TELECOMMUTING AND PRODUCTIVITY OF IT PROFESSIONALS IN IT COMPANIES IN SRI LANKA MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY A.C. Divitotawela Department of Computer Science & Engineering University of Moratuwa December 2009 TELECOMMUTING AND PRODUCTIVITY OF IT PROFESSIONALS IN IT COMPANIES IN SRI LANKA By A. C. Divitotawela The Dissertation was submitted to the Department of Computer Science & Engineering of the University of Moratuwa in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the Degree of Master of Business Administration. Department of Computer Science & Engineering University of Moratuwa December 2009 Declaration I confirm that, except where indicated through the proper use of citations and references, this is my own original work. I confirm that, subject to final approval by the Board of Examinations of University of Moratuwa, a copy of this Dissertation may be placed upon the shelves of the library of the University of Moratuwa and may be circulated as required. A. C. Divitotawela Date MBA/IT/08/9054 To best of my knowledge the above particulars are correct. Dr. Shahani Weerawarna (Supervisor) Date Department of Computer Science and Engineering University of Moratuwa. Approved by the examination committee: MBA in IT, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka. December 2009 Abstract Most current work arrangements still bear the imprint of the industrial revolution. Employees mainly transact their time, rather than their products, with employing firms. The era of Information Technology compelled firms to unbind the time and the task from the place. Telecommuting is the method of unbinding the time and the task from the place. It allows the work to be carried out anywhere at any time allowing employees to be more flexible. Recent advances in mobile broadband have made working from anywhere at any time more realistic than ever before. Telecommuting is not a new concept. It has its roots in late 70’s. There have been a number of studies conducted in this area, in the international arena and some governments even promote telecommuting as a solution to reduce the road traffic and environment pollution. Telecommuting is not limited to providing one or more solution to social matters, but it provides benefits for both individuals as well as organizations. Increased productivity is one of the many benefits it provides to organizations. It has been reported that telecommuting increases individual productivity in other countries but there are not many studies conducted in the Sri Lankan context. This research focuses on whether telecommuting really increases the individual productivity. Information technology professionals who are employed in IT organizations are selected as the focus group in this research. This sector will be the most at ease with information technology and have a better chance of telecommuting due to the nature of their job. The research has used hypotheses and collected data from IT professionals via the web published questionnaire. The research used the valid responses received from IT professionals in its analysis. The study result indicates a clear increase in productivity of IT professionals when they telecommute. There is about on average 20% increase in overall productivity due to telecommuting according to the research findings. Most of the productivity improvement is due to the increase in output due to either IT professionals spending more time on their work, or because their efficiency has increased due to telecommuting. Parameters such as telecommuting mode and the level of distraction at office, have moderate correlation with the productivity. However parameters such as age, family status, commuting time, professional experience, number of meetings, level of task repeatability and level of team work have negligible correlation with productivity. A majority of IT professionals practise the telecommuting on an ad-hoc basis and it is expected that this might be the reason why some of the parameters have been reported with less correlation than one would expect. It is expected that this research will contribute to the knowledge area of telecommuting in Sri Lanka and that the findings of this study, will be used in many future research directions in telecommuting. Acknowledgement Firstly, I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to my supervisor Dr. Shahani Weerawarna, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Moratuwa, whose advice and guidance were invaluable. I also thank Mrs. Vishaka Nanayakkara, head of the department, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Moratuwa, for providing continues support and advice to carryout the research successfully. I further extend my deepest gratitude to all academic and non-academic staff of Department of Computer Science & Engineering and library staff of University of Moratuwa for their support in numerous ways. Next, I deeply cherish all the professionals in IT organizations for extending their support by providing their feedback and support in this research. Lastly I would like to thank my wife Dilini and my parents. Without their help and support this endeavor would have been impossible. A. C. Divitotawela MBA/IT/08/9054 Table of Contents 1 Introduction..................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Research Background .................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Definition of Telecommuting ........................................................................................................ 2 1.3 Problem Statement......................................................................................................................... 3 1.4 Research Scope.............................................................................................................................. 3 1.5 Research objective ......................................................................................................................... 4 2 Literature Review ........................................................................................................................... 5 2.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 5 2.2 Defining Telecommuting............................................................................................................... 6 2.3 Growth in Telecommuting............................................................................................................. 6 2.4 Pros and Cons of Telecommuting.................................................................................................. 8 2.5 Productivity and Telecommuting................................................................................................... 9 2.6 Telecommuting and Sri Lanka..................................................................................................... 11 3 Research Methodology ..................................................................................................................12 3.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 12 3.2 Theoretical Model........................................................................................................................ 12 3.3 Data collection ............................................................................................................................. 20 3.4 Hypothesis ................................................................................................................................... 20 4 Data Analysis & Discussion ..........................................................................................................25 4.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 25 4.2 Rules of Coding ........................................................................................................................... 25 4.3 Editing Responses........................................................................................................................ 26 4.4 Reliability of Dataset ................................................................................................................... 