirical research about how demographic and individual variables influence teleworking choice (full-
time, part-time, not to telework) in non-western contexts. Examining such relationships between
teleworking choice for both actual and prospective teleworker and various demographic and individual
variables as well as facilitators and inhibitors in an Arab context, namely UAE will add to the body of
knowledge in this regard.
Finally, the outcome of the present study will provide employees, managers and practitioners with
important insights that help them make better decisions concerning teleworking programs aiming at
improving organizational processes and fostering strategic goals.
5 DEVELOPMENT OF RESEARCH HYPOTHESES
5.1 The role of demographic and individual variables
The extant literature has shown that there are numerous demographic and individual variables
influence the choice of teleworking mode, including gender, age, martial status, profession, educational
level, internet use, nationality, residence, number of children, and years of experience. The subsequent
paragraphs review some of the relevant literature on this regards.
Peters et al. (2004) indicate that socio-demographic variables, such as gender and age, are found
to influence teleworking adoption and its preference. Similarly, Thériault et al., (2005) suggest that
gender and professional status influence teleworking choice, and older workers are more likely to
telework than younger ones. Moreover, Yeraguntla and Bhat (2005) show that women households with
children are likely to be part-time teleworkers, reinforcing the notion that women are the primary
caregivers of children. All in all, they consider age as one of the important individual socio-
demographic variable that turned out to be significant predictor of teleworking. The age effect indicates
that young adults (less than 25 years) are more likely to prefer part-time employment than older adults.
These results are also consistent with the findings of Bagley and Mokhtarian (1997). Moreover, they
reveal that race, job type, and length of service are also important influential factors for the choice of
teleworking mode. Caucasians and Hispanics, For instance, are more likely to telework than other races
(African-Americans, Asians and other). As for job type, their study indicates that employees working
Mohamed G. Aboelmaged and Abdallah M. Elamin
21
for an educational institution are more likely to be part-time teleworkers than employees in other kinds
of organizations. For the length of service, Yeraguntla and Bhat‘s (2005) study reveals that employees
who have worked less than a year in the firm are more likely to be part-time teleworkers than those
who have been working for longer periods of time.
A survey conducted by Mokhtarian and Salomon (1996) for the employees of the city of San
Diego about teleworking, revealed that only 3% of the sample report that they face no constraints to
telework but do not have a preference for it and do not currently do it. Based on such a survey they
conclude that people who have longer commutes are more likely to report that they want to telework,
especially if they are women and younger people. Having children, however, seems to have no effect
on the desire to telework.
In the same vein, Mannering and Mokhtarian (1995) use survey data collected from employees of
three government agencies in California to model the frequency of teleworking. The results show that
being a mother of small children had a positive influence on teleworking, as did the number of vehicles
per capita in the household.
Similarly, Wells et al. (2001) conduct surveys of employees at a public agency and a private firm
in Minnesota. They find that 43% of the surveyed employees engaged in teleworking. Furthermore,
they report that Public agency workers teleworked, on an average, three days a week, while private
firm workers teleworked, on an average, 1.92 days a week. The authors find that teleworkers are more
likely to be women, married, and have children.
It is worth noting that, Popuri and Bhat (2003) use data from a national survey of 14,441
households conducted by the New York Metropolitan Transportation Council to show factors that
increase the likelihood that an individual telework. Such factors include women with children, college
education, a driver‘s license, being married, working part-time, household income, working for a
private company (rather than government), and having to pay parking fees at work. Also, it has been
found that the longer an individual has worked at her current place of employment, the greater the
probability she teleworks.
In their analysis of the telework Survey conducted by the Southern California Association of
Governments (SCAG), Safirova and Walls (2004) confirm that having high educational level, more
professional experience in general, and a longer tenure with one‘s current company and one‘s current
supervisor will boost the probability of teleworking. Such a study has also revealed a very surprising
finding that teleworkers are more likely to be male and have smaller households than non-teleworkers,
which is inconsistent with other studies' findings that have shown women, and especially women with
children, to be likely teleworkers.
In the view of the aforementioned discussion, the following hypothesis seems to be relevant for
studying the teleworking in the UAE.
Hypothesis 1: There is no difference among employees in their choice for teleworking based on
their:
H1a: Gender
H1b: Marital status
H1c: Educational level
H1d: Internet use
H1e: Nationality
H1f: Residence
H1g: No of children
H1h: Age
H1i: Years of experience
H1j: Profession
5.2 Facilitators of Teleworking
Teleworking was originally seen as part of a solution to an energy crisis involving the reduction of
commuting (Gray et. al., 1993). In this regard, Kurland and Cooper (2002) show that employees choose
teleworking to reduce lengthy commutes, to decrease work-related stress, to balance work and family
responsibilities, to work longer hours but in more comfortable environments, and to provide
uninterrupted time to focus on their work. Organization-wise, teleworking improve employee morale
and productivity (Kurland and Bailey, 1999). Interestingly, Gray et al. (1993) find that teleworkers are
more productive than office-bound staffs that have to travel to work and tend to suffer a higher level of
stress. In addition, Productivity will increase through teleworking if employees are well motivated and
satisfied when they are able to manage their own time and assume greater responsibility for their own
Int. Journal of Business Science and Applied Management / Business-and-Management.org
22
work. And also because teleworking contributes to the reduction of costs of absenteeism, stress related
to traffic congestions, train delays and continuous office interruptions (Lim et al., 2003).
Lupton and Haynes (2000) identify four significant driving forces for teleworking: (1) a change in
management attitudes; (2) savings in office costs; (3) demand from staff; and (4) improvements in
technology. Other facilitators include improved productivity, improved staff retention, improved
morale/motivation, and improved staff recruitment opportunities. These forces are confirmed by Mann
(2000) who also points to less travel, more freedom/flexibility, better working environment, fewer
distractions, freedom to choose comfortable clothes, freedom from office politics, and easiness to
complete domestic chores.
Another classification of teleworking facilitators can be found in the literature is adopted by Mills
et al (2001) and Tung and Turban (1996) who distinguish among three categories of facilitators include
organizational, individual, and societal facilitators.
According to Mills et al (2001) and Tung and Turban (1996) organizational facilitators for
teleworking adoption may include securing skilled employees, saving office space, reducing turnover
and absenteeism, computer literacy and usage, productivity gains, overcoming limitations of distance
and time, providing service from home terminals, and reducing operating cost. Individual facilitators
for teleworking, on the other hand, include initiating personal freedom, autonomy, and flexibility
(Feldman and Gainey (1997), support no conflicting working environment (Pulido and Lopez, 2005),
increasing personal productivity, avoiding a commute, working with fewer interruptions, working in
more pleasant surroundings, wearing informal casual clothes, saving the costs of meals, clothes, and
commuting, greater time flexibility, greater job satisfaction, and bridging the career gap by avoiding a
long career break staying at home (Mills et al., 2001; Tung and Turban, 1996).Community or societal
related teleworking facilitators may include reduction of air pollution and dependence on fuel, enable
disabled people to work from home, conserve energy and reduce traffic during rush hours and demand
on transportation, and solving the problem of rural depopulation (Mills et al., 2001; Tung and Turban,
1996).
