International business travelers' job exhaustion: effects of travel days spent in short-haul and long-haul destinations and the moderating role of leader-member exchange

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of the present study is to examine the general and travel-specific job exhaustion of international business travelers (IBTs). The study employs a JD-R model to explain general and travel-specific job exhaustion (IBTExh) through international business travel as demand and leadership (LMX) as a resource buffering the demands of international business travel.Design/methodology/approachThe study was conducted among Finnish service company employees who had taken at least one international business trip during the previous year. The data (N = 569), collected in 2015, were analyzed with path models.FindingsThe results suggest that a higher number of international business travel days is related to a higher level of job exhaustion, especially the exhaustion related to international business travel. Moreover, a high-quality LMX was found to be linked to lower levels of both types of exhaustion. Interestingly, for those IBTs' with a low-quality LMX, even a high number of long-haul international business travel days was not connected with IBTExhOriginality/valueThe contribution of our study is threefold. First, this study contributes to JD-R theory and the ill-health process by focusing on a job-specific well-being indicator, IBTExh, in addition to general exhaustion. Second, specific job demands related to international business travel, particularly the duration of business travel spent in short-haul and long-haul destinations, contributes to the literature on global mobility. This study sheds light on the potential effects on IBTs of different types of business travel. Third, our study contributes to the leadership literature and the importance of acknowledging the context in which LMX occurs.

COVID-19: prevalence of job-demands, stress, work–life difficulties and work–life balance among international business travelers

“…, 2001). This pattern was also observed among IBTs (Mäkelä et al , 2021), whose WLB is affected by their job demands, including travel duration and control (Westman et al. , 2009) despite individual differences (Dimitrova et al.…”

“…the higher the job-demands), the more they experience physiological and psychological problems (Espino et al. , 2002; Jooss et al , 2020; Mäkelä et al , 2021). Furthermore, travelers who had families with children experienced more difficulties managing family and job demands and suffered more from being apart from the partner and kids for extended periods of time (Bergstrom, 2010; Mäkelä et al.…”

“…The research to date has showed that the more time these workers spend traveling, the more they experience strain, including physiological and psychological problems (Mäkelä and Kinnunen, 2018; Mäkelä et al , 2021; Ye and Xu, 2021). In addition, the IBTs who have children face even more difficulties, often suffering from being away from their families for extended periods (Mäkelä et al.…”

“…, 2013). This is an important contribution because well-being is a prominent issue among global workers (Jooss et al , 2020; Mäkelä et al , 2021) and is of the highest importance following global disasters and threats as the outbreak of COVID-19. Furthermore, studying the role of the pandemic demands of COVID-19 on IBTs' stress, work–life difficulties and WLB is especially insightful about the factors that can contribute to their health and well-being and that are still manageable.…”

EXPERT REVIEW SERIES International business travel: a review of theory and research

“…Most IBT researchers (e.g. Mäkelä and Kinnunen, 2018; Mäkelä et al. , 2021; Ye and Xu, 2021) have shown that the greater the intensity of BT, the greater the traveler's stress and negative physiological and psychological outcomes.…”