Master’s Thesis

The Development of the Digital Nomad During the Course of

the Pandemic
The digital nomad workforce, a study looking into the power of digital tools
allowing people to work remotely

Ebba Ahlberg

Media and Communication Studies –

Culture, Collaborative Media, and Creative Industries
One-year master thesis | 15 credits
Year: 2021
 Type of Thesis: Master Thesis in Media and Communication
University: Malmö University
Semester: Spring 2021
Author: Ebba Ahlberg
Associate professor: Kristina Stenström

Title: The Development of the Digital Nomad During the Course of

the Pandemic

Background and Problem:
Since the start of the pandemic the discussions whether remote
work is the future has been fluctuating to say the least. Big
companies have introduced a “work from anywhere” model
meaning that their employees will have the possibility to choose if
they want to be remote after the pandemic (CNBC, 2021). Prior to
this, digital nomads were already fully remote. This could be the
ideal time and subject to study to gain further understanding if the
digital nomad phenomenon has changed. Moreover, if there has
been an increase or decrease in interest regarding a remote future
while aiming to understand the future remote workforce.

Aim of Study: Due to the pandemic, along with the growth of current technology,
working remotely is becoming more feasible. As a result digital nomadism
has become a viable alternative as a career. The emerging literature on
digital nomadism focuses mainly on lifestyle descriptions, with less
attention given to potentially understand digital nomads and their needs
(Wang et al. 2018). In this research the author will apply uses and
gratification theory to describe the gratifications that motivates digital
nomads and their means of communication combined with Maslow’s
Hierarchy of Needs to determine if the needs of digital nomads have
changed during the course of the pandemic. The aim of this thesis is to
provide terminological and philosophical insights on the idea of digital
nomads and their future.

Methodology: This study has followed Saunders et al. (2016) research onion
where qualitative data have been collected through 4 semi-
structured interviews and observations, using an interpretive
philosophy.

Conclusion: This study concludes that the digital nomad phenomenon has
changed during the course of the pandemic along with ways to
fulfill their needs. The study also concludes that digital nomads
have created a fulfilling life where they overcome geographical
and organizational barriers using digital tools.

Keywords: Digital Nomad, Workforce of the Future, Digital Tool, Remote Work, Uses &
Gratification, Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

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Table of Contents
1.0 INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................................... 5
2.0 BACKGROUND ................................................................................................................................. 7
3.0 LITERATURE REVIEW .................................................................................................................... 9
3.1 DIGITAL TOOLS ............................................................................................................................................10
3.2 USES AND GRATIFICATION THEORY.............................................................................................................11
3.2.1 CRITIQUE TOWARDS USES & GRATIFICATION ...........................................................................................13
3.3 MASLOW’S HIERARCHY OF NEEDS ..............................................................................................................14
3.3.1 CRITIQUE TOWARDS MASLOW’S HIERARCHY OF NEEDS: .........................................................................16
3.4 WORKING DEFINITION OF THE DIGITAL NOMAD: ..........................................................................................16
3.5 MEDIA REPRESENTATION OF DIGITAL NOMADS ..........................................................................................17
4.0 METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................................................ 19
4.1 RESEARCH DESIGN .......................................................................................................................................21
4.2 RESEARCH PHILOSOPHY ...............................................................................................................................22
4.3 RESEARCH APPROACH .................................................................................................................................23
4.4 RESEARCH STRATEGY ..................................................................................................................................23
4.5 TIME HORIZON .............................................................................................................................................23
4.6 SAMPLING ....................................................................................................................................................23
4.7 DATA COLLECTION ......................................................................................................................................24
4.8 DATA ANALYSIS ..........................................................................................................................................25
4.7.1 SEMI-STRUCTURED INTERVIEWS ...............................................................................................................25
4.7.2 OBSERVATIONS .........................................................................................................................................26
4.8 ETHICS .........................................................................................................................................................29
4.9 LIMITATIONS TO THE METHOD .....................................................................................................................29
5.0 EMPIRICAL FINDINGS .................................................................................................................. 30
5.1 OVERVIEW....................................................................................................................................................31
5.2 WHAT IS A DIGITAL NOMAD AND WHAT DEFINES IT?....................................................................................31
5.3 THE ROLE OF DIGITAL TOOLS IN THE LIFE OF DIGITAL NOMADS ...................................................................32
5.4 THE PANDEMIC AND THE FUTURE OF DIGITAL NOMADS ...............................................................................36
6.0 ANALYSIS........................................................................................................................................ 39
6.1 WHAT IS A DIGITAL NOMAD AND WHAT DEFINES IT?....................................................................................41
6.2 THE ROLE OF DIFFERENT DIGITAL TOOLS IN THE LIVES OF DIGITAL NOMADS ...........................................42
6.3 THE PANDEMIC AND THE FUTURE OF DIGITAL NOMADS..............................................................................46
7. CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................................... 49
7.1 FOR FUTURE RESEARCH ................................................................................................................................51
8.0 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................................. 52
APPENDIX 1. INFORMATION LETTER TO FACEBOOK GROUP ..............................................................................57
APPENDIX 2. INTERVIEW QUESTIONS ................................................................................................................59

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List of Figures and Tables

Table 1. - Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, as Applied to Travel Demand (Drives)………13

Table 2. - Matrix of Interviewees ………………………………………………………….26

Table 3 - Matrix of hosts at Clubhouse meeting………………………………………….28

Table 5. - Advantages and disadvantages of interviews …………………………………30

Table 6. - Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and Uses & Gratification Applied to Digital
Tools
………………………………………………………………………………………………..45

Figure 1. - Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs………………………………………………….15

Figure 2. - A screenshot of the Google Trends results page for “digital nomad” …..… 21

Figure 3. - The Research Onion……………………………………………………………22

Figure 4. - Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and Uses & Gratification Applied to Digital
Nomads. ………………………….…………………….…………………….……………41

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1.0 Introduction
This chapter will introduce the reader to the subject of this research and the purpose of this
thesis.

During the course of the Covid-19 pandemic, half of the world’s population has been
under lockdown to prevent the spread of the coronavirus which has led to a large shift of
activities from offices to homes and remote work (Kylili et al., 2020). As of now, most
people have experienced a trial period when it comes to working remotely and employees
who are now based at home may continue to work at home, in some capacity, for the
foreseeable future (Oakman et al., 2020). Throughout the pandemic there has been countless
discussions of the benefits and disadvantages of working remotely. While some people are
thriving while working from home, some surveys found that mental health has been declining
across all sectors, seniority levels, and demographics (Laker, 2020).

As stated, this change is a result of implemented lockdowns and safety measures to

limit the spread of the virus. Although, prior to the pandemic there were people who had
already escaped from the usual 9-5 obligations and other conventional office activities. Some
of these people are often referred to as ‘digital nomads.’ When researching online, digital
nomads are typically depicted as professionals who work exclusively online and live a
location-independent, often travel-dependent lifestyle in which the lines between work,
leisure, and travel are blurred. They also tend to have a strong presence on various media
channels and platforms documenting their unique way of living (Reichenberger, 2018).

Granted, there is a considerable difference between the usual 9-5 office work and
having a lifestyle as the one just mentioned. Moreover, before researching further it is of high
importance to acknowledge that the “usual” 9-5 work is consisting out of a certain
demographic of people. Recognizing that there are countless of people that do not have the
possibility to pursue a life as a digital nomad. For example, the demographic of people who
are working shifts or low status jobs that pay less does not have the same possibilities as the
usual 9-5 office workers in this matter.

During covid-19 the majority of digital nomads had to stop travelling due to
restrictions. At the same time people with the previous 9-5 office obligations started working
remotely. In other words, digital nomads and people who usually worked in an office
incidentally appeared on a similar level of remoteness during the pandemic. Prior to the
pandemic working from home seemed like an amazing perk for several workers and
sometimes also as an unobtainable dream. Although, employers were frequently worried
about the effect of providing this opportunity in terms of efficiency, collaboration, and
communication. As a result, before the pandemic caught the world by surprise, a study of
data from the US Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics revealed that 4.7 million
people, or approximately 3.4 percent of the US workforce, were already working remotely. In

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comparison to 2015, this was an increase of 0.8 million, or 1% (Marinova, 2021). Those
figures have increased dramatically. According to new studies, working from home is not
proving to be the ideal experience that many workers had hoped for. Workers say that
working from home in your pajamas has become a reality. Longer hours, more virtual
meetings, and blurred boundaries between work and personal life are typical trade-offs. Some
people prosper and enjoy working from home, but researchers looking into mental health
believe that working remotely takes its toll on the majority of people (Laker, 2020)

Working from home according to workers, has proven to have a range of advantages
e.g., not having to commute daily, the freedom to do housework when needed, taking care of
the family and arrange appointments at any time of day. Remote working is also discussed
within the sense of sustainability since it offers a variety of economic, environmental, and
social benefits, primarily due to the absence of the need to commute to work if working from
home, and the reduced time and distance traveled to an office. Taking this into account,
remote working could possibly be a part of the puzzle towards a solution of pressing
environmental problems as well which could be looked at as an additional motivation to stay
remote after the pandemic (Kylili et al., 2020). Although, as stated, working from home is
still not the ideal work environment for most workers, according to the data. What was novel
and regarded with a positive outlook months ago has turned into a struggle for most workers,
contributing to a willingness to return to the workplace as soon as possible (Laker, 2020).

As stated, there are clearly benefits and disadvantages with remote work. Since the
start of the pandemic the discussions whether remote work is the future or not has been
fluctuating to say the least. Big companies such as Spotify and Microsoft have introduced a
“work from anywhere” model meaning that their employees will have the possibility to
choose if they want to be in the office full time, part time or be fully remote after the
pandemic (CNBC, 2021). In other words, we are currently living in a time where more people
than ever have the possibility to work remotely, at the same time it has become increasingly
difficult to travel. This is creating certain uncertainties about how the lifestyle of digital
nomads will look like tomorrow, and who will adopt it. This could be the ideal time and
subject to study to gain further understandings if the digital nomad phenomenon has changed
and if there has been an increase or decrease in interest regarding a remote future.

Moreover, the researcher of this paper has had a personal interest for digital nomads
since she discovered the phenomenon. Since then, she has been a part of several digital
nomad online communities which has led to a continuous interest that spiked once the
pandemic hit since digital nomads were already living in the future in terms of remote work
prior to the pandemic. Furthermore, from the authors observations it seemed like digital
nomads handled the isolation and lockdown situation in terms of mental health better than
office workers due to a strong online community and their already existing habits of working
remotely. Following the developments during the pandemic, it quickly became clear that the
worlds work landscape will change after the pandemic since it has been concluded that it is
possible to work remotely, for most usual office jobs. The digital nomad community used for
this specific study is a Facebook group called “Svenska Digitala Nomader” where the author

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has been a member since 2017 and observed the development of the group and the
phenomenon ever since.

Given this information along with the researcher’s personal interest for the digital nomad
phenomenon the following questions will be the focus of this research:

RQ1: What is a digital nomad today and how has it changed during the pandemic?
RQ2: What is the role of different media technologies in the life of digital nomads?

2.0 Background
This chapter will provide the reader with a presentation of the background of the study and
the aspiration for this thesis.

In 1997, the first ever digital nomad vision appeared in a book by Makimoto and
Manners who anticipated a new way of working in a futuristic manner since it was not a
common way to work. Tim Ferriss resurrected the concept ten years later in his no. 1 New
York Times bestseller: “The 4-hour work week: quit the 9-5, live anywhere, and join the new
wealthy” which was largely ignored by the public (Haking, 2017). The 4-hour work week
was turned down by 26 out of 27 publishers and the author Tim Ferris was clearly informed
that there was no chance the book would be a so-called mainstream success. Since 2007 the
book has been sold into 35 languages and 3 revised editions has been made and to some
extent, it has become a classic, clearly proving the 26 publishers wrong about the demand of
this type of content (Ferris, 2011).

Digital nomadism is still a relatively new phenomenon, even though the term itself
has been around since 1997. Since then, it has developed into a rather stereotypical image of
a white male in their 20’s working with tech while backpacking around the world and
working on his laptop at the beach. Due to this image many long-term digital nomads have
chosen to not be associated with the term since it does not reflect the truth. To create a
working definition or explanation of the term the logic way is to split the phenomenon into
two parts since the definitions in previous literature tends to vary. Digital is considered a
description for anyone who can use digital tools as a mean of communication and support
themselves, i.e., make a living. Nomad simply describes the nomadic part referring to their
location independency, meaning that the digital nomad can work without regards to any
physical location. With this being said, there are different kinds of digital nomads that can be
split into different categories to simplify and narrow down the phenomenon. Granted, there
are several cross-over options between the different categories, meaning it is important not to
focus on labels. This is simply to showcase some of the different varieties of digital nomads
before going into analysis, as shown below:

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Category 1: A remote employee. A regular employee who is not commuting to work and
doing their job from home. Includes the same salary and perks as being at the office.

Category 2: Freelancers. People who are self-employed and offer different services either on
an hourly basis, per project or a daily basis.

Category 3: Online business owners. For example: entrepreneurs, solopreneurs, influencers,

start-up founders or any type of virtual business of any size.

