Behind Closed Doors: Interaction Rituals and the Building of Social Ties in Private Company-Investor MeetingsÀ huis clos : rituels d'interaction et construction de liens sociaux lors des réunions privées entre sociétés et investisseurs

Abstract

This paper examines private meetings between company managers and institutional investors as part of the broader financial reporting environment. Using direct observations of 39 such meetings across four large, listed companies—complemented with the study of preparatory work and internal documents—the paper investigates how these meetings help build and maintain relationships between companies and investors. The analysis shows that the importance of these meetings lies not primarily in the exchange of new information but in the creation of familiarity, focused engagement, and exclusivity, which strengthen social ties and reinforce participants' positions in the capital market. Drawing on interaction ritual theory, the paper identifies three forms of ritual work through which these outcomes are produced: assembly work, conversational work, and bodily work. The study contributes to research on the social embeddedness of capital markets and suggests that private reporting meetings should be understood not only as informational events but also as relational mechanisms that shape access, trust, and network persistence.