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Abstract
For growing numbers of businesspeople, managers and public officials, work involves travel. This study investigates what business travel means to travellers. What are their experiences of travel and what are the consequences of travel for their professional and personal lives? Qualitative interviews with frequent business travellers and corporate travel managers show that travel may be both stressful and stimulating. It may be associated with physical and psychological strain, increased workloads and difficulties in balancing work and private life, but also with enriching experiences, social and professional status and a cosmopolitan identity. It may also promote travellers’ professional careers. However, in some respects, an ongoing normalization of travel seems to have moderating effects on both stress and stimulation among travellers. This normalization occurs on three different levels: the societal, organizational and individual.
Acknowledgements
The research was financed by the Swedish Council for Working Life and Social Research (FAS dnr 2007-0205). The author is grateful to Ann Bergman, Gunilla Bergström Casinowsky and Mats Franzén for very useful comments on earlier drafts of the text and to the Swedish Business Travel Association for valuable help with recruiting respondents for the study.