Category 4: Passive income entrepreneurs and investors. People who are making money
based on their output and creativity along with how many diversified revenue streams they
obtain. Meaning they create a business that is automated eventually resulting in making
money when not working.
(Wilson, 2019)

The number of studies on digital nomadism is increasing, but the concept is used in a
variety of ways, many of which are contradictory making it hard to navigate when
researching the phenomenon. Overall, the research is still very limited. The emerging
literature on digital nomadism focuses mainly on lifestyle descriptions, with less attention
given to potentially framing digital nomadism and the future of the remote workforce (Wang
et al. 2018). This stresses the importance of establishing detailed terminological and
conceptual perspectives on digital nomadism in order to frame it as a proper research
category and rapidly evolving mobility activity, which will help future research on the
phenomenon. This paper will examine digital nomadism related to work development during
the pandemic to address this topic. The aim of this paper is to provide terminological and
philosophical insights on the idea of digital nomads and their development during the course
of the pandemic.

Investopedia defines a digital nomad as: “people who are location-independent and use
technology to perform their job, living a nomadic lifestyle. Digital nomads work remotely,
telecommuting rather than being physically present at a company's headquarters or office.
The digital nomad lifestyle has been made possible through several innovations, including
content management software, cheap Internet access through WiFi, smartphones, and Voice-
over-Internet Protocol to contact clients and employers. In addition, the growth of a gig
economy has played a role, too” (Investopedia, 2021). From this one clearly sees that
technology and various digital tools are closely related to the phenomenon.

The popularity of digital gig labor offered by online platforms combined with the
pandemic is linked to the drastic increase of the number of digital nomads. By combining
digital tools and demand activities, the gig economy has enabled digital nomads to work from
anywhere in the world (Sutherland & Jarrahi, 2017).

The list of examples filled with explanations and definitions of the phenomenon could
be made quite long, although all definitions have their own interpretation of the phenomenon,

8
and a united definition is still missing. In the upcoming sections more explanations and
definitions will be provided to be able to contribute with a good overview of the digital
nomad phenomenon and how digital tools make it possible for them to pursue this way of
living.

From this research, the author wishes to identify if there has been a change of the
digital nomad phenomenon due to the pandemic since the limitations of travel have affected
everyone. Moreover, remote work has now become the norm worldwide, what that indicates
for the future of digital nomads will be researched along with the role of digital tools in their
everyday life. With a greater understanding of this the author hopes to be able to learn how
the future remote workforce could be understood in a deeper sense. For already existing
digital nomads and prospective ones this research will hopefully help to clarify certain
confusions about digital nomads prior to the pandemic, during the pandemic and their future.
One could assume that the pandemic has opened doors for remote work and that many more
companies will offer the possibility to work remotely. Subsequent, there has been a drastic
increase of remote work since the beginning of the pandemic along with a continuous
increase of digital nomads over the past few years. Therefore, the author wishes to identify if
this is just a trend, similar to a trending brand with certain values and connotations that
people want to be associated with or if it is a long-term interest and a futuristic development.
This research could be of good use to any industry working with remote employees or to
anyone interested in a future as a digital nomad.

3.0 Literature Review

The following chapter will provide the reader with the theoretical background for this thesis.
Simply to get a better understanding of the different areas of the chosen topic. The theoretical
background will also provide the reader with an overview of the chosen theories for this
thesis and the different dimensions it contains. This will be done together with a deeper
understanding the specific dimensions that this thesis will research deeper into.

Significant socioeconomic trends, such as the pervasiveness of mobility and technology

in everyday life, as well as increasingly flexible and precarious employment, are driving
digital nomadism. (Hannonen, 2020). Prior to the pandemic one can clearly identify an uprise
of digital nomads along with digital nomadicity becoming a popular topic for magazine
articles and blog posts in both the world of management and amongst workers and avid
travelers (Nash et al., 2018). For example: The Guardian acknowledged the upsurge of digital
nomads in 2019 and published the article “The world is my office: why I chose to become a
digital nomad worker” while including statistics of the steady increase of remote workers
over the years (Lea, 2019).

There are many reasons contributing to the upsurge of remote work besides the
pandemic, such as globalization, individualization, enhanced foreign experiences and

9
mobility, ease of travel, wireless networking technology and advancements in transportation
systems, the digitalization of property, versatility of working lives, and rises in global relative
wealth are all contributing (Orel 2019). According to D'Andrea (2016), it is critical to
comprehend broader globalization perspectives in order to assess the characteristics of
contemporary lifestyle-driven mobilities, especially global digital nomadism. The creation of
global markets, as well as the growth of communication, are all temporary processes. New
social formations, trends, and resources emerge as a result of technological advancements.
Indeed, the globalization of leisure and mobile lifestyles both nationally and globally has
resulted from the digitalization and integration of mobility into daily life (both as physical
relocation and technical connectivity).

You don't have to look far to see signs that technology and media has become
profoundly important in our lives. Young people's use of technology is being given special
attention in this sense. These people are known as "digital natives" (Prensky, 2011) because
they can't recall the first time, they used the Internet. Employers and HR managers are
struggling to recognize and understand the needs of these digital generations and how to
attract the workforce of the future since these generations most likely will acquire a new way
of communication (Singh & Dangmei 2016). Mainly since the old school ways will most
likely not attract and motivate them in the same way as for previous generations.

To be able to investigate the role of different media technology in the life of digital
nomads the uses and gratifications (U&G) approach will be applied. In this research the
author will apply the theory to describe the gratifications that motivates digital nomads from
the Facebook-group and their means of communication combined with Maslow’s Hierarchy
of Needs to determine if the needs of these digital nomads have changed during the course of
the pandemic. Therefore, it would be of good use to acknowledge the U&G theory as an
extension of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs since Maslow proposed in 1970 that U&G was an
extension of the Needs and Motivation Theory based on an observation about how people are
eager to learn new things (Malloli, 2020).

3.1 Digital Tools

Digital tools provide an area where fundamental components of the gig economy take
place, meaning that digital tools are a critical unit in the life of digital nomads (Sutherland &
Jaharri, 2017). These platforms act as a digital mediating system that creates value through
the network effects of components related to products and services. As stated, digital nomads
have various types of employment, either with bigger organizations or freelance and self-
managed while managing to break both geographic and organizational barriers using
technology. They manage to do so by using digital tools which allows them a stronger hand
in understanding technology and conducting their projects, as well as a direct line to their
current employers or other digital nomad colleagues.

Many digital nomads state that they rely on and use a variety of digital tools to
manage their work. These technologies enable not just flexibility in terms of where and when
work is done, but also autonomy through the automation of mundane and administrative
duties (Prester et al., 2019).

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 The topic of digital media and learning new skills through untraditional means, such
as social networking platforms, media production tools, information tools like blogs and
wikis, and a variety of others is intensely discussed in the matter of digitalization. The way
people today use digital tools and other gadgets to participate in powerful, deep, and complex
thinking and learning has shown to be rather impressive and filled with opportunities. and
digital nomads are seizing this opportunity to its fullest (Gee, 2009).

Some examples of digital tools relevant for this study are:

Slack: “a business messaging platform that links individuals to the information they require”
(Slack, 2021).
Trello: “a project management solution that divides your projects into boards. Trello tells you
what's being worked on, who's working on it, and where something is in the process all at one
glance” (Trello, 2021).
Zoom: “a cloud-based video conferencing service that allows you to meet remotely with
others” (Zoom, 2021).
Evernote: “an app that saves anything you may potentially lose track of, such as a boarding
pass, receipt, to-read article, to-do list, or even a simply scribbled note” (Evernote, 2021).
Google Drive: “a cloud-based storage service that lets you save files online and access
them from any smartphone or computer. Drive allows you to safely upload and modify
files online from your computer or mobile device. Other people can edit and collaborate
on files with ease using Drive” (Google, 2021).
Monday: “Monday.com is a basic but intuitive work operating system that allows teams
to build workflows, adapt to changing demands, provide transparency, collaborate, and
eliminate manual grunt work” (Monday.com, 2021).

This research will investigate the role of these digital tools in the lives of digital nomads
combined with other media platforms.

3.2 Uses and Gratification Theory

The U&G approach is known among mass communication scholars as a sub tradition
of media effects analysis. It’s an approach that was created early in the history of
communications research to examine the gratifications that draw and retain viewers to the
types of media and types of material that fulfill their social and psychological needs
(Ruggiero, 2000). The U&G theory is a way of looking at why and how people deliberately
search out relevant media to meet their needs. Important to acknowledge is that every person
has different needs. It simply focuses on the viewer. Unlike other media impact theories,
which ask, "What does media do to people?" U&G instead asks, "What do people do with
media?" (Ullah, 2021). The experimental method was widely used in early effects research,
in which contact environments were manipulated in pursuit of general lessons on how to
communicate better or about the unintended consequences of messages. People pursue
communication to meet their needs, which are influenced by social and psychological factors.

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In other words, their communication style and choice of media is influenced by their needs
(Malloli, 2020).

From previous research one can identify the phycological need digital nomads have
for flexibility and mobility and foremost, freedom, that they manage to reach using digital
tools. It is not necessarily the travelling perse that is the main motivator for digital nomads as
much as the possibility to travel whenever and wherever (Ventegodt et. al, 2003). Stating this
combined with the previous literature one can see that there are clearly several aspects of
digital nomads that are yet to be discussed in terms of their needs. This paper aims to expand
the understanding of digital nomads needs through uses and gratifications theory while
focusing on the role of different media technologies and digital tools as well as their
perspectives and motivations for using them.

Podcasts, social media platform, text messages, blogs, wikis, virtual worlds, and other
interactive forms of communication that use the Internet are examples of modern media
today. The benefits of using modern media are many, Kania and Agatha (2012) states that the
benefits are: “to use relatively simple technologies that are sometimes free or inexpensive,
modern media allows anyone to produce, change, and distribute material and share it with
others” (p. 92). Following this they provide various media examples with one common
central source, the internet: “Web sites, streaming music and video, chat rooms, e-mail,
online communities, Web advertising, virtual reality environments, digital data integration
with the telephone, such as Internet telephony, digital cameras, and mobile computing”
(Kania & Agatha, 2012 p. 92).

Looking at the digital tools mentioned above one can clearly see that they are all
closely linked with the same central source. The digital tools previously mentioned does
allow anyone to produce, change and distribute material using modern media.

The concept of an engaged audience is closely linked to the emergence of modern

media and digital tools such as the examples mentioned above. It is known to benefit
audiences by providing features such as on-demand access to material on any digital device,
interactive user feedback, creative engagement, and the building of communities around
media content such as the Facebook-group used for this study. Interactivity is a product of
modern media, in which consumers are more engaged, goal-oriented, and select media that
may meet their goals. The uses and gratification theory emphasizes how people are motivated
to consume media. And that the level of benefit (gratification) people expect from a particular
medium or message will be weighed against the effort required to obtain the reward (West &
Turner, 2007).

According to DeFleur (2010, as cited in Kania & Agatha, 2012) the uses and
gratifications theory has five assumptions that can be summarized as follows:

1. Members of the audience do not stand around passively waiting.

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 2. People who use mainstream media have a set of motivating needs.

3. Those needs are molded by a person's rooted nature as well as learning experiences.

4. Audiences actively seek out specific types of media content that can satisfy their
needs.

5. As a result, viewers actively seek and select media content that provides
gratifications that meet their demands and needs.

Because the Internet requires a higher level of involvement from its consumers than
other traditional media, its fast expansion has reinforced the potency of uses and gratification
theory (Ruggiero 2000). Moreover, the uses and gratification theory has proven to be quite
useful in determining why people use the Internet. However, there are still some unanswered
questions about the relationship between Internet users' reasons for using the medium and
interactive characteristics while visiting a specific type of media platform or website (Ko et
al., 2005). We can conclude that the uses and gratification theory believe that audiences are
responsible for selecting media to satisfy their different needs, based on the notion that
audience members are not passive but actively involved in understanding and integrating
media into their own lives, as in this case where digital nomads integrate digital tools to
fulfill their needs.

3.2.1 Critique towards Uses & Gratification

U&G researchers have continued to conceptually refine their perspective throughout

the last decades. However, many have criticized apparent flaws such as the confusion of
operational definitions and the analytical model, a lack of internal consistency, and a lack of
theoretical justification for the model given. “The discussion deviates far from the results,
which do not support their theoretical underpinnings,” Stanford noted (1983 as cited in
Ruggiero, 2000).

To begin, the creators of the theory assumed that media users are aware of the needs
and gratifications that they seek from them. Correspondingly, the main criticism of the theory
is that the assumption of people knowing their needs and gratifications is not certain. It is
practically impossible for people to know all their needs and gratifications since some of
them emerge as they use media platforms and are not previously considered (Kasirye, 2021).

Secondly, the theory only discusses how users are aware of the reasons and needs for
using media but fails to discuss the power of media. Highlighting the power of the media is
critical because the media is the one that gives power and influences the user to choose it;
otherwise, if the user's chosen media did not have good or attractive content, chances are the
user would not have chosen it to be able to reach their needs (Kasirye, 2021).

