Abstract
Theorising the relationships between information communication technology (ICT), travel and work continues to preoccupy researchers interested in multinational corporations (MNCs). One motivation is the desire to understand ways of reducing demand for and the negative consequences of business travel. Existing studies offer, however, little in the way of theoretical explanation of why situations that require travel arise in the first instance and how they might be avoided. To address this shortcoming, this paper analyses two case study engineering consultancy MNCs to develop a novel sociomaterial perspective on the role of travel and ICTs. It introduces the concept of the synthetic work mobility situation which highlights the way ICT and travel exert agency that constitutes ways of working and the organisational form of MNCs. The concept also recasts questions about ways of reducing demand for travel as questions about ways of reconstituting the sociomaterial organisation of the MNC.
Highlights
The links between international work, information communication technology (ICT) and travel continue to inspire extensive debate in literatures on videoconferencing and related technologies (Konradt and Hertel, 2002; Montoya-Weiss, Massey, Song 2001), international human resource management (IHRM) (Mayerhofer, Hartmann, Michelitsch-Riedl, Kollinger, 2004: 1375; Welch, Welch, Worm, 2007: 173) and business mobilities (Aguiléra, 2008; Elliott & Urry, 2010; Faulconbridge, Beaverstock, Derudder, and Witlox, 2009; Jones, Faulconbridge, Marsden, Anable, 2018; Storme et al, 2013, 2017)
Ask: how do the sociomaterial relations between work, ICT and travel constitute the organizational form of multinational corporations (MNCs)? How might changes in sociomaterial relations allow new forms of organizing that reduce demand for travel?
In this ‘discrete entity’ approach (Orlikowski & Scott, 2008: 438), travel and ICTs are understood as standalone tools deployed in MNCs in response to organizational needs. This presumes that any change in the role of travel and ICTs will emerge from focussing on these entities in isolation – i.e., identifying ways to better use ICTs and less use travel to meet organizational needs. We argue that such a perspective is inherently limited and misses important considerations about how reduced demand for travel may result from the form and role of work, ICTs and travel changing together as part of the reconstitution of the organization of MNCs
Summary
The links between international work, information communication technology (ICT) and travel continue to inspire extensive debate in literatures on videoconferencing and related technologies (Konradt and Hertel, 2002; Montoya-Weiss, Massey, Song 2001), international human resource management (IHRM) (Mayerhofer, Hartmann, Michelitsch-Riedl, Kollinger, 2004: 1375; Welch, Welch, Worm, 2007: 173) and business mobilities (Aguiléra, 2008; Elliott & Urry, 2010; Faulconbridge, Beaverstock, Derudder, and Witlox , 2009; Jones, Faulconbridge, Marsden, Anable, 2018; Storme et al, 2013, 2017). The relationship between ICT and travel has primarily been examined through the lens of substitution This has, in particular, spurred studies of the sources of demand for travel, such as attending meetings (Lyons, 2013; Wheatley & Bickerton, 2016) and conferences (Storme et al, 2017; Strengers, 2015) working on global projects (Faulconbridge, 2006); corporate management coordination (Jones, 2007; Jones et al, 2018); managing existing clients (Hislop & Axtell, 2009; Millar & Salt, 2008) and identifying new clients (Wickham & Vecchi, 2009). In table 1, we argue that such a perspective is inherently limited and misses important considerations about how reduced demand for travel may result from the form and role of work, ICTs and travel changing together as part of the reconstitution of the organization of MNCs
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