Connecting and Disconnecting: How Digital Nomads Manage Work in Absence of a Workplace

Abstract

This paper examines how connectivity is accomplished in absence of a workplace. Connectivity is a theoretical framework to analyze how people connect and disconnect with each other through technologies. Digital nomads travel while they work, an example of workers who do not belong to a workplace or an organization. This absence of a workplace will affect how they connect and disconnect both within their work and outside work. An interview study with a grounded theory-based analysis found six themes that describe how the digital nomads interviewed connect and disconnect: first to and from a place, second to and from a place, and third two themes on how these patterns are reinforced. This is mobilized by a sociomaterial assemblage encompassed of more than just individuals communicating through technology. Previous research has focused on this, instead of focusing on the situatedness of connectivity. This contributes to research on connecting and disconnecting in connectivity and to research on digital nomads as part of a socio technical system.