UNIVERSITY OF GHANA  

                                                

         

  TELECOMMUTING AND WORK PERFORMANCE IN GHANA: A STUDY OF     

  PRIVATE AND PUBLIC ORGANISATIONS 

                                        

                                                                             BY 

                                                  EMMANUEL KWAME BOAKYE 

                                                                        (10877534) 

THIS THESIS IS SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF ORGANISATION AND 

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT, UNIVERSITY OF GHANA, IN PARTIAL 

FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF MASTER OF 

PHILOSOPHY DEGREE IN HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT 

                                                        

                                                            DECEMBER     2022 

 

 

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                                                              DECLARATION 

I do hereby declare that this thesis is my own research work and has not been presented by anyone 

for any academic award in this or any other university. All references used in the work have been 

fully acknowledged. 

I bear the single responsibility for all limitations in this work. 

   

 

       

 

 

                                                                                                               19/12/2022 

……………………………………                                          ……………………………. 

EMMANUEL KWAME BOAKYE                                                      DATE        

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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                                                                CERTIFICATION 

I hereby certify that this thesis was supervised in accordance with procedures specified by the 

University of Ghana. 

 

 

 

……… …….                                           ……28-12-22………… 

PROF JAMES BABA ABUGRE  

         (SUPERVISOR)                                                                            DATE 

 

 

  

 

 

 

……yalamptey……………..………….                                            ……4/2/2023…..                                                     

DR. YVONNE    LAMPTEY                                                      

     (CO-SUPERVISOR)                                                                           DATE 

 

                                                             

       

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                                                               DEDICATION 

This work is dedicated to the Almighty God for all the miraculous interventions He makes in my 

life. Also, this work is dedicated to my grandmother, Madam Margaret Fosuah, also known as 

Maame Nketiaa, whose emotional, physical and financial contributions designed and developed 

my whole life from infancy till today and forever. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                            

 

 

 

 

 

 

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                                                 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 

I sincerely thank my supervisors, Prof. James Baba Abugre and Dr Yvonne Ayerki Lamptey, for 

their faithful guidance, support, commitment and patience during the period of this work. Again, 

my utmost gratitude is extended to faculty members at the Organisation and Human Resource 

Management Department for their wonderful contributions during the course of this work as well 

as during the seminars.  

Further, my appreciation goes to Dr. Justice Mensah and Dr. Aminu Sanda who provided me with 

scholarly directions during this research work. My appreciation goes to all organisations as well 

as individuals who participated in the survey. It was their contributions and responses that made 

this research work a success. 

My heartfelt gratitude is extended to my personal friend, Mrs Iphigenia Naa Amorkor Tetteh of 

the West African Examinations Council for her unbridled positive contributions towards my 

success.  Further, my sincerest gratitude goes to Prof.  Edward Marfo-Yiadom of the University 

of Cape Coast for his advice, support and dedication to my success in life. Moreover, I appreciate 

Mr. Kwaku Adu Nuamah, the former Executive Director of the Association of Road Contractors 

for his expanded contributions in my life and during this research work. My gratefulness is also 

extended to Mr. J. C. Abronyeh, the former Human Resources Manager of Starwin Products 

Limited for his encouragement towards my success. 

Finally, I appreciate Mrs Julia Susan Akyea of the Ghana Chamber of Mines and Miss Ernestina 

Priscila Gockel of GCB Bank Plc for their extensive contributions, dedication and commitment 

during the period of the survey. Further, I appreciate the diverse efforts of my class members 

especially Ms Latifa Issahaku for the backing offered during this programme. May the Almighty 

God favour them.                                                  

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                                                     TABLE OF CONTENTS 

DECLARATION ............................................................................................................................ i 

CERTIFICATION ........................................................................................................................ ii 

DEDICATION .............................................................................................................................. iii 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ........................................................................................................... iv 

TABLE OF CONTENTS .............................................................................................................. v 

LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................................................... xi 

LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................................... xi 

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ................................................................................................... xiii 

ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................ xiv 

 

CHAPTER ONE ........................................................................................................................... 1 

INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................... 1 

1.1 Background of the Study .................................................................................................... 1 

 1.1.1 Mobile telework ................................................................................................ 4 

 1.1.2 Home-based telework ...................................................................................... 4 

 1.1.3 Telecentres ........................................................................................................ 5 

 1.1.4 Functional re-location ...................................................................................... 5 

 1.1.5 Telecottages ....................................................................................................... 5 

1.2 Statement of the Problem ................................................................................................... 7 

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1.3 Purpose of the Study ......................................................................................................... 15 

1.4 Research Objectives ............................................................................................................ 15 

1.5 Research Questions ........................................................................................................... 16 

1.6 Research Hypotheses ........................................................................................................ 16 

1.8 Significance of the Study .................................................................................................. 16 

1.9 Scope of the Study ............................................................................................................. 17 

1.11 Organisation of the Study ............................................................................................... 18 

 

CHAPTER TWO ........................................................................................................................ 18 

LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................................................................................... 20 

2.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 20 

2.2 The Origin of Telecommuting .......................................................................................... 21 

2.3 Types of Telecommuting .................................................................................................. 22 

 2.3.1 Home-based remote work ............................................................................. 22 

 2.3.2 Non-home-based remote work ...................................................................... 23 

2.4 Design Process for Telecommuting ................................................................................. 30 

 2.4.1 Characteristics of positions that do not lend themselves to telework ........ 31 

 2.4.2 Characteristics of positions that do lend themselves to telework .............. 31 

2.5 Benefits of Telecommuting ............................................................................................... 34 

 2.5.1 Benefits of Telecommuting for the Employer .............................................. 34 

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 2.5.2 Benefits of Telecommuting for the Employee .............................................. 35 

2.6 Challenges in Adopting Telecommuting ......................................................................... 37 

2.7 Theoretical Framework-Dynamic Capability Theory ................................................... 39 

2.8 Telecommuting and Work Performance ........................................................................ 43 

2.9 Empirical Review of Telecommuting and Work Performance .................................... 46 

2.10 Conceptual Framework .................................................................................................. 50 

2.12 Summary .......................................................................................................................... 51 

 

CHAPTER THREE .................................................................................................................... 52 

METHODOLOGY ...................................................................................................................... 52 

3.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 52 

3.2 Research Philosophy ......................................................................................................... 52 

 3.2.1 Ontology .......................................................................................................... 53 

3.2.2 Epistemology ................................................................................................................... 55 

 3.2.3 Methodology ................................................................................................... 56 

3.3 Research Design ................................................................................................................ 58 

3.4 Population of Study ........................................................................................................... 60 

 3.4.1 Sample ............................................................................................................. 60 

3.5 Sampling Techniques and Data Collection ..................................................................... 61 

3.6 Description of Respondents .............................................................................................. 63 

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3.7 Scope of Study ................................................................................................................... 64 

3.8 Research Instrument ......................................................................................................... 64 

3.9 Reliability and Validity of Data Collected ...................................................................... 65 

 3.9.1 Piloting and Pre-Testing of Study Tool ........................................................ 66 

3.10 Data Analysis ................................................................................................................... 67 

3.11 Ethical Considerations .................................................................................................... 67 

3.12 Limitations of the Study ................................................................................................. 68 

3.13 Summary .......................................................................................................................... 68 

 

CHAPTER FOUR ....................................................................................................................... 70 

PRESENTATION OF RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS ........................................................ 71 

4.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 71 

4.2 Demographic Characteristics of the Respondents ......................................................... 71 

4.3 Missing Values and Outlier Analysis .............................................................................. 76 

4.4 Test of Normality .............................................................................................................. 76 

4.5 Exploratory Factor Analyses ........................................................................................... 77 

4. 6 Measurement Model Assessment .................................................................................... 79 

 4.6.1 Fit Indices Measures ........................................................................................ 81 

4.7 Factor Loadings ................................................................................................................. 81 

4.8 Reliability and Validity Analysis ..................................................................................... 83 

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4.9 Correlational Analysis ...................................................................................................... 84 

4.10 The Structural Equation Model ..................................................................................... 86 

4.11 Mediational Analysis ....................................................................................................... 88 

4.12 Discussions ....................................................................................................................... 89 

 4.12.1 Relationship between the adoption of telecommuting and work 

performance ............................................................................................................. 90 

 4.12.2 Measures to facilitate successful design and implementation of 

telecommuting ......................................................................................................... 91 

 4.12.3 Challenges associated with the adoption of telecommuting ..................... 92 

 

CHAPTER FIVE ......................................................................................................................... 94 

SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ............................................ 95 

5.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 95 

5.2 Summary of Findings ........................................................................................................ 95 

