Psychological Underpinnings of the Work-Site Selection Process of Knowledge Workers

ABSTRACT

As a result of technological advances, knowledge workers have become increasingly mobile; people can perform work in a variety of new locations via an assortment of new working arrangements. Knowledge workers are now faced with the question of where to work. We argue that the process of work-site selection depends on the relationship between a variety of individual factors such as motivation, cognitive and affective evaluation, and regulatory focus as they interact with self-regulatory resources. Specifically, we use a dynamic interactionist perspective to integrate components of social exchange, self-determination, regulatory focus, and self-regulation theories. The resulting conceptual model contributes to the existing literature by integrating different theoretical sets of predictor variables and examining their effect on self-regulatory resources, which have implications for productivity and well-being. We discuss implications and avenues for future work exploring these relationships.

KEYWORDS:

• Knowledge workers
• motivation
• autonomy
• flexible work arrangements
• telecommuting

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

April J. Spivack

April J. Spivack is an assistant professor of management at Coastal Carolina University. She earned an MBA from Syracuse University and a PhD in organizational science at the University of North Carolina (UNC) Charlotte. Her research interests include the changing nature of work and workplaces, the entrepreneurial experience, and human–environment interaction, specifically, creativity and well-being outcomes, and she has published in several refereed journals such as the Journal of Business Venturing, Entrepreneurship, Theory and Practice, and the Journal of Creative Behavior. She teaches courses and offers consulting services in entrepreneurship, management, strategic planning, creativity, and workplace design. She can be reached at [email protected]

Ashay Desai

Ashay Desai is a professor of management in the College of Business at the University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh. He received his MBA from the University of Wyoming and PhD from the University of Memphis. His current research interests include corporate governance and declining firms, competitiveness, outsourcing, and turnaround strategies. He can be reached at [email protected]