Interaction Ritual Theory Research Articles

On the cult of the individual: The Quantified Self public gatherings, self-tracking, and individualism

The article explores the relationship between individualism and group affiliation in the context of self-tracking technology. Prior research establishes that self-tracking fosters both self-focus and collective interactions. The article proposes that Durkheim’s notion of the cult of the individual offers a lens to understand the interplay of individualism and group formation in self-tracking. The notion of the cult of the individual suggests that individualism can be a source of public gatherings. While Durkheim’s notion remained largely untested for over a century, this study aims to build upon Durkheim’s framework by operationalizing it using Collins’s interaction ritual theory. By operationalizing the cult of the individual as a specific form of interaction ritual, we can analyze the collective mechanisms at play within the Quantified Self movement. This group organizes a community of self-trackers who share personal data during public gatherings. The article explores these public gatherings by deciphering their video recordings. Quantified Self-individualist gatherings are constituted by the co-presence of self-focused people, presenting one after the other their personal data following a script, and defending individuals against profaning situations. Quantified Self gatherings formed a transnational interaction ritual chain in approximately 71 cities on four continents, confirming that individualist gatherings can achieve a wide diffusion. Therefore, this original operationalization of Durkheim’s notion of the cult of the individual illustrates its enduring relevance and potential for broader application.

Small talk and knowledge sharing: a moderated dual-facilitating pathway model based on interpersonal trust and perceived similarity

PurposeThis study aims to investigate how small talk interaction affects knowledge sharing, examining the mediating role of interpersonal trust (affect- and cognition-based trust) and the moderating role of perceived similarity among the mechanisms of small talk and knowledge sharing.Design/methodology/approachThis research conducts complementary studies and collects multi-culture and multi-wave data to test research hypotheses and adopts structural equation modeling to validate the whole conceptual model.FindingsThe research findings first reveal two trust mechanisms linking small talk and knowledge sharing. Meanwhile, the perceived similarity between employees, specifically, strengthens the affective pathway of trust rather than the cognitive pathway of trust.Originality/valueThis study combines Interaction Ritual Theory and constructs a dual-facilitating pathway approach that aims to reveal the impact of small talk on knowledge sharing, describing how and when small talk could generate a positive effect on knowledge sharing. This research provides intriguing and dynamic insights into understanding knowledge sharing processes.

Converting idol attachment into place attachment: a study of fan tourists’ idol-following travel

ABSTRACT Idol-following travel is a global cultural phenomenon with significant economic benefits for destinations. This research adopts a mixed-method approach guided by Interaction Ritual Theory to understand the idol effect on destinations. Study 1 explores the driving force behind fan tourists’ idol-following travel, the interaction rituals during the trip, and the emotions toward the destination after the journey through qualitative analysis. Study 2 uses PLS-SEM analysis to test how idol attachment converts into place attachment. Findings reveal that idol attachment positively affects fan-environment and fan-fan interactions, enhancing fans’ empathy with their idols. This empathy increases their attachment to the destination.

South Korean DMZ tourists’ experience co-creation explained by motivation, interaction, and emotional solidarity

Despite the military and political tensions surrounding the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), over 1.2 million individuals visit the destination each year. Considering various tourist motivations and the group-oriented tour setting at the DMZ and employing the Interaction Ritual Theory as a theoretical guide, this study examined how South Korean DMZ tourists' motivations and interaction led to emotional solidarity, thereby facilitating the co-creation of their DMZ experience. Study results (N = 409) revealed that politics and curiosity motivations significantly influenced their interaction, while knowledge and war motivations only impacted emotional solidarity. Emotional solidarity directly contributed to experience co-creation, whereas interaction only had an indirect impact mediated through emotional solidarity. The findings enrich the understanding of the distinctive roles of South Korean DMZ tourists' motivations and highlight interaction as a key in evaluating their experience co-creation. It especially offers new insights that emotional solidarity is a critical antecedent to experience co-creation. The findings provide government officials and destination managers with practical suggestions for further management and marketing of DMZ tourism. Future research can further consider group differences when testing the conceptual model—such as DMZ tourists' travel pattern (e.g., individuals or groups) or nationality (e.g., South Korean or foreigners)—and utilize qualitative research methods to complement the quantitative findings.