Although all these facilitators can support the trend of teleworking implementation, there is still a
literature gap about the role of teleworking choice (full-time, part-time, not to telework) in influencing
perceived importance of teleworking facilitators. In conjunction with this line of reasoning, the
following hypothesis is developed:
Hypothesis 2: There is no difference among employees in the perceived importance of teleworking
facilitators based on their choice for teleworking.
5.3 Inhibitors of teleworking
Despite the potential facilitators, teleworking raises two important inhibitors: supervisors‘
resistance to manage employees that they cannot physically observe (managerial control), and
employees‘ concerns about professional and social isolation (Kurland and Cooper, 2002). Studies,
which have addressed these issues, are largely surveys (e.g., Mokhtarian et al., 1995). One exceptional
is made to the study conducted by Baruch and Nicholson (1997). They gathered interview data from 62
teleworkers representing five different companies. However, they only noted that isolation and
managerial reluctance were factors that could hinder teleworking. In line with this, Reid (1993) cites
loss of status and professional isolation as potential dangers for workers moving into teleworking. The
likely outcome of isolation is the lack of interaction with colleagues, which stands as a serious
inhibitor.
As far as management control is concerned, Kurland and Cooper (2002) has demonstrated that
managers may lose control over employees‘ behavior as employees gain autonomy by teleworking.
Teleworking can diminish a manager‘s perceived control as it physically removes the employee from
the conventional work environment. At the same time the employees believe that the isolation may
result in lack of promotional opportunities.
Other inhibitors may include cost of implementation and resistance of management to change,
longer hours, lack of support, less sick leave, career progression (Lupton and Haynes, 2000; Mann,
2000).
Another classification of teleworking inhibitors is adopted by Mills et al (2001) and Tung and
Turban (1996) who distinguish among three categories of inhibitors include organizational, individual,
and societal inhibitors. According to Mills et al (2001) and Tung and Turban (1996) organizational
inhibitors of teleworking adoption may include technology cost inefficiencies, managing out-of-sight
employees, need for collaboration with other employees, security risks, problems of supervision,
performance control difficulty, work coordination difficulty, legal liability, maintenance of equipment.
From the individual point of view, inhibitors may include isolation, doubts and lack of knowledge of
Mohamed G. Aboelmaged and Abdallah M. Elamin
23
the state of a task, unavailability of necessary supplies or equipment, family interruptions and
household distractions, no separation of work and home life, lack of interactions with co-workers, and
potential lack of loyalty to company, not having a regular routine, workaholics, impedes career
opportunities, and missing ―what‘s going on‖, problem of 'guilt', and increase in cost of equipment and
utilities at home (Mills et al., 2001; Tung and Turban, 1996; Pulido and Lopez, 2005). From the
community perspective, teleworking may be inhibited as a result of promoting dispersion of housing,
increasing commuting distances, slowing down of real estate market, and declining clothing industry
(Mills et al., 2001; Tung and Turban, 1996).
Although all these inhibitors can hinder teleworking implementation, there is a notoriously
unfilled literature gap about the role of teleworking choice (full-time, part-time, not to telework) in
influencing perceived importance of teleworking inhibitors. Based on the above discussion, the
following hypothesis is suggested:
Hypothesis 3: There is no difference among employees in the perceived importance of teleworking
inhibitors based on their choice for teleworking.
6 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This research follows the underlying principles of quantitative research methodology. It entails the
collection of numerical data as exhibiting a few of the relationships between theory and research as
deductive, and as having an objectivist conception of social reality (Bryman, 2008). A survey research
method was applied to obtain insight about the issues explored in the study. Primary research data are
collected through structured questionnaire on a voluntary basis. To ensure the right level of teleworking
awareness, several studies recommend sampling employees from organizations involved in information
technology profession, when studying teleworking (Teo and Lim, 1998; Tung and Turban 1996). The
researchers, therefore, consider an employee in an organization within information technology sphere
as the unit of analysis in this research. Organizations in Dubai Media City (DMC) and Dubai Internet
City (DIC) are selected as target. Both cities include more than 500 organizations in the field of
networking, software development, programming, consultancy, broadcasting, publishing, advertising,
public relations, research and development, music and creative services. A total of 350 questionnaires
are distributed; of these, 148 were returned. 12 questionnaires are ignored due to ignoring complete
section(s) or missing data in certain sections, leaving a balance of 136 useful questionnaires for this
study, with a valid response rate of 39%. Respondents represent eleven ICT and media organizations
specialized in media organization and dissemination, software development, wireless technology,
communication tools and equipment, media production, and consultancy services. All organizations are
small to medium in size varying from 20 to 300 employees. Questionnaire data were aggregated, and
no analysis was conducted linking individual responses to a specific organization.
6.1 Measurement development, reliability, and validity
The survey instrument included several statements designed to measure the research constructs.
First, choice for teleworking is presented in a nominal scale with three options: (1) not to telework; (2)
part-time teleworking; and (3) full-time teleworking. Second, the perceived importance of each of
teleworking facilitators and inhibitors is measured based on a four-point Likert scale from ‗‗strongly
disagree‘‘ to ‗‗strongly agree‘‘. The survey also gathers demographic information on the respondents‘
gender, marital status, educational level, internet use, nationality, residence location, number of
children, age, years of experience, and work profession. A nominal scale is developed for each of these
constructs.
Content validity is assessed by examining the process that is used in generating scale items, and its
translation into other languages (i.e., Arabic in this study). The determination of content validity is
judgmental and can be approached through careful definition of the topic of the concern, the scaled
items, and used scales (Cooper and Schindler, 2003). Teleworking facilitators and inhibitors are
developed based on extensive review of teleworking literature, and then reduced using a varimax
rotated principal component factor analysis. Furthermore, Cooper and Schindler (2003) suggest another
way to determine content validity through panel of persons to judge how well the instrument meets the
standards. Thus, the researchers conducted independent interviews with two professors of human
resources and one professor of information technology applications to evaluate whether research covers
relevant constructs. They suggested that the procedure and Arabic translation of the questionnaire were
generally appropriate, with some modifications in the translated version of the questionnaire.