 5.2.1 Telecommuting and Work Performance ..................................................... 96 

 5.2.2 Telecommuting Design Process and Work Performance ........................... 96 

 5.2.3 Hours of Commuting to Workplace and Work Performance ................... 97 

 5.2.4 Expansive Adoption of Telecommuting ....................................................... 97 

5.3 Contribution to Knowledge .............................................................................................. 98 

5.4 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 99 

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5.5 Limitations ....................................................................................................................... 100 

5.6 Recommendations for Practice ...................................................................................... 100 

5.7 Recommendations for Research .................................................................................... 103 

REFERENCES .......................................................................................................................... 104 

APPENDIX A: QUESTIONNAIRE ........................................................................................ 158 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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                                                            LIST OF TABLES 

 

Table 3:1 Distribution of Questionnaires ……………………………………...……..................63 

Table 3.2 Reliability of Study Variables with the Cronbach Alpha Values…..………………....65 

Table 4.1 Demographic Characteristics of Respondents……...………………………..………..71 

Table 4.2 Skewness and Kurtosis of the Study Variables…….……………….……………..….76 

Table 4.3 Exploratory Factor Analysis of the Study Variables…………………….….…….......77 

Table 4.4 Model Fit Measures and their Interpretations of the Measurement Model……….......80 

Table 4.5 Factor Loadings for (CFA) Measurement Model……..……………………….…...…81 

Table 4.6 Reliability Co-efficient of the Main Constructs…………..……….…………..……...83 

Table 4.7 Fornell and Lacker Procedure for Discriminant Validity……………………………..83 

Table 4.8 Pearson’s Correlation Matrix of the Study’s Variables……….....................................84 

Table 4.9 Model Fit Measures and their Interpretations of the Measurement Model……….…..85 

Table 4.10 Hypothetical Relationships……………...………………………………………..….86 

                                                            

                                                    

 

 

 

                                                           

                                                            

 

 

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                                                         LIST OF FIGURES 

 

Figure 2.1 Conceptual Framework……………………………………………………………....53 

Figure 4.1 The Final Measurement Model……………………….………………………….......80 

Figure 4.2 The Structural Model of the Study Variables………………………..……………....86 

 

 

                                                                  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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                                              LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS 

COVID-Corona Virus Disease. 

CFA- Confirmatory Factor Analysis. 

DC-Dynamic Capabilities. 

EFA- Exploratory Factor Analysis. 

ICT-Information and Communications Technology. 

IT- Information Technology. 

LAN- Local Area Network. 

NASA- National Aeronautical and Space Agency. 

NWC- Neighborhood Work Centre. 

RBV-Resource Based View. 

SEM- Structural Equation Model. 

USA-United States of America. 

US-United States. 

WAN- wide area network. 

WFH-Work - From-Home 

WLB-Work-Life-Balance. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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                                                                     ABSTRACT 

The purpose of this study was to identify and determine how telecommuting impacts work 

performance in private and public sector organisations in Ghana. This study used quantitative 

approach for data collection. The sample size for the study was three hundred and thirty-seven 

(337) respondents from eighteen years and above. The analytical tool for analysing the data for 

this study was the Structural Equation Model (SEM). The outcome of the research indicated a high 

correlation between telecommuting and work performance in the organisations studied. Further, 

it was revealed that the design processes of telecommuting practices influence work performance 

of organisations in Ghana. The results also showed that telecommuting design positively 

correlated with work performance. The study further indicated that there is no link between the 

challenges of telecommuting and its adoption, thus nullifying the outcomes of other researches in 

other countries. While telecommuting has numerous benefits, most organisations in Ghana have 

not embraced it. It is therefore recommended that organisations in Ghana implement 

telecommuting work practice because it will facilitate the reduction of financial resources they 

spend on commuting their employees to their workplaces as well as helping employees to reduce 

their own transportation expenses and also reducing the negative health consequences they suffer 

as a result of long commuting hours to their traditional offices. It is further recommended that 

organisations develop strategies to enhance the adoption of telecommuting towards employee and 

organisational benefits.              

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                                                                 CHAPTER ONE 

                                                                INTRODUCTION 

1.1 Background of the Study  

The advancement in technology has accelerated the adoption of telework as opposed to the 

traditional office-work schedules (Tori, Goduto, Manfredini, & Melzi, 2021). Telecommuting – 

the practice of working away from the traditional office location, using information and 

communications technology has an important and growing stake at the workplace and has a 

potential impact on workers’ health, safety and well-being (International Labour Organisation, 

2021). So far as applied information and communication technologies (ICTs) progressively find 

their   way into the workplace, telecommuting has become ubiquitous in today’s organisations 

(Welz & Wolf, 2010). Information and communication technology has created a platform through 

which one can choose where and when to work and not necessarily appearing at a centralised brick 

and mortar location called office (Peter, 2018). Telecommuting has been accelerated by recent 

developments in information technology (Fulk & DeSanctis, 1999).  Telecommuting has been a 

topic of research dating back some decades ago (Williams, 2021). In 1973, Jack Nilles, a former 

National Aeronautical and Space Agency engineer was one of the first to define telecommuting 

as when workers may complete their work, utilising telecommunications and computer tools, at a 

location much closer to their homes (Nilles, Carlson, Gray & Hanneman, 1976). 

Telecommuting originated from distributed work (Lister & Harnish, 2019; Simpson, 1953). 

Distributed work is an arrangement that permits employees and their tasks to be distributed across 

locations away from a primary workplace or physical organisational site (Gajendran & Harrison, 

2007). In the early 1950s, Simpson (1953), conducted a study to determine the need for office 

efficiency in factory production methods during the first half of the twentieth century. 

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The term telecommuting is used to mean the same as remote work, telework, working from home, 

virtual working and flexible workplace. Some scholars on the other hand argue that the terms are 

not the same. According to Meunier (2020), remote work is being away from the employer or a 

traditional office location while completing work using technological tools specific to the nature 

of work. 

Telework has been in existence for some time and has been implemented by organisations in the 

world (Griggs, 2021). Telework is largely used by people in education and health, information and 

communication as well as large firms (Pigni & Staffolani, 2019). As at 2001, the International 

Telework Association and Council (ITAC) indicated that 28 million teleworkers were found in 

the United States, and the number was increasing at 10% each year (ITAC, 2015). 

Upwork has indicated that 1 in 4 Americans, which is more than 26% of the American workforce 

will be working remotely through 2021. They also estimated that 22% of the workforce (36.2 

million Americans) will telecommute by 2025. It was believed that 25-30% of the workforce 

would work remotely by 2021 (Global Workplace Analytics, 2021). An International Labour 

Organisation (2021) report indicated that as of mid-April 2020, 59 countries had implemented 

telework for non-essential publicly employed staff. Even though telecommuting has been in 

existence for more than four decades, its proliferation has been exacerbated by the popularity of 

the Internet and the rise of online collaboration tools such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams which 

makes remote working possible. Zoom, which was first launched in 2012, gained 300 million daily 

meeting participants during 2020 (Techrepublic, 2020).  

The assertion that the practice of telecommuting has increased as a result of increased ICT is also 

made by Ansong and Boateng (2017), when they cited Ye (2012), by stating that the rapid 

development of the Internet and telecommunications tools in addition to  the increasing speed of 

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information exchange have become a major influence on the trend for organisations to allow 

alternative working environment where employees can perform their work away from their 

traditional office buildings which is allowed  by the organisation’s working policies. Also, Tamsal 

and Awais (2016), opined that issues that precipitate telecommuting will be widespread as a result 

of the economic conditions, environmental factors, and the rapid growth of the ICT with a smarter 

technology. 

Technological advancement as well as the need for organisations to improve work performance 

for a sustained competitive advantage will continue to change how employees perform their 

assigned duties.  This will lead to a more general adoption of telecommuting (Peter, 2018). While 

telecommuting has been in existence for more than four decades, its adoption in Ghana and other 

African countries as well as the advanced countries is very minimal even though Statista (2019), 

indicated that just as the COVID-19 became widespread, the need for telecommuting was 

gradually becoming widely accepted. Again, Gálvez, Tirado and Martínez (2020), emphasised 

that the adoption of telecommuting at a wider level in different organisations has affected the 

organisational culture and work processes of companies and the behaviour of their employees; but 

without changing or truncating the way work is done in the traditional office setting, The modern 

era of electronic workspace has started and will continue to be widespread in the future. (Catană, 

Toma, Imbrisca̧ & Burcea, 2022).  