Reframing Social Tectonics with the Sociology of Everyday Life: Insights from the Public Spaces of a Mixed Housing Neighbourhood

Social mix policies aim to integrate residents living in diverse forms of housing. While numerous studies have showcased the limitations of social mix in achieving this objective, explanations for this tendency remain incomplete. Accordingly, this qualitative case study adopts insights from the sociology of everyday life and interaction ritual theory to elaborate on academic understandings of (non)-interaction between disparate groups in mixed housing communities. It draws primarily from observational fieldwork and semi-structured interview data gathered in the public spaces of a transitioning mid-sized city in Ontario, Canada. The findings report how everyday encounters among and between the urban poor and wealthier residents (re)produce patterns of group solidarity and conflict. The continued application of micro-sociological perspectives to housing mix research can chronicle and perhaps mend the gaps between government housing policy objectives and the experiences of residents living within relevant legislative jurisdictions.

Going online: Peer entrepreneur networks in a startup accelerator before and during the COVID-19 pandemic

A key value proposition of startup accelerators is the creation of social networks among participating entrepreneurs. The formation of these so-called “peer entrepreneur networks” is assumed to be strengthened by physical proximity within the accelerator, which facilitates the creation of trust and opportunities for informal, and often serendipitous, interactions. However, in response to the global spread of COVID-19, accelerators abruptly shifted their programs online, thereby allowing a rare opportunity to test the veracity of the assumption that physical proximity drives social connectivity. To understand how this shift affected peer entrepreneur networks, we compare longitudinal network data of two consecutive cohorts of the same accelerator: one offline-before, and one online-during, the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing from the literature on physical proximity and interaction ritual theory, we show that in the online (compared to the offline) program, peer entrepreneur networks became less dense, entrepreneurs reached fewer peers via indirect connections, and clustering increased. We discuss contributions to theory on peer entrepreneur networks and startup accelerators.

Recognition in Targeted Youth Work: Young Adults’ Experiences of Care, Respect, and Esteem

AbstractThis article develops a framework, based on recognition theory, for examining youth work services that target young Finnish adults who are not in education or employment. It complements previous research by examining targeted youth work (TYW) as an institutional context with specific ways of recognising young adults. Drawing upon Axel Honneth’s recognition theory and Randall Collins’ interaction ritual theory, it explores how the context can provide access to different kinds of recognition-based situations. Thus, the analysis addresses how the three different forms of recognition (care, respect, and esteem) are activated and experienced by young adults in targeted youth work. Examining data drawn from 35 interviews with young adults who have been or are currently outside of education or employment, the findings highlight the potential of targeted youth work to offer social interactions that can help clients to encounter care, respect, and esteem. Findings also reveal the potential challenges of providing recognition in targeted youth work, such as the lack of meaningful opportunities for self-determination and autonomy. This study contributes to research on how recognition theory can be understood and applied in social and youth work services.

Group counterattack to destination infringement events: media empowerment and emotional conduction regarding interactive ritual theory

ABSTRACT To explore the fomentation and diffusion process of tourism infringement incidents on social media, this study adopted an exploratory sequential mixed-method approach. Findings from in-depth interview and web text analysis indicated that destination crisis event on social media is fermented in three stages: emotional arousal, emotional interaction and emotional resonance. Further, quantitative research (PLS-SEM) yielded the impact of social norms, emotional motivation, ritual admission and emotional polarization on information empowerment, psychological empowerment and social empowerment, as well as the further reaction of tourist complaint and word-of-mouth (WOM). The current research contributes to the application and development of interaction ritual theory and empowerment theory in tourism field, and social media empowerment mechanism also provides inspiration for marketing and public opinion crisis management for tourism destinations.

The Impact of Compulsory Citizenship Behavior on Job Performance of New-Generation Knowledge Workers: The Roles of Ego Depletion and Relational Energy.

