Operating in perpetual motion? Coping with the dark side of global boundary spanning

Abstract Research Summary This paper explores how individuals experience and cope with the demands of global boundary spanning in multinational enterprises (MNEs). We foreground temporary colocation as a modality through which mobile global boundary spanners repeatedly traverse multiple boundaries, triggering intense demands with adverse consequences. Extending the micro‐level perspective on boundary spanning, we show that active coping behaviors enable mobile global boundary spanners to generate strategic value for the MNE through network coordination, knowledge mobilization, and contextual adjustment. Our typology demonstrates how structural and spatial variability in global boundary spanning roles shapes the dynamic interplay between demands, adverse effects, and coping behaviors. Contributing to the dark side of global boundary spanning, we illustrate how global orchestrator roles challenge individuals to operate in a state of perpetual motion. Managerial Summary Managers in multinational enterprises (MNEs) are under increasing pressure to be more flexible, mobile, and strategic as they span organizational and geographical boundaries across a dispersed global network. Our study explores how mobile global boundary spanners who traverse and negotiate multiple boundaries cope with intense demands and unanticipated negative consequences. Our findings caution global firms against overburdening these strategically valuable boundary spanners, as doing so may constrain network relations, impair knowledge flows, and hamper local learning. We offer a typology that managers and organizations can use to assess the adverse effects of these demands and understand how MNEs can harness the integrative scope and adaptive breadth of these strategically flexible individuals.