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.