Agency and social psychology

Agency and social psychology
Kari Mikko Vesala/ 2012 UHEL/Department of Social Research

Entrepreneurship & agency
1. The entrepreneurship discourse 2. Malik and Andre as entrepreneurial agents 3. Self-presentation of small business owners: a rhetorical analysis

1. The entrepreneurship discourse

Entrepreneurial agency
Comp. religion? What is pursued in entrepreneurship? About business and making profit? Not so simple, though: entrepreneur vs. small business owner; business entrepreneurs vs. other entrepreneurs; entrepreneur vs. entrepreneurial; -> entrepreneurship discourse as a topic of its own (in culture, policy, and research)

The entrepreneurship discourse
Entrepreneurship in agency-structure –debate literature: some examples

Bandura 2006 “The development of new business ventures and the renewal of established ones depend heavily on innovativeness and entrepreneurship. Turning visions into realities entails heavy investment of time, effort, and resources in ventures strewn with many difficulties, unmerciful impediments, and uncertainties. A resilient sense of efficacy provides the necessary staying power in the torturous pursuit of innovations. Indeed, perceived self-efficacy predicts entrepreneurship and which patent inventors are likely to start new business ventures (Baron & Markman, 2003; Chen, Greene, & Crick, 1998).

Emirbayer & Mische 1992 “Actors who are positioned at the intersection of multiple temporal-relational contexts can develop greater capacities for creative and critical intervention. These formulations may be extended to the study of actors in brokerage positions, long considered an exemplary instance of agentic activity. Such social, political, and economic entrepreneurs seize opportunities for purposive intervention by maneuvering back and forth between different social networks as well as cultural or social-psychological settings.” (p. 1007) Brokerage: the activities of organizing business deals for other people

Colin Campbell 2009 “…Weber also accorded a role in his thesis for agentic power or type 2 agency, that is to say, the use of the term to refer to the manner in which actors bring about structural change. Here his primary example is the modern entrepreneur; for he was the person who had to confront “the most important opponent of the spirit of capitalism”, which Weber identified as “that type of attitude and reaction to new situations which we may designate as traditionalism”.This was the force, often manifest in “the stone wall of habit”, which had to be overcome if modern capitalist forms of enterprise were to emerge, and it was the “innovators” - those men who embodied the “spirit of capitalism” -who broke with the “traditionalistic business” of “putting out” work for peasants to undertake in their own homes, and began the process of organizing workers into factories, while at the same time cutting out the middlemen by taking their products directly to customers. In order to do this, they had to have the “clarity of vision and ability to act”, together with the “the strength to overcome the innumerable obstacles” in their way.” (p. 412)

Colin Campbell 2009 “Weber does tend to draw the two conceptions of agency together. Thus Calvinists are also, to some degree, considered to be agents of social change, largely as a direct consequence of their perception of themselves as agents of God and as a result required to bring social life into conformity with His commandments (1965:108). At the same time Weber also specifically observes that the new entrepreneurs did provoke a great deal of “mistrust hatred [and] moral indignation” (1965:69), such that the new entrepreneur had to be “an unusually strong character” (1965:69), while, of course, the action of breaking with tradition does rather logically imply that individuals are acting in a somewhat thoughtful and considered fashion rather than out of habit or impulse.”

Campbell The agency of ”Calvinist” contributes to the maintenance of social structures, whereas the agency of entrepreneur constributes to the change of structures (two meanings of independent agent: in accordance to structure, against it or deviating from it)

Giddens, A. (2000). The third Way and Its Critics. London: Polity Press.
“Entrepreneurs have received short shrift from both the old left and the neoliberals. The left has seen entrepreneurs as selfishly profit-driven, concerned to extract as much surplus values as possible from the labour force. Neoliberal theory stresses the rationality of competitive markets, where decision-making is driven by market needs. Successful entrepreneurs, however, are innovators, because they spot possibilities that others miss, or take risks others decline, or both. A society that doesn’t encourage entrepreneurial culture won’t generate the economic energy that comes from the most creative ideas. Social and civic entrepreneurs are just as important as those working directly in a market context, since the same drive and creativity are needed in the public sector, and in civil society, as in the economic sphere.” (p.75)

-> Entrepreneurial agency: a panacea for everybody?
Giddens? -> Entrepreneurial agency: a panacea for everybody?

