Cross Cultural Differences in Managers’ Support for Home-Based Telework: A Theoretical Elaboration

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DOI: 10.1177/1470595803003003005 2003; 3; 329 International Journal of Cross Cultural Management

Pascale Peters and Laura den Dulk Theoretical Elaboration

Cross Cultural Differences in Managers’ Support for Home-Based Telework: A

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Like flexible working hours and part-timework, home-based telework1 is one of thereported arrangements organizations canintroduce in order to allow their employees abetter balance between professional and pri-vate life (Powell and Mainiero, 1999; denDulk, 2001; Poelmans et al., 2003). Organi-

zations in turn, may expect to receive moreorganizational commitment, job satisfaction,and employee retention and attraction inreturn (see Bailey and Kurland, 2002). Tele-work may contribute to a better work–lifebalance in several ways. Telework is viewedas a time-saving strategy because it avoids

Cross Cultural Differences inManagers’ Support for Home-based TeleworkA Theoretical Elaboration

Pascale Peters and Laura den DulkUtrecht University, The Netherlands

Home-based telework is one of the arrangements organizations can introduce tofacilitate a better balance between employees’ professional and private lives. This articlefocuses on the question of under what conditions managers grant a subordinate’s request totelework and what role national cultures play herein. By looking into managers’ willingnessto delegate power and to trust home-based teleworkers we try to explain the slow adoptionof home-based telework and the reported differences across Northern and SouthernEuropean countries. In doing so we will make use of Hofstede’s writings on national culturesand of the propositions made by the telework literature on how to mitigate the potentialtrust problem associated with distance working. The purpose of the article is to develop newhypotheses regarding factors that influence managerial decision-making concerning teleworkand how these interact with national cultures. To test the hypotheses, a cross-nationalvignette study is proposed.

• control • Europe, national culture • home-based telework • human resourcemanagement • telework penetration rates • trust • work–family balance

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commuting time to the office (Peters et al.,2002). Although the results of empirical studies on telework are mixed, some indicatethat teleworkers do have longer commutesthan those who do not (Bailey and Kurland,2002). In a study of 849 Dutch employeesusing a personal computer at the workplace,Peters et al. (forthcoming) found that em-ployees who commute more than one hourto the office not only prefer home-based tele-work more than employees who have shorterone-way commuting times, but are also morelikely to be allowed to work from home. Thetime saved by teleworking can be used forother activities, such as childcare or doinghousehold chores. Employees involved intelework often report more control over theirwork schedule, in terms of when and wherethey work, but especially with respect to theorder, way and speed of doing their work.This schedule flexibility, in turn, reducesemployees’ work–family conflict (Gottlieb etal., 1998). In line with this finding, employeespreferring home-based telework were alsofound to be more supportive of the state-ment that ‘telecommuting enables a flexiblescheduling of the day’ (Peters et al., forth-coming). Another reason for employees toprefer home-based telework is that it allowsthem freedom from work interruptions byco-workers, customers, or other factors (seeBailey and Kurland, 2002). Working fromhome is often said to improve productivityand allows workers to meet deadlines in time.Although this does not necessarily relate towork–family conflict, employees who com-bine professional life and family duties mayalso gain from the benefits of a teleworkingday, i.e. long, uninterrupted, quiet periods oftime in which work can be done. However,telework does not diminish the need forchildcare. In addition, the question can beraised as to whether telework actually con-tributes to a better work–life balance. Somestudies show that teleworkers often worklonger hours when compared with employeesin other work arrangements. Nevertheless,

telework often implies more control overwork schedules which might positively affectthe work–life balance of employees (Gottliebet al., 1998). It is important to note, however,that telework is not always introduced withthe intention of supporting the work–life balance of employees. Employers can intro-duce telework for different reasons, forinstance, as a solution to problems of housingexpanding staff, as a means of reducing over-heads, or as a way of attracting valuable personnel.

Despite the fact that telework seems anattractive solution for the problems workersface in balancing work and family life, pene-tration rates have not increased as much asexpected. Since its introduction in the 1970sand 1980s, the total number of Europeanteleworkers had increased to around 9 mil-lion in 1999 (European Commission, 2000:29). In order to support the introduction of formal telework arrangements acrossEurope, the European Commission success-fully urged social partners at European levelto sign a framework agreement on telework,imposing equal rights regarding social andworking conditions for teleworkers and non-teleworkers (Commission of the EuropeanCommunities, 2001; van Klaveren et al.,forthcoming). At present, however, Euro-pean countries differ greatly in their adoptionof telework; especially the differences in actual penetration rates between Northernand Southern European countries are strik-ing (European Commission, 2000; Gareis,2002). Table 1 gives the latest figures on dif-ferent types of telework in Europe and theUS. A distinction is made between home-based telework, mobile teleworkers and self-employed teleworkers. In this article we focusprimarily on home-based telework. That is, alternating home-based teleworkers whospend at least one working day at home; per-manent home-based teleworkers who spendalmost all their working time at home; andsupplementary home-based teleworkers whowork from home less than one day a week.

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Mobile workers are those people who work atleast 10 hours per week away from home andfrom the main workplace.

