This document summarizes a research presentation on (dis)connectivity in travel contexts. It identifies several key themes for further research: 1) ICTs have blurred boundaries between life domains, integrating work, travel and personal life. This raises questions about work-life balance and expectations around availability. 2) Connectivity behaviors are contextual based on travel type, mode, and party. However, work obligations and social expectations often make complete disconnection difficult. 3) Remaining constantly connected may impact health and wellbeing, but perceptions around availability expectations are often unclear. 4) Individual personality and lifestyle play a role in decisions around (dis)connecting, but generational and gender differences also exist. Further research

1. ENTER 2017 Research Track Slide Number 1
(Dis)Connectivity in the Travel Context:
Setting an Agenda for Research
Barbara Neuhofera & Adele Ladkinb
aSalzburg University of Applied Sciences, Austria
bBournemouth University, UK
barbara.neuhofer@fh-salzburg.ac.at
aladkin@bournemouth.ac.uk
www.fh-salzburg.ac.at I www.bournemouth.ac.uk

2. ENTER 2017 Research Track Slide Number 2
What (or who) keeps you from disconnecting
when on holiday?

3. ENTER 2017 Research Track Slide Number 3

4. ENTER 2017 Research Track Slide Number 4
Introduction
Travel is travel is technology-
mediated.
Smartphones enable tourists to
connect on an unprecedented scale,
connecting to anyone, any
information, anywhere and anytime
(Neuhofer et al., 2014a; Wang et al., 2014a).
ICTs have era of ‘constant-
connectivity’ and an ‘always-on
culture’ (Schlachter, McDowall & Cropley,
2015)

5. ENTER 2017 Research Track Slide Number 5
Introduction
• Connectivity has however not only changed travel,
but also the wider work and life domains
• People can now carry out work, leisure, family and
travel activities at the same time (Chamakiotis et al., 2014).
• Potential downsides to being connected 24/7.
• Being ‘switched-on’ can compromise travel in that it
creates pressures, whether real or perceived, and can
make it difficult to re-charge batteries, reduce stress
and leave work behind (Schlachter et al., 2015).

6. ENTER 2017 Research Track Slide Number 6
Research Aim & Rationale
Investigate the ‘flipside of digital technology’ to
develop a better understanding of why and how
people connect and disconnect from ICTs
Identify key areas of research for an agenda
around (dis)connectivity of travel experiences

7. ENTER 2017 Research Track Slide Number 7
7CONNECTED

8. ENTER 2017 Research Track Slide Number 8
Era of ‘Connectedness’
• Mobile lifestyles and mobile
smartphone devices have
transformed tourist experiences in
numerous ways (Gretzel & Jamal, 2009; Neuhofer et
al., 2012; 2014; Wang et al., 2014a, 2014b)
• Extended ecosystem as
individuals in which tourists connect
and co-create experiences offline and
online at the same time (Neuhofer et al., 2012;
2015; Wang et al. 2012; Wang et al., 2014)

9. ENTER 2017 Research Track Slide Number 9© Neuhofer, 2015

10. ENTER 2017 Research Track Slide Number 10
Theoretical Background
Most studies in the tourism field
– Impact of ICTs on experiences
– Technology-mediated and enhanced experiences (Tussyadiah and
Fesenmaier, 2009; Neuhofer, Ladkin and Buhalis, 2012; Wang et al. 2014)
Only a dearth of recent work on challenges around
(dis)connecting in the tourism domain
• Disconnected tourist experiences and digital dead zones (Pearce and Gretzel, 2012)
• Technology-induced tensions in ‘unplugged’ experiences (Paris et al., 2015)
• Enablers and barriers that make or break connected tourist experiences (Neuhofer, Buhalis
& Ladkin, 2015)
• Drivers of connectivity and the consequences of being (dis)connected (Tanti and Buhalis,
2016)
• Mobile technologies and tourists’ desire for disconnection at campsites (Dickinson et al., 2016)

11. ENTER 2017 Research Track Slide Number 11
Need for discussing
(dis)connectivity?
• Traditionally, travel motivation grounded in travel as a
means of escapism and reversal of everyday (Cohen, 1979)
• Ubiquitous technology creates life interdomain
integration, leading to blurred boundaries between life,
work, travel (Matthews et al., 2014)
• Growing recognition of the need for ‘unplugged’ and
‘digital-detox’ experiences (Pearce and Gretzel, 2012; Neuhofer, 2016)
• Increasing discussion of issues around being ‘switched-on’
and consequences in occupational health, psychology
disciplines(Schlachter et al., 2015)

12. ENTER 2017 Research Track Slide Number 12
(Dis)Connectivity in
Travel, Home and Work Domains
• ICTs impact on the work-life balance and create
an always-on culture, which can be positive or
negative.
• Work, home travel spheres are no longer distinct
• Permeability between work and life (Chamakiotis et
al., 2014)
• Unhealthy work-life balance (Xanthopoulou et al., 2009)
• Calls for a revival of the work-life balance debate
to re-define what work-life separation and
balance means in the digital age.

13. ENTER 2017 Research Track Slide Number 13
Problem Definition
• Traditionally, Leisure travel is for rest, relaxation, escape
from the mundane and to re-charge....
BUT
• Now easy for travellers to be connected anywhere
anytime to family, friends, other travelllers ...and work!

