Imagined relational capital: An analytical tool in considering small tourism firms' sociality

•UK based study on small tourism firms in Yorkshire's towns of Scarborough, Bridlington and Whitby.•Use of imagined relational capital in examining small tourism firms' sociality.•Rhizomic configuration of relationality.

In this paper I introduce the notion of imagined relational capital (IRC) to examine the sociality of small tourism firms operating in coastal towns of Scarborough, Bridlington and Whitby in Yorkshire. Drawing upon the work of Deleuze and Guattari, I underline how IRC becomes a portmanteau term for comprehending iterative ties of (dis)association that embody real/imagined affinities and hostilities owners and managers assemble and experience towards each other. The analysis illustrates how IRC emanating from rhizomic configuration of their (in)formal engagement ruptures preset perceptions and moulds milieus where new modes of thinking and feeling are imagined and practiced. By focussing on the constitutive role of IRC in shaping respondents' worldviews, this study offers distinctive perspective in conceptualising ambivalent and complex interface small tourism firms mutually maintain.