Drivers and barriers of early-career academics to reduce their business air travel: a case study of Tampere University
Bounouara, Yasmine (2024)
2024
Master's Programme in Leadership for Change
Johtamisen ja talouden tiedekunta - Faculty of Management and Business
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Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2024-05-31
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202405276329
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202405276329
Tiivistelmä
Business air travel represents a significant share of the carbon footprint of the academia. While universities are engaged in sustainability issues and aim at carbon neutrality, they have not extensively addressed the reduction of academic flying. This can be explained by their internationalization strategies, which create expectations of frequent mobility and dissonances between environmental aspirations and flights emissions. While internation al networks are necessary for research excellence, the reduction of academic flying to a certain extent appears inevitable for carbon neutrality. Since early-career academics (ECAs) are to travel and establish networks to develop their careers, reduced flying would affect academics of diverse career stages in different ways. Consequently, research was needed to explore their drivers and barriers to reduce flying.
The effect of reduced flying on ECAs has not been extensively studied by the literature. Hence, the study aimed to explore and identify the drivers and barriers of ECAs to reduce their business air travel. The thesis formulated the following research question: at Tampere University, Finland, what are the drivers and barriers of early-career academics to reduce their business air travel?
The thesis utilized an existing theoretical model on the influential factors affecting the air travel behavior of academics. A literature review on academic flying was conducted, and numerous articles were reviewed to identify the characteristics of ECAs. The fin dings from the literature review were integrated to the existing model, which provided the theoretical framework of the reduction of academic flying amongst ECAs.
A case study of Tampere University, instrumental in its nature, was conducted. The dataset consisted of five institutional documents, and 12 semi-structured interviews of six ECAs and six academics with more mature career stages working at the university. The data provided rich information on the context and experiences of academics regarding academic flying. The dataset was analyzed through thematic analysis with an abduction logic. The approach involved identifying factors previously established in the theoretical framework, while identifying emerging elements from the data. The empirical analysis resulted in five themes.
The analysis revealed that factors operated at different levels, that is, structural, institutional, community, and individual levels. Structural barriers involved the difficult access to alternative transport infrastructures and poor networking culture of online events. A potential institutional driver was the sustainability framework of the university. Institutional barriers involved the cost-efficiency obligation of the travel policy, as well as the internationalization strategies of higher education. Furthermore, barriers operating at the community level involved the encouragements of the supervisor to travel. The values and practices of research groups had a dual role on the reduction of academic flying for individuals. Individual level drivers involved personal beliefs and positive views on alternative transport modes. The enjoyability of academic travel and necessity to network were barriers, while caring duties of young children had a dual effect on the reduction of flying.
The thesis provides both theoretical and practical contributions. First, it addresses the research gap of the influential factors of the reduction of academic flying for ECAs. The analysis finds that the few differences in the drivers and barriers of ECAs and other academics mainly concern doctoral researchers. For instance, the encouragements of their supervisor to travel is a barrier to the reduction of flying, and the networking imperative is more important for doctoral researchers. Additionally, the thesis contributes to existing knowledge, for instance by confirming that internationalization strategies are a barrier to the reduction of academic flying. The analysis also provides novel elements to the existing literature. The travel policy of the university plays a significant role in the reduction of flying, while academic communities also exercise an influence. Finally, the study tested an existing model and provides a revised framework on the reduction of academic flying amongst ECAs. Practical suggestions justified by the analysis mostly involve considering the effect of measures on doctoral researchers and investing time and financial resources to facilitate the reduction of business air travel.
While academic travel is necessary for research quality, the resulting benefits could be achieved while decreasing flying. Future research could investigate new approaches to networking in online events. Developing novel ways to collaborate appears essential for the long-term reduction of flying in the academia.
The effect of reduced flying on ECAs has not been extensively studied by the literature. Hence, the study aimed to explore and identify the drivers and barriers of ECAs to reduce their business air travel. The thesis formulated the following research question: at Tampere University, Finland, what are the drivers and barriers of early-career academics to reduce their business air travel?
The thesis utilized an existing theoretical model on the influential factors affecting the air travel behavior of academics. A literature review on academic flying was conducted, and numerous articles were reviewed to identify the characteristics of ECAs. The fin dings from the literature review were integrated to the existing model, which provided the theoretical framework of the reduction of academic flying amongst ECAs.
A case study of Tampere University, instrumental in its nature, was conducted. The dataset consisted of five institutional documents, and 12 semi-structured interviews of six ECAs and six academics with more mature career stages working at the university. The data provided rich information on the context and experiences of academics regarding academic flying. The dataset was analyzed through thematic analysis with an abduction logic. The approach involved identifying factors previously established in the theoretical framework, while identifying emerging elements from the data. The empirical analysis resulted in five themes.
The analysis revealed that factors operated at different levels, that is, structural, institutional, community, and individual levels. Structural barriers involved the difficult access to alternative transport infrastructures and poor networking culture of online events. A potential institutional driver was the sustainability framework of the university. Institutional barriers involved the cost-efficiency obligation of the travel policy, as well as the internationalization strategies of higher education. Furthermore, barriers operating at the community level involved the encouragements of the supervisor to travel. The values and practices of research groups had a dual role on the reduction of academic flying for individuals. Individual level drivers involved personal beliefs and positive views on alternative transport modes. The enjoyability of academic travel and necessity to network were barriers, while caring duties of young children had a dual effect on the reduction of flying.
The thesis provides both theoretical and practical contributions. First, it addresses the research gap of the influential factors of the reduction of academic flying for ECAs. The analysis finds that the few differences in the drivers and barriers of ECAs and other academics mainly concern doctoral researchers. For instance, the encouragements of their supervisor to travel is a barrier to the reduction of flying, and the networking imperative is more important for doctoral researchers. Additionally, the thesis contributes to existing knowledge, for instance by confirming that internationalization strategies are a barrier to the reduction of academic flying. The analysis also provides novel elements to the existing literature. The travel policy of the university plays a significant role in the reduction of flying, while academic communities also exercise an influence. Finally, the study tested an existing model and provides a revised framework on the reduction of academic flying amongst ECAs. Practical suggestions justified by the analysis mostly involve considering the effect of measures on doctoral researchers and investing time and financial resources to facilitate the reduction of business air travel.
While academic travel is necessary for research quality, the resulting benefits could be achieved while decreasing flying. Future research could investigate new approaches to networking in online events. Developing novel ways to collaborate appears essential for the long-term reduction of flying in the academia.