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European Journal of Scientific Research ISSN 1450-216X Vol.57 No.4 (2011), pp.601-614 EuroJournals Publishing, Inc. 2011 http://www.eurojournals.com/ejsr.

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The Appropriateness of the Organizational Factors for the Adoption of Teleworking Application the Context of "Mobile Telecommunications Sector"
Fairouz Mosleh Aldhmour Professor Assistant, Muta'h University Department of Management information Systems E-mail: Firouzdomour@yahoo.com Tel: 00962-799994240 Ali Odeh Al-Jaafreh E-mail: aoj83@yahoo.com Tel: 00962779242404 Abstract This study aimed to examine the appropriateness of the organizational factors (OFs) for the adoption of teleworking applica (TA). This study was conducted within the context of the mobile telecommunication sector (MTS) in Jordan. It applied the triangulation methodology that includes grounded theory and quantitative methods, in order to find and examine OFs. The questionnaire were distributed to the 345 respondents and the results revealed that, the technological infrastructure (TI), work nature (WN), level of managerial flexibility (LMF), decentralization (DC), and management by objectives (MBO), which are highly appropriate for the adoption of TA in the context. Also, the results showed that the social relationships factor (SR) did not enhance the appropriateness for the TA adoption of in the context. This study highlighted the theme of TA and its importance to the organizations and provides some recommendations for the decision makers that can support their efforts towards adopting this new way of work.

Keywords: Teleworking, Organizational Factors, Grounded theory Method, Quantitave method, and mobile telecommunication sector.

1. Theoretical Background
At the beginning of 1970's, teleworking application (TA) was considered as a way of reducing the employee's commuting (Ellison, 1999); other researchers used TA to study the impacts of Telework on transportation (Saxena and Mokhtarian, 1997). Furthermore, many researchers agreed that Telework concept can be understood by its basic dimensions, which are: (Olsen, 1982; Huws et al., 1990; Korte & Wynne, 1996). 1. To be organized by formal agreement. 2. To be characterized by performing the work at a geographical distance of the main work place. 3. Using ICT applications to support performing distance work. But Jack Nilles in his book (Managing Teleworking) defined TA as:

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"Any form of substitution of information technologies (such as Telecommunication and computers) for work- related travel; moving the work to the workers instead of moving the workers to work." (Jack Nilles, 1998: p1). On the other hand some researchers considered the relationship between AT and the organization, they found that the application of AT affects all of the organization's elements including people, culture, structure, process and tasks (Leavitt & Pondy, 1964). Raymond et al. (1995) argued that the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in the organization is highly required to develop the organizational process, structure and strategies. Many organizations adopt ICT applications to support quality efforts; therefore it can increase the efficiency and effectiveness of organizational structure and processes to achieve organizational objectives (Lengang et al., 2000). In addition, Aldhmour (2007) indicated that there is a positive relationship between ICT applications and the Competitive advantage. From the above discussion the researchers conclude that TA as an ICT applications, which applied to gain flexibility, escape of managerial monitoring, break the routine of work, getting more time for private circumstances, and organize the work tasks to be done at a geographical distance from the main work place office. 1.1. The Organizational Factors The researchers presented a model which determines the most foretelling factors of an individual's attitude to work remotely, these factors are the work-related factors such as managers willingness, workplace interaction, and self-perceived job suitability. Although in the same model; a number of personnel attributes were found such as preference to work with a team, family orientation, and household distraction (Campbell & McDonald, 2007; Mannering & Mokhtarian, 1995; Mokhtarian & Salomon, 1997). Adding, Iskandar et al. (2001) claimed that the managerial factors are the most important factor, which determined the adoption of technology applications. Moreover, Mehrtens et al. (2001) & Grandon & Person (2004) stated that the organizational readiness affectes the adoption process. Hussein et al. (2007) summarized the OFs which have an impact on the success of IS, which are decision-making structure, top management support, goal alignment, managerial IT knowledge, Management Style, and resources allocation from (Miller & Doyle, 1987; Grover, 1993, King & Sabherwal, 1992; Tallon et. al, 2000; Ang et al., 2001). 1.1.1. Technological Infrastructure (ICT) Information and communication technology (ICT) is a composition of hardware, software, networks, people knowledge and skills of using the technological resources effectively. But Shin et al. (1997) referred to the relationship between ICT and TA; they said that, the effective utilization of ICT will improve all of organizational processes; that will facilitate the achievement of TA adoption. In addition, Malone & Laubacher (1998) stated that the using of advances ICT can accelerate the growth of TA. Moreover, Peters et al. (2004) claimed that the more utilization of computers has a positive impact on employee's preference for TA. This was enhanced by Illegems et al. (2001) who tied that there a positive relationship between electronic communication and the diffusion process of TA. Furthermore, the increasing of the availability of expertise in ICT utilization will facilitate the adoption of TA (Baker et al. 2006). Recently, Peters et al (2007) linked the successful use of TA with adequate ICT infrastructure (tools, security supervision, and skills to use). 1.1.2. Work Nature Work nature means the nature of tasks, which the employees do, the capabilities, the experiences that the employees have to perform the job, where/when the employees can perform their job, flexibility of it, and the extent to which the employees need to deal with the customers and with their colleagues.