Int. Journal of Business Science and Applied Management / Business-and-Management.org
24
6.2 Data Presentation and Analysis
Responses from the surveys were coded and entered into SPSS spreadsheets for data analysis. For
a descriptive analysis, means, SD, cross tabulation, factor analysis, and Kruskal-Walllis test were
applied to the sample.
6.3 Profile of research demographics
The survey‘s demographic descriptive statistics are presented in Table 1. Of the 136 respondents,
54.4% select part-time teleworking option, 33.1% decide not to telework, and 12.5% choose full-time
teleworking option. 50.7 % of the respondents are male and 49.3 % are female. 67.6% are single and
32.4% are married. 31.7% of married respondents have one child, 26.8% have two children, 22.0%
have three children, and 19.5% have four or more children. The research respondents are relatively
young; the majority of survey respondents age is between 20 and 29 years (44.9 %), while 25.7% are
between 30 – 39 years, 18.4% are less than 20, and only11% are above 40 years old. The education
level reported by respondents showed that 75.7% had university degree or equivalent. Respondents
were mainly non-UAE national (66.2%), national Respondents are only represent 33.8%. 40.4% of
research respondents live in the emirate of Sharajah 40.4%, Ajman 25.7%, Dubai 22.1%, Abu Dhabi
6.6%, and UmQuin 5.1%. The description shows that 39% of the respondents are internet users for 1-3
times a week, 34.6% use the internet 7 or more times a week, 19.8% use the internet 4-6 times a week,
and 6.6% are not using the Internet. According to years of experience, most of the respondents (72.8%)
had less than 7 years, and approximately 27.2% had more than 7 years of experience. Respondents in
ICT professions are 18.4%, while 27.2% of respondents are in media professions, 27.2% are in
management and marketing professions, and 27.2% are in accounting professions.
In conclusion, majority of respondents in this study prefer part-time teleworking, graduate male,
single, between 20 – 29 years of age, care for one child if married, with non UAE nationality, live in
Sharjah, use the internet 1-3 times a week, working in different ICT and media professions, with less
than 7 years of experience.
Table 1: Profile of research respondents (N=136)
%
N
%
N
Marital status
Teleworking choice
67.6
92
Single
12.5
17
Full-time
32.4
44
Married
54.4
74
Part-time
33.1
45
No choice
Nationality
Gender
33.8
46
UAE
49.3
67
Female
66.2
90
Non UAE
50.7
69
Male
Freq. of internet use
Educational level
34.6
47
7 or more times /week
7.4
10
Postgraduate
19.8
27
4-6 times /week
75.7
103
Graduate
39.0
53
1-3 times /week
16.9
23
Undergraduate
6.6
9
No use /week
Children
Residence
31.7
13
1
6.6
9
Abu Dhabi
26.8
11
2
22.1
30
Dubai
22.0
9
3
40.4
55
Sharjah
19.5
8
4 or more
25.7
35
Ajman
5.1
7
UMQ
Years of experience
36.8
50
0-3
Age
36
49
4-6
18.4
25
Less than 20
17.6
24
7-9
44.9
61
20 – 29
9.6
13
9 or more
25.7
35
30 – 39
11
15
40 or more
Profession
18.4
25
IT
27.2
37
Media
27.2
37
Mgt. & Marketing
27.2
37
Account. & Finance
Mohamed G. Aboelmaged and Abdallah M. Elamin
25
6.4 Testing the first hypothesis
A cross tabulation analysis is conducted to assess whether there is no difference among employees
in their choice for teleworking based on specific demographic variables. Tables 2 presents frequencies,
percentages, and associations of teleworking choice (i.e., full-time, part-time, and not to telework) with
a number of selected demographic and individual variables including gender, marital status,
educational level, internet use, nationality, residence, number of children, years of experience, and
occupation.
Table 2 indicates that there is a significant difference among employees in their teleworking
choice based on their gender (χ
2
=
12.06, p < 0.01). It is clear from the cross tabulation presented in
Table 2 that females constitute the majority of employees who select full-time teleworking option
(88.2%), while males are the majority who select part-time teleworking (58.1%) as well as not to
telework (53.3%). It also shows the association between marital status and teleworking. In that sense,
employees‘ marital status does significantly influence teleworking choice (χ
2
=
6.69, p < 0.05). The
table demonstrates that single employees are over represented among non teleworkers (80%). On the
other side, married employees are over represented among full-time teleworkers (52.9%). Educational
levels and their distribution cross teleworking choices are illustrated in also reflected in the Table. The
analysis suggests no significant difference among employees in their teleworking choice based on their
educational level (χ
2
=
1.451, n.s). The analysis shows that graduate employees with a university degree
or equivalent are over represented in each of teleworking groups; full-time (76.5%), part-time (75.7%),
and no teleworking group (75.6%). Similarly, the table suggests no significant difference among
employees in their teleworking choice based on their level of Internet use (χ
2
=
11.19, n.s.). Employees
who use the internet 1-3 times weekly form the majority of two contradictory teleworking groups; full-
time teleworking (70.6%) and no teleworking (42.2%). While the majority of employees who prefer
part-time teleworking are using the Internet for 7 or more times per week (39.2%). Further, the table
indicates that there is a significant difference among employees in their teleworking choice based on
their nationality (χ
2
=
6.33, p < 0.05). It is clear from the cross tabulation presented in Table 2 that
employees with UAE nationality are over represented among full-time teleworkers (58.8%), while
employees with non UAE nationality (e.g., Egyptians, Indians, etc.) are over represented among part-
time teleworkers (73.0%) as well as non teleworkers (64.4%). Surprisingly, difference among
employees in their teleworking choice based on their city of residence is significant (χ
2
=
33.99, p >
0.001). Moreover, the table illustrates that part-time teleworking is the main choice of employees living
in emirates of Dubai, Sharjah, and Ajman, while the main teleworking choice of employees living in
UmQuin emirate is full time. However, employees who are living in Abu Dhabi tend to prefer not to
telework. Distribution of number of children cross teleworking choices is also illustrated in the table
suggesting that there is no significant difference among employees in their teleworking choice based on
their number of children (χ
2
=
5.65, n.s.). Employees who select full-time teleworking are equally
distributed among those who have two (28.6%), three (28.6%), and four or more (28.6%) children,
while part-time teleworking choice is dominated by employees who have one child only (38.5%).
