Poster #118 - Posting & Parenting: Understanding Parents' Telecommuting Experiences Through a Qualitative Analysis of Internet Forums

• In Event: 3-206 - Poster Session 13
  In Poster Session: PS 13 Section - Methods, History, Theory

Integrative Statement

Telecommuting is an employment arrangement whereby one works from home, rather than an office. Almost 25% of the U.S. workforce performs some or all of their work from home (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2016). While the opportunity for telecommuting may be beneficial for both employers and employees, telecommuting presents its challenges (Greer & Payne, 2014). A parent of a young child, who telecommutes, for example, must address distractions, coordinate daily routines with occupational responsibilities, and balance the quantity and quality of interaction time.

Globally, parents who telecommute are sharing their experiences in internet forums. Discussion topics include communication, parenting, parent-child relationships, and social support. Although parents commonly report their challenges and solicit solutions from other parents, their lived experiences have not received empirical attention. Through a qualitative analysis of public internet forums on telecommuting, we systematically identified the reported factors that can affect work, family, and the balance between them.

Our qualitative methodology followed an approach described by Asenhed, Kilstam, Alehagen, and Baggens (2013). Researchers have highlighted the the unique theoretical and methodological contributions afforded by online media (Smedley & Coulson, 2018) and parenting blogs are observed to be a popular source of informal social support, accessible to many parents with different parenting styles (Vasileva, 2017). Online discussion sites, therefore, can be used to understand the aspects of family contexts, dynamics, and processes that are informally discussed in the Information Age.

Public forums were identified through an internet search engine and accessed only if the website did not require a membership/registration for online viewing. Australia, Canada, Ireland, and the United States of America were among the countries of origin for the identified telecommuting websites. Forum posts on telecommuting sites for parents that did not address telecommuting and/or parenting and parent-child relationships (i.e., off-topic posts) were excluded. Moreover, if a user posted multiple times, within the same forum or site, only the first post was recorded.

All data collected from forum posts were from posts dated on or after January 1, 2010. In sum, 325 unique user posts were imported into NVivo. NVivo was used to: (1) categorize user posts according to several pre-established themes (e.g., communication: “it isn't the fighting, it's the arguing with them [children] to pick up after themselves”; interaction: “It allowed me to be there after school and for field trips and for playdates”), and (2) quantify, aggregate, and report all user posts at the group level.

Our results suggest that parents who telecommute seek support on how best to achieve a work-family balance. Regarding their occupational responsibilities, parents commonly reported feelings of isolation and the potential negative effects on career advancement. Feelings of guilt were a significant parenting concern. When children are present, parents express concern with prioritizing work over their children and responding effectively to their interruptions. Together, the results of this investigation provide further support for the potential of qualitatively analyzing internet forums to understand human development and aspects of the telecommuting experience that require individual/parent and employer/organization support.

Authors

• Jorge Manuel Carvalho Pereira, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
  Presenting Author

• James Donald Morgante, Drexel University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Francys Subiaul, The George Washington University
  Non-Presenting Author