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 Despite efforts to develop a more rigorous and comprehensive theory, the perspective
continues to have shortcomings, as U&G scholars have acknowledged. First, U&G is
frequently overly individualized by focusing on audience consumption (Elliott, 1974). It's
hard to explain or anticipate beyond the persons investigated, or to think about the broader
ramifications of media consumption. There is still a lack of clarity among key categories
including social and psychological backgrounds, needs, motivations, behavior, and outcomes.
Moreover, U&G researchers assign various meanings to words like motives, uses,
gratifications, and functional alternatives, resulting in fuzziness in thinking and investigation
(Ruggiero, 2000).

Furthermore, the theory focuses on an individual's choice of preferred media content,

but it overlooks the psychological consequences that this content can have on them if they do
not examine it objectively. In brief, the idea concentrates on content and media, but it ignores
the question of what is on people's minds when they are choosing which media to engage
with to meet their needs.

3.3 Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

When Abraham Maslow published his book Towards a Psychology of Being in 1962,
few people could have predicted that he was establishing a theory concerning the quality of
life. This is still considered a consistent theory after all these years and is frequently applied
to various studies. Maslow's theory of growth toward happiness and true being is founded on
the idea of human needs. He characterized his approach as a personal growth-based
existentialistic psychology of self-actualization (Ventegodt et. al, 2003). The concept itself
was rather simple. The hierarchy of needs is a psychological motivational theory that consists
of a five-tier model of human needs, which is sometimes represented as hierarchical tiers
inside a pyramid or as a staircase. However, individuals must attend to lower-level needs
before they can attend to higher-level needs (McLeod, 2007). Health, happiness, and the
ability to operate will appear when one accepts the responsibility of fulfilling all the different
needs. Although, the problem with this simple concept is that one must first know themselves
well enough to recognize which needs they really have in order to fulfill them. Much like the
organizational challenge to identify the needs of upcoming workforces as mentioned above.
Maslow characterized the ideal life as a long journey through the different step of this
pyramid, moving from the real and mundane to the abstract and spiritual - or transcendent, in
his own words (Ventegodt et. al, 2003). We must cultivate our beings to be more
spontaneous, autonomous, active, and responsible to fulfill them one by one. It is possible
that Maslow's theory can be given a new and clear meaning considering the life mission
theory, which argues that every person has a huge and fundamental ability that can be
actualized both in their private and professional life. It could be possible to give this theory a
new interpretation which will be done in this thesis by applying it to digital nomads needs.
The pyramid is shown below:

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Figure 1. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

In the bottom of the hierarchy, we find the most basic needs of the human being:

• Physiological needs, such as food, clothing, sleeping, and breathing.

• Safety needs, such as a secure residence where one can feel comfortable.

In the middle of the hierarchy, we find two more advanced needs:

• The need for belongingness and love, such as having stable relationships with friends
or family or finding love.
• The needs of esteem such as having knowledge and understanding and being
respected.

At the top of the hierarchy, we find the one most abstract need:

• The need for self-actualization, such as understanding our own personal purpose in
life to achieve our full potential (Ventegodt et. al, 2003).

As established by previous studies and literature along with the media representation of
digital nomads, having a high quality of life is most likely the number 1 reason for people
pursuing this way of life. Therefore, applying Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs falls naturally to

15
see how it adapts to digital nomads and remote workers in general. One could assume that it
differs from office workers with the usual 9-5 obligations. Maslow’s theory has previously
been applied to travel demand and drives. As shown in table 2 below,

Table 1. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, as Applied to Travel Demand (Satterstrom, 2019, p.16)

The fourth and fifth levels of desires, as seen in the pyramid, are esteem and self-
actualization. Esteem recognizes the importance of self-esteem, trust, accomplishment,
respect for others, and respect for oneself. Morality, imagination, spontaneity, problem-
solving, lack of bias, and recognition of reality are all aspects of self-actualization. All these
traits are often acquired by digital nomads (Satterstrom, 2019).

3.3.1 Critique towards Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs:

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs has been criticized by many researchers along with
many perspectives. Even if the theory is commonly accepted, there is little research to back it
up. Maslow has become one of the most popular theories of motivation in the management
and organizational behavior literature since it was originally published. It's possible that the
challenges in testing the theory are due in part to Maslow's own conception of theory creation
and research methodology. Maslow (1970) disparaged what he deemed "newer" research
methodologies in psychology. He advocated for a more "humane" approach to science. As a
result, he made no attempt to give accuracy in his writing or standard construct definitions.
He also did not mention any guidelines for empirically testing his theory. In fact, rather than
well-developed scientific data, he defended his argument with logical and clinical insights
(Wahba & Bridwell, 1976).

Some of Maslow's ideas are completely dismissed, while others have skewed and
dubious support at best. Although insufficiency and growth needs may create a hierarchy, the
validity of Maslow's Need Classification method is unknown. People who grew up in an
environment where their needs were not met, according to Maslow, are less likely to be
healthy, well-adjusted adults. Research into Maslow's hypothesis has confirmed the
distinction between inadequacies and growth needs, but it has also revealed that not everyone
can meet their higher-order needs on their job. According to his findings, people with higher-
level jobs can meet both their growth and deficiency needs at work, whereas lower-level jobs
are only able to meet their deficiency needs. Maslow's theory has received quite little support
in terms of the precise concepts it presents. To sum it up, this model is particularly helpful in
characterizing the behavior of high-level workers who require strength, because low-level
workers who are unfamiliar with the concept of enhancing their growth will have no
physiological reaction to their jobs (Kaur, 2013).

3.4 Working definition of the digital nomad:

One of the most powerful motivators for digital nomadism is the ability to select and
structure work-related activities in a manner preferred to oneself, also known as professional

16
freedom. It's also driven by a desire to live a more versatile and personalized life outside of
externally imposed systems, such as set working hours, limited free time, and geographic
dependency (Haking, 2017). In other words, it’s the ideal working conditions for some
people since it allows a kind of freedom that is not able to obtain while being location and
time dependent to an office.

Since digital nomadism is a relatively new phenomenon the definitions provided are
still a work in progress. However, there are some current working definitions referring to
different aspects of what defines a digital nomad besides the different categories mentioned
in the introduction above. For instance, in media coverage and content analysis, digital
nomads are depicted as primarily professionals who live a location independent lifestyle by
being able to perform their work in an online environment while simultaneously working and
traveling (Reichenberger, 2018). The primary motivation for adopting this travel-based
lifestyle, according to media reports and blog posts, is a desire to escape the constricting
structures of a traditional, location-dependent working life (Hannonen, 2020). Some working
definitions emphasize requiring the ability to be location independence as a requirement.
Although, traveling per se is not seen as a necessary part of becoming a digital nomad, but
rather as a personal preference for using location mobility (Hannonen, 2020). Digital nomads
are closely linked to various communication tools and digital media as a part of their online
environment which they use to break geographical boundaries and create a digital
infrastructure to keep track of their work, making it possible to adapt this lifestyle
(Reichenberger, 2018) . These are a few aspects from previous literature which will be
applied to get a better understanding of digital nomads’ online settings before engaging in
deeper analysis which hopefully will result in a unified definition.

3.5 Media Representation of Digital Nomads

Social media has become a daily “scrolling” habit for people all over the world, along
with this development comes both positive and negative outcomes. Liu et al., (2019)
discusses this development by using social comparison theory. According to this theory,
people have a need to compare themselves to others for the purpose of self-evaluation.
Depending on the status of the comparison target, individuals may engage in upward social
comparison when the comparison target is thought to be superior to them, or downward
social comparison when the comparison target is thought to be inferior to them (Wood 1989).
Social media is providing a narrative of digital nomads living a very extravagant lifestyle
entailing that freedom is the central experience of their lifestyle and according to the findings
from Liu et al., (2019) luxurious travel experiences shared by similar others encourage social
media users’ own intentions to visit the same destination and do the same thing, even though
they have low trait self-esteem. Social media attracting and encouraging people to pursue a
digital nomad lifestyle could be one of the reasons to the growing demographic of digital
nomads over the past years, especially during the time of the pandemic when travel has been
extremely limited. Correspondingly, the rapid growth of digital nomadism has been aided by
the rapid adoption of technology combined with the current global situation. Between 2019

17
and 2020, there was a 50% percent rise in American digital nomads, signaling a global
change toward remote work and an increase in this demographic (Forbes, 2021).

Although, it’s important to emphasize that when researching digital nomads and their
representation beyond social media there is another side to it. The studies on digital
nomadism that have been made so far emphasizes topics like discipline, efficiency and
generally a strong work ethic. Despite their love of travel, Müller (2016) clearly emphasizes
that digital nomads prefer work over leisure, and that labor efficiency is a key feature of their
lifestyle. To clarify, it takes a lot of work and effort to be able to pursue this way of living.

The first impression of digital nomad’s media representation on social media mainly
consists out of images on beaches, luxury destinations and road trips all over the world along
with appealing captions of the benefits of being a digital nomad. In today's world, sharing
travel experiences has become the social media norm. Research shows a clear theme among
millennials showing benevolent jealousy against others' positive travel experiences shared on
social media sites (Liu et al., (2019). Referring back to social comparison theory and current
research based on social comparison theory, this may explain why, and under what
circumstances, other people's positive experiences might inspire social media users to want to
live the digital nomad lifestyle after seeing what is being displayed on social media.

It is of high importance to mention that the media representation of digital nomads is

in general very white, mainly consisting out of westerners. In other words, there is a racial
disparity in the digital nomad community and a very limited exposure in terms of people of
color (Hopkins, 2019). In this unique online community one can clearly see that there appears
to be limited and almost no expression of diversity. This is since the majority of digital
nomads are well-educated and come from wealthy Western countries. Moreover, these digital
nomads work with clients from their own country while traveling in poor countries with low
living costs (Schlagwein, 2018). In 2018, 4.8 million Americans identified themselves as
digital nomads according to a new MBO Partners State of Independence Research Brief and
according to Forbes (2018), the 69 percent male population of the nearly 5 million existing
digital nomads in 2018 mostly consisted out of by White Americans. This is utterly due to the
fact that there is a lack of opportunity in other communities than the white middle class and
that not everyone has the privilege to pursue this way of living (Hopkins, 2019). Furthermore,
it is undeniable that having a certain passport such as a European one makes it easier to travel
the world. The ability to relocate abroad is often associated with wealth and privilege. It can
also imply a degree of liberation, implying that one is not bound to a particular region of the
world or lifestyle, and as such, it's a change that's becoming increasingly appealing to Black
professionals in the United States, especially since the recent events with the Black Lives
Matter movement. To quote Imani Bashir (2020) a black woman and a digital nomad: “As an
expat who has lived in Europe, Asia, Africa, and Central America, I often encounter people
who are referred to as digital nomads, or people who work primarily online jobs from
anywhere they want around the world. However, when I travel, I find a widespread
misconception of who is supposed to follow their whims or pursue this lifestyle (read wealthy
white people)”. According to Satterstrom (2019) the digital nomad culture has proven to be

18
very supportive and welcoming. This can be seen in the growing popularity of apps and
websites designed to connect digital nomads, as well as the numerous online forums
dedicated to assisting digital nomads. Granted, there is still a lot of work to do in terms of
inclusiveness concerning the digital nomad community since it appears to be very supportive
and welcoming, but not yet for all.

4.0 Methodology
The following chapter will provide and explain the research design of this thesis, along with
arguments of why this approach has been chosen for this specific research. Semi-structured
interviews along with observations have been chosen as the most suitable approach for data
collection. Information about the sampling process will be provided and detailed descriptions
of the semi-structured interviews and observations followed by the research analysis. To
summarize the chapter and strengthen the study, a section with ethics and validity have been
provided.

To be able to conduct research, a crucial step is to identify the research problem.

According to Collins (2010) there are several strategies to first identify a good research topic,
generate and refine it and lastly define it as a research question. This was done through 3
different steps.

Firstly, Collins (2010) states that interest is the primary and arguably the most
important thing when choosing a subject to study, closely followed by available knowledge.
As mentioned earlier, the author of this paper has been a member of several digital nomad
communities for the past years with a continuous curious interest about their lifestyle and
what it entails. This interest has contributed to a deep knowledge about certain themes and
topics about digital nomads along with a general knowledge about the phenomenon since she
immersed into the community in 2017 and has been observing ever since. Moreover, prior to
this research the author did a content analysis of the representation of digital nomads on
Instagram during the pandemic focusing on: How the #digitalnomad is represented on
Instagram. The study concluded that it is clear that the digital nomad movement is growing
and gaining momentum on Instagram. The study also shows that digital nomads have a
certain way of portraying their lives on social media, as well as certain characteristics of how
they are viewed. However, there appears to be a noticeable gap in representation on social
media of the other side to their lifestyle, which emphasizes discipline, performance, and a
strong work ethic in general, suggesting that, despite their love of travel, labor efficiency is a
key feature of their lifestyle (Müller, 2016). In other words, the author has a clear interest as
Collins (2010) argued, along with a profound knowledge of the phenomenon since the
participation in different digital nomad communities has been an ongoing observation over
the past years. Notwithstanding that there is still a gap in the research, a gap focusing on the
other side as previously mentioned while also acknowledging the pandemic and the changes
it has had on the future for digital nomads. With the combination of her previous knowledge

19
obtained through observations and interviews with digital nomads about how their
development during the course of the pandemic the author will hopefully be able to fill the
gap with this study.

