Leadership in Higher Education in Adopting a Telecommuting Program

Abstract

This chapter explored the perceived motivators and constraints that influence adoption of a telecommuting program at higher education institutions. Participants were 102 members of the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR) from 11 southern states. Sixty-four participants completed a 4-part survey via the World Wide Web; 38 participants completed the survey by mail. Both adopters and non-adopters of telecommuting programs identified that the primary motivator for adopting a telecommuting program was improvement of overall benefits to employees. Whereas adopters reported that cost of implementation was the primary constraint to adopting a telecommuting program, non-adopters reported a variety of other factors as the primary constraint. Results of this study have implications for implementation of and research on telecommuting programs in higher education.