Based on ego depletion theory and interaction ritual theory, this research explores the impact of compulsory citizenship behavior on new-generation knowledge workers' job performance via the mediating role of ego depletion and the moderating role of relational energy employees experienced in interactions with coworkers. Two studies were conducted to explore the impact of compulsory citizenship behavior on job performance. Study 1 used a 10-day daily diary Survey (N=112) and Study 2 used a questionnaire survey conducted multiple times (N=356) to test the hypotheses. The results of Study 1 and Study 2 were almost convergent. Compulsory citizenship behavior had a negative effect on job performance through the mediating effect of ego depletion. In addition, relational energy negatively moderated the effect of compulsory citizenship behavior on ego depletion and negatively moderated the mediating effect of ego depletion between compulsory citizenship behavior and job performance. The results deepen our understanding of the mechanism underlying the effect of compulsory citizenship behavior on job performance from the theoretical perspective of psychological energy, and also provide practical implications on how to manage new-generation knowledge employees' work behavior and job performance.

Individual Emotions Describing Continuity and Engagement in Religion: Charismatic Communality in the Light of Interaction Ritual Theory

The emotionality of modern times is evident in the ways in which people are religious. Among the Christian denominations, the Charismatic/Pentecostal movement, in all its diversity, is the most successful in spreading globally. It has been argued that charismatic communities are successful venues of interaction and are powerful in offering emotional experiences. However, in order for such religious experiences to lead to a continuity of religious interaction, a long-term tone of emotional energy and the presence of a stable social bond between participants is needed. The aim of this article is to analyze emotional energy as an outcome of successful interaction rituals in charismatic communities. Emotional energy is a concept that Randal Collins has formed, building on Durkheim, to analyze emotions in interaction by viewing them as “the main motivating force in social life”. This was studied by interviewing individuals on their emotions about their charismatic communities and daily life. When utilizing a self-report focus on subjective feelings, individuals may report information using different wordings relevant to any component of emotion. Special importance is placed on the cognitive processing of emotional episodes, which allows individuals to detect the relevance of each emotion, understand its causes and consequences, and communicate the emotional knowledge to others, including the researcher. The results show that, most of all, the emotions that cause some sort of pleasure, e.g., happiness and surprise, are the leading lights in narrating engagement in charismatic communities and faith. Faith also has a fear-regulating effect. Happiness as a mood is built both on experiences of God’s help and even more on one’s responsible way of life and the feeling of abandoning moral hesitation in favor of doing what is ethically right in life, which also regulates negative emotions. Collins’ theory focuses on emotional energy that is positive, but emotional experiences can also be negative, which do not contribute to the solidarity of a group.

Interaction rituals and technology: A review essay

This article aims to advance research on interaction rituals (IR) and technology. Its starting point is interaction ritual theory, a key micro-sociological approach that postulates IRs as the micro-interactional glue that holds social life together. This approach sees IRs as requiring bodily co-presence among interactants, thus casting doubt over the ritual potential of technology-mediated interaction. In recent years, however, studies have begun problematizing this view through investigations of technology-mediated IRs (TMIR). Counter to IR theory, these studies show that IRs can take place in lieu of bodily copresence and that technologies offer new opportunities for and create distinctively novel forms of rituals and communities. Crucially, however, this emerging literature has an under-theorized understanding of user-technology relationships, which leaves significant gaps in our understanding of IRs and technology. To advance the field, it is suggested that future research should consider: a broader ecology of technologies; heterogeneous users, uses, and circumstances; cultural coding and domestication; and the technologies of face-to-face interaction. This can facilitate a more fundamental reappraisal of the relationship between IRs and technology, which, in turn, can improve our understanding of both TMIR and IR more generally.

