Creating Perceptions of Distance (01-12-10)

Distributed working arrangements provide people with the ability to alter their perceived distances from co-workers – and they do.  As Leonardi and his colleagues determined:  “The same ICTs [information communication technologies] that are implemented to overcome distance felt in these settings can also create the expectation of constant connectivity for individuals, constructing a paradox for teleworkers who find the potential benefits of distributed work negated by the very technologies that made the arrangement possible.  To combat this problem, teleworkers sometimes use their ICTs strategically to decrease, rather than increase, the distance they feel from colleagues.  Findings indicate this strategic use of ICTs to decrease distance is often covert, such that teleworkers can appear to colleagues as if they are working in a manner similar to how they would at an office while, at the same time, reaping the benefits of not being in a central location.”

Paul Leonardi, Jeffrey Treem, and Michelle Jackson.  2010.  “The Connectivity Paradox:  Using Technology to Both Decrease and Increase Perceptions of Distance in Distributed Work Arrangements.”  Journal of Applied Communication Research, vol. 38, no. 1, pp. 85-105.