27 4.5 Data Distribution ......................................................................................................................... 28 4.6 Hypothesis Testing ...................................................................................................................... 37 4.7 Summary of Hypothesis Testing.................................................................................................. 60 4.8 Generalization of the Analysis..................................................................................................... 60 5 Conclusion and Recommendation .................................................................................................62 5.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 62 5.2 Contribution Summary ................................................................................................................ 62 5.3 Limitations................................................................................................................................... 63 5.4 Future Directions ......................................................................................................................... 64 6 Reference .......................................................................................................................................66 Appendix - A: Telecommuter Questionnaire ......................................................................................... 70 List of Tables Table 4-1 : Rules of coding................................................................................................................. 26 Table 4-2 : Reliability test using Cronbach's Alpha............................................................................ 28 Table 4-3 : Reliability test item-total statistics.................................................................................... 28 Table 4-4 : Descriptive Statistics of the Variables .............................................................................. 34 Table 4-5 : Productivity Mean Distribution by Job Category ............................................................. 35 Table 4-6 : ANOVA Analysis for Job Category ................................................................................. 36 Table 4-7 : Descriptive Statistics for Quantity Element...................................................................... 36 Table 4-8 : Descriptive Statistics for Quality Element of Productivity............................................... 37 Table 4-9 : Descriptive Statistics for Timeliness Element of Productivity ......................................... 37 Table 4-10: Correlation between Age & Telecommuting Productivity .............................................. 39 Table 4-11: ANOVA Test for Productivity & Age ............................................................................. 41 Table 4-12: Correlation between Family Status & Telecommuting productivity ............................... 42 Table 4-13: ANOVA Results for Family Status & Telecommuting productivity............................... 43 Table 4-14: Correlation between Professional Experience and Telecommuting Productivity............ 44 Table 4-15: ANOVA Results for Professional Experience and Telecommuting Productivity ........... 46 Table 4-16: Correlation between the Commuting Time and Telecommuting Productivity ................ 47 Table 4-17: Correlation between the Commuting Time and Commuting Time ................................. 49 Table 4-18: Correlation between Telecommuting Productivity and Distractions ............................... 50 Table 4-19: ANOVA Results for Telecommuting Productivity and Distractions............................... 51 Table 4-20: Correlation between the Telecommuting Productivity & Number of Meetings .............. 52 Table 4-21: Correlation between the Telecommuting Productivity & Telecommuting Mode............ 53 Table 4-22: ANOVA Results for Telecommuting Productivity & Telecommuting Mode ................. 55 Table 4-23: Correlation between the Telecommuting Productivity & Team Interaction.................... 56 Table 4-24: ANOVA Results for Telecommuting Productivity & Team Interaction ......................... 57 Table 4-25: Correlation between Telecommuting Productivity & Task Repeatability ....................... 58 Table 4-26: ANOVA Results for Telecommuting Productivity & Task Repeatability....................... 60 Table 4-27: Summary of correlation analysis ..................................................................................... 60 List of Figures Figure 3-1: Productivity Variables ...................................................................................................... 18 Figure 3-2: Theoretical Framework .................................................................................................... 19 Figure 4-1: Age Distribution............................................................................................................... 29 Figure 4-2: Family Status Distribution................................................................................................ 30 Figure 4-3: Gender Distribution.......................................................................................................... 30 Figure 4-4: Experience Distribution.................................................................................................... 31 Figure 4-5: Job Type Distribution....................................................................................................... 32 Figure 4-6: Telecommuting Intensity Distribution ............................................................................. 32 Figure 4-7: Telecommuting Mode Distribution .................................................................................. 33 Figure 4-8: Mean Productivity Histogram .......................................................................................... 34 Figure 4-9 : Results of Hypothesis 1................................................................................................... 38 Figure 4-10: Scatter Plot for Productivity and Age............................................................................. 40 Figure 4-11: Means Plot for Productivity and Age ............................................................................. 40 Figure 4-12: Scatter Plot for Productivity and Family Status ............................................................. 42 Figure 4-13: Means Plot for Productivity and Family Status.............................................................. 43 Figure 4-14: Scatter Plot for Productivity and Professional Experience............................................. 45 Figure 4-15: Mean Plot for Productivity and Professional Experience............................................... 46 Figure 4-16: Scatter Plot for Productivity and Commuting Time ....................................................... 48 Figure 4-17: Mean Plot for Productivity and Commuting Time ......................................................... 48 Figure 4-18: Scatter Plot for Productivity and Distractions at Office ................................................. 50 Figure 4-19: Mean Plot for Productivity and Distractions at Office ................................................... 51 Figure 4-20: Scatter Plot for Productivity and Telecommuting Mode ................................................ 54 Figure 4-21: Mean Plot for Productivity and Telecommuting Mode.................................................. 54 Figure 4-22: Scatter Plot for Productivity and Team Interaction ........................................................ 56 Figure 4-23: Mean Plot for Productivity and Team Interaction .......................................................... 57 Figure 4-24: Scatter Plot for Productivity and Task Repeatability ..................................................... 59 Figure 4-25: Mean Plot for Productivity and Task Repeatability ....................................................... 59 List of Abbreviations HR - Human Resource IT - Information Technology SPSS - Statistical Package for the Social Sciences