The Impact of Mobile and Wireless Technology on Knowledge Workers: An Exploratory Study

Organisations continue to be disappointed at the difference that ICT has made to knowledge worker productivity. This paper reports an exploratory study of the extent to which emerging mobile and wireless ICT can support the mobile nature of the knowledge worker’s job, including the impact that these technologies can have on working practices, collaboration processes, knowledge worker performance, and productivity. We investigated these objectives by the example of geographically distributed IT consultants who had voluntarily adopted a mobile working solution which combined wireless General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) phones, Tablet Personal Computers (PCs), Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs) in the organisation’s office buildings, and wireless broadband in the consultants’ homes. Personal productivity gains resulted from consultants’ ability to make use of previously unproductive time, access corporate information as needed, and communicate via multiple channels regardless of location. The new functionality, particularly of the Table PC, afforded the evolution of new working practices by supporting richer social connectivity, more engaging face-toface interaction, with the technology becoming more a social medium rather than barrier. Although based on an early adopter sample of IT professionals experienced with adopting new technology, we conclude from the study that emerging mobile and wireless ICT may have a greater impact on productivity due to its ability to support the mobile and collaborative nature of today’s knowledge workers’ job