This study examines whether workation - defined as the combination of remote work with stays in tourist or rural areas - can serve as a strategic tool of human capital management in Japan. An online survey of 1,600 employees compared three groups: （1） active workation users, （2） teleworkers without workation experience, and （3） employees who commute to the office daily.
Respondents rated the effects of workation on retention intention, work engagement, job satisfaction, life satisfaction, innovative behavior, and boundary-spanning learning, and completed 40 items on career values, lifestyle preferences, and innovativeness. A maximum likelihood factor analysis with varimax rotation of 22 selected items identified three latent dimensions: “Career Autonomy with Exploratory Experiences,” “Innovative Orientation,” and “Networking and Blended Work–Life Orientation.”
Workation users scored consistently higher on all three factors and reported significantly higher retention intention, work engagement, innovative behavior, and job/workplace satisfaction than office-based workers, while teleworkers showed intermediate profiles. Differences in private-life satisfaction and cross-border learning were mixed and should be interpreted cautiously.
These findings suggest that workation is not merely an employee benefit but can serve as a strategic mechanism to attract and retain self-directed, innovative employees and to foster boundary-spanning learning, thereby supporting the objectives of human capital–oriented management.
