Discretion as a double-edged sword in global work: The perils of international business travel

Abstract

International business travellers (IBTs) have become omnipresent in multinational enterprises, and yet we know little on how they manage the inherent complexities of their global work. Through a qualitative research design, our study reveals a perturbing job demands-resources mismatch faced by these individuals. IBTs are afforded substantial discretion with respect to how they carry out their global work and this discretion enables engagement in a series of job crafting actions. The job crafting actions we identify in this study inadvertently intensified rather than eased the demands-resources mismatch that IBTs confronted. Our study advances job crafting theory through unpacking the potentially dysfunctional nature of job crafting in a global work context. In doing so, we challenge much of the extant literature which tends to overwhelmingly focus on the positive impact of job crafting actions. Our findings lead us to call for greater organisational oversight and configuration of support structures for IBTs.