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Chapter 6 - Structuration Theory: Giddens and Beyond

from Part II - Theoretical Resources: Social Theory

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 March 2025

By
Richard Whittington
Edited by
Damon Golsorkhi ,
Linda Rouleau ,
David Seidl  and
Eero Vaara
Damon Golsorkhi
Affiliation:
emlyon Business School
Linda Rouleau
Affiliation:
HEC Montréal
David Seidl
Affiliation:
Universität Zürich
Eero Vaara
Affiliation:
Saïd Business School, University of Oxford
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Summary

Richard Whittington explains how Giddens’s (1984) structuration theory can be applied to strategy as practice research. Giddens has been a key source of inspiration in seminal pieces of strategy as practice, especially in Whittington’s own influential work (Whittington 1992; 2006). Whittington explains that structuration theory offers a way to understand microlevel phenomena while placing them into a wider macro context, which makes it a particularly fruitful approach for strategy as practice. He offers on overview of how management researchers have already applied structuration theory but does not stop there. Instead, he explains that there is more to structuration theory than has been realized in previous research. In particular, he argues that structuration theory can help to better understand the role and agency of different types of strategic actors (employees, middle managers, consultants and planners) and advance systematic comparative analysis.

Keywords

strategy as practicepractice approachstructuration theory
Type
Chapter
Information
Cambridge Handbook of Strategy as Practice , pp. 113 - 129
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2025

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