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According to the Peters et al. (2001) the appropriateness of jobs to be Teleworked depend on the demand of physical presence, they assumed that knowledge or information workers jobs are typically suited for telecommuting. Furthermore, they found that the higher level of IT-skills is, the more likely an employee is given the opportunity to telework. The most important inhibitors of TA are the lack of suitable task to be Teleworked (Daniels et al., 2001), Bailey & Kurland (2002) considered the job suitability as a major factor of which employees are eligible for Telework. In addition, Baruch & Nicholson (1997) and Olson (1983) listed some job characteristic that make a job suitable to telework such as individual control of work space, little need to face-to-face interaction, Knowledge workers, information workers, and sales and marketing personnel (Department of Transportation, 1992). 1.1.3. Level of Managerial Flexibility This term refers to the degree of flexibility in which managers have a monitoring on the employees, present the support for them. Also, it includes the efficient adaptation of the available human resources and changes to meet the dynamic environment of the organization variations (Albizu, 1997). Nevertheless, Kodz et al. (2002) claimed that the lack of flexibility made the organizational cultures incompatible for TA adoption. According to an American Telework research report sponsored by the AT&T foundation and Cisco Systems (2006, P: 2), the vice president and research director for Gartner Diane Morello said: "Creating virtual, highly flexible workplace became a business imperative () Virtual work helps to maintain business continuity, ensures employee security and reduces the impact of an outage at a specific site". 1.1.4. Decentralization Decentralization as term refers to the Delegation and empowerment of the authorities for employees to take decisions. Brymer (1991) defined empowerment as a process of decentralizing decision making in an organization, whereby managers give more discretion and autonomy to the low managerial level. This idea enhanced by Styhre (2004) who claimed that the empowerment is a process of increasing employee's self-efficacy among organization through the identification of conditions that encourage weakness and remove it by both formal practices and informal techniques of providing efficacy information. On the other hand delegation is sharing or transfer of authority and the associated responsibility, from an employer or superior (who has the right to delegate) to an employee or subordinate".(Business Dictionary. com, 21- Oct- 2010). In relation between the TA and DC some researchers stated that there is a positive relationship between them, and they considered the delegation style as the basic principle for the Teleworkers (Bergum, 2009; Siha & Monroe, 2006). Many researchers searched the relationship between the multiple locations and TA adoption, for example, Daniels et al. (2001) & Peters et al. (2004) stated that organizations, which have more geographical decentralized need more electronic communication than organizations with fewer locations, thus it is more preferable to adopt flexible working systems like TA. 1.1.5. Management by Objectives Some researchers stated that MBO's has emphasized on converting overall organizational objectives into specific objectives for organizational units and employees, also it depends on devising a process by which objectives cascade down through the organization. Robbins & Judge (2007, p: 199) defined MBO as: "A program that encompasses specific goals, anticipatively set, for an explicit time period, with feed back in goal progress". Managers have found the MBO approach is predictable to be the suitable style of managing TA and most effective management style, also, MBO approach provides Teleworkers the required objectives expected to be done in a specific time period (Frolick et al., 1993). Also, Filipczak (1992)

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argued that TA is based upon the concept of MBO. Adding that, Illegems et al. (2001) found that a firm becomes motivated to adopt TA if one of some drivers exists, one of the most important drivers is when TA managed mainly by output-oriented (the same meaning of results-oriented) coordination and control systems. 1.1.6. Social Relationships Arab culture strengthens and maintains the relationship between colleagues; so many people build their friendships from their work, while studying, and so on. Haddon and Lewis (1994) stated that many people meet their partners and friends at work. However, TA is based on using the ICT's tools to work remotely from home or other distance places, this means the Teleworkers will work separately and alone; so TA may have a negative impact on the participant's social environment by negatively affecting their interactions with colleagues (Kerrin & Hone, 2001). Many researchers found that TA has affected employees' communication negatively and lead to many negative impacts on Teleworker such as misplaced at the workplace, receiving poor evaluations, lost an office news and gossip and could restrict his/her ability to join the informal information network (Baileys & Kurland, 2002; Mann et al. 2000; Pool, 1990; Yap & Tng, 1990; Daniels et al. 2000; Hamilton, 1987). For the purpose of this study, the researcher aimed to discover the extent in which the SR in the context can affect TA adoption.

