Communication Modes of Exchange and Adaptive Interaction: Towards a Language Perspective on Stability and Change in Business Relationships

Within IMP literature the importance of understanding exchange and adaptive interaction in relationship and network development increasingly gains attention. However, the role of language by actors in exchange and adaptive interaction has so far been overlooked. Embedded in the “linguistic turn”, this paper takes a phenomenological perspective on language by taking Heidegger’s view point on the existence of being as a starting point. In conceptualizing how language works in each form of interaction, we argue that there are five distinctive modes of language underlying exchange and adaptive interaction and each one has different consequences for understanding stability and change in networks and relationships. Based on our conceptualization, we offer a set of methodological implications for discourse analysists and researchers interested in studying network and business relationship development from the perspective of situated actors. Finally, we offer some managerial implications for practitioners responsible for managing their relationship by underscoring the importance of language in relationship development.