Corporate travel policy compliance : a generational analysis of corporate travellers

Abstract

The corporate travel industry is a vitally important industry worldwide that continues to grow and contribute to the global economy. Due to the increase in corporate travel and the economic impact thereof, numerous large companies are appointing a dedicated travel manager to implement policies, regulations and homogenous routines, with the main objective of managing the company’s travel expenses and their travellers’ travel behaviour. One of the main challenges for travel managers is ensuring compliance with such policies. Various factors could lead to corporate travellers violating the travel policy. However, corporate travellers are not a uniform concept, and the workforce today consists of three generations: The Baby Boomers, Generation X and Generation Y, with vastly different characteristics in terms of work values and travel needs. Managers are tasked with understanding these different characteristics and as a result, are adjusting their organisational structures and policies to accommodate and manage the different generations more successfully. The question that remains unanswered is if differences also exist between generations in terms of factors that lead to non-compliance, and more importantly, whether the travel policy should be adjusted to accommodate these differences. The main purpose of this study was thus to conduct a generational analysis of corporate travel policy compliance to ascertain whether policy compliance differs between generations and whether the factors leading to corporate travel policy non-compliance differ among generations in the workplace. Convenience sampling was used to distribute an online questionnaire to corporate travellers. A total of 205 questionnaires were used in the data analysis which included techniques such as factor analysis, analysis of variance (ANOVA), chi-square tests and finally logistic regression. The results of the study revealed that generations differ in terms of their level of compliance and that the content of the travel policy, business ethics, inequality of the travel policy, consequences of non-compliance, traveller satisfaction, life satisfaction, travel procedures and personal values are all factors that could potentially influence policy compliance. Therefore, knowing that there are in fact differences that exist between generations in terms of factors that lead to non-compliance, companies could consider adjusting their corporate travel policies accordingly.