Table 1 shows that in 2002, on average13% of employed persons in the ten EUcountries practised some form of telework,against 25% in the US, with leading countriesin Europe being the Netherlands, Denmarkand Finland. Southern European countriesare lagging behind; the lowest percentage ofteleworkers being found in Portugal. Further-more, home-based telework appears to be the largest category among the different typesof telework and is dominated by supple-mentary teleworkers; i.e. those working lessthan one full working day from home. This is true for all countries. Only Sweden,Finland, Switzerland and the Netherlands are characterized by a substantial percentage of

alternating and permanent home-based tele-workers (between 4% and 9%). Comparedwith the 1999 ECaTT data (European Com-mission, 2000), it also becomes evident thatsupplementary telework is growing fasterthan the other types of home-based telework.Hence, the development in home-based tele-work does not seem to result in ‘workersspending more and more time working athome, but rather to more and more workersspending a fraction of their weekly workingtime at home’ (Gareis, 2002: 12). This pointstowards a greater flexibility in the use of individual working locations – for instance, tobalance work and private life in a more opti-mal way, and less towards some of the tradi-tional advantages ascribed to telework – likesavings on commuting time.

The cross-national variation in the actual

Peters & den Dulk: Cross Cultural Differences in Managers’ Support for Home-based Telework 331

Table 1 Types of telework across Europe and the US, 2002 (in % of employed persons)

Home-basedteleworkers All teleworkers

All home-based alternating/ Mobile Self-employed (excludingteleworkers permanent workers teleworkers overlaps)

Austria 6.7 2.0 3.7 5.7 13.8Belgium 7.5 2.2 2.4 2.5 10.6Denmark 17.7 2.6 2.7 2.9 21.5Finland 15.7 4.7 6.2 3.2 21.8France 4.4 2.2 2.1 0.8 6.3Germany 7.9 1.6 5.7 5.2 16.6Greece 6.0 2.1 3.5 3.4 11.1Ireland 6.0 0.5 4.2 3.3 10.9Italy 2.5 0.8 5.5 2.6 9.5Luxembourg 3.3 0.9 1.5 1.8 5.6Netherlands 20.6 9.0 4.1 5.0 26.4Portugal 1.6 0.5 0.3 1.5 3.4Spain 2.3 0.3 0.8 2.0 4.9Sweden 14.9 5.3 4.9 2.0 18.7United Kingdom 10.9 2.4 4.7 4.5 17.3EU 7.4 2.1 4.0 3.4 13.0Switzerland 11.4 4.2 7.6 2.2 16.8United States 17.3 5.1 5.9 6.3 24.6

Source: SIBIS 2002, GPS (in Gareis, 2002)

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number of home-based teleworkers presentedin Table 1 is mirrored in figures representingestablishments’ interest in telework (Euro-pean Commission, 2000). Among businessesin 1999, interest in introducing telework(including supplementary and informal tele-work) was highest in Finland, Denmark andSweden (almost 70% of all establishments)and lowest in Italy and Spain (25–30% of all establishments) (European Commission,2000: 35). General interest among employeesregarding home-based telework shows lessvariation across the countries. In the ECaTT1999 study, most countries showed figures inthe 60–70% range, with Sweden leading thefield with almost 90% of the labour forcealready teleworking or interested in doing so(European Commission, 2000: 34). TheSIBIS 2002 pilot showed that in 2002, onaverage, 67% of the EU workforce expressedinterest in home-based or centre-based tele-work (Gareis, 2002: 6).

The studies quoted indicate that theinterest among employees is larger than theinterest among employers. But even whenthere is a telework scheme present in a com-pany or firm, wide-scale adoption amongemployees is not guaranteed. According tomost teleworking policies, it is the directmanager who, in the final analysis, decideswhich workers are allowed to telework. He orshe is assumed to be able to judge best whosejobs are teleworkable, and which individualsare suited to telework. Telework practice,therefore, largely depends on individualmanagers’ discretion. It is particularly thelack of support by direct managers that isbelieved to be a major bottleneck withrespect to the growth of telework. Managersmay fear, for instance, that employees willnot meet their responsibilities when not monitored directly (Leeds and Leeds, 2002)and that telework schemes may make theirown work more complicated (Powell andMainiero, 1999). Huws et al. (1990), who surveyed 4000 European managers, foundthat many of them see no need for the adop-

tion of telework. Generally, studies examin-ing reasons why adoption and diffusion oftelework have been slow found interestamong line managers to be low (Bailey andKurland, 2002). In this article we argue thatmanagerial reluctance towards home-basedtelework is reinforced by two related factors:managers’ willingness to deal with the uncer-

tainty that goes with distance working; andtheir willingness to delegate power to subordi-nates. Moreover, these two factors may beconsidered as barriers in some organizationaland national contexts, but less so in others.The two factors mentioned correspond withtwo of Hofstede’s dimensions of national cul-ture. Most telework scholars focus on theorganizational change or management prac-tices deemed necessary to successfully intro-duce telework; less attention is given to thequestion as to whether these conditions areequally compatible in different national cul-tures or how to explain cross-national differ-ences. The cross-national differences in telework penetration rates, however, closely correspond to Hofstede’s dimensions ofnational cultures, indicating that the adap-tion of home-based telework is affected bythe cultural climate in a country. The aim ofthis article is to elaborate on the impact ofnational culture on the adoption of telework.The focus will be on factors influencing managerial decision-making regarding sub-ordinates’ requests for home-based teleworkand how these interact with national cul-tures. In doing so we will combine insightsfrom the human resource management liter-ature on telework (e.g. Daniels et al., 2000)with Hofstede’s (2001) writings on nationalcultures. The central questions that areaddressed are: under what conditions domanagers grant subordinates’ requests towork from home?; and what role do nationalcultures play herein? The outline of this article is as follows. In the next section, atheoretical model is presented of factorsaffecting managerial decision-making regard-ing employees’ requests for home-based


