Between symbolic and social capital: A structuration theory approach to academic productivity

Abstract

Our study looks at the tension between embedded agency and social structure through the lens of structuration theory and explores the ability of individual actors to make strategic decisions in a deterministic environment. Skilled performance of individual actors is central to the interplay between structure and action in organizations. This paper examines both structure-driven and agency-driven antecedents of such performance. We analyzed the careers of 391 business school academics and explored how early-career anchoring disadvantages that result in lower level of symbolic capital (e.g. as a consequence of a lower rank of academic origin) can be mitigated by subsequent adjustment that generates social capital (e.g. the network of co-authors) and how the accumulation of these two types of capital reflects upon individual research performance. Our findings demonstrate that structure and agency perspectives can be complimentary, rather than conflicting views of the process of career development and also th...