Watching whale watching: Exploring the discursive foundations of collaborative relationships

Abstract

In this article, the authors develop a discourse analytic framework for examining the antecedents, dynamics, and outcomes of interorganizational collaboration. They argue that a framework based on a discursive understanding of collaboration can provide a coherent basis for understanding the dynamics of collaboration, the relation of collaboration to its broader institutional context, and the management and facilitation of collaborative activity as a communicative process. The authors base this framework on a study of the fabric of collaborative relationships that characterize one organizational field-the Pacific Northwest whale-watching industry. The theoretical framework they have developed..