COVID-19: prevalence of job-demands, stress, work–life difficulties and work–life balance among international business travelers
ISSN: 2049-8799
Article publication date: 31 December 2021
Issue publication date: 6 May 2022
Abstract
Purpose
International business travelers (IBTs) face daily challenges pertaining to the frequency and duration of travel. Following the outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the study aims to draw upon the job demands-resources (JD-R) model and the literature on work–life balance (WLB) to examine how this crisis have disrupted IBTs routines and the implications for their WLB.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected in April 2020 with an online survey answered by 141 IBTs from different locations. The first set of analyses examined the perceived change in job-demands (i.e. business travel and workload) including stress and work–life difficulties following the outbreak of COVID-19. The second set of analyses tested the hypotheses that the perceived change in workload and stress predict IBTs' work–life difficulties, which, in turn, affect their WLB.
Findings
The results show that the decline in job-demands (i.e. business travel and workload) after the outbreak of COVID-19 was not enough to reduce IBTs' stress and ameliorate their work–life difficulties and WLB. Only respondents who experienced a decrease in workload, including less relational difficulties, reported a superior WLB.
Originality/value
The study widens the scope and relevance of global mobility studies in crisis settings by timely reporting the changes in job-demands, stress and work–life difficulties among IBTs following the outbreak of COVID-19. Additionally, the research extends the use of the JD-R model in the international context by advancing our knowledge of the interplay between contextual demands and job-demands in affecting IBTs' stress, work–life difficulties and WLB.
Keywords
Citation
Kumpikaite-Valiuniene, V., Pinto, L.H. and Gurbanov, T. (2022), "COVID-19: prevalence of job-demands, stress, work–life difficulties and work–life balance among international business travelers", Journal of Global Mobility, Vol. 10 No. 2, pp. 172-191. https://doi.org/10.1108/JGM-03-2021-0030
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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