Secondly, after establishing the topic, the idea needs to be refined to eventually reach
a research question or a research proposition. In other words, narrowing it down. As
mentioned, the author studied digital nomads and their representation on Instagram prior to
this thesis. While doing the preparations for the first study, the preparations for this thesis
were conducted at the same time. To clarify, the subject of study was chosen for both studies
at the same time and the strategy was to be provided with a basic understanding of digital
nomads for the first study, a content analysis of the #digitalnomad and how it is represented
on Instagram and then get a deeper understanding of the digital nomads and their recent
developments during the pandemic with this thesis.

A brainstorm, as proposed by Collins (2010), was used as a second step to gain a

better understanding of potential approaches to the research subject. The author of this paper
was working on a project at the time and invited her team to a brainstorming session via
Zoom. The aim of a brainstorm is to come up with a lot of ideas in a short amount of time.
This will encourage you to come up with ideas or solutions that you might not have thought
of before, that make sense once you tailor them or add something else to them (Collins,
2010). During the brainstorm, several topics or ideas were discussed, some of which were
more interesting than others. The debate began with a discussion of what a digital nomad is
and how it is described. This prompted into some general research on the topic. The findings
showed that while the number of studies on digital nomadism is growing, the term is being
applied in a variety of ways, many of which are inconsistent and, in general, limited.
Furthermore, it appeared that the latest studies were mainly focused on defining the
phenomenon (Hannonen, 2020). Moreover, the growing body of knowledge on digital
nomadism is primarily concerned with lifestyle concepts, with little thought given to how
digital nomadism could be viewed in a broader concept (Wang et al. 2018).

Finally, the topic of becoming a digital nomad came up during the discussion. This
was a point of contention because everybody believed that, as a result of the pandemic and
countless people discovering the benefits of remote work, the number of digital nomads had
exploded in the previous year. In other words, the brainstorm uncovered a pattern and a
potential trend. To see if this possible pattern was right, a Google Trend search was
conducted. It showed a steady interest in digital nomads between 2017 and 2021. The interest
grew slowly over time, with a sudden but brief spike in 2020, most likely as a result of the
pandemic.

20
Figure 2. A screenshot of the Google Trends results page for “digital nomad,” taken on 7 April 2021.

Moreover, the google trend search showed a 500% increase in terms of searches
asking, “what is a digital nomad” and a 300% increase in terms of searches asking, “how to
become a digital nomad.” In other words, there is a clear increase of digital nomads and
interest in becoming one even though it is still an undefined phenomenon.

4.1 Research Design

The research design of this thesis is based up on Saunders and his co-authors (2016) so
called “Research Onion” (See figure. 1). The concept is rather simple, much like a real onion
you peal it off layer by layer, identifying your methodological choices for your research. This

21
is depicted below and symbolizes different levels that a researcher should describe in the
methodology section.

The methodological choice of this thesis is a “multi-method qualitative study” since the
empirical data that was collected did not contain any numbers, a qualitative approach was
adopted. Simply to ensure as much precision as possible along with high quality information
(Saunders et al. 2016). Since the aim of the study was to identify what defines a digital
nomad and how this phenomenon has developed during the pandemic the collection of
empirical data were made through semi-structured interviews along with observations.

Figure 4. “The Research Onion”

(Saunders, Lewis & Thornhill, 2016 p,164.)

4.2 Research Philosophy

As established, digital nomadism is a relatively new phenomenon. Therefore, this thesis

followed a qualitative research design in order to access an in-depth understanding of both
research questions and the subjects it concerns. According to Saunders et al. (2016 p.168)
“qualitative research is often associated with an interpretive philosophy.” As for this thesis,
an interpretive philosophy will be adapted. Saunders and his co-authors also state (2016 p.
140) “The purpose of interpretivist research is to create new, richer understandings and
interpretations of social worlds and contexts.” As follows for this thesis where the research
was conducted through interviews and observations to examine how different people perceive
and experience the world and contexts for digital nomads. This has been a suitable approach
since interpretivism focuses on personal epiphanies which both shapes and reflects the stories
that people tell of their experiences (Molloy et al. 2016).

22
4.3 Research Approach

When using induction as an approach instead of looking for an answer in existing

theory, one tries to grasp the problem by analyzing acquired evidence (Saunders et al., 2016).
As a result, the goal of induction is to develop or construct new theory, which is likewise the
case with this thesis (Saunders et al., 2016). However, it is important to stress that theory was
used as a beginning point for understanding the study issue and developing perspectives for
analyzing the data collected through the interviews and observations. The inductive approach
is commonly applied to qualitative research when the researcher wishes to investigate a
phenomenon and identify emergent themes. As a result, the sample size is typically smaller.
Since only a few qualitative interviews and observations were made, the research approach
agrees with the inductive approach. Induction offers the advantage of allowing the researcher
to build a comprehensive understanding of how and why concepts relate to one another
(Saunders et al., 2016). As a result, this technique is ideally matched to the goals of this
thesis, which are to understand the digital nomad phenomenon.

4.4 Research Strategy

According to Stake (1995, p.14) “We study a case when itself is of very special
interest.” Collins (2010) also states that interest is the primary and arguably the most
important thing when choosing a subject to study, closely followed by available knowledge.
The author of this paper has been a member of several digital nomad communities for the
past three years with a continuous curious interest about their lifestyle and what it entails.
This interest has contributed to some knowledge about the phenomenon and the gap that
remains will hopefully be filled by this paper. A qualitative study could provide the
researcher with tools to be able to study a complicated phenomenon within their research
context (Baxter & Jack, 2008).

4.5 Time Horizon

Due to the short amount of time that has been given for carrying out this research the
cross-sectional time horizon was chosen for this thesis. A cross-sectional study often seeks to
describe a specific phenomenon or to explain how factors are related in different alignments.
It is also possible to apply a cross-sectional study when conducting qualitative methods
research strategies. For example, many studies are based on interviews being conducted over
a short period of time, such as for this thesis (Saunders et al. 2016).

4.6 Sampling

For this thesis a non-probability sampling method was applied. Non-probability is a

method where the participant of the research is selected intentionally (Saunders et al. 2016).
Afterwards, convenience sampling was applied which is the most common form and has been
done for this thesis, which involves selecting participants because they are convenient to be

23
able to obtain the information necessary for the study (Saunders et al. 2016). Since this thesis
research digital nomads, the only requirement for the interviewees was that they themselves
identify as digital nomads, preferably prior to the pandemic while aiming to pursue this
lifestyle post the pandemic.

For this thesis a Swedish Digital Nomad group on Facebook was used to find
interviewees. For the participants of the Facebook group, the requirements for being able to
participate in the study were explained along with the aim of the research.

From the post in the Facebook group (see appendix 1) there were 4 responses. 4
candidates were selected out of the 4 respondents.

Since the researcher has been a part of the Facebook group used to find the interviewees
for the past three years, she was invited to be a part of their “Clubhouse Rooms”. Clubhouse
is an audio-chat-based social networking app. Users can listen in on conversations,
interviews, and discussions between interesting people on a variety of subjects – it's similar to
listening to a podcast, except live and with a layer of exclusivity added (The Guardian, 2021).
The author participated in a Clubhouse meeting as an observation to get a better overview of
the community and gather more data contributing to a greater understanding of the digital
nomads and their communication. This was done through a non-probability sampling as well
since there was a specific purpose in mind when choosing the meeting to participate in, as
this explicit clubroom consisted out of the demographic being researched. Hence, the reason
for doing so is that one believes a great deal will be learnt from these specific individuals.
(Saunders et al. 2016).

4.7 Data Collection

The empirical data for this thesis was collected through interviews and observations.
According to Alsaawi (2014), due to the massive amount of data the interviewer will obtain,
it is critical to document interviews, particularly semi-structured interviews, in either video or
audio format. Regardless of the format, the interviewee must consent to be filmed. Semi-
structured interviews typically have a theme, and the interviewer plans by composing a list of
key questions to ask during the interview (Saunders et al., 2016). These questions were
divided into different themes which aimed to answer the research questions. The questions
focused on digital nomadism as shown in Appendix 2. Although, the interviewer allowed
additional conversation and information concerning the research even though it might be of
manuscript. Simply to not miss out on relevant information that could be missed if the
interviews were structured and only following manuscript.

According to Saunders and his co-authors (2016, p.387) “It is possible that the place
that you conduct your interviews will influence the data you collect.” Zoom was the chosen
solution since the interviewees could choose any place in their own surroundings that made
them comfortable. Moreover, digital nomads are most likely one of the most comfortable
group of people when it comes to Zoom since they are used to online meetings as a part of

24
their digital infrastructure. Furthermore, all interviews were executed in Swedish, solely since
the interviewees felt it would be easier to express themselves in their native language.

4.8 Data Analysis

All interviews were recorded and transcribed to process the data. The interviews were
first transcribed using a transcription software, which analyses the spoken words and converts
them into text. Unfortunately, the program had limitations with the Swedish language which
resulted in a manual transcription where the interviews were transcribed word for word, with
grammar errors rectified and redundant words removed. Each transcript was edited and
revised after this process to ensure correctness. As further interviews and observations were
done, the transcription process continued, allowing the author to review the interview
questions and identify patterns and topics to ask the remaining interviewees about.

Following the transcription of all the interviews, the coding procedure began, which
consisted of three parts. To begin, a summary of the transcripts was compiled into a single
document. A transcript summary condenses large remarks into shorter ones in which the
primary meaning of what was said or witnessed is re-stated in fewer words (Saunders et al.,
2016).
Secondly, after the transcripts were summarized, a new document was generated
based entirely on the interviewer's impressions of the various interviews, including reactions
from the interviewees, observations, and highlighting specific instances. To give an example,
throughout the coding process, freedom and digital infrastructure was one of the topics that
came up numerous times across all the interviews, making these two relevant aspects.

Finally, after these two documents were completed, the process of going through the
documents in search of recurring replies, statements, observations, or reactions began. Simply
to see if the respondents had comparable perceptions or responses to the interview questions
or statements from the observations.

4.7.1 Semi-Structured Interviews

As mentioned in the data collection, 4 semi-structured interviews were conducted. To

provide a better overview of the different participants a matrix of the different interviewees
was created along with what they thought were the number 1 motivation for becoming a
digital nomad and if they could identify an increase in terms of interest for more people
wanting to pursue a digital nomad life after the pandemic, as shown in table 2 below:

Interviewee Years spent Type of work What made Have you identified an
# as a digital you become increase of interest from
nomad a digital people wanting to become a
nomad?

25
 digital nomad after the
pandemic?
Interviewee 1 3 Affiliate The freedom 100% yes
marketing,
Male online
coaching &
social media
Interviewee 2 7 Digital The freedom Yes, no doubt
communicator
Female & digital
marketing
Interviewee 3 6 Digital The freedom Absolutely
marketing
Male

Interviewee 4 2 Social media The freedom Yes

manager & flexibility
Female student

Table 2. Matrix of Interviewees

As the matrix shows, 4 semi-structured interviews were conducted. Out of these 4,

everyone identified themselves as a digital nomad and the years spent pursuing this way of
living ranged from 2-7 years. Out of these 4, everyone were found via the Facebook group
and therefore all the participants were from Sweden since it is a Swedish digital nomad
community. The duration of the interviews varied from 40-60 minutes and were all conducted
via Zoom.

4.7.2 Observations

Firstly, a continuous observation of the Facebook group has been included in this
thesis since the author has been a member since 2017. The information of the group itself is
presented as:

This group is for anyone interested in the digital nomad lifestyle. We

discuss everything from co-working, freelance life and travel to
teleworking, business ideas and changes in the labor market.

(Svenska Nomader, 2021)

The group along with the community was created in 2017 combined with a website. The
reason for creating the group was that there was yet to be found a Swedish digital nomad
community. Three Swedish digital nomads decided to act and create one. Over the years the

26
community has continuously grown, with a spike due to the pandemic. To quote one of the
creators:

Over 5000 members in the group!!

