The Influence of Informal Communication on Organizational Identification and Commitment in the Context of High-Intensity Telecommuting

Abstract

The relationship between types of informal coworker communication and organizational identification and commitment is tested in the context of high-intensity telecommuting. Teleworkers recalled interactions in which they felt included or excluded, and responses were coded for integration of teleworkers' relational and identity aims with organizational goals. Inclusion message level, exclusion message level, and coworker social support predicted teleworkers' level of organizational identification and commitment; collegial talk was weakly associated. The quality of the relationship teleworkers had with the coworker they interacted with the most moderated the effect of exclusion messages on identification and commitment, but the general quality of coworker relationships was not a moderator.