Entrepreneur as a modern (secular) agent
(secularity contested, though, e.g. Sörensen 2011: entrepreneur as saviour) Individualistic image: entrepreneur as agent for him/herself -> Used in public policy as an ideal of agency for businessmen, citizen, organizations: Individual ”making it happen”, innovating, taking risks, pursuing opportunities etc. associated with personality and other individual characteristics, including will-power indepencence, decision making skills etc. Relational image: Plenty of principals to authorize entrepreneurial agency with: self, economic systems (growth), customers, social (legal, political) systems and ideologies. Agency constructed in social networks and communication. -> Critical views to entrepreneurship-discourse and policies uncover a complex scene of cultural construction á la Meyer & Jepperson

Ultimate Entrepreneur

2. Malik and Andre as entrepreneurial agents
Coming back to Utriainen & Vesala 2011: Malik & Andre as entrepreneurial agents

Entrepreneurs… Both men are entrepreneurs in a sense of pursuing business opportunities and success Especially the narrative of Malik displays well the ”optimal” features of entrepreneurial agent, (pursues opportunities, takes risks, develops skills, utilizes networks, ”makes it happen”) While André is rather a subjucated entrepreneur at the mercy of external powers; ”hoping it to happen”; obviously in the need of empowerment, which is finally provided to him

… creates contacts and makes friends, and starts planning his own businesses (drug dealing)..

… in prison, Malik has learned to utilize his position between competing gangs ..

… Malik keeps on developing his (criminal) businesses, and finally, walks out of the prison as a succesful man who …

his businesses have been a catastrophe so far
.. his businesses have been a catastrophe so far. He is up to his ears in debt to illegal financiers who listen no more to his excuses, but insist on immediate payback. He is given 24 hours to raise €, otherwise the cruel creditors will put a violent end to his life.

André receives a lesson in the importance of self-confidence and standing up for oneself ..

3. Self-presentation of small business owners: a rhetorical analysis
Vesala, K.M. & Peura, J (2005) The Presentation of Personal Control Among Farmers Engaged in Business Diversification in Finland. Journal of Comparative Family Studies, XXXVI (3), Vesala, K.M. (2005) Asiakaskunnan rakenne ja yrittäjäidentiteetin rakennuspuut. Monialaisten maatilayrittäjien vaikutusmahdollisuudet markkina-areenalla. [The Structure of Clientele and the Construction of Entrepreneurial Identity. The Experience of Personal Control in Market Arena Among Farmers Engaged in Business Diversification] University of Helsinki, Department of Social Psychology, Research reports 1/2005. Helsinki. 103 p.

A rhetorical analysis: qualitative attitude research.
Vesala & Peura 2005 Control constructs (Skinner 1995): locus of control, self-efficacy, perceived behavioural control … -> personal control Personal control as a criterion and a resource for the construction of entrepreneurial self (identity, agency) How farm based business owners present themselves regarding personal control in the market arena? A rhetorical analysis: qualitative attitude research.

Illustrating the method of analysis
What is the stance towards the statement? What is the stance towards his own agency? Read carefully the justifications

Statement 5: It is hard for me to renew my products and my working methods according to market demands. J: Okay, then five. It is hard for me to renew my products and my working methods according to market demands ((statement 5)). 12a: Yes interesting, let’s say that it feels hard. ((Someone laughs)) [J: Yes] It feels hard that, that I don’t know is it because of the product or because of the person but. J: Is it the market demands that are hard. [Or that they bring the difficulties 12a: [Well … Well not really the market demands are not it, perhaps more one’s own demand that one has to renew and improve products in a faster pace than what has been done before. On the other hand the product is such that, it is, it feels like it is … difficult to renew it and well hard to create, create something new but when you look at the situation later a lot of improvement has happened. [J: Yes] And probably will happen.

Statement 5 J: Yes you have such a product that you don’t make any big changes in a month. 12a:Yeah, no you don’t make them in a month and well, this is not one of those design products that live with trends. [J: Mm] Of course, of course ( ) we do all the time. ((Loud noise)) J: If I understood correctly you agree at least to some extent with this statement. 12a: Yes that is correct.

