Have your cake and eat it? Combining structure and agency in management research

Abstract

This paper presents an explanatory logic and an empirical illustration of how Stones’ strong structuration theory, specifically the methodological brackets of agent's conduct and agent's context analysis can be applied within case study research. The value of strong structuration theory, and the methodological bracketing tool, is its proximity to empirical research and the provision of robust guidelines which enable researchers to resolve the methodological challenges of combining structure and agency within research designs. We demonstrate the application of methodological bracketing as a tool for analysing structure and agency interactions within management research. The contribution of the paper is its explication of strong structuration theory as a credible, flexible, and evolving research approach which is suitable for a range of research questions in the management domain. The explanatory logic of the duality of structure will appeal to researchers interested in exploring and developing novel theoretical insights and fresh perspectives from case study data.

Organizational control in the context of remote working: A synthesis of empirical findings and a research agenda

“…Employees influence the control by monitoring themselves (i.e., self‐control) and their colleagues (i.e., peer control) and taking actions that influence the efficacy of organizational and managerial control (e.g., by refusing to fill out reports). In so doing, they are affected by their perception of the context in which they are embedded (Kennedy et al, 2021). Organizational control is thus not only a coercive function to enhance efficiency but also a consequence of human sense‐making and meaning‐giving processes (Sitkin et al, 2010).…”

Throwing in the towel: What happens when analysts' recommendations go wrong?

“…Stones (2015, p. 27) identifies a range of facets of the environment (such as institutional and individual actors, networks, forces, and pressures), extending it to include relations and conditions surrounding the agent. Although some aspects of the external field might appear to be “objective” in some sense, the external environment of the actor is always viewed through the actor's internal world and their experiences and words, so extensive engagement with actors is required to operationalize strong structuration adequately (Kennedy et al, 2021; Stones, 2005).…”

“…Strong structuration builds on the fundamentals of Giddens's original work, but importantly, brings the theory closer to empirical research. It achieves this through the deployment of methodological bracketing (Kennedy et al, 2021), an approach that encourages a focus on the analysis of an agent's context, while holding the analysis of an agent's conduct in abeyance as far as possible, and then reversing the approach to focus on conduct. This bracketing approach and the insight to be gained by exploring both context and conduct are central to the strength of the theory for empirical work.…”

“…In the context of our study, the chosen critical event would be a significant recommendation decision made by an analyst. The separation of social structures into those within the agent, such as their general disposition (an analysis of the agent's conduct), and those external to the agent (an analysis of the agent's context) is central to the ontology of the theory (Kennedy et al, 2021; Stones, 2005). Accordingly, our analysis and the discussion of the findings reflect this.…”

A systematic study on the correlation between governance structure and strategic performance of Chinese listed companies in the context of deep learning

“…Omer, M. S. et al analyzed the relationship between organizational structure and construction risk management, and the results showed that specialization, centralization, and risk management of the industry had a positive relationship [11]. Kennedy, A. et al studied the main components of corporate management structure and analyzed the relationship between management structure and corporate risk [12]. Ibrahim, A. H. et al studied the level of enterprise risk management as well as corporate governance and analyzed the effect of corporate governance on firm performance improvement [13].…”