VARIATION IN JOB PERFORMANCE AMONG TELECOMMUTERS A thesis submitted to the faculty of AS San Francisco State University 3G In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree Master of Science In Industrial/Organizational Psychology by Zachary Glenn DeRossette San Francisco, California May 2016 Copyright by Zachary Glenn DeRossette 2016 CERTIFICATION OF APPROVAL I certify that I have read Variation in Job Performance Among Telecommuters by Zachary Glenn DeRossette, and that in my opinion this work meets the criteria for approving a thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree Masters of Science: Industrial/Organizational Psychology at San Francisco State University. -fir Chirk/ttfLf- Chris Wright, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Psychology Kevin Eschleman, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Psychology VARIATION IN JOB PERFORMANCE AMONG TELECOMMUTERS Zachary Glenn DeRossette San Francisco, Ca 2016 This study examined the variation in job performance of employees in regards to the amount of time they spend telecommuting (i.e. telecommuting intensity). The majority of the previous research only compared telecommuting groups to non-telecommuting groups, and did not take into consideration the amount of time an employee spends away from the office. It was hypothesized that the more time an employee spent away from the office the lower their job performance would be. This hypothesis was supported. It was also hypothesized that the more time an employee spent telecommuting the more time they would spend using the internet for non-work purposes (i.e cyberloafing). This hypothesis was also supported. Personality characteristics were also examined, specifically conscientiousness. It was hypothesized that conscientiousness would play a moderating role between telecommuting intensity and both job performance and cyberloafing. These hypotheses were not supported. Limitations of the study and suggestions for future research are discussed. I certify that the Abstract is a correct representation of the content of this Thesis Chair, Thesis Committee Date ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to acknowledge and thank my advisor Chris Wright, Ph.D. for his support through this process and throughout my two years in the program at SFSU. I would also like to thank Kevin Eschleman, Ph.D. for his insight to improve this study. v TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Tables.......................................................................................................................... vii List of Appendices.................................................................................................................viii Introduction................................................................................................................................ 1 Significance of Study....................................................................................................1 Cyberloafing................................................................................................................10 Personality....................................................................................................................11 Method......................................................................................................................................13 Participants...................................................................................................................13 Measures......................................................................................................................13 Procedures....................................................................................................................15 Results.......................................................................................................................................16 Discussion................................................... 17 Strengths and Limitations.......................................................................................... 19 Practical Implications and Future Directions........................................................... 21 References................................................................................................................................24 Tables....................................................................................................................................... 30 Appendices...............................................................................................................................34 LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. Means, Standard Deviations, and Correlation Matrix...............................................30 2. Means, Standard Deviations, and Correlation Matrix.................................. 31 3. Moderation Table........................................................................................................32 4. Moderation Table........................................................................................................33 vii LIST OF APPENDICES Appendix Page 1. Demographic Items..................................................................................................... 34 2. Questions About Time Spent Telecommuting..........................................................35 3. Personality Characteristics......................................................................................... 36 4. Questions About Job Performance.............................................................................37 5. Questions About Cyberloafmg................................................................................... 38 6. Additional Questions About Cyberloafmg................................................................ 39 1 The amount of employees telecommuting is constantly growing (from 18.7% in 2004 to 23.3% in 2014 according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics), yet there is still much to be researched on the effects it has on an employee’s job performance. For the purpose of this study, telecommuting is defined as, “A form of work organization in which the work is partially or completely done outside the conventional company workplace with the aid of information and telecommunication services” (Konradt, Schmook, & Malecke, 2000). Data will be collected to determine how the amount of time an employee spends telecommuting, also referred to as telecommuting intensity, is related to both their job performance and the frequency of engagement in cyberloafing. With so many employees doing work at home, 23% of Americans in 2014 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2015), it is important to understand what type of impact this has on their job performance. Significance of the study Advances in technology have made telecommuting an affordable and realistic possibility for many companies and employees. More and more work can be done away from the office. This trend is unlikely to stop or slow down, so it is important to examine how this type of working arrangement can affect the job performance of an employee. Early Research. Earlier research on telecommuting generally compared a telecommuting group to a non-telecommuting group (Allen, Golden, & Shockley, 2015). This does not take into consideration that many people today spend time both telecommuting and working in the office. Some people telecommute exclusively, but 2 more frequently people have a wide range of time spent telecommuting. Someone who is telecommuting a few hours per week, compared to someone who spends almost their entire work week telecommuting, is likely to have a very different experience. It was only recently that telecommuting studies started taking telecommuting intensity into consideration, (Allen et al., 2015) which is why this study is needed. Research suggesting positive business outcomes. The existing research on telecommuting has mixed results. In general, the research on telecommuting is mostly positive. For example, a widely cited meta-analysis by Gajendran & Harrison (2007) suggests there are a number of benefits to telecommuting. The authors examined 46 studies in natural settings involving 12,833 employees assessing how telecommuting affects many factors, including employees’ job performance. The results were divided into self-rated employee performance, supervisor ratings, or objective measures. The collective results showed that telecommuting had no impact on self-rated employee performance, but there was an improvement on the supervisor rating and objective measures. This may seem like very promising news for telecommuting. However, it is important to take into consideration that only four of the studies in this meta-analysis used supervisor ratings as criteria. The authors also mentioned that telecommuting intensity was not taken into consideration when looking at job performance. Another study that suggests telecommuting can lead to improved job performance was conducted at a Chinese travel agency (Bloom, Liang, Roberts, & Ying, 2015). The results showed that telecommuting led to a 13% increase in job performance and also a 3 4% increase in productivity. Workers at the company volunteered for a telecommuting experiment and were randomly assigned to work either from home or the office. This experiment took place over a nine-month period, so the increase is not attributed to a temporary increase in performance due to the fact the workers knew they were being monitored. This is a very compelling study considering it was a true experiment and job performance was measured using objective data such as phone