Economic Exchange: Interdisciplinary Conceptualizations for Management Applications

The concept of 'Economic Exchange', taken in the neoclassical economics sense, has traditionally yielded a unilateral direction for business and management studies, that of profit maximization. This paper argues that, the same, when conceptualized from a sociological and anthropological point of view in particular, taking theorization by Polanyi (1946), Weber (1978) and Zafirovski (2001) into cognizance, can generate many alternative and interesting directions. Illustrations for the same have been provided in the form of management applications. Some controversies in the lifecycle of the concept have been noted such as that of the 'rational' man or Homo Economicus, which eventually led to the emergence of socio-economics and the consequential paradigmatic realignments among scholars, as a rebuttal to the dominant paradox. We undertake a conceptual exploration and synthesis of the relevant trans-disciplinary literature. Future implications for discursive research in management are discussed.