Similarly, the table suggests no significant difference among employees in their teleworking choice
based on their age (χ
2
= 3.78, n.s.). Employees between 20-29 years dominate the majority in every
teleworking group; full-time teleworking (47.1%), part-time teleworking (43.2%), and not to telework
(46.7%). Moreover, the relationship between employees‘ teleworking choice and their years of
experience is not significant (χ
2
=
11.11, n.s.) as demonstrated by the table which indicates that
employees who have 4-6 years of experience represent the majority of employees who choose two
contradictory options; to telework full-time (56.8%) and not to telework (44.4%), while part-time
teleworking choice is dominated by employees who have less than four years of working experience
(45.9%). Finally the table illustrates the relationship between teleworking choice and profession. It
shows that employees‘ profession does significantly influence teleworking choice (χ
2
= 21.95, p <
0.01). The table demonstrates that 46.7% of employees who prefer not to telework are in accounting
and finance profession, 28.4% of employees who prefer part-time teleworking are in management and
marketing profession, while employees in media profession are over represented among full-time
teleworkers (52.9%).
Int. Journal of Business Science and Applied Management / Business-and-Management.org
26
Table 2: Cross tabulation results
p
value
χ
2
Teleworking Choice
No
Part-time
Full-time
0.002
12.06**
Gender
24 (53.3)
43 (58.1)
2 (11.8)
Male
21 (46.7)
31 (41.9)
15 (88.2)
Female
0.03
6.69*
Marital status
36 (80)
48 (64.9)
8 (47.1)
Single
9 (20)
26 (35.1)
9 (52.9)
Married
0.83
1.45
Educational level
9 (20)
11 (14.9)
3 (17.6)
Undergrad.
34 (75.6)
56 (75.7)
13 (76.5)
Graduate
2 (4.4)
7 (9.5)
1 (5.9)
Postgrad.
0.08
11.19
Internet Use
4 (8.9)
5 (6.8)
0 (0)
No use
19 (42.2)
22 (29.7)
12 (70.6)
1-3 times
7 (15.6)
18 (24.3)
2 (11.8)
4-6 times
15 (33.3)
29 (39.2)
3 (17.6)
7 or more
0.04
6.33*
Nationality
16 (35.6)
20 (27)
10 (58.8)
UAE
29 (64.4)
54 (73)
7 (41.2)
Non UAE
0.00
33.99**
Residence location
7 (15.6)
2 (2.7)
0 (0)
Abu Dhabi
12 (26.7)
16 (21.6)
2 (11.8)
Dubai
16 (35.6)
34 (45.9)
5 (29.4)
Sharjah
9 (20)
21 (28.4)
5 (29.4)
Ajman
1 (2.2)
1 (1.4)
5 (29.4)
UMQ
0.58
4.65
No. of Children
2 (25)
10 (38.5)
1 (14.2)
One
1 (12.5)
8 (30.8)
2 (28.6)
Two
2 (25)
5 (19.2)
2 (28.6)
Three
3 (37.5)
3 (11.15)
2 (28.6)
Four or more
0.706
3.78
Age
9 (20)
15 (20.3)
1 (5.9)
> 20
21 (46.7)
32 (43.2)
8 (47.1)
20 - 29
12 (26.7)
17 (23)
6 (35.3)
30 - 39
3 (6.7)
10 (13.5)
2 (11.8)
40 ≤
0.085
11.11
Years of experience
14 (31.1)
34 (45.9)
2 (11.8)
0-3
20 (44.4)
19 (25.7)
10 (56.8)
4-6
8 (17.8)
13 (17.6)
3 (17.6)
7-9
3 (6.7)
8 (10.8)
2 (11.8)
9 or more
0.001
21.95**
Profession
3 (6.7)
18 (24.3)
4 (23.5)
IT
9 (20)
19 (25.7)
9 (52.9)
Media
12 (26.7)
21 (28.4)
4 (23.5)
Mgt. & Market.
21 (46.7)
16 (21.6)
0 ( 0)
Account. & Finance
45
(100.0%)
74
(100.0%)
17
(100.0%)
Total
In conclusion, results from ensuing presentation show significant association between teleworking
choice and gender, marital status, nationality, residence, and profession. On the other hand, there is no
significant association between teleworking choice and educational level, Internet use, number of
children, age, and years of experience. Accordingly, hypothesis H1 is partially supported.
6.5 Testing the Second and Third hypotheses
The data collected concerning employees‘ perception of teleworking facilitators and inhibitors are
reduced using a varimax rotated principal component factor analysis. Tables 3 and 4 display the various
facilitators and inhibitors used in this study and show the factor loadings for each of the items. The
loadings indicate a significant relationship between items in each of the factors since all but three are
greater than .50, the critical value for significant loadings (Hair et al., 1992).
Mohamed G. Aboelmaged and Abdallah M. Elamin
27
Table 3: Factors analysis of teleworking facilitators *
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
Community concerns (
α
= 0.85)
0.093
-0.046
0.202
0.046
0.122
0.097
0.753
Environmental pollution
F20
-0.125
0.235
0.087
-0.055
0.193
0.257
0.749
Working opport. for disabled
F21
0.005
0.169
0.094
0.220
0.008
0.174
0.724
Traffic Jams
F22
0.038
0.088
0.232
0.305
0.141
0.238
0.676
Increasing oil prices
F19
0.169
0.067
-0.059
0.379
-0.020
-0.072
0.647
Severe weather conditions
F24
0.281
-0.082
0.069
0.103
0.320
0.072
0.629
Family care
F23
Individual freedom (α = 0.78)
-0.076
-0.066
0.125
0.089
0.143
0.782
0.122
Flexible working time and location
F11
0.246
0.214
0.109
0.075
0.190
0.749
0.120
Personal freedom
F9
0.255
-0.041
0.064
0.036
0.146
0.745
0.178
Avoid work stress
F10
0.178
0.108
-0.039
0.368
0.267
0.427
0.152
No absenteeism
F14
Productivity improvement (
α
= 0.78)
-0.107
0.167
0.073
0.046
0.785
0.158
0.130
Developing ICT usage
F17
0.109
-0.165
0.221
0.077
0.727
0.007
0.056
Better utilization of working time
F8
-0.018
0.093
0.174
-0.024
0.603
0.439
0.203
Improving output quality and quantity
F13
-0.170
0.284
-0.034
-0.081
0.593
0.419
0.152
Increasing employees loyalty
F16
0.417
0.180
0.176
0.015
0.481
0.237
0.101
Paperless work
F18
Travel load (
α
= 0.71)
0.076
0.180
-0.047
0.797
-0.035
-0.126
0.146
Travel preparation
F6
0.036
-0.178
0.132
0.724
0.153
0.247
0.219
Travel time
F5
-0.087
0.049
0.368
0.624
0.007
0.298
0.298
Travel effort and cost
F3
Cost reduction (
α
= 0.66)
-0.025
0.017
0.821
0.022
0.180
0.193
0.137
Saving org. space and equipments
F2
0.279
-0.100
0.671
0.136
0.134
-0.003
0.365
Increasing cost of real states
F1
-0.158
0.469
0.518
0.460
0.017
0.102
0.121
Increasing cost of clothes and accessories
F4
Empowering people (α = 0.51)
0.226
0.801
0.033
0.0091
0.103
0.096
0.102
Minimizing supervisory functions
F15
0.012
0.471
-0.282
0.313
0.355
-0.158
0.217
Task focus
F7