WOW, that’s what we who have been involved in running this community
since the beginning of 2017 have to say about this. And a lot has happened
along the way! From many dreams of becoming digital nomads and
breaking the 9-to-5 to 'the new normal' where remote work has suddenly
become the norm in the labor market and by all accounts will continue to
be a given part in many workplaces in the future.
(Svenska Nomader, 2021)

Secondly, to be able to identify the specific digital tools the members of the group use
to obtain a digital infrastructure a Facebook post was created with the following question:
What digital tools do you use in your everyday life to create a digital infrastructure and make
it possible to be a digital nomad? The answers are shown below:

(Svenska Nomader, 2021)

Thirdly, one observation at a Clubhouse meeting was conducted. The title of the
meeting was “The dream to live as a digital nomad”. Once again, to provide a better overview
of the participants and the broad range of experience that attended the meeting a matrix of the
different digital nomads that hosted the meeting has been created, as shown in table 3 below:

Participant Years spent Type of work

# as a digital
nomad

27
 Participant 1 10 Owner of a content and text agency.
Male
Participant 2 4 Videographer and photographer/ digital coach at Google
Female
Participant 3 2 Social media manager
Female
Participant 4 6 Digital marketing manager
Female
Participant 5 7 Digital communicator & digital marketing
Male
Table 3. Matrix of hosts at Clubhouse meeting

Commonly, all 5 had gone from the usual 9-5 office job before becoming digital
nomads. Although, none of the hosts managed to take their job with them, they all had to
quite their previous job since their employers did grant the option to work remotely which
left them with no choice other than terminate their employment. The main discussion during
the meeting was how life as a digital nomad was prior to the pandemic, how it is during and
what the future holds for digital nomads making it a perfect observation for this research.

Since digital nomads does not have a linear path to their careers unlike many
traditional jobs the information on “how to” is still limited, ranging from how to start, what to
charge for a certain service, how to do your taxes etc. Since there is no HR department or
colleagues in an office to ask many digital nomads rely on this community and on each other
which is rather unique and admirable.

Translation:
What kind of software do you use
for payment solutions to charge a
client over telephone calls?
(e.g. consultation/coaching)

(Svenska Nomader, 2021)

The author’s experience is that the Facebook-group and the community bring people
together online but also allows support for all aspects of the digital nomad life ranging from
safety tips when travelling to tax returns from a specific country.

28
4.8 Ethics

In terms of ethics the author acknowledges that the community used for this study is
neither a public nor a private forum. To be able to participate one needs to become a member
and be approved by an admin of the Facebook group. If one already acquires a Facebook
account this process only takes one minute. Prior to this research the author made sure to
contact and formulate a thorough message to the administrator of the group. The message
included the aims of the research along with the question if the community could be used for
this study, both to find participants to interview and the group to observe. It was made clear
that the author intended to be fully transparent with the research and the presence in the
community. Within a few hours the administrator replied, very enthusiastic and gave
permission to use the Facebook community for the research. Granted, all the terms of use as
well as policies of the Facebook community was followed. Moreover, interviewees attained
anonymity unless permission to use certain personal information was provided.

The position as a researcher as well as an observer was considered when becoming a

member of the community being studied. Becoming an insider within a community comes
with several advantages and therefore it should be mentioned that the author of this paper has
a celebratory view up on the community studied for this thesis. This is the reason she has
been a member since 2017 which do risk the possibility of a biased view. Although, measures
to maintain objectivity and prevent bias has been taken into consideration with high
importance.

4.9 Limitations to the method

As with any method, there are limitations to it, both to interviews and observations.
In terms of observations, it is the significance of choosing a role that is acceptable to all
informants that should be emphasized during the research, in this case the Facebook group,
which is a considerably less structured environment than a workplace for example. The
information of this study was shared with the entire Facebook-group after asking for approval
from the admin when searching for interviewees. Although, since the researcher has been a
member of the group since 2017 a perception of the group and its participants was already
created. Sometimes opportunities for an active research role in a certain position can be
constrained by existing power relations, for example at a workplace where participants might
worry that their job is at risk. Since the observation for this research was made in a Facebook
group and no one was forced to participate and all information obtained remained
anonymous, this was not the case. Previous studies have shown that even in a short period of
time, a lived experience of components of the learning culture can be obtained, depending on
the researcher's active participation as an accepted participant, for example as in this case,
being let into the Facebook group (Brockmann, 2011).

When it comes to interviews there are several arguments for both sides, considerable
advantages but also disadvantages. The most common ones are shown below in table 4:

29
Table 4. Advantages and disadvantages of interviews (Alshenqeeti, 2014, p. 43)

Interviewees will only tell what they are willing to reveal regarding their impressions of
events and ideas, according to many researchers. These perceptions, on the other hand, may
be subjective and alter through time in response to certain circumstances. As a result, such
reactions could be a long way from "reality.” Some claim that interviews alone are an
insufficient source of data to research social life. That is, both the interviewer and the
interviewee may have insufficient information or a simply forgotten relevant information
since a lot of time has passed. As a result, we can ask if adopting interviews as the only
transparent method of obtaining data to develop understandings of the interpretations
interviewees create of their lived experiences is suitable. Large volumes of data are
undoubtedly likely to be collected and analyzed through interviews. As a result, it is critical
for interviewers to emphasize that the information they bring with them out of the interviews
could possibly be altered. Furthermore, interviews have been criticized as time intensive in
terms of data collection and analysis because they must be transcribed, coded, and perhaps
translated, as was the case in this study where they were translated from Swedish to English.

Alshenqeeti (2014) argues that researchers could, for example, use observations as a
supplement to interviews to explore participants' external behavior and thoughts. As a result,
while it depends on the research topics, using multiple data collection instruments will aid in
obtaining richer data and validating the study findings which was done for this thesis.

5.0 Empirical Findings

The following section will provide the reader with the most common responses, opinions and
reactions from the empirical evidence. The different results will be presented as accurately as
possible by using quotes from the interviews and observations along with images. By
presenting different scenarios to strengthen and give better understanding of the findings. A
deeper analysis and connection to the findings will be provided in the following section.

30
5.1 Overview

As previously mentioned, the data for this thesis was collected through interviews and
observations. The interviews were split into 4 key themes as recommended by (Saunders et
al., 2016) and shown in appendix 2. However, to be able to relate the findings to theory and
answer the research questions in a clear way the key findings from the interviews and the
observations will be split into the three sections appearing most relevant. This is simply to be
able to navigate between the different findings while connecting them to theory and lastly,
the research questions. The three sections are:

1. What is a digital nomad and what defines it?

2. The role of digital tools in the lives of digital nomads.
3. The pandemic and the future of digital nomads.

5.2 What is a digital nomad and what defines it?

As previously stated, the information in previous literature that exists about defining digital
nomads is limited and somewhat contradictory. Therefore, during the interviews all
participants was asked to explain how they define a digital nomad as the first question which
resulted in this quote that was created by combining their responses:

"A person who can work independently with the help of digital tools and
thus can decide their own workplace, someone who has the opportunity to
work from a beach if they want, but can just as well sit in their hometown
and work remotely"

It was clear the media representation about digital nomads is only showing on side of
their lifestyle, the flashy one. A shift from the media representation in section 3.5 was
identified, one does not necessarily have to travel the world while working but the option of
doing so is always available. To quote:

“You do not have to be traveling, it is about the opportunity to choose

where you work from, if it is from your hometown, you can just as well call
yourself a digital nomad when it is Bali that applies to others. The freedom
to choose is what makes you a digital nomad”
Interviewee 3

Nonetheless, all participants from the interviews and observations used to travel more or had
a previous period in their career when they traveled intensely while working, i.e., agreeing
with the previous media representation. The participants seemed to somehow have changed
their perception of what the words in the definition means and what a digital nomad is, along
with what a digital nomad needs during the pandemic, proving the media representation
wrong. To provide an example:

31
 “Many people think that you live out of a bag and never being in the same
place - I have done that, traveled by train, bus, and everything. But now I
have realized that a base is what I need. The "flashy" nomadic life is not for
everyone. It’s about creating a life that works for oneself. It is a mindset
about moving in the world in a way that makes you feel good.”
Clubhouse participant 2

The lack of diversity within the digital nomad community was discussed along with the
perspective on who can be a digital nomad. Again, the media representation of digital nomads
was discussed, this time around in terms of privilege along with the lack of diversity.

” Most digital nomads you come across are usually westerners. You do not
have the same conditions if you come from a country where consulting fees
or salaries are lower. It is no coincidence that digital nomads go to
Indonesia, Colombia, Thailand and Portugal because they are cheaper
countries to live in, but if you come from Cambodia, it is very expensive to
get to Portugal as an example. Even though the opportunity to become a
digital nomad has been opened up to more people during the pandemic
around the world, it will still be a privilege from a white middle class
regardless of the fact that more people have the opportunity to do this”
Interviewee 2

As Hopkins (2019) stated in section 3.5 there is a lack of opportunity in other communities
than the white middle class and not everyone has the privilege to pursue this way of living.
This privilege goes hand in hand with different economic situations in different nations and
the fact that certain passports make it easier to travel without certain constraints.

5.3 The role of digital tools in the life of digital nomads

Throughout this research it has been made clear that digital nomads are closely linked
to digital tools and platforms since this is what makes it possible for them to pursue this
lifestyle and reach their need of freedom. However, even though they are closely connected
to certain digital platforms and communication tools they do not necessarily have to be
closely connected to social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram as the media
representation shows, it all depends on what their job entails.

“Digital nomads do not have to be closely connected with social media

platforms; it depends on what you work with. It’s all about having a digital
infrastructure by using the digital tools you need to work, it can be these
platforms, none of them or other ones.”
Interviewee 3

32
 By this part, it’s been established that there is a strong online digital nomad
community providing digital nomads with various ways to fulfill their different needs. It has
also been made clear that the digital tools in section 3.1 are a part of their digital
infrastructure in terms of work, and the Facebook group act as a possible complement where
the community helps to fulfill needs and gratifications not obtained by these tools.
Comparable to what people do to fulfill their needs at an office digital nomads fulfill their
needs and gratifications online, in terms of safety, professional advice and making new
connections. As shown in the example below from a post made in the Facebook-group with
questions about rates related to experience, taxes and if her/his recommendation about using a
cool company is the best option.

(Svenska Nomader, 2021)

All questions along with additional recommendations were answered in the comment section
and the person who created the post no longer had these concerns and reached his
gratifications using the Facebook community. This example shows that there is a strong
online community which was strengthened from the interviewees:
“There is a strong community when it comes to helping others get on the
same journey as you have done yourself.”
Interviewee 3

Unlike many traditional jobs, digital nomads do not have a linear path to their careers,
information on “how to” is still limited, ranging from how to start, what to charge for a
specific service, how to do your taxes, and so on. SInce there is no HR department, many
digital nomads rely on these communities and one another, which is both unusual and
admirable. Moreover, these communities bring people together online and in real life when
travelling which has shown to be very helpful in terms of safety and making sure you have
what you need to be able to work at a certain destination or where to get it.

33
 “I have gotten to know so many people as possible through this community
that I had not been in contact with before and it has been extremely helpful
when I’m traveling to new destinations.”
Interviewee 1

These communities seem to act as a solution to several issues. Either by giving tips on the
latest trends such as Clubhouse or Co-working places where you can meet people in a similar
situation to yourself. It is filled with members who are more than ready to answer your
questions or help with your concerns.

It feels very safe to find like-minded people. When you are traveling, it can
be nice to lean towards someone who has a similar background and the
same perspective as yourself. It can be difficult to feel that you have context
as a nomad, or simply that you feel alone without a group of colleagues
which makes the digital nomad community a great solution, whether it’s for
asking questions online or meeting someone from the group.
Interviewee 2

The app Clubhouse used for the observation is a great example of a response on how the
community introduced a new digital tool. They discussed new ways of working remotely and
how to stay creative during the changes of the pandemic while trying the new trend:
Translation:
CLUBHOUSE - Swedish Digital Nomads
now from 13:00

Today we will try to host our first room at the

clubhouse - a conversation about digital
nomadism, entrepreneurship, and the
changing labor market. Ask questions about
digital nomadism and remote work or share
your own story. Search for Swedish Digital
Nomads at 13:00 or follow one of us at the
clubhouse to get a notice of when we start.
Link is also below.

Clubhouse has grown rapidly in popularity in

recently. The app is completely voice-based
and involves listening in on different rooms
with conversations about specific topics. A
bit like a live podcast, but with the
opportunity to raise your hand and become
part of the conversation. Our plan is to host
more rooms in the spring to highlight exciting
stories from our community.

(Svenska Nomader, 2021)

34
 The most reoccurring subject during all interviews and observations was the need for
freedom and a high quality of life, being able to live the life one wants to do instead of the
life expected by society. It evolved around escaping the so called “hamster wheel” that a 9-5
office job entails and shifted into using digital tools and creating a digital infrastructure that
supported one’s remote work.

“It is possible to build a life where the job is not the center of attention
thanks to technology, instead of the other way around”

Clubhouse meeting

There were also several discussions about efficiency and becoming better at one’s job when
not being strained to an office during certain hours and using your own digital infrastructure
which was tailored to one’s own needs. It was clear that all participants had advanced in
terms of work by becoming more efficient and by using the online digital nomad
communities for either inspiration or help which eventually led to delivering better results at
work.

“I get to learn so extremely much from meeting other digital nomad, both
in real life and online. This helps me to deliver more in my customer
assignments and grow even more as a communicator and a human being
myself. I also experience that you generally feel happier when you are not
stuck in the same place and stuck in the hamster wheel. If you prefer to live
a life with more experiences than things, it is really an advantage to be a
digital nomad”

Interviewee 2

“I’ve become extremely more efficient when it comes to working since I

became a digital nomad. What I used to do during 8 hours in an office
takes my 4 hours today, meaning I can take on twice the amount of work if I
want to”
Interviewee 3

In terms of disadvantages the discussion of “doing things right” with things that are
usually done automatically or by others when being an employee at a company is distinct.
Since this way of living is still somewhat unconventional, the economy is not developed
enough which eventually challenges the tax-system and the so called “traditional” way of
making money. Stating:

“It is difficult to know what is right when it comes to taxes, where to register, insurance etc.”

