Constructing corporate commitment amongst remote employees : A disposition and predisposition approach

Purpose – This paper aims to propose a framework for examining and understanding corporate commitment amongst teleworking employees that deconstructs and expands upon approaches to date. It seeks to propose a perspective from which apparent tensions highlighted in existing studies can be understood and explored, and to suggest new relationships and combinations of conditions that impact on the communication practices and assumptions of both managers and employees. Design/methodology/approach – The approach to data collection and analysis is qualitative and interpretive, with primary data obtained by means of semi‐structured interviews subsequently analysed using both open and focussed coding. This method was selected because the dimensions and implications of communication practices in this particular context were largely unknown. Findings – This study illustrates the significance of distinguishing between the needs that underpin employees' choosing to continue the relationship and their readiness to act in the organisation's interests. It also demonstrates that categorising the nature of the organisational relationship by identifying employees' mental relationship models may be, if not more useful than identifying types of commitment, at least additionally useful in understanding how organisational commitment in remote workforces is constructed and perpetuated. Originality/value – This study and the framework it proposes for understanding commitment adds to existing research into remote workforce commitment in that it suggests new ways in which to conceptualise and examine what studies to date have identified as its constituent elements and antecedents. In particular, it facilitates debate and discussion regarding the ways the range of influences on behaviours identified as “committed” interrelate, as well as regarding the way employees' disposition may alter the perceived meaning of such behaviours.