2. Problem Statement
The companies are put under variety of challenges, such as: satisfying costumer demand, high quality products and efficient services that should be provided with minimal cost and shortest time possible. This is achieved only by creating a suitable environment and high level quality of work conditions to the employees. In addition, Morgan, (2004) argued that TA can facilitate problem solving to reduce costs, by meeting the demands of the customers and improving the workers relief. Adding a few data are available about the effective applications of TA in Jordan, this lack of knowledge comes at a time of diffusion of ICT worldwide. This flow of ICT is applied also to Jordan but its applications like TA are so far underutilized. The researcher is trying to illustrate the reasons behind the poor application of TA in MTS. The GTM was used to extract the OFs that would be appropriate for the adoption of TA. The literature review's factors were matched with the extracted factors and results were documented (Ndubisi and Kahraman, 2005; Pe rez et al, 2005). To start with, the researcher is trying to answer the following question: "To which extent are the OFs appropriate for the Adoption of TA in MTS?".

3. Aim and Objectives of the Study


The over all aim of this research was to investigate the appropriateness of the OFs for TA application within the context. To achieve this aim, the following objectives are proposed: Exploring the OFs that make TA appropriate. Questioning the extent to which each OF is more appropriate for the adoption process. Presenting some recommendations, that will enhance guiding the adoption of TA.

4. The Study Question


The main aim of the study was represented by the following main question: Q1: To which extent are the OFs appropriate for the Adoption of TA in MTS?" Sub-questions Q1.1: To which extent is TI appropriate for the adoption of TA in MTS? Q.1.2: To which extent is WN appropriate for the adoption of TA in MTS?

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Q.1.3: To which extent is LMF appropriate for the adoption of TA in MTS? Q.1.4: To which extent is DC appropriate for the adoption of TA in MTS? Q.1.5: To which extent is MBO appropriate for the adoption of TA in MTS? Q.1.6: To which extent is SR appropriate for the adoption of TA in MTS? The purpose of this study is to examine the appropriateness of the OFs to adopt TA. A descriptive design is used to examine if the OFs: TI, WN, LMF, DC, MBO, and SR appropriate for the adoption of TA. In figure (8.2), the pointers show the appropriateness between the OFs (left sided) and the adoption of TA (right sided).
Figure 1: The Research Proposed Model
Technological Infrastructure

Work Nature

Level of Managerial Flexibility

Decentralization

Adoption of Teleworking Application

Management by Objectives

Social Relationships

5. The Importance of the Research


In an accelerating information age, a gap is evident between developing and developed countries in almost all aspects of ICT. Still theres the lack of knowledge in the developing countries concerning TA and its tremendous applications. By achieving the objectives of this research the researcher hope that this study will be one of the very early steps that contribute in shortening the gap between developing and developed countries by adoption TA in various aspects of life in a developing country as Jordan. This research may add an important reference for the researchers and academics in the subject of the appropriateness of the OFs for the adoption of the TA. Furthermore, the results and recommendations of this research may add good contribution for TA field. Moreover, this research gives the MTS managements a clear vision about TA and its importance for both employees and employers. Finally the utilization of GTM was considered as a main contribution for this research particularly, there are a few or rarely studies that used it.