Interviewee 4

35
Granted, it is of high importance to educate oneself within these areas to make sure one gets
it right and do not end up in a predicament. Questions regarding these issues are very
common in the Facebook group and it is obvious that everyone are more than willing to assist
if they do know how to solve an issue, as shown above. However, seeing these types of
questions frequently on the group along with the drastic increase of digital nomads during the
pandemic the administrators decided to inform the group of a solution since there was an
obvious demand. A start-up created during the pandemic providing advice from tax experts to
digital nomads and freelancers was invited to an interview which was later accessed through
the group. “Digmak solves tax problems for digital nomads” as shown below:

(Digmak Instagram, 2021)

It’s clear that growing popularity of apps and websites designed to connect digital nomads, as
well as the numerous online forums dedicated to assisting them demonstrate the increasing
availability of digital tools.

5.4 The pandemic and the future of Digital nomads

When discussing the pandemic in general the topics usually tends to be quite negative.
Therefore, it was a delightful surprise to discover that in this research, that would not be the
case. The general take from the digital nomads was almost solely positive besides the obvious

36
fact that travel had been limited during the pandemic. Although, the positive seemed to
outweigh the negative, without a doubt. The first thing mentioned during the Clubhouse
meeting in regards of the pandemic was a sense of gratefulness:

Thanks to the pandemic almost everyone knows what a digital nomad is,
and we are more accepted as “normal”
Clubhouse meeting

Since the pandemic limited travel in many ways a new demographic within the digital nomad
community arose. “Stranded digital nomads” which simply consist out of previous travelling
ones who either got stuck at a destination during the pandemic or went back to their home
country to figure out a plan B while it lasted. However, the pandemic contributed to new
realizations that several participants were aiming to hold on to, post pandemic. To provide
some examples:

“I have realized that a base is what I need, I will still travel, when possible,
but I will keep my base in Stockholm since it has made me feel more stable
and relaxed.”

Clubhouse meeting

“When you travel around and tear up, you lose your community and
therefore you want to stay longer in one and the same place. You need to
make sure you feel at home even if you travel and that you feel comfortable
no matter where you are.”

Clubhouse meeting

It seems like several digital nomads had discovered different needs that they were unaware of
prior to the pandemic which presented themselves when the option of travelling suddenly
disappeared.

When reaching the topic of an increased interest of becoming a digital nomad it was
clear that the pandemic had spiked an obvious increase, both in younger and older people
indicating a bigger remote workforce in the future.

“Increasing interest in becoming a digital nomad, yes, I think this is the

future. A few weeks ago, I gave a lecture to high school students about my
life as a digital nomad and why it is a future profession, and some other
high schools have written papers about us because their teachers believe
that this is the future. I will be on a study visit to another school tomorrow,
so it is obvious that the interest has increased.”
Interviewee 2

37
 “Will not only be 20-year-olds who are digital nomads, will be an older
target group, and more families who wants to leave the bigger cities and
now realize they can.”
Interviewee 3

The discussions about the future seemed bright and evolved around the fact that the pandemic
have opened doors to more opportunities for existing and aspiring digital nomads.

“It will become more common for digital nomads to take on permanent
jobs that they manage remotely. Historically, most digital nomads are
freelancers.”

Interviewee 2

“Younger people have already started talking about it, already in high
school and university looking for more information about the phenomenon
as a possible future. It's more about finding what you like to do than what
you should do - what makes you happy.”
Clubhouse meeting

Since the entire world is going through a trial period of remote work the dialogue also
went on to companies and their policies about remote work which relates to the previously
mentioned “work from anywhere models” that Spotify and Microsoft have introduced.
Meaning that after the pandemic, their employees will be able to choose whether they want to
work full-time, part-time, or be completely remote (CNBC, 2021).

“The companies that want to find employees with the best skills will lose
applicants if they require people to be on site. They will be open to more
remote opportunities to find the people with the best skills - companies
must do this to keep up. This will also be a great possibility for smaller
towns that need the same skills and competencies as the bigger cities.”

Interviewee 3

After the pandemic, it will be difficult for companies to deny employees to

work remotely because they have been working from home for more than a
year now. The previous arguments for saying no will no longer be valid.

Interviewee 4

As one can see, the discussion about the future of digital nomads seems bright in
terms of a bigger community, technological advancements, new social formations, newly
identified needs, new trends, and resources emerging with digital tools designed to connect
and assist digital nomads.

38
6.0 Analysis
This section will reflect on the data and findings from the previous section and conclude the
findings by connecting it back to the research question. This will be done through a
discussion around the findings and the connections these findings have to the research
questions.

Before proceeding with the discussion for this research, it would be useful to refer
back to the research questions:

RQ1: What is a digital nomad today and how has it changed during the pandemic?
RQ2: What is the role of different media technology in the life of digital nomads?

As previously mentioned in section 1.0 and 2.0 the number of studies on digital
nomads and the phenomenon is increasing. Although, the research is still very limited with a
lot of emphasis put onto their lifestyle descriptions which is reflecting on a very limited
media representation. Therefore, the result of this thesis hopes to be able to build on already
existing literature and help to fill the gap about the development of the digital nomad during
the pandemic while reflecting on the role of different digital tools and insights about their
needs. This is done the be able to potentially create a new understanding about digital nomads
and the future remote workforce (Wang et al. 2018). A combination of Maslow’s Hierarchy
focusing on the needs of digital nomads combined with the Uses & Gratification theory
focusing on the digital tools and their roles in the lives of digital nomads has been created.
The findings from Maslow’s hierarchy will aim to answer RQ1 and the findings from U&G
will aim to answer RQ2 while connecting both theories through the created framework.

To be able to connect the empirical findings to the analysis the key findings from the
interviews and observations will be divided into three themes along the lines with the
previous section. These three sections will be used as a navigation to identify the main factors
regarding the development of the digital nomad during the pandemic and will be the central
discussion of the analysis.

As established, digital nomads use various media platforms and digital tools to be able
to fulfill their needs. In the same way people with regular jobs choose a certain media to
fulfill their needs such as gathering information, passing time, or connecting with a new
colleague outside of work so does digital nomads. Although, they take it a step further since
media and digital tools is the reason they have the opportunity to pursue this way of living.
All their needs, on all levels are gratified using media. By combining Maslow’s hierarchy of
needs and uses and gratification and adapting it to the digital nomad phenomenon and their
media use figure 4 was created. It is built on the acknowledgement that the U&G theory was
an extension of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs which Maslow proposed in 1970 based on an
observation about how people are eager to learn new things (Malloli, 2020). It is important to

39
mention that level 1 in Maslow does not equal level 1 of the Uses and Gratification and the
different levels of needs have been reconstructed accordingly and are not adamant. The
examples of needs connected to different digital tools is based on the digital nomads used for
this specific study.

Self-Actualization
& Tension Release
Needs
Esteem & Social
Integrative Needs
Belongingness/love &
Personal Integrative Needs:

Safety & Affective needs:

Physiological & Cognitive needs:

Figure 4. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and uses & gratification applied to digital nomads

Maslow Uses and Gratification

Physiological & cognitive needs: Freedom to travel 3. Those needs are molded by a person's rooted
whenever and wherever, the opportunity to do this is nature as well as learning experiences.
available since media provides digital nomads the
option of using various media and communication
channels to manage their work online through digital
tools.

Safety & affective needs: Using online communities 2. Digital nomads who use media have a set of
to ask questions regarding safety concerns when motivating needs.
travelling. Patriotism when travelling abroad, finding
digital nomads with the same nationality to feel safe
and be provided with a “home far away from home
feeling”.

Belongingness, love & personal integrative needs: 1 Digital Nomads do not stand around passively
Strong online communities offering support to all waiting as an audience.
levels of digital nomads, similarly to colleagues at
the office.

40
 Esteem & social integrative needs: managing to 4. Digital nomads actively seek out specific types of
create a life outside the “hamster wheel” and the media content that can satisfy their needs.
usual typical employment.

Self-actualization & tension release needs: Finding 5. As a result, digital nomads actively seek and select
new creative ways of working remotely and media content that provides gratifications that meet
constantly being able to develop yourself. The their demands and needs.
ambition to become everything one is capable of is
known as self-actualization (Maslow, 1943). Digital
nomads generate meaning by actualizing themselves
and achieving their aims and desires.

The combined model will be applied through this analysis, including examples of digital
tools, motivations, gratifications and needs.

6.1 What is a digital nomad and what defines it?

Since all the participants from the interviews identified themselves as digital nomads
prior to the pandemic the combined definition of their answers mentioned in the section
above would be the most logic answer. After including the observations as well the working
definition of a digital nomad would be:

"A person who can work independently with the help of digital tools and
thus can decide their own workplace, someone who has the opportunity to
travel whenever and wherever, but can just as well sit in their hometown
and work remotely”
It is crucial to bring up the limitations to this definition in terms of inclusiveness. As
mentioned in section 3.5 the media representation of digital nomads is not inclusive nor
welcoming towards all. There is an obvious racial disparity, and the definition does not apply
to everyone. Referring back to Bashir (2020) who is a black woman and critical towards the
community and the definition since it mainly consists out of “wealthy white people”. The
definition of who is a digital nomad is based on a widespread conception of who is supposed
to be a digital nomad, instead of who can become one and how the community can contribute
to it. Satterstrom (2019) states that the digital nomad community is both supportive and
welcoming, but this support is still constrained towards the limited perception that Bashir
(2020) argues for. The findings shows that the community used for this study is aware of this
and brought attention to it in the interviews as shown in section 5.2. However, the discussion
about a solution or ways to change was clearly missing.

Moreover, as mentioned in section 1.0 the stereotypical digital nomad image of a white male
working with tech while backpacking is proving to be misleading. Combining all participants
from the observations and interviews 55% were female. Moreover, 2 participants had a
family whereas one had been raising his kids while travelling either by using online school or

41
staying at a destination for a longer period, making it possible for his kids to receive their
education. The research on digital nomad life with kids is nearly non-existing and the
findings from this research shows that there are several digital nomads with kids who are
aiming to make this new way of living work post pandemic.

During the pandemic the definition of a digital nomad seems to remain the same in
terms of words, although, it has developed into more options of becoming one, where the
boundaries of who can identify themselves as a digital nomad are blurred. All digital nomads
who participated in this study were set on travelling in the future and pursue their digital
nomad life, but not in the way media represents it. Prior to the pandemic some people, mainly
young digital nomads agreeing with the media representation in section 3.5 and previous
research would have argued that nomads with a base or a family might be a “retired” since
they no longer pursued the original lifestyle. Although, during this research it has been clear
that everyone makes their own career paths as a digital nomad. Equivalent to a traditional job
one might have to do things differently when life happens but that does not mean that one
loses their job nor their title, they will just do things differently to work around it. Due to
these finding the most logic definition and answer to RQ1 will consist out of various
categories of digital nomads along the lines with the categories mentioned in section 1.0.

Category 1: The original nomad – a constant travelling person who explores the world while
working simultaneously. This is most likely a single person who is not constrained to
responsibilities of a family or partner.
Category 2: The seasonal nomad – a person who has the possibility to travel whenever but
has decided to create a base for themselves and travel for a certain period of the year.
Category 3: The family nomad – a person who organizes their nomadism around their kids
and stay at a destination for at least 1 school year.
Category 4: The conscious nomad – someone who have decided to travel in a more
sustainable matter by more long-term travel and swap airplanes for trains etc.
Category 5: The upcoming nomad – someone who has been working remotely during the
pandemic and have decided to proceed with a remote future.

These 5 categories might differ to a great extent. However, they all share the same
basic physiological & cognitive need for freedom which is within their rooted nature and
possible to fulfill using digital tools. The basic need they have for freedom creates a
motivating need to use media and create a digital infrastructure. To do so they could turn to
the Facebook group where they will find a strong online community ready to offer support
which possibly fulfills their safety and affective needs which refers to level 1&2 in the
pyramid.

6.2 The Role of Different Digital Tools in the Lives of Digital Nomads

Prior to the pandemic it seemed like the argument that one must travel to be a digital
nomad had more weight to it. At this time, that has changed, as showed above. However, in

42
terms of needs the change is not as clear. Everyone has contained the same basic need, i.e.,
the physiological & cognitive need to no matter what their personal circumstances was to
have their freedom. The change identified is in how they fulfill their needs. Those needs are
molded by a person’s rooted nature as well as learning experiences and the need for freedom
is obtained through digital tools. This opens to learning opportunities and learning new skills
through untraditional means, such as social networking platforms, media production tools,
information tools, and a variety of others which are intensely discussed in the matter of
digitalization. The way digital nomads use digital tools and other media platforms to
participate in powerful, deep, and complex learning has shown to be rather impressive and
filled with opportunities and this research has made it clear, digital nomads are seizing this
opportunity to its fullest (Gee, 2009).

