“Vanilla” workplace culture: dining conversations and professional communication in US public relations

Abstract

Abstract

Purpose Everyday workplace dining conversations function as a form of informal organizational communication within the US public relations industry. Drawing on Bourdieu's concepts of cultural capital, habitus, and taste, the study explores how conversational norms enacted during shared meals shape professional belonging, civility, and interactional boundaries in contemporary communication workplaces. Design/methodology/approach Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with 23 US public relations practitioners working across organizational sectors. Interview data were thematically analyzed and interpreted abductively to identify retrospective accounts of conversational practices, social background, and cultural dispositions shaping workplace interaction during shared meals. Findings Workplace dining conversations were marked by a high degree of neutrality, professionalism, and conversational restraint, with discussion largely confined to work-related topics or light personal exchange. Rather than generating exclusion or conflict, shared meals reproduced a homogeneous communicative environment reflecting shared middle-class habitus and professional norms among practitioners. These dynamics are conceptualized as a form of “vanilla” workplace culture, in which civility, moderation, and safety regulate informal organizational communication. Originality/value The study contributes to communication management scholarship by demonstrating how mundane interactional settings, such as workplace dining, operate as informal mechanisms through which professional communication norms and symbolic belonging are reproduced. The findings apply Bourdieusian theory in the organizational communication context and offer insight into how civility and neutrality function as communicative resources within public relations workplaces.