Strategies for coping with business trips: A qualitative exploratory study

This study aimed to better understand the impact of business trips on the traveler, the family, and the organization; to learn about maximizing the positive aspects of business travel; and to suggest measures to prevent and manage travel stress. Thirty-five business travelers (American, Israeli, and Swedish) were interviewed about the costs and benefits of their traveling, with a focus on gaining insight into coping strategies. Content analysis of the interviews showed that trips consist of 4 phases-(a) pretrip, (b) journey, (c) stay, and (d) posttrip-and that each phase is characterized by different coping strategies. Business travelers reported using proactive individual and organizational coping strategies in the pretrip phase and a combination of proactive and reactive coping strategies in the other phases.