0.831
0.158
0.023
0.042
-0.076
0.209
0.161
Doing other more things
F12
1.382
1.529
1.893
2.346
2.743
2.826
3.512
Eigenvalue
5.76
6.37
7.89
9.77
11.43
11.78
14.63
Percentage of variance explained
67.63
61.87
55.50
47.61
37.84
26.41
14.63
Cumulative percentage of total var. explained
0.993
0.710
0.716
0.743
0.589
0.665
0.645
Standard deviation
Correlation Matrix Determinant = 0.0000179
Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy = 0.814
Bartlett's Test of Sphericity (χ2 = 1378.98 , df = 276 , p < 0.001)
* Principal components analysis; varimax rotation with Kaiser Normalization
Int. Journal of Business Science and Applied Management / Business-and-Management.org
28
Table 4: Factors analysis of teleworking inhibitors *
* Principal components analysis; varimax rotation with Kaiser Normalization
Cumulative percentage of total variance explained for factor analysis of perceived teleworking
facilitators is 67.63% with Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy = 0.814, while
cumulative percentage of total variance explained for factor analysis of perceived teleworking
inhibitors is 65.97% with Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy = 0.794. The Cronbach
alpha coefficient is used to assess reliability of the generated facilitators and inhibitors. As shown in
Tables 3 and 4, the alpha reliabilities range from a low of 0.51 to a high of 0.86. All the reliability
figures, except two variables, were higher than 0.6, the lowest acceptable limit for Cronbach‘s alpha
suggested by Hair et al. (1992), variables with reliabilities lower than 0.6 deserve a further refinement
in future research.
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
Management concerns (α = 0.77)
-0.132
0.164
0.055
0.013
-0.201
0.161
0.727
Org. vision and mission are misplaced
B15
0.102
0.060
0.199
0.029
0.224
0.028
0.714
Safety criteria are not guaranteed
B16
0.156
0.147
0.012
0.228
0.045
0.192
0.683
Inapplicable work rules and regulations
B13
0.039
0.261
0.032
0.447
0.088
0.098
0.569
Access difficulty to decision info.
B17
0.265
- 0.029
- 0.056
0.154
-0.054
0.392
0.559
Hard to control and evaluate performance
B14
Isolation (α = 0.79)
0.169
-0.015
- 0.020
0.124
0.111
0.766
0.089
Misguidance regarding use of org. resources
B11
0.077
0.009
0.257
0.295
0.330
0.672
0.149
Need to interact with work colleagues
B8
-0.167
0.433
0.063
0.199
0.014
0.596
0.265
Lack of teleworking experience
B10
0.205
0.135
0.120
0.062
0.187
0.528
0.385
Feeling guilty toward the organization
B7
0.048
0.293
- 0.037
0.480
0.124
0.509
0.194
Missing promotional opportunities at work
B9
Union resistance (α = 0.77)
-0.207
-0.097
0.139
-0.016
0.800
0.115
-0.045
Union resistance
B23
0.148
0.017
0.027
0.073
0.793
0.104
0.026
Clothing and makeup industry loss
B22
-0.008
0.194
0.036
0.170
0.705
0.196
-0.066
Negative impact on real state sector
B21
-0.010
0.144
-0.020
0.218
0.672
- 0.157
0.227
Unclear insurance
B24
Home inadequacy (α = 0.71)
0.017
0.112
0.192
0.664
0.266
0.053
-0.068
Increased home noise
B20
0.017
-0.091
0.142
0.631
0.150
0.261
0.213
Data insecurity
B19
0.236
-0.148
0.106
0.568
-0.021
0.336
0.438
Coordination difficulty
B12
0.276
0.318
-0.150
0.531
0.020
0.239
0.317
Inapplicable team working
B18
ICT cost (α = 0.86)
0.134
0.073
0.900
0.017
0.017
0.117
0.130
ICT acquisition cost
B1
0.036
0.145
0.871
0.219
0.125
0.074
0.062
ICT maintenance and upgrading cost
B2
Time mismanagement (α = 0.51)
0.208
.802
0.068
-0.046
0.021
0.199
0.169
Home time mismanaged
B6
0.094
.594
0.323
0.152
0.289
-0.109
0.091
Org. time expansion
B3
Family intervention (α = 0.62)
0.835
0.106
0.105
0.217
-0.087
0.111
0.046
Family rights
B4
0.612
0.303
0.187
-0.117
0.095
0.266
0.350
Family – work intervention
B5
1.570
1.747
1.969
2.307
2.595
2.639
3.010
Eigenvalue
6.54
7.28
8.20
9.61
10.81
10.99
12.54
Percentage of variance explained
65.97
59.43
52.15
43.95
34.34
23.53
12.54
Cumulative percentage of total var. explained
0.710
0.694
0.745
0.661
0.688
0.611
0.579
Standard deviation
Correlation Matrix Determinant = 0.00002334
Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy = 0.794
Bartlett's Test of Sphericity (χ2 = 1345.59, df = 276, p < 0.001)
Mohamed G. Aboelmaged and Abdallah M. Elamin
29
6.6 Study-based generated facilitators
The ensuing factor analysis generates six distinct perceived facilitators for teleworking, including
community concerns, individual freedom, productivity improvement, travel load, cost reduction, and
empowering people (see Table 3).
(1) Community concerns: this factor includes a number of community concerns such as reducing
environmental pollution; provision of working opportunities for disabled; reducing traffic jams;
continuous increasing of oil prices; severe weather conditions all over the year; and family care issues.
No doubt, these concerns make adoption and implementation of teleworking programs in UAE is an
appealing option, particularly in case when distance from home to the workplace is far or when traffic
congestion is a problem.
(2) Individual freedom: Items in this factor reflect the notion that teleworking is forced by the
need to reduce stress level and increase job commitment and quality of work life. One likely reason is
that the flexibility in working schedule of teleworkers offers opportunities for them to engage in non-
work activities to a much larger extent than otherwise possible. Such scheduling freedom may allow
time for personal interests.
(3) Productivity improvement: Items in this factor suggest that improving productivity is
perceived as a driving force for teleworking adoption since individuals can avoid interruptions at the
office and get work done in an effective and efficient manner. In addition, teleworking also allows the
individual‘s autonomy by enabling individuals to work during hours where they are most productive
(Teo and Lim, 1998).
