Thorns and his colleague Lorraine Leonard have recently studied aspects of how information and communication technologies change the way people work.

'Online working is an expanding area, here in New Zealand and around the world,' says Thorns.

It is an area that New Zealand could benefit from because of advantages such as the English language culture and the time difference in relation to the northern hemisphere, he says.

'Work that comes out of, for example, the UK can be done over-night in New Zealand.'

Online work outsourced from the northern hemisphere to, for instance, New Zealand and Australia is part of a new global work trend, he says.