Thorstensson (2020), emphasised that telecommuting has become more significant as a result of 

the associated restrictions that emerged due to the Coronavirus pandemic and the desire of various 

countries to implement physical spacing to thwart the spread of the disease. He further stated that 

a catalyst for the adoption of teleworking was an effort by organisations to implement measures 

to sustain the productivity levels of their workers in order to gain competitive advantage. The 

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immediate increase in the adoption of telecommuting revives the need to appreciate the impact of 

telecommuting for employees and organisations. 

The term telecommuting was created by Nilles (1975, 1994), for his description of the work 

schedule that allows employees to perform their assigned duties away from the traditional office 

location while remaining in contact with  their superiors and colleagues using the  organisation’s 

dedicated interconnected computer systems via the Internet or the Virtual Private Network. The 

International Labour Organisation (2021), defined telework or telecommuting as applying 

information and technological devices through the Internet or Virtual Private Network to facilitate 

organisational work performance without being in the traditional office location of the employer.  

According to Allen, Golden and Shockley (2015), telecommuting refers to “an alternative work 

arrangement in which employees perform tasks elsewhere that are normally done in a primary or 

central workplace, for at least some portion of their work schedule, using electronic media to 

interact with others inside and outside the organisation. Fried and Hansson (2013), provide a 

straightforward description of remote work, stating, “Remote work just means you’re not in the 

office 9am–5pm, all day long” (p. 108). Consequently, the following five main types of 

teleworking are encountered in the world of work (Morgan, 2004; Hislop &Axtell, 2009).  

  1.1.1 Mobile telework 

 With this approach, the worker is not located at any one site but travels in order to maximise the 

delivery of services or capabilities (e.g., between customer and employer premises). 

1.1.2 Home-based telework 

With this approach, the worker carries out his/her work activities from home. 

                                                                             

 

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1.1.3 Telecentres 

These are local facilities where people seek to reduce the burden and cost of commuting to a 

central office location.  

1.1.4 Functional re-location 

This is where business functions are concentrated and delivered from a distance. 

1.1.5 Telecottages 

These are locally-based facilities that offer the teleworking community the opportunity for 

personal interaction, skills development, and high-performance information and communication 

technologies. 

Teleworking has received substantial attention in the scientific community with regards to the 

impact of its arrangements on individual teleworkers, including their social relationships, work–

family conflict, job satisfaction, organisational commitment and job performance (Kossek, 

Lautsch, & Eaton, 2006; Gajendran & Harrison, 2007; Martin & MacDonnell, 2012; Richardson 

& McKenna, 2014; Biron & van Veldhoven, 2016; Stripe & Zarraga-Oberty, 2017; Groen, van 

Triest, Coers, &  Wtenweerde,  2018). 

According to Viswesvaran (2002), work performance is an abstract, latent construct that cannot 

be pointed to or measured directly. This is because typical work performance is usually assessed 

over a longer time period, in which counterproductive work behaviours are more likely to occur 

(Koopmans, Bernaards.  Hildebrandt, Schaufeli, de Vet & van der Beek, 2011). According to 

Viswesvaran and Ones (2000), work performance is a scalable action, behaviour and outcome that 

employees engage in or bring about that are linked to and contribute to organisational goals. But 

a widely endorsed definition of work performance is that of Campbell (1990). According to him 

work performance is a behaviour or action that is relevant to the goals of the organisation.  

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According to Kemppila and Lonnqvist (2003), work performance should be distinguished from 

work productivity, two concepts that often seem to be used interchangeably in the literature. They 

further stressed that work productivity is input divided by output, thus, work productivity is a 

narrower concept than work performance. Over the last years, researchers investigated how 

telecommuting impacts an organisation’s performance (Kamouri & Lister, 2020). Previous studies 

showed that telecommuting improves productivity, performance and job satisfaction, with some 

studies reporting a reduction in employee turnover (Baker, Gayle & John, 2007; Ansong & 

Boateng, 2017; Corzo, 2019). 

Lending credence to distinct but complementary theoretical perspectives of telecommuting’s 

effects, research generally associates telecommuting with a range of positive outcomes, 

particularly higher performance (Onder, 2016). Teleworkers work an additional 1.8 hours more 

than their regular workday at the office which leads to family life conflicts (Solis, 2016). Two 

meta-analyses indicate positive relationships between telecommuting and objective or supervisor-

rated performance (Gajendran & Harrison, 2007; Martin & MacDonnell, 2012) and recent studies 

parallel these findings (Bloom, Liang, Roberts, & Ying, 2015; Gajendran, Harrison, & Delaney-

Klinger, 2015). Organisations, and especially companies, would benefit from improving 

successful strategies to provide their employees with the desired stimulus to achieve job 

satisfaction, which will ultimately be reflected in their performance (Zöllner & Sulíková, 2021). 

Onder (2016), stressed further that there are a number of features of telecommuting that may be 

construed as resource increases and/or demand decreases. A commonly cited resource benefit of 

telecommuting is reduced commute time, which presumably will be channelled into work tasks 

(Pyöriä, 2011).  Rupietta and Beckmann (2016), on the other hand indicated that, from a theoretical 

point of view, the impact of working from home on employees’ work effort is ambiguous. As 

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firms have fewer possibilities to monitor their employees, working from home might induce 

shirking responsibilities and hence results to lower individual work effort (Gariety & Shaffer, 

2007). However, the possibility to work from home increases employees’ autonomy and thus their 

intrinsic motivation (Hackman & Oldham 1976; Bailey & Kurland 2002). Therefore, employees, 

who work from home, might have a higher commitment and thus respond with extra work effort. 

 

1.2 Statement of the Problem 

Technological developments remain an obstacle for organisational leaders to overcome in their 

efforts to adapt in a rapidly evolving technological world (Collins, Garin, Jackson, Koustas & 

Payne, 2019; Kuhn & Galloway, 2019). Shifts in traditional work arrangements and how 

organisations are generating income for survival and growth in the modern economy is pushing 

organisations to adopt work practices that will be suitable for operational efficiency and employee 

well-being. As a work practice, telecommuting is increasingly being accepted as an alternative 

form of working both in the private and public sectors globally. Data presented by the United 

States Bureau of Labour Statistics indicated that 24% of the total American workforce (more than 

26 million people) work remotely at least part-time. Another data from Global Workplace 

Analytics (Lister, 2020), a research-based consulting company, further reported how the practice 

of remote work has increased 173% since 2005, with almost 90% of the U.S. workforce indicating 

a preference for working remotely (at least on a part-time basis). Findings from a national survey 

on employee lateness showed that about 29% of all Americans who commute to work arrive late 

at least once a month (CareerBuilder, 2017). Tardiness costs U.S. businesses billions of dollars 

because it interferes with productivity (Mattress Clarity, 2019).  

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 The current difficult economic climate in Ghana and other developing countries following the 

outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, wars and other global dynamics, misfortunes and uncertainties 

have resulted in the adoption of series of austerity measures. Fuel prices are increased regularly 

making it difficult for workers to afford. Even employees whose organisations are providing fuel 

coupons and fuel allowances are complaining about the constant fuel price increases. The simple 

assumption is that people and for that matter employees will like to work but they will like to 

reduce the costs associated with travelling to their work places. These  and other issues make it 

necessary to conduct a research in telecommuting to assess whether the adoption of this work 

practice will ease –off some of the burdens Ghanaian workforce are  experiencing especially the 

costs associated with travelling to work.  In Ghana, many jobs that can be placed under 

telecommuting are still being conducted from the traditional office building of work. This research 

takes it as a challenge to assess why developing countries cannot maximise the use of the various 

technological innovations and their applications to the workplace. Even though there are no 

available statistics on the number of people who telecommute and the impact of travelling long 

distances to work in Ghana, it is a known fact that many people travel long distances to their places 

of work. This causes a lot of people to experience health problems. Employees who travel to their 

places of work on daily basis are noted to experience lateness which causes their organisations 

millions of Cedis in lost production hours. The specific problem was that although many 

technology-based jobs can be accomplished remotely, and there is considerable time lost in 

commuting to work, many companies have not embraced the concept of telecommuting (Choi, 

2018). 

In Ghana, telecommuting became known to many people following the outbreak of the Corona 

virus pandemic when workers were instructed to work from home by the government. The issue 

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therefore is that if telecommuting as a work arrangement has been in existence for more than forty 

years, why is it that organisations both in the public and private sectors have not adopted it? Is it 

because they are not aware of the numerous benefits associated with it or it is just conservative 

organisational cultures that are preventing these organisations from practicing telecommuting. 

