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

Dados Bibliográficos

ID7438599
AutoresFrank Den Hond (0000-0002-9153-3106), F K Boersma (0000-0002-0545-9836), Leonie Heres (0000-0003-1869-5448, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam), E Kroes, Emmie Van Oirschot
Ano2012
Volume5
Fascículo2
Páginas239-264
Data de publicação2012-08-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournal of Political Power (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 2158-379X • E-ISSN: 2158-3803
EditoraRoutledge (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/2158379x.2012.698901
OpenAlexW2056990658
IdiomaFR
Citações recebidas13
Referências citadas121

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. Keywords: structurationGiddensreviewduality of structureknowledgeabilitytime-space Acknowledgements We would like to thank Marshall Scott Poole, Dvora Yanow, Peter Groenewegen, Ann Langley and Stewart Clegg for their constructive feedback on earlier versions of this paper. Notes 1. Archer (e.g. 1988 Abbott, A. 1988. The system of professions: an essay on the division of expert labor, Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]) argues that by 'conflating' structure and agency, Giddens makes application of Structuration Theory in empirical research impossible. In this debate, we agree with those authors who consider this critique of Giddens as 'misplaced' (Jones and Karsten 2008 Jones, M.R. and Karsten, H. 2008. Giddens' Structuration Theory and information systems research. MIS Quarterly, 32(1): 127–157. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar], p. 132, see also Stones 2005 Stones, R. 2005. Structuration theory, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]). The issue was addressed by Giddens, e.g. in the discussions around 'institutional analysis' and 'the analysis of strategic action'. Further, structure, as rules of conduct and rights to resources, is not only instantiated and reproduced in action, but also transmitted over time and space, e.g. in memory traces and through symbolic tokens (Giddens 1984 Giddens, A. 1984. The constitution of society: outline of the theory of structuration, Cambridge: Polity Press. [Google Scholar], p. 17). Thus, the separation of structure and agency, needed for analytical purposes, is not only an analytical dodge, but in some cases empirical reality. 2. Other attempts include: Archer's (1982 Archer, M.S. 1982. Morphogenesis versus structuration. British Journal of Sociology, 33: 455–483. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar], 1988 Archer, M.S. 1988. Culture and agency: the place of culture in social theory, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [Google Scholar], 1995 Archer, M.S. 1995. Realist social theory: the morphogenetic approach, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]) theory of morphogenesis, Berger and Luckmann's (1967 Berger, P.L. and Luckmann, T. 1967. The social construction of reality, New York, NY: Garden City. [Google Scholar]) social construction of reality, Bourdieu's (1977 Bourdieu, P. 1977. Outline of a theory of practice, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar], 1980 Bourdieu, P. 1980. The logic of practice, Chicago, IL: Stanford University Press. [Google Scholar]) theory of practice, actor-network theory (Callon 1986 Callon, M. 1986. "Some elements of a sociology of translation: domestication of the scallops and the fishermen of St Brieuc bay". In Power, action and belief: a new sociology of knowledge?, Edited by: Law, John. 196–233. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. [Google Scholar], Latour 1987 Latour, B. 1987. Science in action: how to follow scientists and engineers through society, Milton Keynes: Open University Press. [Google Scholar]), Habermas' (1987 Habermas, J. 1987. The theory of communicative action (Volume 2). Lifeworld and system: a critique of functionalist reason, Boston, MA: Beacon Press. [Google Scholar]) account of the relations between the system world and the life world, Sewell's (1992 Sewell, W.H. 1992. A theory of structure: duality, agency, and transformation. American Journal of Sociology, 98(1): 1–29. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) theory of structure, Stryker's (1980 Stryker, S. 1980. Symbolic interactionism: a social structural version, Menlo Park, CA: Benjamin/Cummings. [Google Scholar]) structural symbolic interactionism, Sztompka's (1991 Sztompka, P. 1991. Society in action: the theory of social becoming, Cambridge: Polity Press. [Google Scholar]) theory of social becoming. A discussion on the question of which of these attempts is 'better' in resolving the structure-agency problem, or which lends itself 'more' to empirical investigation, is beyond the scope of this paper (see Pozzebon 2004 Pozzebon, M. 2004. The influence of a structurationist view on strategic management research. Journal of Management Studies, 41(2): 247–272. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar] for a discussion of the issue; she argues that there is no 'better' solution, and that a choice among the various alternatives is often a matter of ontological affinity). Our starting point is simply the observation that Structuration Theory has informed the field of organization studies to a non-negligible degree. 