An empirical cross-cultural study of humour in business meetings in New Zealand and Japan

•This study reports a qualitative analysis of humour in authentic business meetings.•The first cross-cultural study comparing humour in New Zealand and Japanese meetings.•Humour serves relational functions both in the NZ and Japanese business meetings.•The manifestations of humour are different according to each CofP.

Transactional or work-related discourse is highly valued in the workplace because of its obvious relevance to workplace objectives. However, relational or social talk plays an equally valuable role by contributing to good workplace relations (e.g., Fletcher, 1999, Holmes and Stubbe, 2003 and Schnurr, 2005). The research literature indicates that humour makes a particularly important contribution in this area. Most research, however, has been conducted in English-speaking societies and/or Western countries.This article fills a gap in empirical cross-cultural studies, drawing on authentic Japanese workplace discourse. It reports a qualitative analysis of humour in Japanese and New Zealand business meetings, describing its manifestations and functions. The first section reviews the relevant literature and outlines the conceptual frameworks used for the analysis and the methodology adopted in the analysis. The results of the analysis are then discussed. The analysis indicates that (1) though humour serves as Relational Practice, its manifestations are distinctive in each CofP, and (2) meeting members enact Relational Practice through humour in ways that meet the underlying expectations of each CofP.