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telework within different national culturalsettings. Four clusters of explanatory factorswill be distinguished: country factors; organi-zational factors; employee characteristics;and characteristics of the employee’s tele-work request. Although we do acknowledgethat individual basic values of managers atvarious organizational levels will differ (seeSuomi and Pekkola, 1999: 121–4) and sub-cultures within one country, within one organization and even within one businessunit will vary (Cameron and Quinn: 1999),the main focus in the present study will be on cross-national differences in decision-making behaviour resulting from variationsin national cultures (see Hofstede, 2001).Therefore, the basic values of individualmanagers will not be included in the modelsince we expect these to be strongly influ-enced by organizational and national cul-tures. The third section discusses the pro-posed methodology of the research project,i.e. a cross-national vignette study of man-agers in European organizations. Finally, ourmodel and proposed methodology are sum-marized, and shortcomings are discussed, aswell as options for future research.

Theoretical Framework

Managers’ Attitudes towardsHome-based Telework

Traditionally, managers and their subordi-nates worked in the same physical work site,according to a collective temporal workschedule. The centralized work arrangementallowed managers to coordinate, motivateand control employees’ work effort directly.It also catered for the need for workers to accumulate firm-specific knowledge. Anenduring employment relationship madesure that trusted workers had a shared his-tory and, hence, shared the norms and valuesnecessary to communicate, cooperate andcarry out the work. Being in the normalworkplace was equal to working, whereas

being absent was not (van der Wielen andTaillieu, 1994).

Because of the use of new informationand communication technologies, the execu-tion of work has increasingly become inde-pendent of time and space. Still, however,managers may have the compulsion of need-ing to be with their subordinates. Whileworking from home, subordinates are out ofsight and, as a consequence, direct monitor-ing of these employees becomes more com-plicated, if possible at all. Moreover, tradi-tional time-spatial work patterns used to indicate the temporal borderlines withinwhich managers were allowed to control sub-ordinates. Through home-based telework thedistinction between work and private life isblurred, which complicates managers’ workeven further (van der Wielen and Taillieu,1994). Workers’ time-spatial flexibility is likely to increase managers’ uncertaintyabout the work being done correctly, becauseemployees’ possibilities of acting in anuntrustworthy way have increased. Man-agers considering telework, therefore, have tomake an assessment of the risks linked withdistance working and the costs involved inorder to reduce uncertainties (Williamson,1985; Powell and Mainiero, 1999). Sincemanagers are rewarded primarily for theresults they achieve in their work units,rather than for the concern they demonstratefor their employees’ work–life balance, it canbe expected that telework requests that boildown to more managerial effort are less likely to be supported by individual managers(Powell and Mainiero, 1999; Williamson,1985). The study by Huws et al. (1990)showed that concerns about coordinatingtelework schemes and controlling employeeswho work away from the office make man-agers reluctant to introduce home-based tele-work.

Theoretically, managers who do allowsubordinates to telework may respond to theuncertainty problem in two ways. One wayof solving uncertainty problems is to think of


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alternative modes to coordinate, motivateand control teleworkers. For instance, man-agers can call these workers at home in orderto check whether they are working and whatthey have accomplished. This, of course, istime-consuming and, therefore, very costly,and still does not guarantee that workers arenot underperforming. A second strategy is toshift to trusting teleworkers instead of con-trolling them directly. According to the telework literature, this second strategy ismost often chosen and, consequently, mosttelework arrangements are high-trust workforms (Handy, 1995; Huws et al., 1990;Leeds and Leeds, 2002; Standen, 2000).

Teleworkers may not only be given agreater say in their time-spatial work con-ditions, but also more decision-makingauthority and responsibility for control andenhancement of product and/or servicequality. This relates to the concept of em-powerment (see Klidas, 2001: 38). Histori-cally, however, there is a link between viewson time and space and beliefs on industrialdiscipline and status hierarchy. Distanceworking and self-control used to go togetherwith more authority, prestige and status and,therefore, were traditionally inappropriatefor subordinates (van der Wielen andTaillieu, 1994). Moreover, the enhancementof employees’ autonomy or self-control mayrequire fewer management functions. Anadded reason for managerial reluctance,therefore, will be that managers may alsofear a loss of relevance regarding their ownposition (Betz et al., 1999: 36). Hence, inorder to allow home-based telework, man-agers have to be willing to give up power andstatus (Harrington and Ruppel, 1999).

Given the cross-national differences inthe adoption of telework it might be the casethat in some countries managers are moreinclined to deal with uncertainty and to delegate power than they are in other coun-tries. Klidas (2001, 2002) investigated theimplementation of employee empowermentin the European hotel industry. Employee

empowerment involves the delegation ofdecision-making authority to frontline em-ployees and is, therefore, a management concept that is much related to the teleworkpractice. In his study of luxury hotels in sevenEuropean countries, he found clear differ-ences in the empowerment process betweenhotels in Northern and Southern Europeancountries. Northern European countriesshowed more empowering HRM practicesand empowered behaviour than Southerncountries. These differences correspondedstrongly with Hofstede’s theory of nationalculture, in particular to the power distanceand uncertainty avoidance dimensions.These will be elaborated on next.

