Enhancing Telecommuting Productivity in Public Organizations via Identification and Ranking Human Resource Challenges

An inevitable consequence of the information era is the rise in the number of various virtual organizations such as telecommuting which can be productive if a number of conditions are met. The current exploratory applied survey aimed to identify and rank order challenges in human resources which are among prerequisite conditions determining the extent of productivity and efficiency of telecommuting. The research data were collected employing a researcher-made questionnaire that was developed based on an extensive literature review to tap human resource challenges. The questionnaire was administered to the cluster sample comprising 144 managers and experts who had been selected randomly from a population of 230 at the challenge identification stage. In the ranking stage, a purposeful sample of 10 experts was selected to rank order the challenges. The data were further analyzed through Exploratory Factor Analysis, Principal Components Analysis and Analytic Hierarchy Process. The findings indicated that challenges relevant to occupation-related factors, personality traits, career quality, individualistic attitudes, professional qualifications and personal characteristics were respectively considered as the most important human resources challenges of telecommuters.