1. When freedom becomes duty:
The role of perceived control
in flexible working arrangements
Cornelia Gerdenitsch
Bettina Kubicek
Christian Korunka

2. Change in Working Conditions: Flexible Working
• Temporal flexibility: autonomy in deciding when to work
• Spatial flexibility:
various options to work at
(on the move, cafés,
coworking spaces,
hot-desking)
theoretical background.
(Medialia & Jacobs, 2008; ten Brummelhuis, Bakker, Hetland & Jeulemans, 2012;
Demerouti, Derks, ten Brummelhuis, Bakker, in press) 2

3. Change in Working Conditions: Flexible Working
• One enabler: Information- and Communication Technologies
(“New Ways of Working” concept; Baarne, Houtkamp, & Knotter, 2010)
(Medialia & Jacobs, 2008; ten Brummelhuis, Bakker, Hetland & Jeulemans, 2012;
Demerouti, Derks, ten Brummelhuis, Bakker, in press)
How do Digital Natives (Prensky,
2001) appraise temporal and
spatial flexibility at their work?
3
theoretical background.

4. Flexible Working Arrangements: Ambiguous Consequences
4
• Job satisfaction
(Baruch, 2000; Gajendran & Harrison 2007)
• Engagement
(ten Brummelhuis et al., 2012)
• Organisational commitment
(Bond & Galinsky 2006)
• Work non-work balance
(Byron, 2005)
PROS CONS
• Workload and time pressure
(Kelliher & Anderson, 2010)
• Work non-work conflict
(Anderson, Coffey, Byerly, 2002)
• Permanent connection to work
(Diaz et al., 2012)
• Interruptions
(Spiegelman & Destky, 2008)
(Demerouti, Derks, ten Brummelhuis, & Bakker, in press)
theoretical background.

5. Control in flexible working arrangements
• Dichotomous structure of flexibility
– Temporal autonomy vs. temporal restriction (Kattenbach et al. 2010)
– Spatial autonomy vs. spatial restriction?
• Autonomous vs. controlled motivation (Self-determination
theory, SDT; Deci & Ryan, 2000)
– Autonomous motivation  occurs if people experience choice
– Controlled motivation  pressure to act in a specific way
5
(Glass & Finley, 2002; Gajendran & Harrison, 2007)
theoretical background.

6. How do Digital Natives experience temporal and
spatial flexibility at their work?
In which temporal and spatial flexible situations,
do they feel autonomously and/or controlled?
6
research question.

7. • Mixed-method
Qualitative semi-structured interviews including
quantitative ratings
N = 45
27 ♂
22 – 31 years (M = 26.37, SD = 2.21)
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method.

8. Positive situations of temporal/spatial flexibility
8
results.
Categories Frequencies
Decision lattitude
42 times
(temporal 20, spatial 22)
Efficiency
12 times
(temporal 8, spatial 4)
Work non-work
balance
10 times
(temporal 4, spatial 6)
Career
development
5 times
(temporal 5, spatial 0)
“…gives me the freedom to
determine the conditions of my
working time including working
longer or leaving earlier”
(#41, male, 28 years, economics)
“I can impress my colleagues and my
supervisor by being permanently
available and accessible.” (#10,
male, 27 years, economics)

9. Negative situations of temporal/spatial flexibility
9
results.
Categories Frequencies
Workload
18 times
(temporal 9, spatial 9)
Work non-work
conflict
14 times
(temporal 7, spatial 7)
Disturbing work
environment
10 times
(temporal 0, spatial 10)
Accessibility
10 times
(temporal 10, spatial 0)
“.... it is much easier to work
more, for example working
additionally on the weekends.”
(#4, male, 24 years, architecture)
„There is pressure to reply also
during leisure time or vacation”
(#44, female, 24 years, marketing)

10. Positive situations: Role of Control
10
results.
*
*
*
decision latitude (t82 = 10.01, p = .000)
efficiency (t22 = 3.40, p = .003)
work non-work balance (t18 = 6.73, p = .000)
career development (t8 = 1.265, p = .242)

11. Negative situations: Role of Control
11
results.
workload (t34 = .251, p = .803)
work non-work conflict (t28 = -1.028, p = .313)
disturbing work environment (t18 = 1.741, p = .099)
accessibility (t18 = .970, p = .345)

12. Digital natives and flexible working
• Describe positve and negative aspects of flexible working
arrangements for digital natives
– Career development
• Control: two-dimensions
– Autonomously
– Externally-controlled INTERNALIZATION (SDT)
• Introjection: people behave in a specific way to feel worthy
• Identification: behavior is congruent with one’s personal goals
• integration: an integrative part of who they are
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discussion & conclusion.

13. cornelia.gerdenitsch@univie.ac.at
@cgerden
linkd.in/16c3KU3
bit.ly/18Nx1kD
THANKS FOR YOUR ATTENTION
13