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6. Design and Methodology


The study applied the triangulation methodology that includes grounded theory and quantitative methods; it has utilized a deductive approach. It has a descriptive purpose, giving profile and description of the main aspects and concepts of studys variables. 6.1. The Grounded Theory Methodology: GTM was used when a researcher found insufficient studies which can help to know the real state about the research study. This is similar to the situation of TA in the developing countries like Jordan. Moreover, since the relationship between TA and the environment of the organization in Jordan is not clear, the GTM is suitable in this research to discover and explore this or these relations. Another reason is the research modernity. Because Telework is considered as a new field in Jordan, GTM could help to explore the existence of TA and the suitability to the organizations. Adding that, GTM is flexible enough in both sample selection and the data analysis, which are suited to the exploring of new topics and new ideas as TA in Jordan (Al-Dhmour, 2007). The following examples are key points from the interviews and indicate the incidents that were identified and given a code. "The internal dealing in JCG is computerized and electronically, also with some governmental institutions like The Ministry of Education and the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission and other just with sending and receiving emails in totally forms ". JCG has intranet and every employee has an account on it, he can using this intranet to see his personal information and his credit of vacations, leaves hours, and his periodic evaluation, and also he can view the company information and formal announcements. Our electronic site allows the employees to edit their personal information. My company used the internal electronic site (he mean the intranet) effectively. All sectors in the company deal with this system; every employee in the company has an account on this system within his competence. These incidents were given the concept: ICT skills. Many concepts were emerged in this study. The following figure contains all concepts of this study.
Figure 2: The concepts were emerged in this study.

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The researcher organized and picked up the concepts that indicate the same theme, and compared them with each other to summarize them as shown in table (1). Figure (2) explained the emergence of the category of technological infrastructure and showed the process of summarizing the related concepts.
Figure (2): Emergence of the category of Technological infrastructure

Technological Infrastructure

ICT tools

ICT development

ICT Skills

Software

Hardware

Network

The researcher applied the same process to form the other categories. Accordingly, the researcher labelled all the concepts in figure (1) which were coded in the categories and their properties.

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Also, this study has question answering purpose, testing the appropriateness of the OFs for the adoption of TA within the context of MTS. Investigating the issue of TA within such a huge sector, using a quantitative approach can improve the significance of the findings. The study population is 4113 employees from MTS. The sample size 353 employees were determined as an appropriate. A convenience sample was used to distribute the questionnaires among the sample.345 questionnaires were successfully collected. After performing the data cleaning process, 21 questionnaires were deleted because they had not completed properly. Finally, 324 effective questionnaires were analyzed in this study, at 91.5% response rate.

7. Data Analysis
Cronbachs alpha is the adequate index of internal consistency reliability, measuring the average of measurable items and their correlation. It is generally accepted if result is above 0.60. This research used Cronbach alpha as a reliability measure for survey items (see table 1):
Table 1:
The factor TI WN LMF DC MBO SR

Variables Reliability
Cronbach's Alpha 0.83 0.78 0.79 0.79 0.87 0.81

The values of the overall study variables are acceptable, varying from the %78 for WN factor to %87 for MBO factor. Before proceeding to the factor analysis, the correlation analysis was conducted to test the variables relationships with each other.
Table 2: Reflects these results:
LMF DC MBO Objectives SR Relationships

TI WN Applications TI 1 WN .650** 1 LMF .540** .621** DC .526** .614** ** MBO .596 .592** ** SR .543 .492** **. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed)

1 .693** .631** .492**

1 .691** .484**

1 .464**

7.1. The Factor Analysis The factor analysis was applied on employees' responses of the questionnaire items by using the Principle Component approach and followed by applied the Varimax Rotation. The result of this stage is screening and sorting the questionnaire items through keeping the items which loading (the extent to item measure the concerned variable) on the overall factor with coefficient not less that (0.3), this leads to keep (37) items. These loading items interpreted (54.08%) of the total variance, and the Eigen Value of the first factor was (12.11). adding that, three items of the questionnaire were deleted because they have loading coefficient less than (0.3), these factors are (12, 13, and 37). Each item in the questionnaire was linked with one dimension according to its content.
Table 3: Shows the dimensions and its resulted items, Eigen Values, and interpreted variance rate

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Number of analyzed items 10 6 6 5 7 6 40

Fairouz Mosleh Aldhmour and Ali Odeh Al-Jaafreh


Number of resulted items 10 4 6 5 7 5 37

The dimension TI WN LMF DC MBO SR Total

Eigen Values 4.60 1.83 2.95 2.73 3.95 2.43

Interpreted variance 46.04% 30.47% 21.6% 54.76% 56.49% 39.05%

Means, Standard Deviations and Degrees Analysis The main question in this research is: "To which extent are the organizational factors (OFs) appropriate for the Adoption of Teleworking Application (TA) in mobile telecommunication sector (MTS)?"The survey results were collected and the employees answers were analyzed by calculating means, standard deviations and degrees for each factor, these results are shown in the following table:
Table 4:
Factor TI WN SR LMF MBO DC