Numerous studies, for example: Ansong and Boateng, 2017; Kotey, 2017; Pänttäjä and Wu, 2021; 

Williams, 2021; Peter, 2018; Gibbs, Mengel and Siemroth, 2021; Rupietta and Beckmann, 2016; 

Tat, 2020; DeRossette, 2016, have been conducted in telecommuting but none of these studies 

focused its attention on private and public organisations. Besides, apart from Ansong and Boateng 

(2017) and Kotey (2017), there is still limited literature about telecommuting as a work practice 

in Ghana since most of the studies conducted were done outside Ghana hence the need for this 

research. This study will address the gap existing in the field of research on telecommuting in 

Ghana by widening the sample size and obtaining additional information from this area of study 

which will help organisational leaders in their decision making processes on the design and 

implementation of telecommuting. Further, this study will bring to light the fatigue people 

experience aside the lost productive hours before they reach their workplaces and fatigue will 

worsen as cities and towns become bigger with vehicular traffic congestions increasing on a daily 

basis.  This  study will therefore also bring out in-depth information which will provide the basis 

for organisational leaders to make substantive decision in considering telecommuting as a very 

good alternative work arrangement which organisations can use to reduce the difficulties of 

commuting to the workplace and enhance the competitiveness of their organisations.  

Again, there are numerous studies on the relationship between telework and job performance, but 

the findings are somewhat contradictory (Kuruzovich, Paczkowski, Golden, Goodarzi, & 

Venkatesh, 2021).  Little is yet known about some of the more fundamental consequences of work 

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from home (WFH), including its effects on productivity and which factors play a role in making 

it  more or less productive than work from office  (WSJ, 2020; Financial Times, 2021). 

Currently, a gap exists in literature of examining telecommuting and its impact on work 

performance in both the private and public organisations. A recommendation from Khan, Nasrudin 

and Harith (2018), who conducted a research on the topic ‘the relationship between the impacts 

of telecommuting engagement and employee performance in the oil and gas Industry in Kuantan, 

Pahang’ recommended for future studies to examine the impacts of telecommuting in the private 

and public sectors to evaluate the effectiveness of telecommuting engagement in order to develop 

the knowledge based society and K-economy in Malaysia. Even though the research was 

conducted outside Ghana, there is the need to conduct a study as a follow-up to the 

recommendations made by the researchers hence the need for this research.  

Moreover there is no research work on telecommuting in Ghana and even West Africa that 

provides a thorough knowledge in the design, implementation, benefits and challenges of the 

adoption of telecommuting. The study  conducted by Ansong and Boateng (2017), did not cover 

certain factors and as a result they recommended that future research should identify factors that 

support and also factors that hinder the adoption of telecommuting in Ghana and the study covered 

only a handful of employees of Ericsson Ghana Limited (Ansong & Boateng, 2017). Thus, the 

sample size was too small to make any general, realistic judgement. As will be presented later, the 

main contribution of the current research is the in-depth presentation of the design, 

implementation, benefits and challenges of telecommuting as a work practice in Ghana. 

The limitations mentioned provide a knowledge gap that makes this research work very relevant. 

This is because this study is based on assessing the major elements in telecommuting such as the 

design process which will emphasise on issues such as the procedures organisations put in place 

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in the selection of the employees who can telecommute and also the specific tasks that are suitable 

for telecommuting. Again, this study focuses on the benefits and challenges as well as well as 

initiating strategies that can be implemented by organisations to ensure a successful 

telecommuting work practice. Further, the number of organisations will be expanded to fifteen 

with a sample size of more than 300 as compared to only one organisation that was used in the 

study by Ansong and Boateng (2017). 

 The uniqueness of this study is exhibited in its application of the Dynamic Capabilities Theory 

(Teece, Pisano & Shuen, 1997). Dynamic capabilities are processes that enable an organisation to 

re-configure its strategy and resources to achieve sustainable competitive advantages and superior 

performance in rapidly changing environments (Bleady, Hasaballah & Ibrahim, 2018).The authors 

further stressed that Dynamic Capabilities Theory emerged as both an extension to and a reaction 

against the inability of the Resource-Based View (RBV) to interpret the development and re-

development of resources and capabilities to address rapidly changing environments. Dynamic 

capabilities may be considered as a source of competitive advantage (Teece, Pisano & Shuen, 

1997). The dynamic capabilities concept has its origins in the resource approach and the resulting 

deliberations on the various categories of enterprise capabilities (Helfat & Peteraf, 2009).  

Helfat, Finkelstein, Mitchell, Peteraf, Singh, Teece and Winter (2007), have defined dynamic 

capabilities as the “capacity of an organisation to purposefully create, extend, or modify its 

resource base,” where the term “resource base” covers organisational assets and capabilities (p. 

4). This definition has received considerable attention due to its meaningfulness, breadth, and few 

a priori assumptions (Easterby-Smith, Lyles, & Peteraf, 2009). Dynamic Capabilities Theory 

presents path-dependent processes that allow firms to adapt to rapidly changing environments by 

building, integrating and reconfiguring their resources and capabilities portfolio (Teece, Pisano & 

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Shuen, 1997). According to Eisenhardt and Martin (2000) and Easterby-Smith and Prieto (2008), 

dynamic capabilities may create competitive advantage through new resource configurations.  

According to Teece (2007), dynamic capabilities have three main sub-components: sensing, 

seizing, and transforming. “Sensing” refers to the ability of members to identify, analyse, and 

evaluate environmental opportunities and threats. Sensing means exploring technological 

opportunities, closely observing and investigating new markets, and adapting previous technology 

as required by the member’s sensing capability (Teece, 2007). According to Teece (2017), an 

organisation needs its members to have the ability to sense market conditions quickly to address 

unmet needs that consumers have not experienced before, so that the organisation may respond 

quickly to changing market conditions (Teece, 2017). “Seizing” refers to the operational ability to 

determine the value of opportunities and to internalise them through the agile mobilisation of 

resources. The main purpose of this feature is to support timely resource mobilisation and 

investment through rapid decision-making during environmental changes (Teece, 2007). The 

ability to acquire and utilise resources, to solve problems and seize new opportunities is 

determined by the organisation’s ability to operate efficiently (Teece, 2017). An organisation’s 

operational competency is a special capability that cannot be imitated, because it is derived from 

the organisational culture, which no individual can clearly define (Teece, 2014). Therefore, 

organisations must establish an organisational culture that routinely internalises external 

knowledge in order to sustain competitive advantage (Zahra & George, 2002). To achieve this, 

flexible awareness and commitment are required from top executives (Aragon-Correa & Sharma, 

2003; Teece, 2007). 

“Transforming” means the ability to create performance by re-configuring intrinsic resources 

during environmental changes. This is the most important sub-component of dynamic capabilities 

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(Teece, 2007). Transforming means the renewal of resources on their own in response to 

environmental changes. It requires the ability to reconfigure resources intermittently, although re-

configuring existing resources is not easy (Eisenhardt & Martin, 2000). Flexible operational 

management, work flexibility, resource coordination and redistribution, openness of possessed 

knowledge, and openness of top managers are necessary features of transforming capabilities from 

researchers (Eisenhardt & Martin, 2000; Zollo & Winter, 2002; Zahra & George, 2002; Teece, 

2007). Thus, the combination of sensing and seizing capabilities may result in launching 

enterprises and innovations, creating new paths and asset bases (Helfat & Peteraf, 2009; Teece, 

2007). 

The integration of the Dynamic Capabilities Theory and telecommuting is embedded in the 

‘transforming’ aspect of the theory. Transforming is a core capability of dynamic capabilities, in 

that it maintains competitive advantage continuously (Teece, 2007; Eisenhardt & Martin, 2000; 

Zollo & Winter, 2002). In addition, through the re-configuring of resources the process of 

transforming can remove the risk of rigidity in an organisation’s core competences (Teece, 2017). 

Transforming capability can be divided into two features (Huh, 2018). The first is the readjustment 

and integration of resources, which is carried out on a step-by-step basis, and enables continued 

growth and continuous performance innovation through human resource realignment, 

collaboration with outsiders, and devolving more authority in decision-making. The second 

feature is the re-configuration of resources according to market conditions. This is an 

organisational management method for responding flexibly in unpredictable market conditions. 

When organisations adopt telecommuting, it is a reflection of transforming their traditional office-

based work processes to a flexible work arrangement that allows employees to work from different 

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locations outside the traditional office building hence injecting flexibility into the work patterns 

of employees.  

The need to link telecommuting to the Dynamic Capabilities Theory is based on the innovativeness 

attached to telecommuting as a work practice that can enable an organisation to gain competitive 

advantage. Since its development, telecommuting has been characterised with various levels of 

improvements, all with the objective of propelling the organisation to innovate, take advantage of 

opportunities and achieve competitive advantage. When an organisation identifies a promising 

opportunity and reaches a performance that is higher than that of their competitors, this works as 

an empiric indicator of competitive advantage (Schilke, 2014). This usually requires making good 

use of the several types of internal resources (Sotarauta, 2016).The antecedents to innovation are 

dynamic capabilities, defined as “the ability to integrate, build and reconfigure internal and 

external competences to address rapidly changing environments” (Teece, Pisano, & Shuen, 1997, 

p. 516). These capabilities are unique to each organisation and feature dynamic flexibility; the 

abilities to change, configure, and improve these capabilities (Penhoet & Andersen, 2021). 

