IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/rug/rugwps/22-1042.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Disentangling the attractiveness of telework to employees: a factorial survey experiment

Author

Listed:
  • Eline Moens
  • Elsy Verhofstadt
  • Luc Van Ootegem
  • Stijn Baert

Abstract

This research adds to the literature on the attractiveness of telework to employees. To this end, we set up an innovative factorial survey experiment in which a high-quality sample of employees evaluates job offers with diverging characteristics, among which a wide variation in telework possibilities. We find that the relationship between the possibility to telework and job attractiveness is approximately linear: 10 percentage points more telework hours yield a rise of 2.2 percentage points in job attractiveness and, therefore, the willingness to give up an increase of 2.3 pp in wage in the new job. Our experimental design also allows us to investigate the underlying mechanisms of this relationship as well as its moderators. We find that the attractiveness of telework is particularly explained by expectations of an improved work-life balance, more work scheduling autonomy, a higher job satisfaction, and more work methods autonomy in jobs with a greater possibility to telework. In addition, our analyses show that less conscientious employees are on average more attracted to jobs with greater telework possibilities, so that it is important that self-selection in jobs with more telework is well-monitored.

Suggested Citation

  • Eline Moens & Elsy Verhofstadt & Luc Van Ootegem & Stijn Baert, 2022. "Disentangling the attractiveness of telework to employees: a factorial survey experiment," Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium 22/1042, Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.
    • Handle: RePEc:rug:rugwps:22/1042
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://wps-feb.ugent.be/Papers/wp_22_1042.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Haoran He & David Neumark & Qian Weng, 2021. "Do Workers Value Flexible Jobs? A Field Experiment," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 39(3), pages 709-738.
    2. Anne Aguiléra & Virginie Lethiais & Alain Rallet & Laurent Proulhac, 2016. "Home-based telework in France: Characteristics, barriers and perspectives," Post-Print hal-01369611, HAL.
    3. Nicole Maestas & Kathleen J. Mullen & David Powell & Till von Wachter & Jeffrey B. Wenger, 2023. "The Value of Working Conditions in the United States and the Implications for the Structure of Wages," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 113(7), pages 2007-2047, July.
    4. Louis Lippens & Eline Moens & Philippe Sterkens & Johannes Weytjens & Stijn Baert, 2021. "How do employees think the COVID-19 crisis will affect their careers?," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(5), pages 1-19, May.
    5. Claudia Pigini & Stefano Staffolani, 2019. "Teleworkers in Italy: who are they? Do they make more?," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 40(2), pages 265-285, February.
    6. Aguilera, Anne & Lethiais, Virginie & Rallet, Alain & Proulhac, Laurent, 2016. "Home-based telework in France: Characteristics, barriers and perspectives," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 1-11.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Masayuki Morikawa, 2024. "Productivity dynamics of work from home: Firm-level evidence from Japan," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 34(2), pages 465-487, April.
    2. Gavoille, Nicolas & Hazans, Mihails, 2022. "Personality Traits, Remote Work and Productivity," IZA Discussion Papers 15486, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ed Burton & David John Edwards & Chris Roberts & Nicholas Chileshe & Joseph H. K. Lai, 2021. "Delineating the Implications of Dispersing Teams and Teleworking in an Agile UK Construction Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-21, September.
    2. Markus Nagler & Johannes Rincke & Erwin Winkler, 2024. "Working from home, commuting, and gender," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 37(3), pages 1-23, September.
    3. Jinjia Liang & Tomio Miwa & Takayuki Morikawa, 2023. "Preferences and Expectations of Japanese Employees toward Telecommuting Frequency in the Post-Pandemic Era," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(16), pages 1-16, August.
    4. Marta Fana & Francesco Sabato Massimo & Angelo Moro, 2021. "Autonomy and control in mass remote working during the Covid-19 pandemic. Evidence from a cross-professional and cross-national analysis," LEM Papers Series 2021/28, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy.
    5. Desiere, Sam & Walter, Christian, 2023. "The Shift Premium: Evidence from a Discrete Choice Experiment," IZA Discussion Papers 16460, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Laura Abrardi & Elena Grinza & Alessandro Manello & Flavio Porta, 2024. "Work from home arrangements and organizational performance in Italian SMEs: evidence from the COVID-19 pandemic," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 67(6), pages 2821-2863, December.
    7. Mello, Rodrigo & Erro-Garcés, Amaya & Dickmann, Michael & Brewster, Chris, 2025. "A potential paradigm shift in global mobility? The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 34(1).
    8. Jason Sockin, 2022. "Show Me the Amenity: Are Higher-Paying Firms Better All Around?," CESifo Working Paper Series 9842, CESifo.
    9. Becky P. Y. Loo & Bo Wang, 2018. "Factors associated with home-based e-working and e-shopping in Nanjing, China," Transportation, Springer, vol. 45(2), pages 365-384, March.
    10. Piotr Lewandowski & Katarzyna Lipowska & Mateusz Smoter, 2022. "Mismatch in preferences for working from home – evidence from discrete choice experiments with workers and employers," IBS Working Papers 05/2022, Instytut Badan Strukturalnych.
    11. Linda Widar & Birgitta Wiitavaara & Eva Boman & Marina Heiden, 2021. "Psychophysiological Reactivity, Postures and Movements among Academic Staff: A Comparison between Teleworking Days and Office Days," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(18), pages 1-16, September.
    12. Kuan-Ming Chen & Claire Ding & John A. List & Magne Mogstad, 2020. "Reservation Wages and Workers’ Valuation of Job Flexibility: Evidence from a Natural Field Experiment," NBER Working Papers 27807, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Hirte, Georg & Laes, Renée & Gerike, Regine, 2023. "Working from self-driving cars," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    14. Clemens, Jeffrey, 2019. "Making Sense of the Minimum Wage: A Roadmap for Navigating Recent Research," MPRA Paper 94324, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Bassant Adel Mostafa, 2021. "The Effect of Remote Working on Employees Wellbeing and Work-Life Integration during Pandemic in Egypt," International Business Research, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 14(3), pages 1-41, March.
    16. Jeffrey Clemens, 2021. "How Do Firms Respond to Minimum Wage Increases? Understanding the Relevance of Non-employment Margins," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 35(1), pages 51-72, Winter.
    17. Kuan-Ming Chen & Ning Ding & John A. List & Magne Mogstad, 2020. "Reservation Wages and Workers’ Valuation of Job Flexibility: Evidence from a Natural Field Experiment," Working Papers 2020-124, Becker Friedman Institute for Research In Economics.
    18. Hirte, Georg & Laes, Renée, 2022. "Working from self-driving cars," CEPIE Working Papers 01/22, Technische Universität Dresden, Center of Public and International Economics (CEPIE).
    19. Olle Folke & Johanna Rickne, 2022. "Sexual Harassment and Gender Inequality in the Labor Market [High Wage Workers and High Wage Firms]," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 137(4), pages 2163-2212.
    20. Markus Nagler & Johannes Rincke & Erwin Winkler, 2022. "How Much Do Workers Actually Value Working from Home?," CESifo Working Paper Series 10073, CESifo.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    telework; job attractiveness; factorial survey experiment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J81 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Standards - - - Working Conditions
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J63 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Turnover; Vacancies; Layoffs
    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:rug:rugwps:22/1042. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Nathalie Verhaeghe (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ferugbe.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.