One example of the tools in this research is Slack that links individuals to the
information they require or people who have it (Slack, 2021). However, if one works
completely alone Slack might not be the right tool, making the Facebook group where all
types of questions are asked a possible solution. To provide one example:

Translation:
⭐Best profession for a digital nomad⭐
Hello! My biggest dream is to become a digital
nomad and I want to find an education that gets
me there.
But I can’t really decide which profession I
should pursue. Therefore, I want to ask what
profession do you think is best for a digital
nomad?
Feel free to tell me what you work with and
what you think about the job. Did you need any
education? Are you satisfied with the salary?
Are you an employee or freelancer? How is the
stress level? Is there any job would rather have
than a digital nomad?
I want to know everything!! 😊😊
(
(Svenska Nomader, 2021)

This example shows several needs and gratifications from an upcoming digital nomad. By
using the Facebook group and the online community she manages to reach the need of level
1-3 in the pyramid. The need for freedom and learning is fulfilled by using an online media
community combined with a set of motivating needs. She does not wait passively but
formulates clear questions and finds help and gratification through 93 comments and answers
in the group who is offering support to all levels of digital nomads, similarly to colleagues at
the office.

Digital nomads rely on and use a wide range of digital tools to manage their work and
create their own digital infrastructure. These technologies enable not only flexibility in terms
of where and when work is completed, but also autonomy through the automation of routine
and administrative tasks (Prester et al., 2019). Granted there are several ways for different

43
 people to reach their gratifications through media or reach their needs in the pyramid. To
provide examples linked to the digital tools in section 3.1 table 5 was created, based on
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and uses & gratification applied to digital nomads. Although, it
should be acknowledged that every digital nomad has their own digital infrastructure
according to their needs and table 5 is just one illustration of the digital tools from this
research. The table created is based on the answered question in the Facebook group in
section 4.7.2 of what specific tools the members use to obtain their digital infrastructure
along with answers from the interviewees and observations.

Maslow Digital Tools Uses and

Gratification
Physiological & cognitive Slack: Work in Slack is organized into dedicated spaces called 3. Those needs
needs: Freedom to travel channels. Channels bring together the right people and information are molded by a
whenever and wherever, the for any project, topic, or team. Unlike email, discussions in channels person's rooted
opportunity to do this is available are topic-specific, so you can join and leave as needed when you have nature as well as
since media provides digital an answer to your questions. Slack brings people together to work as learning
nomads the option of using one unified team. experiences.
various media and
communication channels to Facebook Group: If one does not have a team the answer is most
manage their work online through likely found here.
digital tools.

Safety & affective needs: Using
online communities to ask
questions regarding safety
concerns when travelling.
Patriotism when travelling
abroad, finding digital nomads
with the same nationality to feel
safe and be provided with a
“home away from home feeling”.
Zoom: a cloud-based video conferencing service that allows you to 2. Digital
meet remotely with others. It allows you to connect with others nomads who use
through safe and frictionless video communication. media have a set
of motivating
Facebook Group: For any questions regarding safety or other needs.
concerns, the Facebook group has proven to be of great help.

Belongingness, love & personal
integrative needs: Strong online
communities offering support to
all levels of digital nomads,
similarly to colleagues at the
office.
Monday: Monday.com is a work operating system that allows 1. Digital
peope to build workflows, adapt to changing demands, provide nomads do not
transparency, collaborate, and eliminate manual grunt work stand around
making it easy to connect to your team and keep track of projects. passively
waiting as an
Trello: a project management solution that divides your projects into audience.
boards and tells you what's being worked on, who's working on it, and
where something is in the process.

Facebook Group: Provides the opportunity of support for both

professional and private life as a digital nomad.

Esteem & social integrative Evernote: Evernote is a powerful tool that can assist freelancers, 4. Digital
needs: managing to create a life entrepreneurs, and creative individuals in capturing and organizing nomads actively
outside the “hamster wheel” and their ideas. seek out specific
the usual typical employment. types of media
Google Drive: a cloud-based storage service that lets you save content that can
files online and access them from any smartphone, tablet, or satisfy their
computer. Drive allows you to safely upload and modify files needs.
online from your computer or mobile device. Other people can edit
and collaborate on files with ease using Drive.

Slack: also an option for this level.

44
Self-actualization & tension Clubhouse: a new type of social network based on voice, where 5. As a result,
release needs: Finding new people from all over the world can talk, listen, and learn from one digital nomads
creative ways of working another in real time. actively seek
remotely and constantly being and select media
able to develop yourself. The Facebook Group: when creativity has been lacking the community in content that
ambition to become everything this group has found new ways to motivate themselves, such as with provides
one is capable of is known as clubhouse. gratifications
self-actualization (Maslow, that meet their
1943). Digital nomads generate demands and
meaning by actualizing needs.
themselves and achieving their
aims and desires.

Table 5. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and uses & gratification applied to digital tools

Similar for both U&G and Maslow is that both theories are criticized for the
assumption that people know what they need when that usually is not the case (Kasirye,
2021). People do not always know their needs nor gratifications when turning to media much
like everyone does not know themselves well enough to recognize what needs they must
fulfill to be able to climb the pyramid. Moreover, it fails to highlight the power of the media.
This is critical because the media is what gives the audience power and motivates them to
choose it, if the user's chosen media did not have good or appealing content, chances are the
user would not have chosen it to hope it would meet their needs (Kasirye, 2021). Such as the
use of the Facebook community who provides appealing content about the digital tools
mentioned above. E.g., promoting the Clubhouse app within the group along with
motivations of why one should participate. Maslow’s model has also been criticized to
characterize the behavior of high-level workers and excluding low-level workers who are not
familiar with the concept of growth and development in the same sense and will not have a
physiological reaction to their jobs (Kaur, 2013). Digital nomads, especially the ones prior to
the pandemic have taken big risks to escape their previous 9-5 office job since the option to
stay excluded their basic need of freedom. It is safe to say that digital nomads do have a
physiological reaction to their work and being able to develop themselves on multiple levels
which results in different rewards, such as efficiency:

“I’ve become extremely more efficient when it comes to working since I

became a digital nomad. What I used to do during 8 hours in an office
takes my 4 hours today, meaning I can take on twice the amount of work if I
want to”
This argues for that if their needs are fulfilled, digital nomads are good at adapting to
different circumstances and finding innovative ways to feel accomplished. When having your
needs fulfilled along with a good infrastructure of digital tools, many interviewees mentioned
that their efficiency had accelerated drastically which boosted their career and helped them
fulfill their self-actualization needs.

45
This brings us to the answer to RQ2: What is the role of different media technology in the life
of digital nomads?

Digital tools have an essential role in the lives of digital nomads. These platforms function as
a digital mediating system, generating both motivations, gratifications and needs. As
previously stated, the biggest need of digital nomads is freedom. By using a digital
infrastructure tailored to ones needs they overcome geographic and organizational barriers
with technology. They are able to do so by utilizing these digital tools, which give them a
better understanding of technology and a direct line to their current employers or other digital
nomad colleagues.

The critique against U&G argues that the theory ignores the question of what people
are thinking when deciding which media to engage with to meet their needs. Since it is nearly
impossible for people to know all their needs and gratifications as some of them emerge as
they use media platforms and were previously unconsidered. From this research and the
answer to RQ2 it has been made clear that digital nomads have a comprehensive
understanding of the media they decide to include in their digital infrastructure. If they do
identify a need to include something else, they have a community to turn to who will suggest
new options to try such as new work operating systems or a social media platform. To clarify,
digital nomads are extremely “tech-savvy” and will most likely identify what media to
engage with to meet their gratifications easier than other people.

6.3 The Pandemic and the Future of Digital Nomads

By now it has been established that the pandemic has created a new landscape for
digital nomads which most likely will result in a change in the phenomenon post the
pandemic which will be discussed in this section.

Throughout this research this part is the one that brought most attention to it. It is also
the part where one can start to identify a change in the needs of the digital nomads. Possibly
since it is still the unknown and no one knows what the future holds for digital nomads.
Although it’s clear that the participants of this study are certain that the future is bright. Both
for themselves and for the future workforce of digital nomads. A substantial increase in terms
of interest for a life as a digital nomad has been identified which indicates a continuous
growing community. The increasing interest was firstly confirmed by table 2 where all
interviewees had identified a clear upsurge. It was also confirmed through the observations in
the Facebook group where several posts equal to the one in section 6.2 were made frequently,
asking “how to” become a digital nomad. It has also been confirmed that a spike of interest in
both younger and older generations have occurred through requests to give lectures at high
schools along with families asking more work-related questions after deciding to leave the
bigger cities behind, move and work remotely. The interests have also showed itself in terms
of more technologies such as apps and websites and online forums dedicated to assist digital
nomads and the infrastructure which demonstrates the growing popularity of digital tools.

46
 Following this increase in interest companies will be urged to create new policies,
meeting the new demands of their current or future employees similarly to Spotify and
Microsoft (CNBC, 2021). In section 3.0 it was acknowledged that employers are struggling to
recognize and understand the needs of digital natives, as well as how to attract the workforce
of the future, because these generations will almost certainly adopt a new mode of
communication (Singh & Dangmei 2016). Specifically, because the old ways will most likely
not attract and motivate them in the same way that previous generations did. Implementing a
policy for remote work along with the digital infrastructure that the employees need to be
able to manage their job might be one solution:

“The companies that want to find employees with the best skills will lose
people if they require people to be on site, they will open up to more
distance opportunities to find the people with the best skills - companies
have to do this to keep up. This will also be a great possibility for smaller
towns that need the same skills and competencies as the big cities.”

“Young people should be allowed to work with what they want and settle
down where they want. After the pandemic it will be hard to deny someone
the possibility to work remotely”

The pandemic had led to new employment possibilities for digital nomads. As
mentioned, all participants of this study had to resign from their previous jobs since their
employers did not approve remote work. Their physiological and cognitive need of freedom
made them decide to leave their job since staying would have a negative impact on their
mental health. They all agreed that today their demand to work remotely most likely would
have been approved and that with this drastic shift employers will have a hard time arguing
that one should not be allowed to work remotely if their work hasn’t deteriorated in terms of
quality during the pandemic.

“If it was successful during the pandemic, now is the opportunity to make
demands on employers concerning remote employment.”

Clubhouse meeting

All participants also agreed to the statement apposed in the section 1.0 saying digital nomads
seem to handle the pandemic better in terms of mental health due to their strong online life
and their online community (Laker, 2020).

I am certain that digital nomads who are used to working remotely prior to
the pandemic have adapted far better since you are already accustomed to
these routines. You have a massive social digital life with plenty of support.
When you live a life like this, you gain an incredible social competence to
find contacts digitally, which I discovered is a huge advantage that you do
not get if you work in an office with the same people every day.
Interviewee 2

47
Following the social digital aspect. Digital nomads do manage to fulfil these needs using
digital tools, even when they are not travelling which contributes to the argument that they
are good at adapting to different circumstances and finding innovative ways to fulfil their
needs using media.

Post the pandemic a new community will arise, a bigger one, consisting out of all
types of digital nomads as the categories mentioned above indicates. In any case, some
regulations might still physically constrain remote workers to a place. To quote Brown:

One problem that has arisen as a result of the recent emergence of digital
nomads is deciding which jurisdiction they belong to. Although cyberspace
may be devoid of boundaries, the laws of physical countries still apply.
(Brown, 2015 p.38).

For issues like these one can already identify solutions, such as Digmak in section 5.3
that navigates digital nomads in tax issues where laws of physical countries still apply. More
digital solutions will most likely follow, dedicated to assisting digital nomads in current and
upcoming grey areas (Satterstrom, 2019).

One of the main motivators to becoming a digital nomad for the participants of this
study was the fact that there was no longer a need to commute. As previously mentioned in
section 1.0 remote working is discussed within sustainability matters since it provides a
multitude of economic, environmental, and social benefits, primarily because working from
home eliminates the need to commute to work. Taking this into consideration, remote
working could potentially be a small piece of the puzzle in resolving important environmental
issues, which could be viewed as a bonus (Kylili et al., 2020). There is no denial that the
constant travelling nomad exceeds the CO2 emissions recommended for the environment
(TheNatureConservancy, 2021). Following this, one can hope that more digital nomads will
join category 4 of conscious nomads previously mentioned. For example:

“I believe that there will be "seasonal nomads" who travel around a

certain period during the year and then have a more ordinary life the rest
of the year. Such as a part-time digital nomad, 50% travelling, 50%
home.”

Interviewee 4
“People will travel in a more long-term way, staying at one destination for
a longer period of time to be more sustainable, this will go hand in hand
with new digital nomad visas.”
Interviewee 2

Following the conscious nomad. Many governments of popular digital nomad

countries have decided to implement a digital nomad visa as it has the potential to aid in the
economic recovery of tourism locations. In comparison to tourists, digital nomads remain

48
longer, and promote destinations to other digital nomads. Digital nomads are less likely to be
scared off by my testing and quarantine periods because they visit venues for longer lengths
of time. They also spend 35 percent of their money locally, according to a recent ATTA
report (Island Innovation, 2021).