Effects of online brand community rituals on customer citizenship behavior: exploring the sequential mediation mechanism

PurposeFew extant studies have focused on digital rituals and investigated the relationship between them and customer citizenship behavior in the context of online brand communities (OBCs). This study aims to examine the sequential mediation mechanism of emotional energy and spiritual brand identification under interaction ritual theory and identifies membership prototypicality as the moderator.Design/methodology/approachAn online investigation of 515 OBC users was conducted to gather data, and structural equation modeling was applied to test the hypotheses.FindingsThe empirical results revealed that OBC rituals were positively related to customer citizenship behavior. Emotional energy and spiritual brand identification could play mediating roles in the relationship between OBC rituals and customer citizenship behavior. Furthermore, there existed a sequential mediation mechanism with emotional energy as the first mediator and spiritual brand identification as the second. The effect of OBC rituals on emotional energy was more significant for peripheral members than prototypical members.Practical implicationsManagers of OBCs should conduct various ritualistic strategies to stimulate users to perform customer citizenship behaviors. Discrete ritualized activities should be intended for members of different prototypicalities.Originality/valueThis study provides a profound insight on how OBC rituals foster customer citizenship behavior and is among the first to explore such a relationship. It also investigates the sequential mediation mechanism, thus broadening the research on the influencing processes of OBC rituals on customer citizenship behavior.

Interaction Rituals and Social Relationships in a Rural Tourism Destination

The reproduction of social relationships in a rural tourism destination is examined through a micro-sociological lens that explores residents’ everyday interactions. Interaction ritual theory is adopted as the theoretical foundation. Zhinan, a mountainous village in Hangzhou, China, which initiated tourism in 2014, is the study site. Two rounds of focus groups and interviews were conducted with village residents. Qualitative inquiry shows that, under the influence of tourism, residents’ daily interactions consist of three interaction rituals, that is, rural living rituals, tourism operation rituals, and event and festival rituals. Due to the distinct ingredients, these rituals unfold differentially and engage different social actors. They complement each other in the co-construction of rural social relationships that have symbolic, emotional, collective, and normative connotations. This study provides in-depth, contextualized understandings of rural residents’ interactions and relationships, and draws practical implications for sustainable development of rural tourism destinations.

Coded Racialized Discourse Among Educators: Implications for Social-Emotional Outcomes and Cultures of Antiblackness at an Urban School

Despite good intentions, educators often inadvertently uphold systems of antiblackness that undermine the well-being of Black students. This article combines qualitative content analysis and interactional analysis to interrogate how daily interactions between educators in an urban high school in the Midwest may contribute to a school culture of antiblackness. Findings indicate that educators at this school rely on coded and non-coded racialized language to talk about Black students. Further, the article uses Interaction Ritual Theory to argue that the racialized discourse acts as a socio-emotional resource for educators in urban contexts. Implications for schools, policy makers, and researchers are discussed.

Peer Entrepreneur Networks in a Startup Accelerator Before and During the Covid-19 Pandemic

In response to the global spread of COVID-19, startup accelerators have shifted all activities online. To understand how this shift affects peer entrepreneur networks – a key constituent of accelerators value proposition to participating entrepreneurs – we draw on longitudinal network data from two editions of the same startup accelerator program before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on interaction ritual theory and the physical proximity principle, we hypothesize and test how online acceleration limits social connectivity. We find that in the online, compared to the offline cohort, networks became less dense, entrepreneurs reached fewer peers via indirect connections; and clustering increased. We highlight the impact of physical distancing on entrepreneurship and discuss contributions to theory on peer networks and startup acceleration.

Cycling Interaction Rituals in the Conflict against the Car. From the Bike Subculture to the City Scale and Beyond

ABSTRACT Mobility scholars have long been interested in challenging the automobile’s hegemony in the street, particularly by highlighting how to develop urban cycling. The article contributes to this task by explaining how one type of conflict between the bike and the car, exemplified notably by the critical mass, fosters cycling. The characteristics of this type of conflict need to be deciphered. The paper uses the interaction ritual (IR) theory to tackle this challenge. The IR theory hypothesizes that extraordinary IRs foster identification with a group, and motivate individual action. Moreover, these special IRs, often conflictual and taking place after crises, are the basis of lasting groups. This article connects IR theory to the act of riding a bike and identifying as a biker. We apply these hypotheses to two French bike workshops active in the cycling subculture. In these workshops, I observed the organization of extraordinary IRs in conflict with the car -e.g. critical masses and other mobilizations- and daily IRs around emblems created during extraordinary IRs. I also conducted interviews about the germinal role of IRs during crises in the history of each workshop. The empirical findings show that in successful conflicts against the car, bike activists are present in high numbers to stop car traffic. Simultaneously, these special IRs are non-violent, playful, and temporary. Three forms of cycling IRs correspond to this definition: oppositional, iconoclastic, and alternative IRs. These forms of IRs seem to be more efficient during small or large-scale crises.

