This paper presents a conceptual model of the individual decision to telecommute. Key elements of that decision, including constraints, facilitators, and drives, are defined and the relationships among them described. The major types of constraints (if negative) or facilitators (if positive) include external factors related to awareness, the organization, and the job, and internal psychosocial factors. The major types of drives are: work, family, leisure, ideology, and travel. It is argued, that the absence of constraints is a necessary but not sufficient condition for telecommuting to be adopted by an individual. The presence of one or more drives, assumed to be associated with some dissatisfaction, is necessary to activate the search for a solution to that dissatisfaction. Policies directed to the removal of constraints will stimulate the adoption of telecommuting, but not to the degree expected if drives are not present or are not satisfied by the telecommuting alternative. (A)
Abstract