This study will apply the Dynamic Capabilities Theory to assess whether private and public 

organisations will be able to gain competitive advantage by innovating their work practices 

through the design and implementation of telecommuting. The Dynamic Capabilities Theory was 

adopted as the theoretical framework for this research because it is believed that it will contribute 

to corporate sustainability which may be obtained as a result of the operational efficiency the 

organisation will gain from the adoption of telecommuting work practice. 

 

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1.3 Purpose of the Study 

The aim of this thesis is to explore how telecommuting impacts work performance in private and 

public sector organisations in Ghana. This thesis investigates telecommuting and its impact on 

work performance through three perspectives. First, examining the design processes involving 

telecommuting practice in private and public organisations. Second, it will investigate whether 

telecommuting impacts work performance positively or negatively. Third, this thesis will also 

assess whether the challenges and benefits associated with telecommuting can impact work 

performance. These purposes when achieved will help to provide a broader understanding of the 

connection between telecommuting and work performance of employees in private and public 

organisations in Ghana. 

 

1.4 Research Objectives 

The broad objective of this study is to examine the impact of telecommuting on work performance. 

Specific objectives are listed below. 

i. Assess whether telecommuting impacts work performance in private and public sector   

organisations in Ghana. 

ii. Assess the mediating role of design processes and practices of telecommuting on the 

relationship between telecommuting and work performance in Ghana. 

iii. Examine the challenges and benefits associated with telecommuting and how they impact work 

performance in private and public sector organisations in Ghana. 

 

 

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1.5 Research Questions  

Motivated by the knowledge gap, problem statement and the purpose of this thesis, this thesis’ 

research questions are listed below.  

i. To what extent does telecommuting impact work performance in private and public sector 

organisations in Ghana?  

ii. Do the design processes and practices of telecommuting mediate the relationship between 

telecommuting and work performance in Ghana?  

iii. To what extent do the challenges and benefits of telecommuting impact the relationship 

between telecommuting and work performance? 

 

1.6 Research Hypotheses 

H1: Telecommuting will significantly and positively affect work performance. 

H2: Telecommuting design processes and practices will mediate the relationship between 

telecommuting and work performance. 

H3: Telecommuting challenges and benefits will mediate the relationship between telecommuting 

and work performance. 

 

1.8 Significance of the Study 

Practice. Understanding the impact of telecommuting on work performance can assist 

organisational leaders in making more informed decisions particularly with regards to how their 

organisations will adopt telecommuting as a work practice. Insights from this study will serve as 

a guide to the design of telecommuting as a work practice. 

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Policy. This research will investigate how telecommuting impacts work performance as well as 

the design, implementation, benefits and challenges of telecommuting as a work practice. 

Therefore, this study holds implications for organisational leaders in multiple sectors such as 

private and public who are exploring the decision to adopt telecommuting as a formal workplace 

practice. Results are targeted towards enhancing organisational leaders’ knowledge and to inform 

them on the best practices they can use to formulate sustainable policies on telecommuting. 

Research. The study shall be used for further research in the future in several ways. The literature 

obtained can serve as a reference point for future studies. Again the developed conceptual 

framework shall provide a base work for future studies. 

 

1.9 Scope of the Study 

This study focused on how telecommuting impacts work performance in private and public sector 

organisations in Ghana, with telecommuting as the independent variable and work performance 

as the dependent variable. The private and public sector constitutes the largest portion of the total 

organisational framework in Ghana. Even though telecommuting has many components, this study 

was limited to assessing specific components such the design processes and challenges and its 

impact on work performance in selected private public and sector organisations. The geographical 

scope of this study included respondents in Accra, Tema, Takoradi, Tarkwa, Kumasi and Cape 

Coast. The study also focused on personnel at the top management/strategic, middle management 

and operational/supervisory levels in the selected organisations. The time scope of the study was 

between June 2022 and August 2022.This study did not collect data on the infrastructural base of 

telecommuting in the selected organisations. 

1.10 Limitations of the Study 

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First, this study presents a general overview of evidence existing in the literature, without explicit 

scrutiny of specific studies, journals or online databases. Further, the author recognises that the 

concern of the study embraces only published and/or peer-reviewed academic articles available 

and published only in the English language. Again, data will not be collected on the infrastructural 

base of telecommuting in the selected organisations for the study. 

 

1.11 Organisation of the Study 

This thesis contains five chapters. Chapter I   includes the study's introduction which is made up 

of the research background, problem statement, purpose of the study, objectives of the study, 

research questions, proposed literature review, conceptual framework and significance of the 

study as well as the limitations of the study.  

Chapter two includes the literature review which is made up of critical consideration and review 

of other works from other researchers. Chapter three consists of the methodology used for the 

study. It will explain the population, the sampling technique used, techniques for data collection 

and how the data will be analysed. Chapter four examines the data collected and the analysis 

represented in tables, graphs, charts, and percentages. The chapter is also made up of discussion 

of the results. Chapter five presents the summary, conclusions and recommendations of this study.  

 

                                                                            

 

 

                                                             

                                                             

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                                                               CHAPTER TWO 

                                                       LITERATURE REVIEW 

2.1 Introduction 

This chapter reviews literature on the information relevant to this study. The literature was derived 

from studies related to the topic and problem statement of the study. The information presented in 

the literature review is organised into themes. The themes to be discussed in this section include 

the origin of telecommuting, types of telecommuting, design processes of telecommuting as well 

as the challenges of telecommuting. The relationship between telecommuting and work 

performance in organisations will be reviewed. The chapter will also review works on 

telecommuting and its relationship with the Dynamic Capability Theory. 

Although teleworking has been the subject of research for some years, a commonly shared 

definition is not yet in place (Baruch, 2001; Parry, Young, Bevan, Veliziotis, Baruch, Beigi, 

Bajorek, Salter, & Tochia, 2021). Baruch (2001, p. 114) complained that, despite the already lively 

discussion in the literature, there was not even a shared terminology. Teleworking, (also called 

telecommuting, flexible working or remote working, but hereafter referred to as teleworking) is a 

way of working that has been enabled due to technical development (Leonardi, 2021).Telework is 

an alternative work arrangement in which employees perform tasks at a different location from the 

primary or central workplace for at least part of their workday (Gajendran & Harrison, 2007). This 

allows workers to access their work activities through the use of information and communications 

technologies (Nakrošienė, Bučiūnienė & Goštautaitė, 2019).  

The International Labour Organisation (2021), report uses teleworking or telecommuting or work 

from home (WFH) and defines WFH as “a working arrangement in which a worker fulfils the 

essential responsibilities of his/her job while remaining at home, using information 

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communications technology”. The report focuses on the importance of WFH, especially during 

the pandemic, as an important way to reduce the spread of the virus. It also reveals that many 

employers are worried that their employees do not work as much as when they are at the office.  

 

2.2 The Origin of Telecommuting 

The concept of telecommuting was first formulated by Jack M. Nilles in 1975. At that time, Nilles 

was working remotely on a complex National Aeronautical and Space Agency (NASA) 

communication system. He told people what he was doing was “Telecommuting”, and the phrase 

was born. Nilles (1975), considered telecommuting as when employees in large companies were 

able to work away from the office, although not from home, due to the considerable growth in the 

information industry, the improved technological tools and changed societal views. The term 

telecommuting is used to refer to remote work, telework, working from home, virtual working and 

flexible workplace and since the concept was first developed by Jack Nilles, it has evolved and 

numerous ways of working virtually developed.  

Various scholars refer to working virtually in different ways, ranging from virtual workplaces 

(Akkirman & Harris, 2004; Cascio, 2000), alternative workplaces (Apgar IV, 1998), virtual teams 

(Townsend, DeMarie & Hendrickson, 1998; Powell, Piccoli & Ives, 2004; Zakaria, Amelinckx & 

Wilemon, 2004) and teleworking (Bailey & Kurland,     2002; Garad & Ismail, 2018). Telework 

is not a new concept and has been implemented by companies around the world (Griggs, 2021). 

Telework is primarily executed in education and health, information and communication, and 

large firms (Pigni & Staffolani, 2019). 

