The stay-behind family: living with contemporary global mobility

Abstract

The global mobility literature almost exclusively focuses on the traveller, neglecting the experiences of the family. This is particularly the situation with families who stay behind. Using the Job Resources-Demand Model, this study seeks to address this issue. We concentrate on the partners and children of professional sailors, in order to develop insight into how the stay behind family adjusts to the demands created by international travel. The findings enhance knowledge of the demands borne by those who stay behind, and the resources they utilise to manage their ever-evolving situation. The recurring departures and repetitive repatriations of the traveller create the greatest stress. In the absence of organisational support, the partners relied on extended family and empathetic friends. Contemporary digital communication technologies serve to buffer the demands and facilitate the re-integration of the traveller into the family home. The enduring absence of formal organisational support for globally mobile employees and their families has been attributed to a lack of understanding of the ramifications of this mobility, and in this study, respondents provide suggestions of support from the organisations that would assist in work–home balance.

Keywords:

• Contemporary global mobility
• stay-behind family
• children
• job resources-demand model
• organisational support
• digital communication

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 New Zealand, where many of the participants were based, is 12 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time, and 19 hours ahead of the USA Pacific Time Zone, making coordination of joint waking hours difficult.