Research Proves the Value of Travel

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We Nomads already know the value of visiting our colleagues and customers in their native habitat — there is so much more to learn and explore than is possible through Web or video conferencing. Now academic research proves it (courtesy of The Economist):

“Academic evidence backs up what many of us already suspect: face-to-face meetings offer something that video conferences and e-mails don’t.

Mark Mortensen of the MIT Sloan School of Management and Tsedal Beyene of Harvard Business School have produced a paper not so catchily entitled, “Firsthand Experience and The Subsequent Role of Reflected Knowledge in Cultivating Trust in Global Collaboration”. The two writers used 47 semi-structured interviews and 140 web-based survey responses in their research, which focuses on a multinational chemical company and tries to explain, in essence, why should we continue to travel to meet distant colleagues and customers.”

Guess what? You learn more, build deeper relationships, and become more attuned to cultural differences that can be essential to building trust.  In more academic terms, Mortensen and Beyene state, “…while global collaboration is a necessary strategic choice for an ever increasing number of organizations, the literature indicates that socio-demographic, contextual and spatio-temporal barriers engender many interpersonal challenges for distant co-workers and are likely to adversely affect trust between sites.”

They continue, “A key argument often made by distributed work scholars (see Hinds & Keisler, 2002) is that firsthand experience — time spent onsite directly observing the people, places, and norms of a distant locale — with a distant site and its members provides a means to effectively bridge gaps, thereby fostering intersite trust. The literature suggests that firsthand experience across sites can provide workers with a better understanding of the other location and its members, resulting in enhanced mutual understanding among geographically distant workers.”

Not to mention, we hasten to add, the value of sampling new cuisine, delving into a different culture, and collecting experiences that will build your personal and professional value.

We did find it both funny and odd that the ad accompanying this story at The Economist was for a video conferencing service. Oh, never mind — pack the bags: we’re on our way!