Managing Work and Leisure in the Digital Age: A Practice Exploration of Digital Nomadism.

Abstract

In fast-tracking an unprecedented and broad adoption of digital technologies, the global COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the ongoing transformation of the structure and contours of the knowledge work market. In this environment, digital nomadism has become a mainstream phenomenon involving an increasing number of workers across many organisations and industries. As digital nomads choose when, where, with whom, and how they perform their work, the traditional binary divide between work and leisure brought about by industrialisation and the capitalistic view of the employment system is collapsing. Literature focusing on the mechanisms and practices that digital nomads employ to govern the fluid relationship between work and leisure is hitherto lacking. To bridge this gap, this study brings together practice theory and border theory to identify border management practices within the context of digital nomadism by investigating the relationship between work, leisure, and digital technology, to uncover a typology of digital nomads. Grounded in the paradigmatic principles of pragmatism, a two-stage multimethod data collection strategy was adopted, comprising the use of a) observant participation and b) praxiographic interviewing methods to obtain longitudinal and situational insights into the Digital Work-Leisure System in which digital nomads operate. The insights obtained from 224 digital diaries and 32 semi-structured in-depth online interviews were analysed by applying a mixed method analysis strategy consisting of a) template analysis and b) archetypal analysis. The findings explore the multilevel and multidimensional nature of border management in the digital work-leisure system by a) identifying the situational elements that influence border management practices, b) isolating the elements of the sociomaterial relationship between digital nomads and digital technology, c) uncovering a five-dimensional structure and its configurations—from which twenty-five distinct border management practices emerge—and d) proposing a typology of digital nomads consisting of six diverse archetypes. This study makes a novel theoretical contribution to digitally mediated practices and their role in shaping the work-leisure integration of digital nomads. It also makes methodological contributions to practice and boundary management research within the broader discipline of management and organisation study. Implications for public policy and organisations working with digital nomads are discussed, along with reflections for the leisure and tourism community.