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Working from Home

Author

Listed:
  • Kira Rupietta

    (University of Basel
    University of Konstanz)

  • Michael Beckmann

    (University of Basel)

Abstract

This paper investigates how working from home affects employees’ work effort. Employees who have the possibility to work from home have a high autonomy in scheduling and organizing their work and are therefore assumed to have a higher intrinsic motivation. Thus, we expect working from home to positively influence work effort of employees. We introduce a theoretical model that analyzes whether intrinsic motivation influences the impact of working from home on employees’ work effort. To account for the self-selection into working locations, we use an instrumental variable (IV) estimation strategy. Our empirical results indicate that working from home has a positive influence on employees’ work effort. In addition, we show that working from home indeed increases intrinsic motivation and thus employees’ work effort. Moreover, we find that the frequency of working from home also matters. The more frequently employees work from home, the higher the work effort they provide is.

Suggested Citation

  • Kira Rupietta & Michael Beckmann, 2018. "Working from Home," Schmalenbach Business Review, Springer;Schmalenbach-Gesellschaft, vol. 70(1), pages 25-55, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:schmbr:v:70:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1007_s41464-017-0043-x
    DOI: 10.1007/s41464-017-0043-x
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    Cited by:

    1. Deole, Sumit S. & Deter, Max & Huang, Yue, 2023. "Home sweet home: Working from home and employee performance during the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    2. Bellmann, Lutz & Hübler, Olaf, 2020. "Job Satisfaction and Work-Life Balance: Differences between Homework and Work at the Workplace of the Company," IZA Discussion Papers 13504, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Gerten Elisa & Beckmann Michael & Bellmann Lutz, 2019. "Controlling Working Crowds: The Impact of Digitalization on Worker Autonomy and Monitoring Across Hierarchical Levels," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 239(3), pages 441-481, June.
    4. Gerten, Elisa & Beckmann, Michael & Kräkel, Matthias, 2022. "Information and Communication Technology, Hierarchy, and Job Design," IZA Discussion Papers 15491, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Working from home; Job design; Work effort; Intrinsic motivation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J81 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Standards - - - Working Conditions
    • M50 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Personnel Economics - - - General
    • M54 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Personnel Economics - - - Labor Management

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