12a: Mm … Let’s say fifty fifty.
Statement 5 J: Well, do you agree particularly with this products word here or with the working methods. 12a: Mm … Let’s say fifty fifty. J: Can you tell me other examples or, or something else. 12a: Well this is, this is my personal view, personal view … Well … Our products have been improving a lot and, and, I’m sure they will improve in the future and, we have a project going on right now with one contractor where we try out this whole new technique. And this new technique could be a remarkable improvement but it’s just that a company this size can not make any drastic changes, completely new, new … constructions, the improvement has to happen by renewing the old product and trying new things so that you don’t get out of the frying pan and into the fire. [J: Mm, mm] And the quality of the product must stay good so that if we make, make let’s say for example forty products a year, we can’t pack there ten new products in one year. J: So you mean that one can’t make any unreasonable investments when one is on this scale 12a: Precisely. J: Mm, okay (on behalf of that yes). Good, then six. It is difficult to resolve things with customers by talking.

4. The construction of personal control in the rhetoric of farmers involved in business diversification 40 interviews with farmers engaged in diversified business activities 10 statements concerning customer and marketing related means for enhancing the business (e.g. ”Salesmanship is crucial for success in business”, “It is difficult to work things out with my clients by talking”) Free comments were requested; further accounts and justifications were encouraged Stands and justifications were analysed in detail; the overall rhetoric was interpreted from the perspective of self-presention regarding personal control in the market arena The connection between self-presentations and the customer structure of each case was checked and the cases were compared to each other

Case1: Paavo (machine contracting)
Paavo owns a crop farm, but earns over a half of his living by working under contract for a large Europe-wide forest industry group. Paavo’s machinery is capable of doing all the different procedures from thinning to felling of timber. He owns his firm with his wife and they have one employee. The limited company was started 10 years ago, but Paavo has been engaged in forest industry even longer. The interview was conducted with Paavo.

Case 2 Mika (tourism) Mika and his wife have been in the rural tourism business for 10 years. They have a small farm (7 hectares) on which they practice berry and apple production and processing. The income from agriculture has not been sufficient and the tourism business has become more and more important for them. They have four cottages to rent, and additional two apartments under construction. The customers come mostly from Southern Finland but also from Central Europe. Many of them come on regular basis. The interview was conducted with Mika.

Statement 1 It is worthwhile to invest in advertising. As an immediate response to this statement, Paavo agrees on a general level. However, thereafter he denies clearly the usefulness of advertising in his own business. He justifies his stand by saying that his firm has got one key customer, and that the private forest owners do business with this key customer (the Company). He gets his contracts through the Company, and therefore – in his case – advertising is totally useless.

Case 2 Mika (tourism) Statement 1 – It is worthwhile to invest in advertising. Mika starts to comment the statement with a reservation that “it is possible to invest in advertising any amount of money, and that’s the purpose of advertising agencies”. After that, he takes a tentative stand for the statement: ”In the tourism industry you have to be visible, to some extent, every once in a while.” In his argumentation Mika specifies different forms of advertising and deliberates the pros and cons of them. He mentions a short ad in a nationwide newspaper, contact information in nationwide tourist guides, and the firm’s own website as such forms of advertising that he has found worthwhile and profitable in his own business. He also stresses the importance of timing and the fact that advertising must be done in several languages. All in all, in spite of the reservations, he agrees that advertising is, to a certain extent, profitable for him.

For Paavo: this means of influence is useless and not available for himself, because it is under the control of an external agent For Mika: usefull to some extent, under his own control; he presents himself to be able to make decisions in the issue and resist the influence of external agents

Statement 6 It is difficult to work things out with my clients by talking. For Paavo, it is easy to agree with this statement. His immediate response: 1 Paavo: This is exactly how it is. 2 Interviewer: So this fits. 3 Paavo: It is right then (well), it is exactly, you couldn’t say it any better. 4 Interviewer: ((laughs)) 5 Paavo: They are in the dominating market position and, well… they have 6 control over how much money you get from these ( ). When you can’t 7 really influence those… just like those rates, you can’t influence them in 8 any way, you just have to listen. --- 12 Paavo: There is no, there is really no, yes these gentlemen well, they 13 call it negotiation but it is, I think it is entirely a matter of dictation.

