TY - JOUR
T1 - Practice theory and the study of interaction in business relationships - Some methodological implications
AU - La Rocca, Antonella
AU - Hoholm, Thomas
AU - Mørk, Bjørn Erik
PY - 2017
Y1 - 2017
N2 - Research on customer–supplier relationships in businessmarkets has evidenced the centrality of interaction processes.
However, while several studies examine interaction processes and their consequences in relation to the
resource and activity layers of business relationships, the actor layer has not attracted the same attention. This
raises the question: how adequate are our methodological approaches for investigating interaction processes
in business networks? In this paper, we examine how practice-based approaches, with their preference for ethnography
and techniques such asmulti-site observations and analytical interviewing and treating actors as emergent
entities, can help orient the research on business interaction.We argue that some of the themes emerging in
practice-based approaches, applied to studies of interaction in business networks, could yield a better understanding
of the dynamics of organizing across organizational boundaries. We conclude that research on interaction
in business relationships would benefit from(1) zooming in and zooming out of multiple sites of interaction
to better understand interaction processes and the role of controversies and interdependences among the different
interacting roles; (2) including fluid multiple roles in business relationships that treat actors as emergent
entities and transcend the ‘fixed’ conceptualization of two actor levels – individual and organizational; and
(3) paying major attention to the reproduction of interaction practices and the role of materiality that permit
relationships to be temporarily stabilized.
AB - Research on customer–supplier relationships in businessmarkets has evidenced the centrality of interaction processes.
However, while several studies examine interaction processes and their consequences in relation to the
resource and activity layers of business relationships, the actor layer has not attracted the same attention. This
raises the question: how adequate are our methodological approaches for investigating interaction processes
in business networks? In this paper, we examine how practice-based approaches, with their preference for ethnography
and techniques such asmulti-site observations and analytical interviewing and treating actors as emergent
entities, can help orient the research on business interaction.We argue that some of the themes emerging in
practice-based approaches, applied to studies of interaction in business networks, could yield a better understanding
of the dynamics of organizing across organizational boundaries. We conclude that research on interaction
in business relationships would benefit from(1) zooming in and zooming out of multiple sites of interaction
to better understand interaction processes and the role of controversies and interdependences among the different
interacting roles; (2) including fluid multiple roles in business relationships that treat actors as emergent
entities and transcend the ‘fixed’ conceptualization of two actor levels – individual and organizational; and
(3) paying major attention to the reproduction of interaction practices and the role of materiality that permit
relationships to be temporarily stabilized.
KW - Interaction, Practice-based studies, Business relationships, Actors, Methodology
KW - Interaction, Practice-based studies, Business relationships, Actors, Methodology
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10807/178318
U2 - 10.1016/j.indmarman.2016.04.002
DO - 10.1016/j.indmarman.2016.04.002
M3 - Article
SN - 0019-8501
SP - 187
EP - 195
JO - Industrial Marketing Management
JF - Industrial Marketing Management
ER -