Advanced Industrial SCIence (산업과 과학)

Convergence Society for SMB (중소기업융합학회)
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Exploring Employees Acceptance of Workation in SMEs: A Qualitative Study Base on a Recognition-Decision-Use Model

중소기업 근로자의 워케이션 수용성 결정 요인: 인지-결정-사용 3단계 모델 기반 탐색적 연구

  • 이정태 (서울과학종합대학원대학교) ;
  • 정낙현 (서울과학종합대학원대학교)
  • Received : 2026.02.05
  • Accepted : 2026.03.20
  • Published : 2026.03.30
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Abstract

This study examines why workation programs in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) fail to translate into actual use, focusing on employees' stage-based judgment processes. Using qualitative survey data from 25 SME employees in Korea, thematic analysis was conducted based on the Recognition-Decision-Use (RDU) framework. The findings indicate that workation acceptance operates as a cumulative stage-based judgment process in which initial assessments of job suitability and evaluation concerns constrain feasibility at the recognition stage; limited organizational trust and perceived relational costs restrict participation at the decision stage; and technological stability, responsibility attribution, and boundary management feasibility determine continued use at the use stage. By reconceptualizing workation non-use as a processual inhibition phenomenon, this study offers implications for stage-sensitive institutional design and future research.

본 연구는 중소기업에서 도입된 워케이션이 실제 사용으로 이어지지 않는 현상을 근로자의 인지-결정-사용(RDU) 판단 전이 구조에서 해석하고자 한다. 이를 위해 국내 중소기업 재직 근로자 25명을 대상으로 개방형 서술 문항 기반의 질적 설문조사를 실시하고, RDU 분석 틀에 따라 단계 간 판단 흐름을 중심으로 주제 분석을 수행하였다. 분석 결과, 워케이션 수용성은 직무 적합성에 대한 선별적 판단에서 출발해 조직 신뢰와 관계적 비용을 거쳐 기술·책임 인식과 경계 관리 가능성으로 이어지는 누적적 해석 과정에서 형성·억제되는 구조로 확인되었다. 즉, 초기 가능성에 대한 제한적 인식이 참여 판단을 제약하고, 이후 책임 귀속과 환경 조건에 대한 재해석이 반복 사용을 억제하는 단계 간 연쇄 구조로 작동하였다. 향후 연구에서는 이러한 판단 전이 구조의 실증이 필요하다.

Keywords

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