Power distance and uncertainty avoid-ance are two of the five dimensions on whichnational cultures differ according to Hofstede(2001). These two dimensions are considerdto be crucial for the functioning of organiza-tions. The concept of power distance refers tothe boss–subordinate relationship in a hier-archy; i.e. who decides what. Large powerdistance implies high centralization of poweramong few people and many layers of super-vision in vertical hierarchies, while smallpower distance implies more decentralizedorganizations with flat organizational struc-tures and few layers of supervision. Accord-ing to Hofstede, people in large power dis-tance cultures prefer to be managed in adirective style, while those in low power dis-tance cultures more often prefer a participa-tive style. Moreover, in large power distancecountries people feel more comfortable withan autocratic leadership style, while those inlow power distance countries expect to berewarded for showing initiative and auton-omy in their work. Since home-based tele-work often implies more control by theemployee over work schedules, teleworkmight be more feasible in low power distancecultures.

Uncertainty avoidance is about how people deal with the unknown. In stronguncertainty avoidance countries, individuals


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https://www.researchgate.net/publication/252114484_Employee_Empowerment_in_the_European_Cultural_Context_Findings_from_the_Hotel_Industry?el=1_x_8&enrichId=rgreq-3cccb89a-fe71-410c-80f2-4d492360c1de&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOzMwNDk2Mjc5O0FTOjEwNDM2NjE2NTk4NzMzM0AxNDAxODk0MjQxNzg1

feel more threatened by uncertain andunknown situations. Therefore, the existenceof many formal and informal laws and rulescontrolling the work process may satisfy anemotional need of people for structure andorder. Employees and managers in such cultures feel comfortable in structured environments that attempt to prevent uncer-tainty and ambiguity in their behaviour.‘Uncertainty-avoiding cultures shun ambigu-ous situations. People in such cultures lookfor structure in their organizations, institu-tions and relationships, which makes eventsclearly interpretable and predictable’ (Hof-stede, 2001: 148). As was stated before, managers have to deal with a certain degreeof uncertainty when they introduce tele-working, because direct control of workersbecomes more complicated. Moreover, whentelework is introduced without an appropri-ate management style and clear rules, thismay lead to ambiguous situations; for exam-ple feelings of uncertainty about, for instance,appropriate situations for working fromhome. This may in particular apply to informal, supplementary home-based tele-work. In weak uncertainty cultures, on theother hand, there is an emotional aversion toformal rules, which favours low formalizationwith no more rules than strictly necessary.Hence, the telework concept does not fitstrong uncertainty avoiding cultures. If tele-work is to be adopted, however, it can beassumed that structured, formal teleworkingis more suitable for strong uncertainty avoid-ing cultures, while informal, flexible teleworkarrangements are more suitable for culturesin the opposite pole.

Based on the two dimensions, three cul-tural clusters can be distinguished in theEuropean context (see Figure 1): Nordiccountries, such as the Scandinavian coun-tries, the Netherlands, the UK and Switzer-land, are in general characterized by a smallpower distance and weak uncertainty avoid-ance. Southern European countries fall in thecluster of large power distance and strong

uncertainty avoidance, although there issome variation in the scoring range. Austriaand (West) Germany are characterized by asmall power distance and strong uncertaintyavoidance.

The clustering of countries according toHofstede’s two dimensions presented inFigure 1, closely resembles SIBIS figures onthe actual penetration of home-based tele-work across countries in 2002 as presented inTable 1. Leading countries regarding home-based telework, such as the Netherlands,Sweden and Denmark, score low on bothpower distance and uncertainty avoidancedimensions. Countries where home-basedtelework is less widespread score higher onthose two dimensions. Austria and Germanyare in the middle.

The argument that strong uncertaintyavoiding countries will prefer formalized tele-work arrangements is not reflected in thetelework figures (Table 1). Also in SouthernEuropean countries, supplementary tele-working outnumbers formal home-basedtelework arrangements, although differencesbetween the two forms are smaller than inleading countries. Even though penetrationrates for teleworking more or less correspondto the clustering of countries according to thetwo cultural dimensions, the relative influ-ence of national culture on the take-up oftelework still needs to be tested.

Conceptual Model andHypotheses

Let us now imagine an employee in a particu-lar European country submitting a requestfor home-based telework. In Figure 2 a con-ceptual model is presented of factors affectingmanagerial decision-making regarding such arequest. On the basis of the telework litera-ture and Hofstede’s theory on national cul-tures, it can be assumed that managers whoare in the position to grant an individual’stelework request will make an assessment ofthe congruence of the telework practice a par-ticular worker requests with existing systems


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and cultures (see Daniels et al., 2000: 5). Weassume that managers’ attitudes towards tele-working are affected by the national cultureand the organizational context they work in,as well as the characteristics of the employeerequesting telework and the content of therequest. We also assume that managers whoare working in an organizational context thatis more supportive of telework, will be morewilling to grant a telework request. In Figure2, the arrows representing direct effects ofsupportive organizational factors on man-agerial decision-making depict this assump-tion. The presence of supportive contextualfactors depends, however, on the nationalcontext, in particular on the country scoreson Hofstede’s dimensions regarding powerdistance and uncertainty avoidance. These

two dimensions are believed to influencemanagers’ willingness to trust subordinatesand to delegate power, respectively. In Figure2, this assumption is depicted by arrows representing direct effects of national cultureon supportive organizational factors. Buteven when supportive conditions are present,we assume managers’ judgements to beaffected by their national cultures. In Figure2, this is made visible by arrows representinginteraction effects between organizations’supportive conditions and national culture.

