Theorising the relationships between information communication technology (ICT), travel and work continues to preoccupy researchers interested in multinational corporations (MNCs). One motivation is the desire to understand ways of reducing demand for and the negative consequences of business travel. Existing studies offer, however, little in the way of theoretical explanation of why situations that require travel arise in the first instance and how they might be avoided. To address this shortcoming, this paper analyses two case study engineering consultancy MNCs to develop a novel sociomaterial perspective on the role of travel and ICTs. It introduces the concept of the synthetic work mobility situation which highlights the way ICT and travel exert agency that constitutes ways of working and the organisational form of MNCs. The concept also recasts questions about ways of reducing demand for travel as questions about ways of reconstituting the sociomaterial organisation of the MNC.

中文翻译：

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跨国公司的工作，信息通信技术和差旅：综合性工作流动情况

从理论上讲，信息通信技术（ICT），旅行和工作之间的关系一直困扰着对跨国公司（MNC）感兴趣的研究人员。一种动机是希望了解减少对商务旅行的需求和负面影响的方法。但是，现有研究很少提供理论解释来说明为什么首先出现需要旅行的情况以及如何避免这种情况。为了解决这个缺点，本文分析了两个案例研究工程咨询跨国公司，以开发出关于旅行和ICT作用的新颖的社会材料视角。介绍了综合性工作流动情况的概念强调了信息通信技术和旅行发挥作用的方式，这些方式构成了跨国公司的工作方式和组织形式。该概念还重述了关于减少旅行需求的方式的问题，作为关于重构跨国公司的社会物质组织的方式的问题。