(4) Travel load: Items in this factor suggest that the adoption of teleworking will reduce travel
burden, including travel preparation time and effort, time of travel, effort consumed in the travel, and
cost of travel preparation and expenses.
(5) Cost reduction: Items in this factor reflect the notion that teleworking is a cheap work mode,
since it contributes to saving office space and equipments, cost of real states, and cost of clothing and
accessories (Mills et al., 2001; Tung and Turban, 1996).
(6) Empowering people: Items in this factor show that teleworking is perceived as a method to
empower employees through minimizing supervisory functions and giving the employee opportunity to
focus on task at hand.
6.7 Study-based generated inhibitors
The ensuing factor analysis generates seven distinct perceived inhibitors for teleworking,
including management concerns, isolation, union resistance, home inadequacy, ICT cost, time
mismanagement, and family intervention (see Table 4).
(1) Management concerns: Items in this factor propose that managers may find placing
organizational vision and mission, control, supervision, and designing an equitable compensation
scheme for teleworker and appraising their performance are difficult (Teo and Lim, 1998).
(2) Isolation: Items in this factor illustrate the concept of professional and physical isolation which
is reflected in misguidance regarding use of organizational resources, need to interact with work
colleagues, lack of teleworking experience, feeling guilty toward the organization, and missing
promotional opportunities at work. This isolation is found to be one of the key inhibitors of teleworking
implementation (Kurland and Cooper, 2002; Rognes, 2002).
(3) Union resistance: This factor reflects the power of union resistance supported by clothing and
makeup industry loss, negative impact on real state sector, and unclear insurance. This inhibitor may
hinder the implementation of teleworking.
(4) Home inadequacy: Items of this factor shows that home is inadequate place to telework, when
teleworkers face increasing home noise, data insecurity at home, work coordination difficulty, and
missing the chance of team working.
(5) ICT cost: Items in this factor suggest that accountability for repairs / maintenance of
equipment placed at employees‘ homes may be a problem. Furthermore, the initial investment in
equipment to enable employees to telework may be substantial.
(6) Time mismanagement: Items in this factor suggest teleworking time is mismanaged and
expanded since it intervenes with organization‘s working time and follows flexible working mode.
(7) Family intervention: This factor proposes that teleworking may be hindered by the introduction
of family rights and family – work intervention process.
Kruskal-Wallis nonparametric test is applied to assess the relationship between employees‘
perceived teleworking facilitators and inhibitors as ordinal variables and teleworking mode choices as a
nominal variable. Results are illustrated in Tables 5 and 6. Table 5 shows Kruskal-Wallis test result of
Int. Journal of Business Science and Applied Management / Business-and-Management.org
30
the relationship between perceived teleworking facilitators and teleworking choice. With regard to
teleworking facilitators, the analysis demonstrates that there is significant difference among employees
in their perceived importance of individual freedom (χ2 = 17.11, p < 0.01), travel load (χ2 = 6.76, p <
0.05), and cost reduction (χ2 = 10.67, p < 0.01) based on their teleworking choice.
On the other hand, there is no significant difference among employees in their perceived
importance of community concerns (χ2 = 5.62, n.s.), productivity improvement (χ2 = 4.98, n.s.), and
empowering people (χ2 = 4.13, n.s.) based on their teleworking choice. Consequently, hypothesis H2
is partially supported for teleworking facilitators related to individual freedom, travel load, and cost
reduction.
Kruskal-Wallis test result of the relationship between perceived teleworking inhibitors and
teleworking choice is presented in Table 6 The analysis shows that there is significant difference
among employees in their perceived importance of teleworking inhibitors related to union resistance
(χ2 = 6.65, p < 0.01). However, there is no significant difference among employees in their perceived
importance of teleworking inhibitors related to all other categories. Accordingly, hypothesis H2 is only
supported for teleworking inhibitors related to union resistance.
Table 5: Kruskal-Wallis test result of the relationship between perceived teleworking facilitators
and teleworking choice
* p < 0.05, ** p <0.01
χ
2
Perceived teleworking facilitators
5.62
Community concerns
5.54
Environmental pollution
F20
0.52
Working opportunity for disabled
F21
13.28**
Traffic Jams
F22
9.87**
Increasing oil prices
F19
3.45
Severe weather conditions
F24
0.63
Family care
F23
17.11**
Individual freedom
10.77**
Flexible working time and location
F11
9.63**
Personal freedom
F9
13.17**
Avoid work stress
F10
6.34*
No absenteeism
F14
4.98
Productivity improvement
1.41
Developing ICT usage
F17
0.87
Better utilization of working time
F8
10.15**
Improving output quality and quantity
F13
0.81
Increasing employees loyalty
F16
9.36**
Paperless work
F18
6.76*
Travel load
2.54
Travel preparation
F6
10.33**
Travel time
F5
5.88
Travel effort and cost
F3
10.67**
Cost reduction
15.65**
Saving org. space and equipments
F2
2.85
Increasing cost of real states
F1
3.21
Increasing cost of clothes and accessories
F4
4.13
Empowering people
5.26
Minimizing supervisory functions
F15
0.34
Task focus
F7
Mohamed G. Aboelmaged and Abdallah M. Elamin
31
Table 6: Kruskal-Wallis test result of the relationship between perceived teleworking facilitators
and teleworking choice
* p < 0.05, ** p <0.01
7 DISCUSSION AND REFLECTION
7.1 Demographic variables
The results have manifested the important role of selected demographic variables in influencing
teleworking choice, namely, the role of gender. Accordingly, results of the test have shown that
females in the UAE tend to prefer full-time teleworking. Women are found to be motivated by some
considerations such as work flexibility, convenience and increased personal freedom (O‘Connor,
2001). UAE females have perceived telework as promising avenue to change their traditional work
orientation and prove their personal freedom in handling work responsibilities. This is in harmony with
Popuri and Bhat (2003), Yap and Tng (1990), and Wells et al. (2001) who suggest that teleworking will
be of particular interest to women employees. However, in contradiction to the result generated by this
research, some studies show that women employees are not interested in teleworking because they
perceived work, not home, as the less stressful and more emotionally rich environment (Hochschild,
1983). In the same thought, Teo and Lim‘s (1998) study shows that males tend to perceive teleworking
as enabling improvement in the quality of life and improvement in productivity/reduction of overheads
to a greater extent than females. In line with this argument, Peters et al. (2004) suggest that three out
of four teleworkers were male in EU member states, and that this stands in sharp contrast to the
widespread opinion that telework was predominantly female. Moreover, research confirms the
association between marital status and teleworking choice found in previous research. This is in
χ
2
Perceived teleworking inhibitors
0.84
Management concerns
1.40
Org. vision and mission are misplaced
B15
0.67
Safety criteria are not guaranteed
B16
2.13
Inapplicable work rules and regulations
B13
1.25
Access difficulty to decision info.
