Investigating homeworkers' inclination to remain connected to work at “anytime, anywhere” via mobile phones

an article by Banita Lal (Nottingham Business Schools, Nottingham Trent University) and Yogesh K. Dwivedi, (School of Business and Economics, Swansea University) published in Journal of Enterprise Information Management Volume 23 Issue 6 (2011)

Abstract


Purpose
Mobile phones are said to enable homeworkers to remain connected for work purposes at “anytime, anywhere”, irrespective of time or location. This paper seeks to argue that, despite this assertion, little is known beyond the anecdotal literature about whether homeworkers actually remain connected as such.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper aimed to address the issue described previously by conducting semi-structured interviews with 25 homeworkers who were recruited using snowball sampling.
Findings
The findings show that homeworkers tried to distinguish between “work” and “home” by allocating specific time and space to each domain, but nevertheless remained connected via their mobile phones outside the time and space allocated for work activity. This resulted in work crossing into the home domain and individuals potentially becoming connected and contactable at “anytime, anywhere”. However, the findings identify that homeworkers took various actions in order to control their contactability outside the work domain, which suggests that, despite the potential, remaining connected “anytime, anywhere” is often not the reality. Such actions are discussed in this paper in the context of the existing literature.
Practical implications
Implications for organisations employing homeworking are also presented, together with how the limitations of the study can be overcome in future research.
Originality/value
The paper contributes to the less explored and existing homeworking and boundary literature and provides implications for practitioners of homeworking.

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