Means, standard deviations and degrees for each factor


Mean 4.22 4.05 3.91 3.82 3.75 3.73 Std.Deviation .48 .56 .60 .62 .69 .67 Rank 1 2 3 4 5 6 Degree High High High High High High

The scale is: (1 2.33) is Low, (2.34 3.67) is Medium, and (3.68 5) is high. As observed in table 4, all the mean values of proposed OFs are found to have high rank. Specifically, the TI factor is ranked as the first factor since its mean and standard deviation are (4.22) and (0.48) respectively, while The DC factor is ranked as the last approved factor since its mean and standard deviation are (3.73) and (0.67) respectively. The researcher investigated some specific items for each factor by the main survey to enhance researchs results and conclusions. Notice that the correlations coefficient between the factors is high.

8. Discussion
The results of this study showed that the following organizational factors (OFs): technological infrastructure (TI), work nature (WR), decentralization (DC), management by objectives (MBO), level of managerial flexibility (LMF) and social relationship (SR); have highly ranked. The responses articulated that the TI is the most important factor within the context with mean value (4.22) and standard deviation value (0.48), and the DC factor is the lowest one with mean value (3.73) and standard deviation value (0.67). The order of the OFs according to their means was: TI (4.22), WN (4.05), SR (3.91), LMF (3.82), MBO (3.75), and DC (3.73). The results above reflect the situation of the mobile telecommunication sector (MTS) has reached a high level of excellence. Many aspects can interpret these results such as: the developments in the Technological aspect which explained the high degree of the TI factor, the refinements in the method of service delivery and the customer care improvements can explain the high degree of WN, DC, LMF, and MBO factors. The private nature of the sector and the competition between its companies can illustrate the importance of adopting new Flexible management Style and using advanced Technologies. The rank of the SR factor can be illustrated through the nature of Arab culture where the respondents live. (Hofstede, 1991) found that the lowest Dimension for the Arab World is the Individualism (IDV) compared to the world.

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The main question of this research is "To which extent are the OFs appropriate for the Adoption of teleworking application (TA) in MTS?" To answer this question the researcher should answer its subquestions. 8.1.1. The Appropriateness of TI Factor The answering of the following question shows if this factor is appropriate or not: "To which extent is the TI appropriate for the Adoption of TA in MTS?" The research results indicated that the TI factor in MTS is highly ranked with mean value (4.22). It is expected that the TI factor comes at the head of factors that is because of ICT is considered as the back bone of the companies. Adding that all most employees in the context are graduated employees as shown in the descriptive analysis in the previous chapter. Many previous studies results (Shin et al., 1997; Illegmas et al., 2001; Bailey and Kurland, 2002; Perez et al., 2004, 2005; Campbell and Mcdonald, 2007) agreed with this research results. So the answer of the first sub-question is: the TI factor is highly appropriate for the Adoption of TA in MTS. 8.1.2. The Appropriateness of the WN Factor This factor examined through the following sub-question: "To which extent is the WN factor appropriate for the Adoption of TA in MTS?" The results showed that this factor got mean value (4.05) and standard deviation value (0.56), it placed secondly on the ranking. The strategies in the context companies characterized by flexibility in delivering the services to retain and win more customers, also it supports the usage of the technology and communication to solve the customers problems or support them; this can explain the high rank of the WN factor. Large proportion of the context's employees is information based employees especially those who worked in the technical section, so those employees can easily use the technology and the communication and so they can easily engage in the TA. Accordingly, the results of this research came in line with (Huws et al., 1990), (Perez et al., 2004), and (Arvola, 2006) results. They agreed that the most appropriate tasks for TA are that which have information based nature. Marketing and Sales employees also have the required flexibility to perform their tasks with high degree of autonomy and less task interdependence. These would make their job appropriate to be Teleworked. Moreover, there continuous movements through the market encourage their jobs to be more suited for TA. (Peters et al., 2001), (Hafer, 1992) and (Tremblay, 2002) results agreed with this research results. After this interpreting, the answer is: the WN factor is highly appropriate for the Adoption of TA in MTS. 8.1.3. The Appropriateness of LMF Factor The question that examines this factor is: "To which extent is the LMF factor appropriate for the Adoption of TA in MTS?" The mean value of the LMF factor is (3.82) which indicate that the Management Style in MTS is flexible enough to adopt TA. MTS companies are classified as services companies that compete between themselves to serve their customer quickly and accurately. This requires meeting their needs at any time in any place. The explanation above supports the managerial flexibility in MTS and why this factor became high. Gilabert, 2008 and (Stejin, 2004 results agreed with the research result. It is also consistent with (Kodz et al., 2002) results which stated that the lack of flexibility made the organizational cultures incompatible for TA. The answer of this sub-question is: the LMF factor is highly appropriate for the Adoption of TA in MTS.

