Social Interaction in the Workplace: A Review of Conversation Analytic Research

This chapter centers on workplace interaction from the perspective of conversation analysis. After introducing the relevance of multimodal conversation analysis for research in workplace interaction, this chapter, based on a scoping review of 69 studies published in the last decade (2013–2023), outlines the characteristics of these studies and addresses gaps in the literature. The review reveals that a large proportion of conversation analytic workplace
studies are based on data collected in public organizations that are based
predominantly in Western countries and where mostly Indo-European languages are spoken. Ten studies, which are based on data from culturally or linguistically diverse workplaces, address cultural and multilingual aspects of the interactions, maintaining and restoring intersubjectivity, and aspects of L2 learning in the workplace. It is concluded that more studies are needed based on more diverse data, including workplaces in the Global South, commercial settings, and using workplace-specific tools. Overall, the review demonstrates that conversation analytic research can provide valuable insights into workplace interaction and can contribute to our understanding of how organizations are socially and communicatively accomplished.