Giddens à la Carte? Appraising empirical applications of Structuration Theory in management and organization studies

Abstract

There is an increasing interest in the application of Structuration Theory in the fields of management and organization studies. Based upon a thorough literature review, we have come up with a data-set to assess how Structuration Theory has been used in empirical research. We use three key concepts of this theory (duality of structure, knowledgeability, and time-space) as sensitizing concepts for our analysis. We conclude that the greatest potential of Structuration Theory for management and organization studies is to view it as a process theory that offers a distinct building block for explaining intra and interorganizational change, as exemplified through concepts such as routine, script, genre, practice, and discourse.

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“…For instance, Giddens [10] has been criticized for conflating agency and structure [27], for not clearly defining his central concept of rules [11,28], and for an overly simplified dependency on the concept of rules in his notion of signification and legitimation [11,29]. Also, its highly abstract nature and lack of clear guidelines regarding its empirical application can make it difficult to use structuration theory in empirical research, e.g., [29,30].…”

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“…More specifically, the theory provides a set of processes and influences that help distinguish structures of different social institutions and can help understand incompatibilities that may arise when structures from different institutions come into contact in the production of collective action. Structuration also facilitates a sharpened focus on the intersection or evolution of social actors and institutions through the renegotiation of structure and agency (Den Hond et al, 2012).…”

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“…Gregson, 1989;Pozzebon & Pinsonneault, 2005;Stones, 2005). This has led to efforts to combine it with other theoretical lenses (den Hond et al, 2012;Pozzebon, 2004;Whittington, 1992). The approach has been problematic for SaP scholars wishing to undertake empirical research who, directed to the theory by the work of others, find it insufficient for their needs.…”

“…This signifies that SaP's mobilization of ToS, together with Whittington's list, reflects common research practices unearthed by den Hond et al (2012) in the broader management literature. We reviewed subsequent SaP research published since 2015 to ascertain whether we should add any further literature to Whittington's list, but our search found no additional papers that fulfilled the criteria of exemplifying ToS while adding new insights.…”