Besides trust in organizational support,we also believe that managers need to havepersonal trust in the individual employee andto be willing to delegate power (see Leeds andLeeds, 2002). Therefore, granting the tele-work request will also depend on characteris-


Source: Hofstede (2001).

Figure 1 Clusters of European countries according to scores on Hofstede’s cultural dimensions (i.e., power distance and uncertainty avoidance)

Small power distance Large power distance

Weak uncertainty avoidance Weak uncertainty avoidance

DenmarkSwedenIrelandUKNorwayThe NetherlandsFinlandSwitzerland

Small power distance Large power distance

Strong uncertainty avoidance Strong uncertainty avoidance

Germany (West) ItalyAustria France

BelgiumTurkeySpainPortugalGreece

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tics of the individual employee and on thecontent of the individual’s telework request.The relative weights of the characteristics ofthe employee and the request depend also onsupportive conditions in the organizations.Again, interactions with Hofstede’s two cul-tural dimensions can be expected. These relationships are also depicted in Figure 2.

In the following, we look further into thehypotheses underlying the relationships presented in Figure 2. First, we develophypotheses on the influence of the organiza-tional context based on insights from the telework literature and the interaction withnational culture. Second, we have a closerlook at selection criteria managers may use


Figure 2 Conceptual model of management decision-making on employees’ requests forhome-based telework

Country context– national culture– government regulations– information society

Employee characteristics– professional vs clerical work– reputation– job tenure– long-term vs short-term

labour contract and careerprospects

manager’s decision:yes/no

Characteristics of the teleworkrequest– number of telework days– flexibility of telework

arrangement– employee’s motivation for

request

Organizational context– organizational culture– leadership style– organizational structure– supportive HRM systems

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regarding individual teleworkers. Third, wedevelop hypotheses regarding the content ofthe individual telework request. Again, thenational cultural background will be takeninto account. Since the focus is on nationalculture, some other important national char-acteristics – such as the information societyand the role of government, industrial rela-tions and trade unions (Tregaskis, 2000) –will not be discussed. Note that in allhypotheses, national cultures characterizedby strong uncertainty avoidance and largepower distance will be regarded as the reference group. Moreover, all hypothesesinclude the ceteris paribus condition; that is, allother factors in the model are kept constant.

Organizational context It was stated earlier that managers might respond touncertainty problems regarding telework intwo ways. In order to manage at a distance,they may either think of using alternativemodes of control or they may decide to trustteleworkers. Of course, a combination of thetwo can also be chosen. The amount of trustindividual managers might be willing to giveto subordinates will be conditioned by char-acteristics of both the organizational contextand the individual employee submitting atelework request (see Leeds and Leeds, 2002).We will now discuss organizational condi-tions that are believed to be favourable fortelework and, consequently, enhance man-agerial trust. In their publication Managing

Telework Daniels et al. (2000) bring together aseries of writings on telework managementissues. Their main starting point is theassumption that managing teleworkers, as a

human process, demands (a shift towards) a particular organizational culture, structure,leadership style and supporting managementsystems, which are necessary to reduce managers’ uncertainty and to empower tele-workers at the same time. In the following,we look further into what organizational features are believed to be favourable fortelework.

Organizational culture: Standen (2000)describes the influence of organizations’ cul-tural assumptions regarding managementand work on the adoption of telework. In hisopinion, strong norms about being seen to be working make some organizations lessamenable to telework than others (Standen,2000: 31). Also norms such as the need foremployees to participate in the organiza-tional culture; work to be confined to busi-ness hours; workers to convey a corporateimage; and work processes to be interrupt-ible, may keep managers from allowing sub-ordinates to telework (Standen, 2000: 32). Inempirical research, Standen found a lack ofemphasis on control (including coordination,rules, formality, stability and predictability)to be the most important single factor posi-tively relating to actual telework practices.This was followed by a focus on productivityand accomplishment. To a lesser extent, cultural characteristics such as having afavourable attitude towards innovation viatechnology; making employees feel part ofthe organization; and creativity and innova-tion were found also to be positively corre-lated with telework (Standen, 2000: 37–8).

H1: Managers are more likely to grant a tele-work request when the organizational culturedoes not emphasize face-to-face contact ordirect control.

Leadership style and organizational structure: Itis also believed that an approach to manage-ment that gives workers greater discretionover the work process; focuses on outcomes;and offers more holistic jobs will be bettersuited to telework than one based on hier-archy and fragmentation (Standen, 2000: 32,33). Especially substantial telework practiceswithin an organization may, therefore,require a re-engineering of work processesand project-based structures by introducingnew task specification and coordination systems with improved and much more opencommunication; a reallocation of power; jobenrichment; and a team- and goal-orientatedwork style (Management by Objectives). This


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leadership style is likely to coincide with outsourcing, downsizing and flattening hier-archies (Daniels et al., 2000: 5; Betz et al.,1999: 16; Lamond, 2000: 22).

