ADOPTION OF TELECOMMUTING IN THE BANKING INDUSTRY: A TECHNOLOGY ACCEPTANCE MODEL APPROACH

ABSTRACT

Aim/Purpose Currently, the world faces unprecedented challenges due to COVID-19, particu-larly concerning individuals' health and livelihood and organizations and indus-trial performance. Indeed, the pandemic has caused rapid intensifying socio-economic effects. For instance, organizations are shifting from traditional work-ing patterns toward telecommuting. By adopting remote working, organizations might mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on their workforce, explicitly concern-ing their safety, wellbeing, mobility, work-life balance, and self-efficiency. From this perceptive, this study examines the factors that influence employees' behav-ioral intention to adopt telecommuting in the banking industry. Background The study's relevance stems from the fact that telecommuting and its benefits have been assumed rather than demonstrated in the banking sector. However, the pandemic has driven the implementation of remote working, thereby reveal-ing possible advantages of working from home in the banking industry. The study investigated the effect of COVID-19 in driving organizations to shift from traditional working patterns toward telecommuting. Thereby, the study in-vestigates the banking sector employees' behavioral intention to adopt telecom-muting. Methodology The study employed a survey-based questionnaire, which entails gathering data from employees of twelve banks in Jordan, as the banking sector in Jordan was the first to transform from traditional working to telecommuting. The sample for this research was 675 respondents;convenience sampling was employed as a sampling technique. Subsequently, the data were analyzed with the partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to statistically test the research model. Contribution Firstly, this study provides a deep examination and understanding of facilitators of telecommuting in a single comprehensive model. Secondly, the study pro-vides a deeper insight into the factors affecting behavioral intention towards tel-ecommuting from the employees' perspective in the banking sector. Finally, this study is the first to examine telecommuting in the emerging market of Jordan. Thereby, this study provides critical recommendations for managers to facilitate the implementation of telecommuting. Findings Using the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), this study highlights signifi-cant relationships between telecommuting systems, quality, organizational sup-port, and the perceived usefulness and ease of use in telecommuting. Employ-ees who perceive telecommuting systems to be easy and receive supervision and training for using these systems are likely to adopt this work scheme. The results present critical theoretical and managerial implications regarding employees' be-havioral intentions toward telecommuting. Recommendations for Practitioners This study suggests the importance of work-life balance for employees when telecommuting. Working from home while managing household duties can cre-ate complications for employees, particularly parents. Therefore, flexibility in terms of working hours is needed to increase employees' acceptance of tele-commuting as they will have more control over their life. These increase em-ployees' perceived self-efficacy with telecommuting, which smooths the transi-tion toward remote working in the future. In addition, training will allow em-ployees to solve technical issues that can arise from using online systems. Recommendations for Researchers This study focused on the context of the banking sector. The sensitivity of data and transactions in this sector may influence employers' and employees' willing-ness to work remotely. In addition, the job descriptions of employees in banks moderate specific factors outlined in this model, including work-life balance. For instance, executive managers may have a higher overload in banks in con-trast to front-line employees. Thus, future studies should explore different con-texts, including manufacturing and consultation, to understand the industry's ef-fect on remote working. Similarly, future researc should concentrate on the in-fluence of job descriptions on employees' intentions toward telecommuting. Impact on Society The COVID-19 pandemic created a sudden shift towards telecommuting, which made employees struggle to adopt new work schemes. Therefore, managers had to provide training for their employees to be well prepared and increase their acceptance of telecommuting. Furthermore, telecommuting has a positive effect on work-life balance, it provides employees with the flexibility to organize their daily schedule into more activities. Along the same line, the study highlighted the correlation between work-life balance and telecommuting. Such a relation-ship provides further evidence for the need to understand employees' lifestyles in facilitating the adoption of telecommuting. Moreover, the study extends the stream of literature by outlining critical factors affecting employees' acceptance of telecommuting. Future Research Future studies should explore different contexts, including manufacturing and consultation, to understand the industry's effect on remote working. Similarly, future research should concentrate on the influence of job descriptions on em-ployees' intentions toward telecommuting. Furthermore, the research team con-ducted the study by surveying 12 banks. Future research recommends surveying the whole banking industry to add more validation to the model. © 2022 Informing Science Institute. All rights reserved.