The research on telework dates back to the 1970s and 1980s in the transportation planning and 

information science fields. The term “telecommuter” originated with the work by Nilles (1975), 

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on the trade-off between telecommunications and transportation. While these early years focused 

on transportation issues, travel time or distance of commute has not been found to be a motivator 

or predictor of telecommuting in the United States (Bailey & Kurland, 2002), though the 

transportation perspective is currently being revisited by researchers in Eastern countries such as 

Vietnam (Akbari & Hopkins, 2018). 

2.3 Types of Telecommuting  

The concept of telecommuting has evolved and numerous ways of working virtually have 

emerged. Bailey and Kurland (2002), found that employees who were remote working only did so 

a few days out of a given month. Different types of telecommuting have also been identified.  

Mokhtarian (1991), indicated that it would be convenient to group remote work types into home-

based and non-home-based.  

2.3.1 Home-based remote work 

Home-based types include the methods which are discussed below. Running a home-based 

business as one's only job. Sometimes referred to here as a "primary home-based business". 

Moonlighting from home. That is, running a secondary home-based business, in addition to 

holding another job. A salaried employee working at home after hours. This is bringing work 

home after a full day at the office, to work overtime. A salaried employee working at home in lieu 

of in-office work. One of the "classical" forms of telecommuting. The salaried employee working 

at home instead of in the office usually meets the telecommuting criteria of commute reduction 

and remote work management. However, there are two types of gray areas: one relating to 

commute reduction and the other to remote work management. The first potential exception occurs 

when the alternative to "working at home" is "not working at all", rather than "working in a 

conventional office". This may sometimes be the case for mobility-limited segments of the 

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population such as the person with a disability, the single parent or the new mother. In these 

situations, commute travel is reduced. 

Second, some classes of salaried workers do not have supervisors in the usual sense of the word: 

University professors, top executives of firms or public agencies, the President of the United 

States, and so on. Whether or not one refers to work at home by these kinds of people as 

telecommuting, their ability to work at home is unlikely to influence employers to allow it for their 

less-privileged types of employees. 

2.3.2 Non-home-based remote work  

Working from a centre closer to home than the primary office. This is the other "classical" form 

of telecommuting. The salaried employee working at a satellite or local centre nearer to home than 

the primary office also fulfils the two telecommuting criteria. These two categories - salaried 

employees working at home or at a centre near home are again considered the "classical" forms of 

telecommuting. 

2.3.2.1 Field work. Making sales or service calls, or collecting data, at one or a variety of locations 

other than the primary office. Field and sales work may or may not involve a reduced commute, 

depending on whether the trip from/to home is directly to/from a field site or the central office. In 

many, if not most situations, the field worker is still required to report to a central site to be 

dispatched, to complete paperwork, to make phone calls, or simply for one's presence to be 

recorded before and/or after the workday. 

2.3.2.2 Working while traveling. Possibly using cellular phones, portable computers, fax 

machines, voice mail and/or other computing/communications technology. In addition to the 

classification by Mokhtarian (1991), Pacific Bell (1992), also provided a three category 

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classification: Work at home, Satellite office and Neighborhood work centre. These three 

classifications as indicated by the company are explained further. 

2.3.2.3 Work at home. This is the most popular form of telecommuting (by telecommuters). The 

employee designates work space at home to conduct business functions. This type of 

telecommuting is more appealing to women who have young children because it will offer them 

the opportunity to balance their professional life with family responsibilities. 

2.3.2.4 Satellite office. This configuration enables employees from different functional units of an 

organisation (e.g., accounting, human resources, and data processing) to work together sharing 

office technology. The primary consideration in configuring a satellite office is locating the office 

in an area where high concentrations of employees live. The employees share a common interest 

of living in the same general vicinity as opposed to having similar job functions.  

2.3.2.5 Neighborhood work centre. This type of arrangement is an enhancement of the satellite 

office idea and improves upon it by creating office space for employees from multiple 

organisations at one location to facilitate the sharing of technology for participants. Further, the 

employees are expected to be residents in the same locality where the neighbourhood work centre 

is located.  

A follow-up to the classification of telecommuting by Mokhtarian (1991), was made by Kurland 

and Baily (1999), by   defining four varying approaches to telecommuting including the home 

office, the satellite office, the neighbourhood work centre and mobile working. 

2.3.2.6 The Home office. This arrangement enables employees to execute their assigned duties in 

their residences in personally created offices at their residences. When an employee uses this 

arrangement of telecommuting, it is vital that all the needed conditions are met in terms of access 

to the company’s database(s), IT-security, necessary technology and having an ergonomic 

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working atmosphere. In some nations, warranting an ergonomic atmosphere for work to take place 

is legally compulsory as indicated by the countries ‘rules and regulations regarding workplace 

environments’ (Broughton, 2007). 

2.3.2.7 The Satellite office. This is a smaller office in relation to the organisation’s   branch office 

or head office and may not have all the required office equipment, fixtures and fittings as may be 

available at a main branch or head office. However, there could be an issue of satellite offices 

being adopted by larger organisations in large metropolitan areas in order to ensure that it will be 

utilised for smaller businesses and organisations. Satellite offices are mostly located in the middle 

of communities or in shopping centres or malls. Satellite offices can also be located closer to the 

residences of employees.  

In comparison to the home office, the satellite office is likely to accommodate more employees 

and the size of the satellite office varies based on the requirements and size of the organisation as 

well as the number of employees who are expected to make use of the facility (Lindén & Oljemark, 

2018). 

2.3.2.8 The Neighbourhood work centre (NWC). This is similar to the satellite office but with 

minimal facilities as the NWC can accommodate more than only one company’s employees 

(Kurland & Bailey, 1999).While the NWC provides similar status of work arrangement and work 

flexibility as well as employee relationship and social interaction for workers as the satellite office, 

it lacks the ability to enable the manager effectively supervise their subordinates. (Kent & 

Williams, 1990). 

2.3.2.9 Mobile working. This is known as “working on the go”, and it is a work arrangement that 

enables a person to perform assigned duties primarily at any location apart from the traditional 

office space such as the shopping mall, airport, shared office, clients’ office (Kurland & Bailey, 

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1999). In contrast to the home office where workers are sent home and specifically work from 

home, mobile working arrangement enables employees to work for a longer period of time away 

from home (Lindén & Oljemark, 2018). 

Other scholars provide an alternative classification of telecommuting made up of three groups 

namely: home-based work or homeworking, group-based teleworking including satellite-office 

and neighbourhood office centres and mobile telework or otherwise called nomadic (Taskin & 

Devos, 2005; Wilson & Greenhill, 2004).Some argue that there are more types of telework such 

as independent telework and networking or flexible teleworking systems (Nunes, 2005; Taskin & 

Devos, 2005). It should be noted that there are additional categories of telecommuting which are 

based on different variables.  

Various categories of telecommuting can be listed considering these variables. In a study of 

thousands of teleworkers in 10 European countries, Japan and the USA, six main categories of 

teleworking stand out (European Commission, 2000). Rosenfield and Alves (2011), systematised 

the following types. Work from home identified by the term small office/home office (SOHO). 

This is where the employee performs assigned duties from his/her residence. Work from satellite 

offices is where workers perform their assigned duties in scattered small units of a central 

company. Work from telecentres is where the assigned duties are performed from a facility located 

closer to the residence of the employee that offers work positions or several telematic 

organisations or services to remote clients. Mobile work is where work is conducted outside the 

home or main office and it includes business or field trips and work at the client’s premises. Work 

from remote or offshore companies enables the employee to work in  call-centres or tele-services 

through which organisations fit satellite offices or subcontract telecommunication companies from 

different parts of the world which is assumed to have minimal operational expenses as well as 

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minimal labour costs. Informal work or mixed telework is an arrangement with the employer to 

work a few hours outside the company. These categories of telecommuting are similar in terms of 

workplace flexibility and often, the time invested in the work, replacing the worker’s commute to 

the contracting headquarters through remote information and communication tools (Rocha & 

Amador, 2018). 

The  definitions proposed for  the categories of telecommuting  are at times blurred and do not 

always outline exactly what types of teleworkers are actually accounted for (Tremblay & Thomsin, 

2012). For this reason the following five main types of telecommuting are encountered in the 

world of work (Morgan, 2004; Hislop & Axtell, 2009).  

 Home-based telework. This arrangement allows the worker to conduct his/her assigned duties 

from home. Home-based telework (HBT) is a relatively delicate concept with mixed literature 

(Nguyen & Armoogum, 2021). Home-based teleworking cannot be used to accelerate rural 

development or diversification strategies, unless the subject of specific policy action at the 

minimum, it would be important to ensure that improved telecommunications infrastructure is not 

limited to urban areas, preventing people who live in rural areas from working from home. 