H2: A manager is more likely to grant a telework request when a democratic and par-ticipative leadership style is advocated in theorganization.

H3: A manager is more likely to grant a tele-work request in less hierarchical organizationsthan in organizations with many hierarchicallayers.

Information and communication systems: Ac-cording to Standen (2000), the central valueof control also influences the way technologyis used. On the one hand, computer tech-nology may provide the opportunity for veryprecise monitoring of activity in some jobs(telephone call centres) (Standen, 2000: 33).On the other hand, IT can be used toenhance delegation of authority, by makinginformation easily available to employees andallowing rapid decisions. IT systems allowingfor open communication among teleworkersand co-workers, between teleworkers andmanagers and between teleworkers andclients are, therefore, believed to be essential.

H4: A manager is more likely to grant a tele-work request when the organization has anopen information and communication systemand technical facilities that support telework.

Supportive HRM systems: Given the relativeloss of direct control over teleworkers, mutualtrust and confidence between managers and employees are generally believed to beincreasingly important. Alternative manage-ment systems, however, may support man-agers to control teleworkers indirectly. Thesesystems may focus on HRM practices such asselection and training of teleworkers (inputcontrol); socializing teleworkers to controlthemselves (self-control); planning, measur-ing and rewarding performances (outputcontrol); and mutual control exercised byteam workers or clients (see Adami, 1999;Depickere, 1999; Sparrow, 2000; Sparrow

and Daniels, 1999; van Ommeren, 2000). Ofcourse, in order to provide some form ofreinforcement, different forms of control maybe used in conjunction (see Hales, 1993:56–7).

H5: A manager is more likely to grant a tele-work request when supportive HRM practicesare present in the organization.

To summarize, in order to reduce managers’ uncertainty and to empower tele-workers at the same time, managing teleworkis believed to demand (a shift towards) anorganizational culture focusing less on pro-cesses and control and more on output; anempowering leadership style; a flatter organi-zational structure; and supportive HRM sys-tems. Combining these criteria, we assumethat (see Figure 2):

H6: Managers working in organizations thatare characterized by these supportive condi-tions are more likely to grant an employee’stelework request.

We have argued, however, that these sup-portive conditions also fit more into nationalcultures characterized by weak uncertaintyavoidance and small power distance (Klidas,2001, 2002). Therefore, we assume that (seeFigure 2):

H7: Organizational conditions favourable fortelework are more likely to be present innational cultures characterized by weak un-certainty avoidance and small power distance,respectively.

In conclusion, given differences in nationalcultures regarding trusting teleworkers anddelegating power, we assume that (see Figure2):

H8: When supportive organizational condi-tions are not present, managers in organiza-tions characterized by weak uncertainty avoidance and low power distance cultures,respectively, are more likely to grant anemployee’s telework request.

Employee characteristics Managers mayconsider jobs to be teleworkable when little


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need for direct supervision and face-to-faceinteraction is required (Omari and Standen,2000). Consequently, both knowledge-intense workers with a high degree of auton-omy and workers relying less on formalknowledge but whose output can be mea-sured are likely to have access to telework.However, status and power are believed tointerfere with assessments of who can tele-work. Several studies indicate that clericalworkers in comparison with professionalsmay face greater opposition from manage-ment to their request to work from home,even when their positions are deemed equal-ly suitable for telework based on an assess-ment of general job characteristics (Baileyand Kurkland, 2002: 386). In addition, theemployee’s reputation for trustworthiness,and capacities and capabilities in the internaland external labour market are important inrelation to the willingness of the manager totrust the employee:

H9: A manager is more likely to grant a tele-work request when the employee has a largeamount of job autonomy.

H10: A manager is more likely to grant a tele-work request when the employee has high status.

Knowledge of the organization and agood relationship with co-workers and man-agers are considered important. Employeeswho have worked in the organization for along time are assumed to be familiar with theorganizational norms and values and toknow what is expected of them. Therefore,job tenure is believed to be an important factor in the selection of teleworkers, as wellas reputation:

H11: A manager is more likely to grant a tele-work request when the employee has a goodreputation.

H12: A manager is more likely to grant thetelework request of a employee who has beenemployed with the company for a long periodof time than those of employees recentlyemployed by the organization.

In addition, employees who expect to staylonger with the organization, or who areoffered promotion prospects, are expected tobe more trustworthy than other employeesbecause they do not want to run the risk oflosing their position by acting in an untrust-worthy manner. In short-term relationships,commitment may be low (Sparrow, 2000;van Ommeren, 2000: 153–4).

H13: A manager is more likely to grant a telework request to employees with a long-term contract and career prospects than toemployees with a short-term labour contractand no career prospects

Combining these criteria with Hofstede’scultural dimensions and the organizationalcontext, we assume that (see Figure 2): man-agers will be more inclined to grant a tele-work request from subordinates who holdpositions of power (professionals); and sub-ordinates with a good reputation, positivepast experiences and future expectations (job tenure and career prospects) within the organization.

H14: Even when favourable employee charac-teristics are not present, however, a teleworkrequest is more likely to be granted in a sup-portive organizational context.

H15: Even when favourable employee charac-teristics are not present, however, a teleworkrequest is more likely to be granted in weakuncertainty avoidance and small power dis-tance cultures.

Content of the telework request Thecontent of a subordinate’s telework requestmay also affect managers’ decision-making.First, teleworking complicates managers’ pos-sibilities of controlling subordinates directly.This problem will be mitigated if the numberof teleworking days is reduced.

