ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a discussion of existing research on the employer's and the employee's decision processes. Existing research on the employer's decision process is largely qualitative, and focuses on the motivations for employers to offer telecommuting and on managers' attitudes towards telecommuting. The chapter identifies the employer's decision to offer a program as being a function of the organizational characteristics, including the composition of the labor force, organizational costs and organizational structure, as well as of the managers' attitudes toward and perceptions of telecommuting. It discusses the behavioral frameworks, qualitative data analyses and behavioral models. It is demonstrated that drives related to family, independence, leisure, ideology, work and commute make a significant contribution to the formation of employees' preference for telecommuting. An analysis of the data indicates that employees perceive telecommuting to increase schedule flexibility, productivity and autonomy. The chapter also demonstrates the significance of preferences, drives, facilitators and constraints in the employees' decision.