리더 에너지가 부하의 절차공정성 인식에 미치는 영향

This study investigates a mediating model in which leader’s energy affects the procedural justice perception of subordinate through subordinate’s energy. The dual path of social contagion and leader role enactment posits that the leader’s energy positively affects subordinate’s energy. In turn, the subordinate’s energy improved by the leader’s energy is expected to positively affect procedural justice through two pathways. First, based on the broaden and build theory, the energy enables an extended interpretation of the organizational situation. According to the control theory approach, an extended interpretation of the situation will lead to increase procedural justice perception. Second, drawing on the interaction ritual theory, employee with high energy tend to experience positive social interactions with other members. According to the socio-emotional approach, individual with high energy experiences favorable social interaction with others, which enhances procedural justice perception. This study analyzes the data of 275 employees in China. Results reveal that leader’s energy positively affects subordinate’s energy. Also subordinate’s energy positively affects procedural justice perception. Finally, this study determines a significant mediating effect of the leader’s energy on the perception of procedural justice mediated by the subordinate’s energy. The results make a theoretical contribution to the organizational justice literature by explaining the formation of the perception from the lens of the accumulation and utilization of employee’s energy as a psychological resource. Moreover, the current study contributesto leadership research in that it explains the influence of leader energy. In practice, the results provide implications by examining the comprehensive influence of leader energy and suggesting a way to utilize it for leadership or organizational development.

COVID-19 prevention in hotels: Ritualized host-guest interactions

As COVID-19 prevention efforts have become normalized, conflicts between guests and hotel staff, who must adhere to government protocols, can have a serious impact on host-guest interactions. Drawing on interaction ritual chain theory, this research explores the ritualized mechanism of host-guest interactions during the pandemic from the perspectives of staff and guests. By combining video ethnography and interviews, this study identifies the ritual ingredients, processes, outcomes, and collective symbols of COVID-19 prevention measures. Based on the attitudes and performance paths of staff and guests, the interaction chain may become longer or shorter, and result in guests becoming “insiders” or “outsiders” and leaving the interaction space. An integrated model of host-guest interactions based on interaction ritual theory is proposed.

Why restorative justice works in schools: An investigation into the interactional dynamics of restorative circles

Many educators have turned to restorative justice when trying to create healthy school climates focused on student learning and development, but the scholarly literature around school-based restorative justice has not explained why or how restorative justice may contribute to school community. This empirical article suggests a mechanism for why restorative circles, the most canonical restorative justice practice, can be transformative to students and schools. Using data from a two-year ethnography in a predominantly Black high school in the United States, the article micro-analyzes five videoed restorative circles. The analysis reveals that the formalized rules that govern restorative circles change interactional patterns typically found in schools. Using Interaction Ritual Theory (Collins, 2004), the article argues that these interactional patterns generate group solidarity and individual emotional energy. These two major socio-emotional outcomes—group solidarity and individual emotional energy—have implications for both individuals and institutions.

Loneliness and interaction ritual theory: failed interaction chains among Finnish university students

This article relates loneliness to interaction ritual theory, understanding loneliness in terms of problematic microinteractional dynamics. The advantage of interaction ritual theory is that it extends our understanding of the issue of the psychologised self and related questions such as how loneliness feels or is experienced. Loneliness is here defined as a response to interaction representing relational understanding of emotions. Interaction ritual theory is interested in the emotional consequences that individuals experience from successful or unsuccessful interaction rituals. Loneliness in this view represents a state in which the individual is denied access to rewarding aspects of interaction. This study is based on 32 lifecourse interviews with Finnish students. It finds that loneliness as a failed microinteractional dynamic originates from students’ previous negative experiences of interaction, problematic situational settings and the structured flow of students’ daily activities.