H16: A manager is more likely to grant a telework request of less than one day a weekcompared with a request for one day or morea week.

Second, Powell and Maneiro (1999) pointedout that managers object to a request for a


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flexible work arrangement when their work,as a result, will become more demanding. Incases where managers can control the time-spatial work schedules of teleworkers, how-ever, they may be less reluctant.

H17: A manager is more likely to grant a tele-work request when she or he is able to demandthe employee to be present on a particular day.

Third, the reason offered by the subordinatefor making the request can also be of impor-tance. As was stated in the first section,employees may want to work from home fordifferent reasons: to reduce commuting time,to concentrate on work without interrup-tions, or to adjust their working times to fit inwith caring responsibilities at home. Sincetelework practices of subordinates whosemotives are more intrinsically related to workappear to be more successful, managers maytrust the teleworker more when the motiva-tion to work from home is work-related, suchas achieving greater concentration, ratherthan when the motives refer to reducingcommuting time, or to care responsibilities orwork–life balance (see Omari and Standen,2000). Moreover, managers may think thatwomen employees are more likely to use tele-work to balance work and family life, whilemen are seen as the major breadwinner andmore devoted to their careers. As a resultmale employees might be considered as moretrustworthy when working from home.

H18: A manager is more likely to grant a tele-work request when the reason to work fromhome is work-related.

H19: A manager is more likely to grant a tele-work request from a male employee than froma female employee.

Summarizing these factors and combin-ing them with Hofstede’s cultural dimen-sions, we assume that (see Figure 2) managerswill be more inclined to grant teleworkrequests that boil down to smaller numbersof teleworking days; that allow managers tocontrol subordinates’ time-spatial workschedules; and that are motivated by work-

related goals such as achieving greater workconcentration, rather than goals such as bal-ancing work and care or saving commutingtime.

H20: Even when the content of the teleworkrequest is not favourable, however, managersin a supportive organizational context aremore likely to grant the request.

H21: Even when the content of the teleworkrequest is not favourable, however, managersin weak uncertainty avoidance and smallpower distance cultures are more likely togrant the request.

Methodology

A way to test our hypotheses is to conduct avignette study among European managers,asking them to judge hypothetical situationsconcerning a telework request. Some of thevariables in our model can be included in the vignette, such as characteristics of theemployee submitting the request, and vari-ables representing the content of the request.Other topics, such as organizational charac-teristics, can be addressed in an additionalquestionnaire. A vignette study set up likethis makes it possible to estimate the relativeimportance of different contexts, i.e. thenational context, the organizational context,departmental characteristics, manager’scharacteristics, employee characteristics andthe content of the request. Multilevel analysiswould be an appropriate technique to test thevarious hypotheses since this recognizes theempirical reality that managers’ decisions are ‘nested’ in the context of the country, the organization and the department. Thisenables us to estimate the importance of different decision-making contexts simulta-neously, and to compare their explanatorypower.

We will include the following variables inthe vignettes:

• The employee’s reputation: outstandingpast performances (1); and no outstand-ing past performances (2);


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• Employee’s job tenure: less than twoyears employed (1); over two yearsemployed (2);

• The type of telecommuting arrangementrequested by the employee: to occasion-ally work a day from home (1); regularlyworking from home on one fixed day aweek (2) working regularly more thanone day per week from home (3);

• Employee’s reason to telework: teleworkis requested by the employee in order tocollect children from school/childcarefacility (1); to concentrate better on work(2); to save commuting time (3);

• Employee’s gender: male (1); female (2).

By including these variables in thevignettes, we have a total of 72 ‘unique’vignettes (2×2×3×3×2). We will ask eachmanager to judge each situation on howfavourable they feel towards the hypotheticalrequest, and whether they would deny orgrant the request, as if the concernedemployee was someone working in his or herdepartment. Because we want to make thedecision-making process as ‘real’ as possible,we will then match variables concerning thecharacteristics of the manager, his or herdepartment, his or her organizational con-text, and his or her organizational context tothe vignettes.

The additional questionnaire will containthe following measurements of the organiza-tion’s and the manager’s characteristics:

• organizational culture;• leadership style;• organizational structure;• information and communication

systems;• supportive HRM systems;• Hofstede’s scale capturing the

dimensions of national culture; i.e.power distance and uncertaintyavoidance;

• department characteristics, such asnumber of employees, most common jobposition, average educational level of

employees, job autonomy, number ofteleworkers;

• personal characteristics of the manager,such as gender, educational level,work–family situation (control variables).

In total, 10 service sector companies witha telework policy across five countries will beapproached for the vignette study. By select-ing companies with a telework policy in aparticular industry, some factors are heldconstant, such as accessibility of IT. Theresearch focuses on what happens after acompany has decided to introduce a teleworkpolicy. From the Northern European coun-tries we study the Netherlands, Sweden andthe United Kingdom. In the Southern part ofEurope, Italy and Spain will be taken asexamples. Per country, two organizationswill take part in the study; per organization10 managers will be asked to participate.Budget and time restrictions put limits on thenumber of organizations and countriesincluded. However, to fully determine therelative influence of the organizational aswell as the country context on managerialdecision-making a larger number of organi-zations and countries should be included. Asolution for (part of) this problem is the inclu-sion of the measurement of Hofstede’sdimensions in the manager’s questionnaire.