“Since it’s not only young people who have discovered this way of living
during the pandemic, we will see many more families who will embrace it,
staying at a destination for 1 year to be able to enroll their kids at school,
which will be possible with these new visas.”

Clubhouse meeting

In between all discussions, interviews, and observation it was clear, a change was
consequent to happen and had already started. A larger community, more inclusiveness, new
digital tools which equals new ways to fulfill their needs, more sustainable travel, digital
nomad visas, new forms of employability possibilities, a wider age demographic and
foremost, a new attitude towards digital nomads.

7. Conclusion
This section concludes the findings of this research and connects it back to the initial purpose
and research question. Furthermore, the chapter ends with some thought for future research.

This thesis was motivated by a combination of a personal interest of the digital nomad
phenomenon combined with the limited previous research about digital nomads and their
needs, not solely focusing on their lifestyle description. This thesis aimed to identify what a
digital nomad is today, the changes of digital nomads during the pandemic along with the role
of digital tools in their lives while establishing changes in their needs and if there has been an
increase in interest regarding a remote future for upcoming workforces.

The findings conclude that the digital nomad phenomenon has changed during the
pandemic, in several ways. As the aim of the research was to answer what a digital nomad is
today and how it has changed during the pandemic the findings conclude that 1 definition
does not fit all. This resulted in 5 categories of digital nomads which consists out of 5
sections that did not fit into previous definitions:

Category 1: The original nomad – a constant travelling person who explores the world while
working simultaneously. This is most likely a single person who is not constrained to
responsibilities of a family or partner.
Category 2: The seasonal nomad – a person who has the possibility to travel whenever but
has decided to create a base for themselves and travel for a certain period of the year.
Category 3: The family nomad – a person who organizes their nomadism around their kids
and stay at a destination for at least 1 school year.

49
Category 4: The conscious nomad – someone who have decided to travel in a more
sustainable matter by more long-term travel and swap airplanes for trains etc.
Category 5: The upcoming nomad – someone who has been working remotely during the
pandemic and have decided to proceed with a remote future.

Many changes in terms of the phenomenon and its development have been presented
in this research along with the role of digital tools in the life of digital nomads. A larger
community, greater inclusiveness, new digital tools that equal new ways to meet their needs,
more sustainable travel, digital nomad visas, new forms of employability opportunities, a
broader age demographic, and, most importantly, a new attitude toward digital nomads.

In the begin of this research it was assumed that the needs of digital nomads would be
unfulfilled due to the pandemic and the limitations to travel. This was not the case. Their
needs have stayed the same: However, the ways to fulfill them have shifted and the majority
have found new ways to do so together with old and new digital tools emerging on the
market, resulting in a more flexible future with new ways of travelling as a digital nomad.

It is evident that digital tools have a profound meaning in the lives of digital nomads.
Without the use of digital tools, they would not be able to pursue this way of living, nor fulfill
their needs. By creating a tailored infrastructure to their needs, they have managed to replace
several important aspects of the usual 9-5 office worker using digital tools. They have
specific digital tools for all parts of their lives. Zoom for meetings, Monday.com for
collaborating projects, Slack to stay in touch with employers or other digital nomad
colleagues and social media platforms such as Facebook and Clubhouse when the previous
digital tools do not fulfill their needs and they need advice or creativity. Concluding, digital
nomads have created a fulfilling life where they overcome geographical and organizational
barriers through the use of technology.

In 2019 it was estimated that 1 billion people would be living as a digital nomad
(FOXYpreneur, 2019). This estimation was done without any knowledge of the soon to be
happening pandemic that has had a dramatic increase in employees working remotely. The
global management consulting firm McKinsey looked at the possibility for remote work in
more than 2,000 jobs across 800 occupations in eight focus nations to see how widespread it
could possibly be after the pandemic. They estimated that between 20 and 25 percent of
industrialized economies' workforces could work from home if remote work can be done
without a loss of productivity. Moreover, according to McKinsey Consumer Pulse surveys
done around the world, over three-quarters of consumers who used digital tools for the first
time during Covid-19 believe they will continue to use them once things return to "normal"
(McKinsey & Company, 2021). This demonstrates that the future work landscape is remote,
with a greater possibility of joining the digital nomad workforce. Furthermore, in section 2.0
a trend of digital nomads was identified via a Google trend search, the findings from this
research shows a substantial increase in terms of interest for a life as a digital nomad. It is
clear, this is not just a trend, this is a future development, that is here to stay.

50
 Again, as previously stated, working from home is beneficial to the environment. Air
pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, and carbon footprint are all reduced or eliminated when
daily workplace travels are reduced or eliminated. With the current climate crisis, these
modifications would have a significant impact which is a powerful motivator (Prossack,
2021).

With the current situation of the pandemic the discussion of the shift into remote work
seems more relevant than ever. This thesis concludes that remote work is here to stay, and
that this research of digital nomads could help to understand the upcoming remote workforce
and their needs along with how digital tools can fulfill them through a good digital
infrastructure. Therefore, it could be of good use to any employer considering a remote
workforce or any employee aiming to become one.

7.1 For future research

To broaden the research field further, the researcher think it would be suitable to
conduct further case studies on a larger sampling group. More specifically, a larger group
containing digital nomads from more nationalities to get a more accurate perspective of the
research and address the critique against the community and its definitions. Since there is a
racial disparity in the digital nomad community it would have been beneficial to have an
equal amount of people of color as white westerners to research beyond the media
representation and create more diversity. For future research it could be relevant to collect
data providing the perspectives of digital nomads from several views and compare their
differences.

Since remote working is here to stay it would be beneficial to research if and how
specific digital tools can fulfill and replace the needs that people have when working in an
office by creating a digital infrastructure tailored to specific individuals or a specific
profession. This could contribute to a better the understanding of how to motivate and see to
the needs of upcoming remote workforces consisting out of digital natives (Prensky, 2011).

Since this research was carried out in the middle of the pandemic the findings cannot
conclude or determine the future of the digital nomads. Therefore, the researcher suggests
further exploration about the future of digital nomads to see if remote work could become the
norm rather than the exception after the pandemic.

51
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Ventegodt, S., Merrick, J., & Andersen, N. J. (2003). Quality of life theory III. Maslow
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Appendix 1. Information Letter to Facebook Group

English version:

Hi everyone, my name is Ebba and I’m a master’s student in media & communication at
Malmö University. I’m currently writing my master thesis and have decided to dedicate my
research to study digital nomads since I find the lifestyle and possibilities it includes very
fascinating. The title of the paper is: “The development of the digital nomad during the
course of the pandemic. - The digital nomad workforce, a study looking into the power
of digital tools allowing people to work remotely.”

The aim of the study is to get a greater understanding of what a digital nomad is and how it is
defined since the research on this is still rather limited. I also hope to be able to learn how the
workforce of our future could be understood in a deeper sense. Moreover, since the pandemic
has limited travel, I would like to research what defines a digital nomad today and how has it
changed during the pandemic and possibly reach a new working definition.

Therefore, I’m looking for interviewees to participate in this study. The only requirement is
that you consider yourself a digital nomad. The interviews will last for a maximum of 60
minutes and your participation in the study is completely voluntary. You can stop
participating at any time and no explanation is necessary and you will be anonymous
throughout the research, no names or personal information will be included.

I would be very happy if you would consider participating and let me interview you! If so,
please leave a comment on this post or send me a DM.

Thank you for your time and I hope to hear from you!

Warm regards,

Ebba Ahlberg

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Swedish Version:

Hej allihopa!

Jag heter Ebba och jag är en mastersstudent som läser media & kommunikation vid Malmö
Universitet. Jag skriver just nu min masteruppsats och har beslutat att ägna min forskning åt
att studera digitala nomader eftersom jag minst sagt tycker det är ett fascinerande fenomen
som verkar öppna upp till många möjligheter. Uppsatsens titel är:” The development of the
digital nomad during the course of the pandemic.

Syftet med studien är att få en större förståelse för vad en digital nomad är och hur det
definieras eftersom forskningen kring detta fortfarande är ganska begränsad. Jag hoppas
också att jag ska få en bättre inblick i hur framtidens distansarbete och arbetskraft kan
komma att se ut. Eftersom pandemin har begränsat vårt resande, vill jag dessutom undersöka
vad som definierar en digital nomad idag och hur har detta har förändrats under pandemin
och förhoppningsvis komma fram till nya insikter.

Jag var med på erat Clubhouse-möte i morse och fick massor med bra info, så kul och
lärorikt, verkligen! Jag skulle dock behöva samla på mig lite mer info.

Därmed letar jag nu efter digitala nomader som kan tänka sig att intervjuas. Det enda kravet
är att man anser sig vara en digital nomad. Intervjuerna kommer att pågå i högst 60 minuter
och ditt deltagande i studien är helt frivilligt. Du kan avbryta intervjun när som helst och
ingen förklaring är nödvändig. Man kommer att vara anonym under hela forskningen, inga
namn eller personlig information kommer att inkluderas.

Jag skulle vara otroligt glad om du skulle överväga att delta och låta mig intervjua dig! Om så
är fallet, lämna en kommentar på det här inlägget eller skicka mig ett DM.

Tack för din tid och jag hoppas på att få höra från dig!

Varma hälsningar,

Ebba

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Appendix 2. Interview Questions

English Version

What is a digital nomad and what characterizes it?

• How do you define a digital nomad?
• Do you consider digital nomadism to be closely connected to digital platforms, such
as Facebook, Instagram or Youtube?
• What is a digital nomad today and how has it changed during the pandemic? – Can
you see a difference?
• If yes, what are the new and old conditions for digital nomads that the pandemic has
created?
• What are your general thoughts about the future for digital nomads?

Basic information regarding the specific interviewee:

• Do you identify yourself as a digital nomad?
• What do you do for work to be able to be a digital nomad?
• How long have you been a digital nomad?
• Why did you become a digital nomad?
• What is the best part and the benefits of being a digital nomad?
• What are the disadvantages with being a digital nomad?

The community of digital nomads:

• Would you say that you have a strong community as a digital nomad? – Refer to the
Facebook
• group as an example.
• Do you experience that there is a strong community for digital nomads? Such as meet-
ups at co-working spaces or cafes when not having a regular office.

Digital nomads and the pandemic:

• Did something happen to the plan you had set out for your life prior to the pandemic?
• Do you think digital nomads survive the pandemic better than “ordinary office”
people? In terms of mental health and adapting to remote work.
• Have the positive things about being a digital nomad been removed due to the
pandemic? – I.e., travelling, co-working, being a part of a community etc.
• Do you think there will be an increase of digital nomads after the pandemic?
• Have you seen an increase in terms of interest for people wanting to stay remote or
become a digital nomad after the pandemic?

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Swedish Version

Vad är en digital nomad och vad kännetecknar dem?

• Hur definierar du en digital nomad?
• Anser du att digitala nomader är tätt ihopkopplade med digitala plattformar som Facebook,
Instagram eller Youtube eller är det bara som det verkar från utsidan?
• Upplever du att det finns några specifika normer för digital nomader som du lagt märke till?
• Vad är en digital nomad idag och hur har det förändrats under pandemin? - Ser du skillnad?
• Om ja, vilka är de nya och gamla förutsättningarna för digitala nomader som pandemin har
skapat?
• Vad är dina allmänna tankar om framtiden för digitala nomader?

Grundläggande information om deltaganden:

• Identifierar du dig själv som en digital nomad?
• Vad jobbar du med som gör det möjligt att vara en digital nomad?
• Varför blev du en digital nomad?
• Vad är fördelarna med att vara en digital nomad?
• Vad är nackdelarna med att vara en digital nomad?

Gemenskapen av digitala nomader

• Skulle du säga att du har en stark gemenskap som digital nomad? - Ge Facebookgruppen
som exempel
• Upplever du att det finns en stark gemenskap överlag för digitala nomader? Såsom möten
på co-working spaces eller kaféer när du inte har ett vanligt kontor.

Digitala nomader och pandemin

• Har planen som du hade för ditt liv ändrats på grund av pandemin?
• Tror du att digitala nomader överlever pandemin bättre än "vanligt kontorsfolk"? När det
gäller mental hälsa och att anpassa sig till distansarbete.
• Har de positiva sakerna med att vara digital nomad tagits bort på grund av pandemin? - Dvs
att resa, samarbeta, vara en del av ett samhälle etc.
• Tror du att antalet digitala nomader kommer att öka efter pandemin?
• Har du sett en ökning av intresse av människor som vill fortsätta arbeta på distans eller
eventuellt bli en digital nomad efter pandemin?
• Eftersom extremt många studenter nu provat på distanslivet. Tror du det är möjligt att gå
direkt från studier till ett liv som digital nomad eller krävs det tidigare arbetserfarenhet? Om
ja, hur hade man gått till väga?

Det var alla frågor från mig, har du något du vill tillägga innan vi avslutar som du tror kan
vara av intresse för den här studien? Allting som jag har lärt mig är från forskning och nu
hoppas jag på att skapa en bild från digitala nomaders sida. Om du känner att vissa
`statements` har varit fel eller dylikt är det bara att säga till.

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