3. For more elaborate and critical discussions, see e.g. Bryant and Jary (1991 Bryant, C.G.A. and Jary, D. 1991. Giddens' theory of structuration. A critical appreciation, London: Routledge. [Google Scholar]), Jones and Karsten (2008 Jones, M.R. and Karsten, H. 2008. Giddens' Structuration Theory and information systems research. MIS Quarterly, 32(1): 127–157. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) and Stones (2005 Stones, R. 2005. Structuration theory, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]). 4. A complete list of all 407 references can be obtained from the authors. Due to limitations in the coverage of ISI/Thompson Web of Science, we are sure to have missed out a number of references to Giddens' work in the 1980s, as a comparison between our work and the literature list in Whittington (1992 Whittington, R. 1992. Putting Giddens into action: social systems and managerial agency. Journal of Management Studies, 29(6): 693–712. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) quickly reveals. However, their small numbers suggest that the inclusion of such papers would not have altered our conclusions. For a further discussion of the consequences of relying on electronic sources for bibliographic research, see e.g. de Bakker et al. (2006 de Bakker, F.G.A., Groenewegen, P. and den Hond, F. 2006. A research note on the use of bibliometrics to review the corporate social responsibility and corporate social performance literature. Business & Society, 45(1): 7–19. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]). 5. Given the increase in the number of – empirical – Structuration Theory-based publications in the field of organization studies, Whittington's (1992 Whittington, R. 1992. Putting Giddens into action: social systems and managerial agency. Journal of Management Studies, 29(6): 693–712. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) complaint about the neglect of Giddens' work in the field of organization studies has arguably proven effective. 6. The point here is not whether 'social practices ... constitute institutions synchronically while institutions constrain action diachronically' (Barley 1986 Barley, S.R. 1986. Technology as an occasion for structuring: evidence from observations of CT scanners and the social order of radiology departments. Administrative Science Quarterly, 31(1): 78–108. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar], pp. 82–83), or whether 'social behaviour constitute institutions diachronically, while institutions constrain action synchronically' (Barley and Tolbert 1997 Barley, S.R. and Tolbert, P.S. 1997. Institutionalization and structuration: studying the links between action and institution. Organization Studies, 18(1): 93–117. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar], p. 100). Our focus is on how the interaction can be made visible in empirical research. In fact, the two hypotheses – rival or complementary – can be seen conceptually as a consequence of the very notion of the duality of structure. 7. Perhaps the unobtrusive use of video recording techniques, using multiple cameras, may be helpful in developing such thick descriptions and following the actor, by separating in time and space the processes of data collection and coding. If subsequently the actors are interviewed about their knowledgeability, perhaps supported by showing them relevant pieces of the recordings, a sort of triangulation between the analyst's interpretation and the actor's ex-post rationalization may be attempted. However, the fundamental problem of empirically establishing the actor's knowledgeability remains the same. 8. 'New technologies have also had an impact on data collection and analysis; the availability of increasingly sophisticated digital audio-video recording equipment and software has made possible significant advances in the study of gesture and nonverbal behavior [...], for example, and has enabled researchers to accomplish unprecedented micro-level analyses of both verbal and nonverbal aspects of human interaction' (Garrett and Baquedano-López 2002 Garrett, P.B. and Baquedano-López, P. 2002. Language socialization: reproduction and continuity, transformation and change. Annual Review of Anthropology, 31: 339–361. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar], p. 343). 9. If in the comparison between e.g. Bourdieu's structuralist constructivism, his theory of practice (Bourdieu 1977 Bourdieu, P. 1977. Outline of a theory of practice, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar], 1980 Bourdieu, P. 1980. The logic of practice, Chicago, IL: Stanford University Press. [Google Scholar]), and Structuration Theory, the conventional suggestion is that Bourdieu's approach is more conducive to explaining reproduction (or stability), and Giddens' more to change, then a relevant question is whether Giddens' approach might also be productively used to explain reproduction. Our data set does not give a clear answer to this question

Duality (order theory · Empirical research · Management theory · Organization studies · Organizational theory · Structuration theory · Accounting and Organizational Management · Innovation and Knowledge Management · Management and Organizational Studies