Overcoming the structure – agency divide in small business research

Abstract

Explanations aimed at understanding the causes of variations in small business performance have tended towards either behavioural factors or structural explanations. However, this behavioural‐structural dichotomy replicates the traditional structure‐agency divide in social theory and consequently sets up artificial and unhelpful oppositions between agent‐centred (behaviouralist) models that ignore social formations and structuralist theories negate the role of human agency in dealing with social exigencies. This paper endeavours to transcend this limiting dichotomy by drawing on the social theory of Pierre Bourdieu, to offer a more convincing framework for research on the small business sector.