DURATION AND FREQUENCY OF TELECENTER USE - ONCE A TELECOMMUTER, ALWAYS A TELECOMMUTER

The study of temporal patterns of telecommuting is essential in unders tanding the adoption of telecommuting and, hence, the impacts of telec ommuting on the demand for equipment and services as well as the deman d for travel. This research examines, in the context of center-based t elecommuting, how often individuals telecommute, the duration of their telecommuting participation, and causes of attrition among telecommut ers. It also presents related findings from previous studies of home-b ased telecommuting. Attrition at the telecenters studied was relativel y high, with 50% of all telecommuters quitting within the first 9 mont hs. The average telecommuting frequency across the sample was 22% or a bout 1.1 days per week. Nearly 64% of the participants telecommuted le ss than 1 day per week on average. The relationship between frequency and duration appears to be complex, with partially counteracting trend s. The results suggest that there is a stable segment of the sample (s tayers) who are committed higher-frequency telecommuters, but that wit hin the segment having a propensity to quit, there is a slight but sta tistically significant tendency for higher-frequency telecommuters to quit sooner. The motivations of participants for quitting the program were investigated. The most frequent type of reason given was job-rela ted (cited by more than a third of all quitters). Other important reas ons were supervisor-related (16%) and closure of the center (12%). No one cited dissatisfaction with telecommuting as a reason for quitting, and most quitters expressed a desire to continue telecommuting from t he center. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.