Reactions to telecomuting during recruitment: a look at gender, need for affiliation, & need for autonomy

As organizations endeavor to recruit the most talented employees, new benefits to attract arise. This study examined the relationship between opportunities for home-based telecommuting and organizational attraction. It has been suggested that telecommuting provides several employment options to women that have long been unavailable. As telecommuting requires that individuals work in the more autonomous/less social environment of the home, it was hypothesized that individual attraction to telecommuting could be predicted, based on personality type and gender. This study found that organizations that offer telecommuting were perceived as more attractive than those without, especially by women. It was also found that respondent need for affiliation influenced attraction, while need for autonomy did not. Interactional effects were found between personality, gender, and telecommuting level offered.