To negotiate or not negotiate: professional boundaries surrounding mobile device usage

ABSTRACT

With the widespread ownership and usage of mobile devices combined with the subsequent challenges usage poses on relationships, this research examines how people negotiate time spent on mobile devices (smartphones and/or tablets) accomplishing professional tasks. Participants in this study were the users of the mobile device within a full-time managerial level position. Diverse organizational representation included, but not limited to health care, engineering, public relations, finance, education, and distribution management industries. Using qualitative methods and semi-structured interviews, data analysis unveiled what negotiation means when using mobile devices in any capacity for professional reasons within the domestic (familial) sphere. Management-level organizational members share how parameters (sometimes called boundaries or borders) are both in and out of their control when using mobile devices to communicate professionally. Within their control was the users’ ability to engage or disengage, while also challenged with situations out of their control due to organizational directives. This research re-conceptualizes the concepts of Clark’s (2000) Work/Family Border Theory. While this data was gathered prior to Covid19, understanding this balance has current and future relevancy from an academic and applied perspective.

KEYWORDS:

• professional mobile device usage
• work/family border theory
• qualitative methodology
• communication technology
• familial negotiations
• work and family balance

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sharon L. Storch

Sharon Storch (Ph.D. Indiana University of Pennsylvania), Assistant Professor, School of Communication at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Her primary research interests qualitatively examine mobile devices and their subsequent influences on professional and familial dynamics. Sharon’s teaches undergraduate and graduate communication classes including organizational communication, business communication, research methods, training and development, and communication theory with a focus on providing real-life learning experiences in the classroom.

Anna Victoria Ortiz Juarez-Paz

Anna Victoria Ortiz Juarez-Paz (Ph.D. Purdue University) is an Associate Professor of Communications Media at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Her research qualitatively explores the intersections between media and culture. While employing a culture-centered approach to communication, Dr. Ortiz is interested in the way student activists employ social media to resist governmental structure. Other research interests include the use of media in the classroom, mobile technology in family life, how media perpetuates gender norms, and the role of music for mood management.