'Mental mobility’ in the digital age: entrepreneurs and the online home-based business

Di Domenico, M., Daniel, E. and Nunan, D. (2014) 'Mental mobility’ in the digital age: entrepreneurs and the online home-based business. New Technology, Work and Employment, 29 (3). pp. 266-281. ISSN 1468-005X doi: 10.1111/ntwe.12034

Abstract/Summary

Home-based online business ventures are an increasingly pervasive yet under-researched phenomenon. The experiences and mindset of entrepreneurs setting up and running such enterprises require better understanding. Using data from a qualitative study of 23 online home-based business entrepreneurs, we propose the augmented concept of ‘mental mobility’ to encapsulate how they approach their business activities. Drawing on Howard P. Becker's early theorising of mobility, together with Victor Turner's later notion of liminality, we conceptualise mental mobility as the process through which individuals navigate the liminal spaces between the physical and digital spheres of work and the overlapping home/workplace, enabling them to manipulate and partially reconcile the spatial, temporal and emotional tensions that are present in such work environments. Our research also holds important applications for alternative employment contexts and broader social orderings because of the increasingly pervasive and disruptive influence of technology on experiences of remunerated work.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/38466
Identification Number/DOI	10.1111/ntwe.12034
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Henley Business School > Marketing and Reputation
Uncontrolled Keywords	digital entrepreneur; home working; home-based business; liminality; mental mobility; non-standard work; self-employed; work–life balance
Publisher	Wiley
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