Telecentres. These are local facilities where people who intend to reduce the burden and cost of 

travelling to a central location to work can use to perform their work. A telecentre is a public 

facility that provides people with access to computers, the Internet and other information and 

communication technologies that enable them to gather, create, learn and communicate 

information for social and economic development. A telecentre is also known as a rural 

information technology centre where it is a hub-technological in rural areas for locals utilising 

technology (Lee, 2010). Short (2001), indicated that a telecentre provides some ICT equipment 

such as computers, Internet, printers, and digital cameras that can be used to perform varying tasks. 

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In addition, a telecentre is a non-profit public place where the public can access free computers 

and other digital technologies equipped with software and connected to the Internet which can be 

used to perform different work assignments. Again, telecentres are accessible centres that enable 

technology and connectivity to be within the physical reach of community members by 

conveniently locating them within the community, as well as providing affordable computer and 

Internet access at low or no cost to the user (Prado & Janbek, 2013). According to Tizala (2011), 

telecentre is a strategy to improve the quality of life of the poor who need to be concerned about 

whether they benefit or access the appropriate provisions provided. 

 Telecottages. Tremblay and Thomsin (2012), refer to Telecottages as a place where employees 

are converged to serve different employers. These are locally-based facilities that offer the 

teleworking community the opportunity for personal interaction, skills development, and high-

performance information and communication technologies (Morgan, 2004; Hislop & Axtell, 

2009). Again, Telecottages can be described as "a community access point equipped with 

advanced information technology" (Fabulya, 2006; p. 3.). 

Ferenc (2004), explained that a Telecottage is a facility equipped with information and 

communication tools of appropriate quantity and quality and employees of appropriate numbers 

and qualifications, as well as being a tool for the local community development – which is able to 

operate as a community venue. One of the main aims of establishing Telecottages is to have a 

place for community access, so that those who have no appropriate computer and Internet 

connection can find a place where these things are provided (Gáspár, 2003).   

According to Bihari, (1999, p. 86) “the Telecottages is multifunctional, open information and 

telecommunication service provider of small communities.” While Bihari (1999), focused on 

Telecottages as community information provider, Ferenc (2004), adopted a more work related 

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dimension to Telecottages by stating that “In my opinion the most important duty of Telecottages 

is to provide a background to the development of local workforces with the help of its information 

technology tools and educated workforce”. This implies that providing local residents with office 

and IT services and, in addition, enhancing opportunities for developing their knowledge and 

qualification through courses and activities. Further, Telecottages can be used to enhance the 

provision of IT infrastructure in rural settlements by providing community access (Ferenc, 2004). 

The approach adopted by researchers on Telecottages should not be a matter of contention. The 

most important issue should be the contribution it makes as stated in a Parliamentary Office of 

Science and Technology (1993), report that Telecottages have the potential to yield numerous 

opportunities to rural communities through the generation of  local training and employment 

opportunities and can also act as a focus for helping disabled workers participate more fully. 

Mobile telework. With this arrangement, the employee is not resided at a stationary place but 

moves to different places to maximise the delivery of services or capabilities. The employee does 

this all with the objective of achieving work flexibility and increasing productivity and enhancing 

customer satisfaction. 

Functional relocation. With this arrangement, organisational activities are focused and conveyed 

from a different location. 

To conclude, it can be said that telecommuting is not an identical and static arrangement, but rather 

a variety and a consequent range as has been indicated by researchers (Wilks & Billberry, 

2007).Further, it should be noted that these categorisation of telecommuting modes may only be 

applicable to the local situation in Ghana because people who telecommute normally do that from 

their personal residences. 

 

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2.4 Design Process for Telecommuting 

According to the University of Washington (2021) publication, the suitability for telecommuting 

will be determined by the person who is supposed to participate in the telecommuting arrangement, 

the job to be performed, the willingness of the employee to participate in telecommuting as well 

as the willingness of team members and supervisors to support telecommuting arrangement. As to 

the question of who can telework and how much, is provided by Matos (2015) in a statement that 

‘the suitability for telecommuting will be dependent on the specific duty to be performed and 

whether that duty can be performed offsite and the procedures for selection should be very fair 

and transparent, objective and free from bias’.  The author’s assertion is supported by the United 

States Office of Personnel Management (2021) report that, “overall, the eligibility of a given 

position for telework should be grounded in a determination whether the position’s duties and 

responsibilities may be performed at an alternative worksite without diminution of employee 

performance or agency operations and that process should be as transparent as possible”.  

The decision to telecommute will be the choice of management and such a decision should be 

made with the highest level of carefulness in terms of financial prudence, employee choice and 

not based on a single factor such as reducing operational expenses. The decision to be made should 

be objective and based on enhancing corporate productivity and providing work flexibility, 

employee satisfaction and commitment. Teleworking may be very prudent for those category of 

employees who work in jobs that are classified as knowledge-oriented segments (Bouziri, Smith, 

Descatha, Dab & Jean, 2020; Espinoza & Reznikova, 2020), whose jobs do not require the direct 

interaction with customers and also whose jobs do not require physical support from other 

employees and may not need the use of devices, tools and equipment that are located permanently 

in the office building. Those work activities that involve physical production with machines 

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located in a manufacturing facility or workshop may not have the opportunity to participate in 

telecommuting arrangements. 

2.4.1 Characteristics of positions that do not lend themselves to telework 

Work activities that need the assistance of certain employees, stationary work documents or 

particular work environment and machinery to facilitate effective performance. Work activities 

that require constant inter-personal interaction and which was not performed well using 

telecommuting during the COVID-19 quarantine period. Work activities that involve regular face-

to-face meetings and physical presentations. Work activities that will cause the telecommuting 

arrangement to burden the employer with additional expenditure, for instance equipment 

duplication. Work activities that will make the telecommuter’s absence affect other colleagues in 

a negative manner. 

 

2.4.2 Characteristics of positions that do lend themselves to telework  

Work activities that can be performed out of the employee’s traditional office premises. 

Telecommuting does not impact work quality and organisational activities. Telecommuting does 

not increase the organisation’s expenditure. Telecommuting does not adversely affect group 

operations in the organisation.   

A relatively recent success factors for telecommuting was provided by Ye (2012).The author 

provided six guidelines which he believed could enhance the successful implementation of 

telecommuting. The six success factors are eligibility – basis for choosing participants, 

technological infrastructure support, telecommuting worker training and help desk support, remote 

worker management and performance evaluations, telecommuting rules and policies, 

telecommuter agreement and contract. 

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2.4.2.1 Eligibility. Teleworking is not universally applicable. Teleworking involves conducting 

operations from a location that is outside the traditional office building without working 

colleagues. What should be understood is, the fact that a worker has an outstanding performance 

in the office location may not mean that he/she will be able to transfer such performance when 

engaged in teleworking. This is because when teleworking, other factors such as individual and 

job-oriented are likely to affect the individual’s performance.  According to the author, certain 

personal factors as professionalism, dependability, resourcefulness and communication should be 

considered in determining a person’s eligibility for telecommuting. 

2.4.2.2 Technological infrastructure support. A holistic teleworking arrangement involves a 

technological infrastructure which is perfectly designed and integrated into the organisation’s   

local area network (LAN) and wide area network (WAN) infrastructure. The objective is to 

establish an optimum assistance atmosphere. The author indicated that interconnected architecture, 

hardware management and value-added applications should be considered as they are determining 

factors for a successful telecommuting implementation. 

Although what the author indicated was true, the development of Zoom, Microsoft Teams and 

Google Meet have resulted in telecommuters having easier and more reliable access to their 

organisations’ workspace electronically. 

2.4.2.3 Training. A successful implementation of teleworking arrangement is dependent on how 

the participants are equipped with additional knowledge, skills and competences. The subject of 

providing   participants with additional knowledge, skills and competences is double-edged. Firstly 

participants should be trained on the utilisation of the technological devices that are required for 

telecommuting. Secondly, IT experts should also be equipped with additional knowledge, skills 

and competences to provide the required expert assistance when the need arises.     

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2.4.2.4 Telecommuter management and performance evaluation. Handling office location 

workers can be challenging, but it is more difficult when handling them as telecommuters. 

Teleworking arrangements have many problems due to the absence of a supervisor. Organisations 

that intend to adopt telecommuting arrangement must first evaluate the existing work procedures 

and practices to be able to identify their limitations and implement corrective measures before the 

adoption. The author emphasised that handlers of teleworking arrangement should enhance their 

core knowledge and competences to have the ability to choose jobs that are eligible for 

telecommuting and formulate the procedures that can facilitate the successful adoption of 

telecommuting with emphasis on excellent work performance and effective communication.  

