Linking individuals and organizations in remote contexts: Exploring organizational identification and commitment in virtuality

The primary question of the present study sought to determine how the organizational-individual relationship compares for remote and in-house workers. The strength of this tie was represented by Organizational Identification (OI) construct. The power of the OI construct appears to be in its ability to provide a means to account for human action in organizations. The present study revealed OI levels were not directly affected by remoteness. The study revealed, it is the nature of link, and not its relative strength, that determines how connected remote workers remain, particularly when faced with major organizational changes. This study sought to distinguish the functions of the OI and Organizational (OC) constructs. To accomplish this end, a means to qualitatively distinguish and assess OI and OC levels was developed. Telecommuting provides a host of benefits for organizations and individuals. Given the trend of expansion in telecommuting programs, organizations need to better attend to individual-organizational connections. Strong connections are enhanced by a host of relational principles such as shared trust, mutual appreciation, and reciprocal valuing of contributions. These principles are a challenge to enact particularly within remote contexts. They are, however, well worth the effort as they are proposed to enhance organizational performance by improving communication, encouraging innovative solutions, and enabling timely and accurate work production.