TOWARDS AN INTEGRATED FRAMEWORK FOR BUSINESS DISCOURSE: MOVING BEYOND DISCIPLINARY DIVIDES

Abstract

For a long time, business communication research has oscillated between competing priorities: professional training and theoretical rigor, quantitative and qualitative methods, and North American and European epistemological traditions. This conceptual article revisits the seminal argument made by Bargiela-Chiappini and Nickerson (2002) in their seminal opinion piece, Business Discourse: Old Arguments, New Horizons. He argues that the proposed shift from "business communication" to "business speech" represents more than a semantic shift, but a fundamental reorientation toward language as a social act. Drawing on their integrated multi-level analytical framework (macro, meso, micro), this article makes three contributions. First, it synthesizes the “old debates” around disciplinary identity, borders and methodological pluralism. Second, it introduces the concept of collaborative research as a practical solution to interdisciplinary research challenges. Third, we demonstrate the applicability of the concept in four empirical domains. Importantly, this article also provides a unique perspective on the limitations of this framework in the era of artificial intelligence-mediated communication, the unresolved tensions between power and speech in business environments, and the need to expand partnership research to include non-managerial and non-Western voices. The article concludes that while Bargella-Chiappini and Nickerson's vision remains incredibly visionary, it needs to be updated to reflect the digital, postcolonial, and algorithmic realities of 21st century work.