2.4.2.5 Rules and policies for telecommuting. The participants in a telecommuting arrangement 

should be provided with the procedures and guidelines relating to the arrangement when they are 

about to be enrolled in it. Such procedures and guidelines will provide them with the required 

awareness that will enable them to work effectively in the accomplishment of their assigned duties.  

2.4.2.6 Telecommuter agreement and contract. Adding to the procedures and guidelines stated 

earlier, participants in a telecommuting arrangement should be made to sign a Telecommuting 

Agreement and make sure that they have read and understood them before they commence their 

participation in the telecommuting arrangement. 

The South Carolina Department of Administration (2020), provides more recent guidelines for 

effective implementation of telecommuting. The guidelines include an organisation-wide 

teleworking policy with a manager to manage it, pinpoint the exact duties that are suitable for 

teleworking, ensure that managers and subordinates who will participate in the teleworking 

arrangement are made to sign the Teleworking Application to help in identifying suitability, ensure 

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a teleworking agreement between the organisation and the selected workers before they are 

allowed to telework. 

It is generally believed that teleworkers must have certain inherent characteristics to enable them 

perform their assigned duties perfectly as teleworkers. Further, superiors who handle teleworkers 

are advised to conduct individual assessment for their subordinates before they are permitted to 

participate in the teleworking arrangement. The appropriate person for teleworking arrangement 

is supposed to be reliable, an expert, capable, self-sufficient, team player, a perfect communicator 

and above all must be able to operate the devices that are used for teleworking.  

 

2.5 Benefits of Telecommuting 

   2.5.1 Benefits of Telecommuting for the Employer 

Lister and Harnish (2019), conducted a study analysing telework in the United States of America 

(U.S.A.). They concluded that most employees in the U.S.A. prefer working from a distance due 

to the benefits of working away from the office, fewer conflicts, more efficiency, and a more 

fulfilling life as well as more savings from the money they would have otherwise spent on 

commuting. The authors emphasised that for all of these benefits to be real, teleworking should 

be done correctly, in a combined effort of both partners (employer and employee). Training on 

this type of work might be a good starting point. Choudhury, Foroughi and Larson (2020), 

analysed the efficiency generated by WFA compared to WFH. The results in terms of productivity 

favour WFA, which grants more flexibility to employees.  

Thorstensson (2020), argues that many factors influence teleworker productivity. Thus, even if 

most studies show a positive impact, the extent of the effect depends on factors such as the 

technology and the equipment available for the personnel who are working from home and the 

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employee attitudes towards this type of work arrangement. The author also highlights the fact that 

productivity is also dependent on the context. For example, some teleworkers can have lower 

productivity in times of crisis, such as during the pandemic, due to the imposed self-isolation. 

Increased productivity. Productivity depends significantly on personal motivation and the home 

environment. Research shows that employees who telecommute are 20% to 25% more productive 

than their office counterparts (Wrike, n.d.). It is impressive that most workers, amid a global 

pandemic with added stress, non-ideal work conditions, and some having their children at home, 

were still able to be just as productive or increase their productivity (Maurer, 2020). 

Financial benefits. The decision many companies make to have at least a portion of their 

employees continue to work remotely decreases the need for the amount of office space pre-

pandemic. The decision of what to do with the extra space can be difficult. Should it "be redesigned 

to build corporate culture, engage employees, enhance employee collaboration, or facilitate 

innovation," or do they utilise the space as a showcase for customers (Faulds & Raju, 2021: p 30). 

By decreasing the real estate footprint, a business will save about 20% per employee cost (Faulds 

& Raju, 2021). Research estimates that telecommuting half the time can save employers about 

$11,000 per year per employee working remotely (Hyken, 2020 

 

2.5.2 Benefits of Telecommuting for the Employee 

Work/Life Balance. Many parents, primarily mothers of young children, prefer telecommuting 

(Arntz, Yahmed & Berlingieri, 2020). If employers permit employees to schedule their working 

hours to when it works best in their schedule or when they are most productive, this eliminates the 

traditional 9 am-5 pm work hours that do not cater for all employee's needs (Dvorak, 2021). 

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Cost Savings. The ability to work from home provides employees significant cost savings to live 

further from their employer, such as suburbs versus metropolitan areas and decreased travel and 

associated costs such as gas, transport, and vehicle expenses (Faulds & Raju, 2020). In a simulated 

mid-sized city where every worker teleworks at least one day a week, transportation costs 

decreased 20% (Merrefield, 2020). For individuals who work in a tier-1 city, the cost of 

transportation can total $6,000 per year or more (Faulds & Raju, 2020). Other potential cost 

savings associated with decreased commute include "reduced child care expenses, dry cleaning 

expenses, and eating out" (Faulds & Raju, 2020: p 33). 

Flexibility. Flexibility within a workday can significantly benefit those who have health 

conditions, care for children or relatives, attend frequent medical appointments, and need 

therapeutic treatments (Schur, Ameri & Kruse, 2020). Flexible work arrangements, such as those 

that allow employees to determine the hours they work rather than the standard 9 am to 5 pm, 

allow employees to arrange their work schedule to when they are most productive. It increases 

self-discipline and productivity, less boredom, and reduced procrastination (Wang, Liu, Qian & 

Parker, 2020). 

Reduced inter-personal conflict. Virtanen (2020) citing Johnson (2019), suggested that remote 

work tends to lessen conflicts among employees. The author indicated that once employees get 

along with the colleagues in distance work, it makes them more effective and boosts a positive 

attitude towards their task and overall motivation. This implies that restricted conversation and the 

scope of conflict go hand in hand. Since remote work is more likely to limit formal or informal 

discussions, it can be assumed that it also narrows the chance of disagreement between the 

workers. 

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Broader opportunities. According to Messaoud and Gupta (2021), remote work also broadens the 

options for both employers and employees. For example, the workers can apply for job 

opportunities in different cities or regions without moving from their current location. Similarly, 

businesses can take advantage of a diversified and extended workforce and choose a suitable 

candidate for the position (Blumberga & Pylinskaya, 2019). Consequently, both parties can  

benefit from the broader alternatives of getting proper matches according to their profiles, values, 

mission, and other personal aspects. This principally implies that employees can look for a wide 

range of careers (Felstead & Henseke, 2017). 

Overall job satisfaction. Employees who telecommute have more autonomy and cost savings due 

to less commute, and increased flexibility in their work and personal lives, creating a better work-

life balance (Dvorak, 2021). 

 

2.6 Challenges in Adopting Telecommuting  

Despite all of the benefits, telework has been banned by some important companies in recent years 

(Arthur, 2021; McCulloch, 2019; Assay, 2019), making this decision using the argument that 

collaborative work is critical, thus ignoring the new realities and attracting criticism from the 

people affected by these decisions. Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic made 21 crucial 

companies reconsider their work arrangements, thus allowing their employees to work remotely 

in the long term (Hadden, 2020). 

While telecommuting experience is generally positive, there is a tendency to underestimate the 

positive influences and overestimate the negative experience of telecommuting prior to adoption 

(Maruyama & Tietze, 2012).  

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Increased work pressure. Telecommuting increases work pressure and work-life conflicts as 

indicated in a study conducted on a sample of 2960 participants from a large government agency 

in Sweden (Bjärntoft, Hallman, Mathiassen, Larsson & Jahncke, 2020). Telecommuting is found 

to have negative direct outcomes for return on labour with no significant effects on job satisfaction 

or staff turnover in a  quantitative study involving 4,204 employees in Australia (Kotey & Sharma, 

2019). 

Lack of managerial support underpinned by concerns over performance of telecommuters due to 

prevalence of home-based distractions continues to dampen telecommuting adoption (Scholefield 

& Peel, 2009). High role conflict candidates are indifferent to telecommuting while candidates 

with low role conflict are more attracted to organisations offering telecommuting (Rau & Hyland, 

2002). 

Absence from organisational culture. Teleworkers miss the opportunity of being actively involved 

with the organisational culture (Messaoud & Gupta, 2021). A supportive organisational culture 

drives the motivation of its employees by making the work enjoyable and purposeful. When 

employees connect their identities with the organisation's values and mission, they find motivation 

within the work itself (McGregor & Doshi, 2020). The lack of embeddedness with the corporate 

culture results in inadequate identification with the organisational values and purpose followed by 

a lack of engagement and motivation (Messaoud & Gupta, 2021). 

Absence of common working place and informal communication. Although there are numerous 

communication tools, the importance of interpersonal communication in problem-solving, 

creativity, and collaboration is incomparable (Howard-Grenville, 2020). Studies have found 

informal conversation and face-to-face communication keep the workgroups motivated, and on 

the contrary, lack of personal contact negatively affects motivation (Röcker, 2012). 

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2.7 Theoretical Framework-Dynamic Capability Theory 

The th