B17
2.55
Hard to control and evaluate performance
B14
2.93
Isolation
3.91
Misguidance regarding use of org. resources
B11
1.76
Need to interact with work colleagues
B8
4.28
Lack of teleworking experience
B10
1.27
Feeling guilty toward the organization
B7
0.31
Missing promotional opportunities at work
B9
6.65*
Union resistance
6.78*
Union resistance
B23
1.78
Clothing and makeup industry loss
B22
0.99
Negative impact on real state sector
B21
9.38**
Unclear insurance
B24
0.40
Home inadequacy
2.82
Increased home noise
B20
1.80
Data insecurity
B19
1.73
Coordination difficulty
B12
3.79
Inapplicable team working
B18
0.74
ICT cost
2.57
ICT acquisition cost
B1
1.16
ICT maintenance and upgrading cost
B2
0.67
Time mismanagement
1.83
Home time mismanaged
B6
0.71
Org. time expansion
B3
1.17
Family intervention
0.11
Family rights
B4
4.16
Family – work intervention
B5
Int. Journal of Business Science and Applied Management / Business-and-Management.org
32
harmony with Popuri and Bhat (2003), Yap and Tng (1990), and Wells et al. (2001) who suggest that
teleworking will be of particular interest to employees who are married. Furthermore, with regard to
the educational level, the study indicates no association between educational level and teleworking
choice. This result challenges Peters et al., (2004) when mention that well-educated employees were
found to be more likely to practice teleworking. Consequently, this research finding is inconsistent with
the notion that well-educated individuals are able to telework as they exercise more control over their
work schedule than are their co-workers (Yeraguntla and Bhat, 2005).
The present research proves that there is an insignificant association between frequency of Internet
use and teleworking choice. Such a finding falsifies the widely held claim that employees master
certain level of IT skills including Internet skills are typically suited for teleworking. This research
results are inconsistent with the result obtained from the Euro survey 2000, which alleged that telework
was most widespread among employees, who used IT frequently in their job (Peters et al., 2004).
Nationality is also found to be significantly associated with teleworking choice. Non-UAE
national employees prefer part time and no teleworking compared to UAE national employees who
prefer fulltime teleworking. Such findings could be attributed to the fact that Non-UAE national
employees attempt to be present at the traditional workplace and establish good work records in order
to renew their working contracts, rather than asking for teleworking scheme, though they may prefer.
UAE national, on the other hand, are not subject to the stress of being present at the traditional
workplace as non UAE employees. This result is in agreement with Yeraguntla and Bhat (2005) who
indicate that resident Hispanics are more likely to telework than other races such as immigrants African
and Asian who need to demonstrate their working skills, and support their legibility to work and follow
work regulations. Similarly, the study shows that residence is associated with teleworking choice.
Employees living in Sharjah, Ajman and Umquin are over presented among part-time and full-time
teleworkers. This may be interpreted as employees living in these northern emirates always face severe
traffic jams in their way to work in Dubai, so that teleworking is perceived as the magic solution for
them. This result is consistent with Yen and Mahmassani (1997) when they suggest that the greater the
distance from home to workplace, the more likely the employee is to prefer teleworking. Also,
Mokhtarian and Salomon (1996) show that people who have longer commutes are more likely to report
that they want to telework. This contrasts with Drucker and Khattak (2000) who find that distance to
work is negatively correlated with working at home—that is, the farther the individual lives from his
job, the less likely he/she to work from home.
Number of children is found to be not associated with teleworking choice. This result confirms
Mokhtarian and Salomon (1996) when propose no effect of having children on the desire to telework.
Nevertheless, this is in disagreement with Popuri and Bhat (2003), Yap and Tng (1990), Wells et al.
(2001) who suggest that teleworking will be of particular interest to employees who have children.
Although, working parents may highly value the time-savings of teleworking due to the elimination of
commuting time and allow a parent to stay at home with a sick child (Peters et al., 2004), albeit, this is
not the case of UAE. In UAE culture, parents (working and not working) depend entirely on foreign
maids to take care of their children regardless how many children they may have. Similarly, age is
found to be not associated with teleworking choice. In consistent with that, Belanger (1999) does not
reveal significant age differences between those practicing telework and those not doing so in her study
of a high technology organization in USA. Nevertheless, many studies have revealed contradictory
results with regard to the relationship between age and teleworking. Mokhtarian and Salomon (1996),
and Bagley and Mokhtarian (1997) show that younger people are more likely to report that they want to
telework. Yeraguntla and Bhat (2005) indicate that young adults (less than 25 years) are more likely to
be in part-time employment than older adults. This is perhaps a reflection of the fact that many young
adults are studying and working part-time at the same time. Inconsistently, the EU member states
survey data indicated that the age group 30–49 was over represented among teleworkers (Peters et al.,
2004).
Research result related to years of experience tends to be not in agreement with Yeraguntla and
Bhat (2005) who suggest that employees who have worked less than a year in the firm are more likely
to be part-time teleworkers than those who have been working for longer periods of time. In UAE
context, the situation may be different since employees with less working experience try to prove their
skills, establish good impression, and get supervisor‘s support through being presenting at the
traditional workplace. After long years of experience, employees may consider teleworking as an
alternative work scheme that facilitate managing other concerns such as managing own small business.
The results of the present research prove the existence of an association between employees‘
profession and teleworking choice. While employees with accounting and finance professions tend to
avoid telework, employees with IT, media and management profession tend to telework either on part-
time or full-time basis. This result is consistent with Gray et al. (1993) who suggest that computer
Mohamed G. Aboelmaged and Abdallah M. Elamin
33
programmers, systems analysts, catalogue shopping telephone order agents, and data entry clerks fit
full-time telework category.
7.2 Facilitator and inhibitors
This research confirms the importance of individual freedom, community concerns, and
productivity as key teleworking facilitators perceived by employees. This is in agreement with the
mainstream literature that support the perceived importance of personal freedom and autonomy as an
immediate symbolic result of employees‘ interaction with teleworking adoption (Feldman and Gainey
(1997; Pulido and Lopez, 2005). In addition, teleworking impact on the society as expressed by
employees is clear and tangible on the short run. Mills et al. (2001) and Tung and Turban (1996)
consider community and societal related teleworking facilitators such as reduction of air pollution and
dependence on fuel, conserve energy housebound and disabled people can work from home, and
reduced traffic during rush hours and transportation demand as important determinants of teleworking
success in the short run. Moreover, increasing productivity gains is also considered as key derivers for
organizations to adopt teleworking (Kurland and Bailey, 1999; Lim et al., 2003; Mills et al., 2001;
Tung and Turban, 1996). However, a recent study analyzed the findings of over 80 previous studies,
indicating that ―little clear evidence exists that telework increases job satisfaction and productivity, as it
is often asserted to do‖ (Bailey and Kurland, 2002: p. 383).