In order to test our hypotheses we will usea sufficient number of vignettes that will bepresented to managers who also in their dailywork practice face the decision-making prob-lem regarding telework. Because we want thedecisions to resemble ‘real life’ as closely aspossible, it is important that we ask the man-ager who actually has the power to grant ordeny these requests to make the hypotheticaldecisions. It is also important that we do notgive the managers too many vignettes, sincethis would influence the reliability of theirdecisions as a proxy for ‘real-life’ decisions.Each manager will be asked to judge 12vignettes, which will result in 1200 ‘hypotheti-cal decisions’. Because we have a total of 72


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‘unique’ vignettes, each of these will be judgedby an average of 16.7 (1200/72) managers.

Discussion

The theoretical elaboration presented in thisarticle showed managers’ decision-makingregarding subordinates’ requests for home-based telework to be influenced by conditionsrelated to the country context, organizationalcontext, employee characteristics, and con-tent of the individual request. Although wedo acknowledge the impact of other nationalfactors, such as government policies and theinformation society, the focus was on the role of national cultures. Two dimensions ofnational culture were distinguished, i.e.power distance and uncertainty avoidance(Hofstede, 2001). Scores on these two cul-tural dimensions appeared to correlate withtelework penetration rates across Europeancountries. Therefore, we assumed that theconditions under which managers grant sub-ordinates’ requests to work from home mayvary across national cultures and, hence,across countries. This assumption was thebasis of a theoretical model on managerialdecision-making regarding home-based tele-work. The model, on the one hand, sum-marized assumptions regarding favourableconditions for telework as suggested in thetelework management literature. On theother hand, these conditions were expectedto interact with national culture.

We believe that testing our theoreticalmodel will contribute to our knowledge onmanagerial decision-making regarding home-based telework in general, and will providenew insights into and theoretical explana-tions for the various patterns of teleworkpenetration across Europe, in particular.Among other factors, it may shed light onvariations in European managers’ percep-tions of home-based telework as a flexiblework arrangement that helps to balance workand family. Telework often grants employeesmore control over their work schedules,

which in turn helps to reduce work–familyconflict. By looking at conditions that makemanagers more willingly to delegate powerand control to employees, we will gain newinsights into whether employees are likely toget more control over their work schedule indifferent countries. The study may also showwhether telework is likely to be seen as alegitimate strategy to find a more optimalwork–life balance, or whether managers viewemployees who do teleworking as less trust-worthy. In addition, findings from this studycan be used in future research on the utiliza-tion of other work–family policies, such asflexible working times and leave arrange-ments. This is a first attempt to systematicallystudy cross-nationally factors that influencemanagerial decision-making concerning theimplementation of a flexible work arrange-ment. When successful, future research mayapply the research design to other work–family policies. Future research should alsoelaborate on the perspective of employeesand whether the implementation and utiliza-tion of telework indeed contribute to a betterwork–life balance.

Note1 Telework is a generic term referring to work

located at a distance from a regular mainoffice site, often performed with the help ofinformation and communication technology(IT) (see Nilles, 1998). In some definitions thenew work mode is narrowed to distanceworking for more than one full day per weekor 20% of employees’ contractual workhours. A broader definition of teleworkcomprises all home-based telework, mobiletelework, telework by self-employed,supplementary telework, telework in teleworkcentres/telecottages, and combinations ofdifferent kinds of telework (for data anddefinitions see European Commission, 2000:26, 29).

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PASCALE PETERS is a PostdoctoralResearcher in the field of organizational studies,work–family policies, HRM and household issuesin the Sociological Department of UtrechtUniversity (ICS), PO Box 80140; 3507 TCUtrecht, The Netherlands.[email: [email protected]

LAURA den DULK is a PostdoctoralResearcher in the field of organizational studies,work–family policies, HRM and household issuesin the Sociological Department of UtrechtUniversity (ICS), PO Box 80140; 3507 TCUtrecht, The Netherlands.[email: [email protected]]


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Résumé

Une comparaison des différences d’appui aux managers travaillant à domicile : une construction théorique (Pascale Peters et Laura den Dulk)Le télétravail à la maison est l’une des réponses introduites par les organisations pour faciliterun meilleur équilibre entre les vies professionnelles et privées de leurs employés. Cet article seconcentre sur la question de l’accord des managers avec les demandes de télétravail dessubordonnés, et sur le role des cultures nationales dans ce domaine. En étudiant la volontédes managers de déléguer du pouvoir et de faire confiance aux télétravailleurs à domicile,nous tentons d’expliquer la lente adoption du télétravail à domicile et les différences en lamatière entre l’Europe du nord et l’Europe du sud. Nous utilisons les approches de Hofstedesur les cultures nationales et les apports de la littérature sur le télétravail quant à la diminutiondes problèmes potentiels de confiance associés au travail à distance. Le but de cet article estde développer de nouvelles hypothèses sur les facteurs qui influencent les décisionsmanagériales dans le domaine du télétravail et sur les liens qu’entretiennent ces facteurs avecles cultures nationales. Nous proposons de développer une étude empirique comparatives’appuyant sur la méthodologie des vignettes.

Pascale Peters and Laura den Dulk

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Cross Cultural Differences in Managers’ Support for Home-Based Telework: A Theoretical Elaboration

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