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8.1.4. The Appropriateness of the MBO Factor The question that examines this factor is: "To which extent is the MBO factor appropriate for the Adoption of TA in MTS?" This factor came at the fourth rank with mean value (3.75). This high rank explained the top management improvements in its management style. It is naturally that MBO factor comes high and that can be justified when companies share their employees in the decision making process. Another reason that can explain this result is the management style in the context is a new management style which uses the MBO approach to manage their businesses. In addition, this result agreed with (Frolick et al., 1993) results which stated that managing teleworkers using MBO approach is the most effective appropriate management style. Moreover, the results of this study came in line with (Di Martino and Wirth, 1990) and (Nilles, 1991) who found that the results-oriented managers considered their management style more suited to adopt telework rather than traditional approaches. Also, (Filipczak, 1992) and (Illegems et al., 2001) results supported the results of this study, they found that an organization becomes motivated to adopt TA when it is managed mainly by output-oriented (result-oriented or MBO). The answer of this sub-question is: the MBO factor is highly appropriate for the Adoption of TA in MTS. 8.1.5. The Appropriateness of the DC Factor The question that examines this factor is: "To which extent is the DC factor appropriate for the Adoption of TA in MTS?" This factor came at the fifth rank with mean value (3.73) and standard deviation value (0.67). The companies' branches distribution, the need for quick response, the employees' empowerment and delegation to deal quickly with any change, and the trust between managements and their employees; all these reasons can explain the high mean value of this factor. This result came consistent with (Daniels et al., 2001) and (Peters et al., 2004) results which argued that companies with many branches have to use more electronic communication than others which will lead them to use more flexible systems like TA. Also, (Siha & Monroe, 2006) and (Bergum, 2009) results agreed with this research results. The answer of this sub-question is: the DC factor is highly appropriate for the Adoption of TA in MTS. 8.1.6. The Appropriateness of the SR Factor The sub-question that examines the appropriateness of this factor is: "To which extent is the SR factor appropriate for the Adoption of TA in MTS?" The result of this study placed the SR factor at a high rank with mean value (3.91) and standard deviation value (0.6). It is expected that the SR factor ranked high. The research context's culture is Arab and Muslim culture which characterized by strong Social and Islamic Values and high level of collectivism (Hofstede, 1991). This can illustrate the high mean value of SR factor. Many studies such as (Haddon & Lewis, 1994), (Baileys & Kurland, 2002) and (Daniels et al., 2000) agreed that working alone with minimum level of social interactions could support the idea of TA. Since TA uses the ICT tools heavily to work remotely, the Teleworkers will work separately. This will negatively affect the social environment through negatively affecting their interactions with their colleagues (Kerrin & Hone, 2001). The result of this research found that the SR factor was strong. As mentioned in the studies above, whenever the social interactions are strong they affect TA negatively. With the result that, the SR factor in this study is considered as a barrier even though it's mean and standard deviation were high. This study revealed that the TI, WN, LMF, DC, MBO OFs are highly appropriate the adoption of TA in MTS, and the SR factor didn't appropriate the adoption process of TA in MTS.

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9. Conclusion and Recommendations


Depending on the results of this study, the decision makers in the MTS should concentrate on improving TI, WN, LMF, DC, and MBO OFs to increase their appropriateness to adopt TA. Also, they should holding workshops and specialized training courses to strengthening employees' understanding of ICT and the new managerial concepts and styles. Moreover, the managements should give more flexibility to their employees and concentrate on the appropriate jobs (information-based, printing, translating, and research and development jobs, etc) and give the TA opportunity to their employees doing these jobs. Finally, the management should present the benefits of TA, apply partial TA program (one day within a week), give promotions for the initiators, and so on, to increase the SR factor appropriateness. This study implies the exploration of the level of appropriateness of the organizational factors that could have an impact on adopting TA. Also, conducting a longitudinal study with a larger sample could be useful. Furthermore, applying this study within another context may provide more insights. Testing these factors within another sector or Arab country context could permit the generalization of the model within the context of Arab world with indications for other developing countries.

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