Abstract
This paper aims to describe and evaluate the activities of store managers related to their role as boundary spanners between customers, their retail management, and the management of the shopping centre in which their store is located. We present a conceptual framework that synthesises findings from the boundary spanning and the retail management literature. There we propose two types of boundary spanning activities: representational and informational including information relay related components. To explore the characteristics of each type of activity we conducted 34 in-depth interviews with store managers reflecting the retail tenant mix of a regional and a super-regional mall. A content analysis based on a multiple coding procedure reveals the existence of both types of activities. However, not all of our interviewees act as boundary spanners and thus undertake both informational and representational activities. Overall interviewees perceive boundary spanning activities as important for the management of shopping centre operations and marketing. The contribution of this paper is to (1) substantiate the overlooked role of store managers as boundary spanners between their retail organisation, the shopping centre and its customers (2) highlight their considerable potential to reflect upon and inform decision making in a shopping centre environment.