Sell-side equity analysts and equity sales: A study of interaction

Have your cake and eat it? Combining structure and agency in management research

“…Since the publication of the main tenets of strong structuration theory by Stones (2005) a steady stream of papers has been published across a wide range of disciplines. Lee & Manochin (2021) point out the important contribution that Stones continues to make to the detailed application of strong structuration theory in empirical settings, (see, for example, Stones, 2014, 2015; Stones et al, 2018; Stones & Jack, 2016; Stones & Tangsupvattana, 2012). Additionally, Stones and others have participated in conceptual papers which fine‐tune concepts (for example, Stones & Jack, 2016) and matters of application (for example, Coad et al, 2015).…”

“…The first is how the theory has been developed and transformed through its use since launch. Initially, it was applied to previously collected data (for example, Harris et al, 2016; Jack & Kholeif, 2008) but many studies have now integrated the theory into the design of new research (for example, Feeney & Pierce, 2016; Lee & Manochin, 2021; Makrygiannakis & Jack, 2016). Papers have, in the main, situated the quadripartite structuration process at the epicentre of the research.…”

“…However, this has also started to change, with many papers looking at specific aspects of the theory. For example, Coad and Glyptis (2014), Moore and McPhail (2016), Daff and Jack (2018) and Lee and Manochin (2021) all emphasised contextual field analysis, through the employment of the position‐practice relations conceptual tool, as the centrepiece for their studies rather than addressing the full gambit of the quadripartite framework.…”

“…The second aspect is the wide variety of empirical settings in which the theory has been employed. For example these include enterprise risk planning (Jack & Kholeif, 2008), strategic decision making (Elmassri et al, 2016; Harris et al, 2016), capital budgeting in the energy industry (Warren & Jack, 2018), healthcare (Jeffries et al, 2017), information technology projects (Greenhalgh & Stones, 2010), carbon accounting (Moore & McPhail, 2016), information usage in new product development (Feeney & Pierce, 2016), education (Aldous et al, 2014), the networks used by professional accountants (Daff & Jack, 2018) and the interactions of sell‐side analysts within investment banking institutions (Lee & Manochin, 2021).…”

“…Resistance has been explored in relation to changes in management practices (Makrygiannakis & Jack, 2016), to adopting new organisational processes, (Jack & Kholeif, 2008), and resistance to adopting and using new technology (Greenhalgh & Stones, 2010; Greenhalgh et al, 2013). For example, in Lee and Manochin (2021) the application of the position practices framework, as defined within the context bracket of strong structuration theory, revealed that certain agents (in this case analysts) sustained relationships with others in the network (equity sales) not only for the direct benefit but also to improve their relationship with other agents‐in‐context. The proactivity of agents within intra‐organisational networks also emerges as a theoretical insight from the work of Daff and Jack (2018).…”