Ž . J. Eng. Technol. Manage. 16 1999 1–28 An empirical evaluation of the impacts of telecommuting on intra-organizational communication Linda Duxbury a, ) , Derrick Neufeld b,1 a School of Business, Carleton UniÕersity, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1S 5B6 b Faculty of Management, UniÕersity of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada R3T 5V4 Abstract This study represents a preliminary step towards developing an understanding of how telework arrangements affect intra-organizational communication. The following general research questions Ž. are addressed: 1 Do telework arrangements change the way in which teleworkers communicate Ž. with their superiors, their subordinates, their colleagues and their clients?; and 2 Do telework arrangements change the way in which managers communicate with subordinates who telework? The study, which was conducted at two Canadian federal government departments, was designed Ž. Ž . Ž. to collect information from four groups: 1 teleworkers n s36 at Time 2 ; 2 managers of Ž . Ž. Ž . Ž. teleworkers n s28 at Time 2 ; 3 co-workers of teleworkers n s27 at Time 2 ; and 4 a Ž . control group n s25 at Time 2 . Three data collection techniques were used in this study: paper and pencil questionnaires, telephone interviews, and focus group interviews. Data were collected Ž. Ž. at three points in time: 1 two weeks prior to the start of the telework pilot; 2 three months after Ž. the telework pilot had begun; and 3 six months after the start of the telework pilot. Analysis of the data suggests that, with a few important exceptions, part-time telework arrangements have little impact on intra-organizational communication. q 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Telecommuting; Communication; Longitudinal research; Quasi-experiment ) Corresponding author. Tel. q1-613-788-2385; fax: q1-613-788-2532; e-mail: lduxbury@ccs.carleton.ca 1 Tel.: q1-204-474-6727. 0923-4748r99r$ - see front matter q 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. Ž . PII: S0923-4748 98 00026-5