This thesis, aiming at providing insights into the accompanying spouses’ experience of conference travel from their own perspective, consists of six
chapters. As stated above, this introductory chapter presents the background to the present research, its purpose and questions, the rationale for undertaking the thesis, and the terms used throughout the thesis research namely ‘accompanying spouse’, ‘conference attendee’ and ‘conference’. Thereafter, relevant details pertaining to the research structure is provided highlighting the purpose of each chapter.
Chapter 2, ‘Literature Review’, deals with a review of the literature relevant for understanding accompanying spouses’ experiences of conference travel. After a discussion on the broader issues of the accompanying spouses’ phenomenon in business travel, in particular conference travel, the chapter illuminates the major
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knowledge gaps in the previous literature to support the thesis aim. It incorporates a review of multidisciplinary literature to help explain the experience of
conference travel for accompanying spouses, including leisure studies, family- related tourism and romantic relationship studies, seeking to broaden and deepen the understanding of the phenomenon by providing first insights and new
perspectives. The chapter then offers a review of the tourist experience literature, which provides the conceptual basis for an understanding of the meaning of the travel experience as considered in the context of the accompanying spouse.
Chapter 3, ‘Research Methodology’, focuses on the philosophical approach (i.e. interpretivism) and the methodological approach (i.e., interpretative
phenomenological analysis) underpinning the thesis research. The starting point for the chapter is to present knowledge claims of the thesis research by revisiting gaps in the research. It then justifies the philosophical basis for the thesis
including its key assumptions, characteristics and applications, employed in this thesis and develops the theoretical framework that informs the research. This section is followed by an explanation of the interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) approach in detail as to how it guides the research question. The second part of the chapter describes the research design, i.e. a qualitative and inductive approach based on interpretive phenomenological analysis, and research methods for collecting data (a semi-structured in-depth interview) and analysis processes. Sampling strategy is also discussed as it relates to the interpretive study.
Chapter 4, ‘Research Findings’, presents the three key experiential/experience themes which emerged from the data: the experience of providing individual autonomy, the experience of creating positive emotions for the relationship and the experience of social inclusion and exclusion. The chapter also presents an introduction to the accompanying spouses participating in the research and contextualisation of their conference travel. This will help the reader develop a more detailed understanding of the unique experiences of each participant and give authenticity to their voice.
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Chapter 5, ‘Discussion of Key Experiential Themes’, develops a wider discussion of the significance and implications of the research findings supported by extant literature. There are three core issues to discuss, that is, relational intimacy, alternative way to enjoy a holiday and the influence of interpersonal relationship on identity.
Chapter 6, ‘Conclusion’, provides a summary of the key findings and main issues. It also highlights the suggested contributions of the research findings to wider scholarly knowledge as well as theoretical and further implications. The chapter concludes by offering potential recommendations for future study and presenting final reflexive remarks.
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Chapter Two Literature Review
This chapter provides the key theoretical background for this thesis research that seeks to investigate the accompanying spouses’ phenomenon within the
conference context. As stated in Chapter One, accompanying spouses in this research are those who accompany attendees on conference travel. The
accompanying spouses’ phenomenon appears to be unique to business tourism, yet it has been relatively under-explored in tourism studies. Attention to the fact that accompanying spouses are treated as a travelling companion on conference travel, it needs to assume that their subjective experiences will be multiple and complex, revolving around two contexts: being alone and being with a spouse (i.e. an attendee). Particular to the context of this research, the thesis takes a
multidisciplinary approach that recognises and incorporates different perspectives and empirical findings derived in other disciplines, including leisure studies, family studies and other areas regarding the personal relationship issues. In embracing multidisciplinary knowledge, a better understanding of accompanying spouses’ experiences at conferences may be explicated.
The chapter begins with a discussion of the wide body of knowledge in business travel and, in particular, conference travel. This review aims to address the issue of how the accompanying spouses’ phenomenon occurs through the changing patterns and notion of business travel. Despite a dominance of marketing and the economic importance of such travel and a shift in patterns of mobility and working practices, it draws attention to the influence of the blurred dichotomy between work and leisure/tourism on the patterns of business travel that may lead to the presence of accompanying spouses. At the same time, the chapter also deals with a multidisciplinary literature on a wide range of issues that may be relevant to the understanding of accompanying spouses’ experiences, covering the value and role of holiday experience for families and couple relationships. It seeks to link the literature on business tourism, specifically conference tourism, and the tourist experience to various knowledge of a broader disciplinary arena, for instance, the importance of social connectedness in travel, the role of intimacy in relationship stability and maintenance. In considering the accompanying spouses’
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phenomenon from such literature, the knowledge gaps in the present research become vividly evident such that the phenomenon remains fairly elusive and unidentifiable in the tourism literature. It then follows a review of the wider literature on the tourist experience, focusing on the shift from the approach of quantitative evaluations based on recent academic trends, towards qualitative research and other creative methods designed to reveal authentic subjective voice. Finally, an appropriate phenomenological framework for this thesis is proposed to acknowledge an understanding of accompanying spouses’ experiences.