Excerpt shows that Paavo takes a clear stand for the statement. He justifies his view by claiming that his client is in the dominating market position: the representatives of the Company name the prices, and there is no way Paavo can affect the tariffs. According to Paavo, in the negotiations with the client the role of the contractors is to listen, and accept the decisions made. In the end the interviewer asked if there are any issues open to debate with this client. Paavo mentions some examples, but stresses that they are only minor issues in his business.

Case 2 Mika (tourism) Statement 6 – It is difficult to work things out with my clients by talking. Mika absolutely disagrees with the sixth statement. He justifies his stand by giving examples of managing negative feedback, which he – in his own words – rarely receives. He claims that it is a fundamental thing to work things out by talking, and emphasises the need to be flexible enough in order to prevent small problems becoming bigger ones. In his further commenting Mika gives two examples of unsatisfied customers, who have tried to get some of their money back afterwards. Both incidents happened at the time when a nation-wide marketing company was the intermediate reseller for him, and both unsatisfied customers directed their feedback and claims to the intermediate, not directly to our interviewee. Mika continues, that there have been no such difficulties after he has done the business directly with the end users, without the intermediate organization.

Taken together, Paavo presents himself in his argumentation as an actor who does not have much personal control over his success, at least in terms of marketing and customer related means. He has no use for advertising and no need for salesmanship, he has not been able to differentiate his service, and renewing the business is difficult due to financial issues. A close customer relationship could be beneficial, but he does not mention of having any. He is not able to negotiate with his client and for him it is not possible to be selective with his customers or contracts. He is actually able to mention only one thing, with which to affect the customer. That is the quality and cost-effectiveness of his production work.

An instance in Paavo’s commenting on the third statement:
Frustration An instance in Paavo’s commenting on the third statement: 25 Paavo: It is a little like, difficult because this is goddamn difficult to 26 interview, this forest machinery business well, these questions don’t kind 27 of don’t apply. It’s fucking difficult to answer them. Paavo grows inpatient with the statements and expresses his feelings by cursing. Even though Paavo is able to view the usefulness of the different means on a general level, he is unable to do that is his own case. Anyhow, it became evident from his comments that he wished he had more personal control. Right after the tape-recorded interview, Paavo doubted explicitly whether he should be regarded as an entrepreneur at all because in his business he is lacking the space to pursue and control his success. Mika, on the contrary, implied that he considers himself to be an entrepreneur.

The role of the vertical position and variety in self-presentations
The lack of personal control in market arena in the case of Paavo is repeatedly attributed to the vertical position, in which there is only one buyer, and the relation between the farmer and the buyer is asymmetrical and hierarchical, the latter being a large company and the former running a small business. Even though disconnected from the intermediate marketing agency, Mika mentions it in many occasions and stresses that he keeps avoiding dependency on any one marketing firm, or on too few customers. However, not all of the cases in vertical position were identical with Paavo, and not all of the cases with several customers were identical with Mika (in their self-presentations). Furthermore, there were not-credible attempts of p.c. presentation, and there was open criticism towards the discourse in the interview statements

Clear differences in self-presentations
4. The construction of personal control in the rhetoric of farmers involved in business diversification: conclusions Clear differences in self-presentations The other 38 cases fell somewhere in between these two extreme cases, but the pattern that connected the vertical position to the self-presentation was not a clear-cut one Self-presentations were actively constructed by the interviewees (incl. the low-control ones) Construction was constrained/enabled by the availability of rhetorical resources provided by the perceptions and experiences of own activities and position in relation with customers Personal control in the market arena appears as a socially constructed belief, which is embedded in the immediate social transaction context

Social position (position in the structure) makes a difference
Agency can be viewed as agency within (the limits and resources provided by) a position, or as agency over ther the position (e.g. gaining a position) Mika and Paavo are only two examples from a particular kind of context

5. Personal control beliefs among rural small business owners and farmers
Follow-up of 2003 A postal questionnaire survey 2006 Total sample 1093 (response rate 30%): Conventional farmers (n= 235), farmers with business diversification (n=663), non-farm rural small business owners (n=195) General purpose: to compare the level of entrepreneurship in these groups on several dimensions

Entrepreneur identity
F=28.3, p<.001; Pairwise comparison: Conventional farmers weaker than other groups, no significant difference between the other two groups.

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