14. ENTER 2017 Research Track Slide Number 14
Methodological Approach
Research Approach
1) Secondary research to identify status-quo of the
literature, emerging discourses and current gaps in
knowledge
1) Qualitative thematic analysis of a multi-disciplinary
symposium, including tourism, geography,
occupational health, psychology, wellbeing, human
computer interaction, user experience design, and
human resources
Research question:
‘What are the emerging areas of research on
(dis)connectivity in the travel context?’

15. ENTER 2017 Research Track Slide Number 15
Emerged themes

16. ENTER 2017 Research Track Slide Number 16
Connectivity & fluid life
integration
• ICTs lead to travel life integration
• Blurring lines and ‘fluid boundaries’ across all life
domains
• Travel is extension of everyday life – interconnected
(Wang et al., 2014a)
• Convenience of being switched-on to manage all
aspects of life from the smartphone

17. ENTER 2017 Research Track Slide Number 17
“Being wired has transformed my life. I am wired all the time.
I hate being offline. I feel connected to people I know online
and I know offline. The world I don’t see any distinctions
between those things.”

18. ENTER 2017 Research Track Slide Number 18
Connectivity & fluid life
integration
• ‘Connectivity Dilemma’ – as people struggle
between wanting to connect and
disconnect at the same time (Dickinson et al. (2016)
• Connectivity behaviour is contextual
• Depending on travel types and travel
modes and travel parties

19. ENTER 2017 Research Track Slide Number 19
Dis(connectivity) &
work-based challenges
• Work-related issues relating to (dis)connectivity
in tourist experiences
• Switching-off during leisure time / travel
determined by work type (knowledge work,
manual work) and work modes (flexible working,
working from home, part time or full time)
• Discussion of current practices of how individuals
deal with work and leisure in an always-on
culture

20. ENTER 2017 Research Track Slide Number 20
“I don’t see my work as a 9/5…I’m constantly juggling both,
and it is not as simple as dividing a block of my day. I assume
that my sacrifice is that by bringing in personal things into
my working hours, this means that I overflow and my work
happens in my life time, my off-time… it does run through
evenings and weekends.”

21. ENTER 2017 Research Track Slide Number 21
• Occupational health, human resource and policy
related questions
• Few organisational guidelines available on how to
cope with digital technology in/outside of work
• Questions around ‘responsibility’ – who is
responsible for a reasonable ICTs use
• Shared responsibility organisations/employees
• Unwritten rules and expectations about good
practice / behaviour

22. ENTER 2017 Research Track Slide Number 22
“What can good organisations do? JP Morgan and
Barclays have got a protected weekend policy. Atos,
French IT company, they have banned internal email from
2011…Daimler have gone a little bit more technical to turn
off emails out of office hours and automatically delete
emails sent to staff during annual leave and holiday.”

23. ENTER 2017 Research Track Slide Number 23
Dis(connectivity) & health and
wellbeing
• Questions around whether ‘taking a break’
switching off is still a valid concept in 2017?
• Emerging research linking ICTs, tourism literature to
occupational health, psychology, wellbeing domains
• How does remaining ‘switched on’ affect non-work
time (quality)
• How does not switching-off impact on actual and
perceived health and wellbeing
• Reasons for not switching-off (inability,
unwillingness)

24. ENTER 2017 Research Track Slide Number 24
“Don’t work while on holiday. Holidays are a bit like
mobile phones. If you consider charging your phone in the
evening for half an hour, it might get you through the next
work day, but not much longer. With holidays, it is a long
period of time where you can actually fully recharge your
batteries.”

25. ENTER 2017 Research Track Slide Number 25
Dis(connectivity) & social
obligations and family roles
• Reasons for not switching-off often related
to ‘internal obligations’, ‘reachable for
others’, especially family
• Inability to switch-off because of the need
to be online, monitor work emails, and
‘fear of missing out’ at work and at home
• Misperceptions / miscommunication
around availability expectations

26. ENTER 2017 Research Track Slide Number 26
“A key issue is about expectations around technology use. Do
I have to be available or not? There are often a lot of
misperceptions of what others expect of us.
A lot of the time with expectations they are not
communicated. So I just assume everyone thinks that I need
to be available, but actually never ask anyone do they expect
it or not.”

27. ENTER 2017 Research Track Slide Number 27
Dis(connectivity) & the self
• (Dis)connectivity decisions are inherently
subjective and individual
• ‘One’s own choice’, ‘own personality’, ‘own
perceived pressure’, and ‘own lifestyle’, and
‘generational’ ‘gender’ differences
• (Dis)connectivity not only framed by institutional,
organisational, infrastructural or social
boundaries, but determined by the end-user

28. ENTER 2017 Research Track Slide Number 28
Disconnectivity & digital detox
• Questions around switching-off completely,
temporal disconnection (times of the day,
weekends, week retreats)
• Switching off for a change – digital age
• Switching off for health and wellbeing
reasons, trying out digital-detox retreats

29. ENTER 2017 Research Track Slide Number 29
Conclusions and Implications
– Discussing the flipside of technology in the tourism
experience and related multi-disciplinary literature
– Developing an agenda for research
– Basis for discussions of ‘paradox’ of connectivity and
disconnectivity
– Organisational implications to map out challenges and
opportunities in travel-related connectivity and
disconnectivity in the digital age

30. ENTER 2017 Research Track Slide Number 30
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31. ENTER 2017 Research Track Slide Number 31
Adele Ladkin (Bournemouth University, UK)
Barbara Neuhofer, PhD
Senior Lecturer in Experience Design
Head of Experience Design
Innovation and Management in Tourism
Salzburg University of Applied Sciences
barbara.neuhofer@fh-salzburg.ac.at
www.barbaraneuhofer.com
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