Managing Intercultural Business Relations: Metapragmatic Expressions in Online Negative Review Responses

The proliferation of mass media and online platforms has catalyzed the digital turn of business communication. This paper adopts an intercultural pragmatic perspective to explore the interpersonal functions of metapragmatic expressions (MPEs) in online negative review responses, an area that has received limited attention in earlier research, particularly with regard to the interpersonal dynamics in intercultural business settings. Based on 277 English negative reviews and responses gathered from TripAdvisor in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, this study found that agents use MPEs to manage rapport when responding to online negative reviews. More specifically, the interpersonal functions of MPEs are embodied in different move structures as they are used as common ground builders and salience adjusters. The present study advances our understanding of the MPEs in digital intercultural business communication and sheds light on metapragmatic awareness and intercultural pragmatic competence that are essential for managing business relations.