As far as teleworking inhibitors are concerned, the present research confirms the importance of
isolation as a key inhibitor of teleworking. Recent research indicates that isolation is perceived as one
of the key factors that may hinder the implementation of teleworking (Kurland and Cooper, 2002;
Rognes, 2002). Isolation is a factor that may result in lack of interaction with colleagues and lack of
commitment (Hobbs and Armstrong, 1998). Besides isolation, this research also points to the perceived
importance of home inadequacy as a place of working. Although teleworking is treated as working
from home, home is perceived by employees as inadequate place for work. Many reasons contribute to
this claim involve lack of needed collaboration with other employees, security risks, difficulty of
performance control and work coordination (Mills et al., 2001; Tung and Turban, 1996).
Based on the analysis of test results related to hypotheses two and three, most of teleworking
facilitators and inhibitors are not associated with teleworking choice. This means that employees with
different teleworking modes (i.e., full-time, part-time, not to telework) do not differently perceive the
importance of teleworking facilitators and inhibitors. In other words, teleworking facilitators and
inhibitors are visible for all employees regardless of their teleworking preference mode. However,
teleworking choice is found to be associated with the perception of specific teleworking facilitators and
inhibitors. This implies that employees who prefer not to telework tend to perceive less importance for
such teleworking facilitator or inhibitor, while employees who prefer to telework part-time or full-time
tend to perceive higher importance. Such teleworking facilitators which are associated with
teleworking choice include individual freedom, travel overload, and cost reduction. . Union resistance
is the only teleworking inhibitor that is associated with teleworking choice. This is consistent with
other teleworking studies such as Feldman and Gainey (1997) and Pulido and Lopez (2005) who
suggest that individual freedom is highly perceived among part-time teleworkers. In addition,
teleworkers are more likely to report longer commutes to workplace (Yen and Mahmassani, 1997;
Mokhtarian and Salomon, 1996). Finally, perception of cost saving is also over presented among part-
time and full time teleworkers in other context (Kurland and Bailey, 1999; Reid, 1993)
8 RESEARCH LIMITATIONS
There are several limitations of the present study that may restrict its generalizability. First,
sample size is relatively small compared to other studies that have nation-wide samples. Second, the
descriptive and exploratory nature of the topic does not allow the researchers to go into the depth of
predicting the discovered relationships. Despite that, this study is the first of its kinds to examine
teleworking choice and related facilitators and inhibitors in UAE, and in the Arab context. Third, eight
out of eleven organizations do not allow the researchers to collect organization‘s related data such as
income of employees, managerial level, degree of computer use in the organization, level of autonomy,
decentralization, etc. Consequently, such organization‘s related variables are eliminated from the
original questionnaire in order to maintain access to the respondents. Fourth, as the study focuses on
prospective teleworkers in ICT context, results cannot be generalized to other non-ICT contexts.
Int. Journal of Business Science and Applied Management / Business-and-Management.org
34
9 PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The following are some practical implications and recommendations that have emerged from the
study of teleworking choice in the UAE:
Firms employ relatively large percentages of married, female, IT profession, individuals
living in remote areas are recommended to adopt flexible work practices such as
teleworking.
Managers are advised to adopt part-time or full-time teleworking scheme in order to
integrate and maintain two contradictory strategies; individual freedom and productivity
improvement.
Successful implementation of teleworking requires managers to effectively manage
professional and physical isolation of teleworkers through regular office visits and
meetings with colleagues. Other practical strategies could include regular e-mail intranet
systems, news bulletins and social events. They should also take measures to allow social
comparisons to be made, perhaps through use of newsletters, as well as helping
teleworkers maintain visibility (perhaps with on-line discussions). Given that these
measures are implemented the part-time teleworking is highly recommended compared
with full-time teleworking.
If home is inadequate place for teleworking, managers can rely on telecenters as a
substitute. In telecenters, collaboration with other employees can be conducted, and
performance control can be facilitated.
Managers should ensure that any teleworking initiatives are backed up with the
appropriate technical support in such way that technicians are available and able to
respond quickly to technical problems and equipment failure.
When initiating teleworking schemes, managers should devise a teleworking policy
document that would cover issues such as expectations regarding working when sick,
hours to be worked, salary, meetings and visits, deadlines, continuing training,
opportunities for career development, management by distance, responsibility for hidden
costs (such as electricity) and no hidden costs (such as postage), etc. The aim of such a
document is to let workers feel that they have ―permission‖ to call when they are sick or
to switch off the computer at the end of the working day, as well as helping managers
manage by outlining to distant workers what is expected of them.
The importance of data security, privacy, and confidentiality cannot be overlooked when
work is performed at home. An organization should invest in the appropriate security
measures needed to ensure the confidentiality of data.
It is necessary to provide training both to the teleworkers and their managers or
supervisors. Training areas may include information technologies and networking
procedures as well as psychological preparation to work in a new environment.
10 CONCLUSION
This study examines the concept of teleworking choice as it applies to UAE context. The
relationship between demographic and individual variables, and teleworking choice is investigated. The
research reveals that there is no difference among employees in their teleworking choice based on their
educational level, Internet use, number of children, age, and years of experience. On the other hand,
there is a difference among employees in their teleworking choice based on their gender, marital status,
nationality, residence location, and work profession. In addition, the research identifies six distinct
teleworking facilitators and seven distinct teleworking inhibitors in the UAE context. Generated
facilitators are community concerns, individual freedom, productivity improvement, travel load, cost
reduction, and empowering people, while generated inhibitors are management concerns, isolation,
union resistance, home inadequacy, information and communication technology (ICT) cost, time
mismanagement, and family intervention. Perceived mean importance of these facilitators and
inhibitors is computed and ordered. Individual freedom, community concerns, and productivity are
perceived by employees as the most important facilitators, while isolation and home inadequacy are
perceived as the most important inhibitors. A further statistical test has revealed that there is no
difference among employees in the perceived importance of most teleworking facilitators and inhibitors
based on their teleworking choice. An exception is the association between teleworking choice and
individual freedom, travel overload, cost reduction, and union resistance. The study points out the
Mohamed G. Aboelmaged and Abdallah M. Elamin
35
limitations of the present research and suggests some practical implications and recommendations for
managers.
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