Zooming Versus Slacking: Videoconferencing, Instant Messaging, and Work-from-Home Intentions in the Early Pandemic

This article explores key determinants of the intention to work from home (WFH) among U.S. adults in the early phase of the pandemic. Leveraging nationally representative survey data collected in the initial stages of the pandemic, it explores the role of modalities of communication alongside the more frequently studied behavioral, occupational, and sociodemographic factors in shaping WFH intentions as reported by survey respondents. Venturing beyond prior studies of remote work and remote work intentions, the study finds that the frequency of text messaging platform (e.g., Slack) usage and the frequency of videoconferencing (e.g., Zoom) exhibit diametrically opposed effects on the intentions to WFH in the future. Whereas a higher frequency of text messaging platform usage is linked to a preference for more intensive future WFH, a higher frequency of videoconferencing platform usage is associated with the opposite preference. Additionally, the effect of the intensity of respondents’ engagement with these two communication modalities on their intentions is mediated by pre-pandemic WFH experience as well as the intensity of interruptions in their WFH environment. Intensive videoconferencers (Zoomers) who work in high-interruption environments are particularly averse to future WFH. Conversely, intensive messagers (Slackers) who work from home substantially prior to the pandemic report express a preference for more frequent WFH in the future.