Aeromobility and Work

TLDR

The boundary between work and tourism is not distinct, and travel, work, tourism, and play are intricately connected. The study investigates the link between international aeromobility, knowledge organisations, and environmental impacts, aiming to examine the driving forces, mechanisms, and patterns behind the rise of long‑distance work mobility and to rethink core concepts of travel, tourism, and work. The author uses a case study of two Danish knowledge organisations to explore these dynamics. The study finds that knowledge organisations exert a strong material impact linked to expanded mobility forms, suggesting that virtual mobility could replace physical work travel to promote a more sustainable transport system.

Abstract

In this paper, the hypothesis is that there is a connection between international aeromobility, knowledge organisations, and environmental impacts. The object is therefore to examine the driving forces, mechanisms, and patterns of meaning behind the increase in international long-distance work mobility. The author will draw on a case study which involves two Danish examples of ‘knowledge organisations’. He argues that it is necessary to rethink central concepts of travel, tourism, and working life, in order to understand and describe this kind of international mobility in these organisations. The boundary between work and tourism is not distinct and there is a very complex connection between travel, work, tourism, and play. He shows that actually, there is a strong ‘material’ impact from supposedly ‘immaterial’ organisations and this ‘materiality’ is particularly linked to the extension of forms of mobility. This has implications for understanding the possibilities of replacing physical work mobility with virtual mobility as a tool in order to ensure a more ‘sustainable transport system’ in the future.