The impact of professional isolation on teleworker job performance and turnover intentions: does time spent teleworking, interacting face-to-face, or having access to communication-enhancing technology matter?

Although the teleworking literature continues to raise concerns regarding the adverse consequences of professional isolation, researchers have not examined its impact on work outcomes. Consequently, the authors first examine professional isolation's direct impact on job performance and turnover intentions among teleworkers and then investigate the contingent role of 3 salient work-mode-related factors. Survey data from a matched sample of 261 professional-level teleworkers and their managers revealed that professional isolation negatively impacts job performance and, contrary to expectations, reduces turnover intentions. Moreover, professional isolation's impact on these work outcomes is increased by the amount of time spent teleworking, whereas more face-to-face interactions and access to communication-enhancing technology tend to decrease its impact. On the basis of these findings, an agenda for future research on professional isolation is offered that takes into account telework's growing popularity as a work modality.