Entrepreneurial agency in constrained contexts: An introduction and review of the literature

This special issue editorial reviews the literature on entrepreneurial agency in constrained contexts, highlighting existing research and discussing future outlooks. It centres around the paradox of embedded agency and how this concept has influenced our understanding of the relationship between entrepreneurial agency and contexts through the application of various methodological and empirical settings. In so doing, we contribute to the essential question of entrepreneurial agency in constrained contexts, drawing attention towards variable contextual specificities that filter internal and external structures thereby, influencing the way and degree to which entrepreneurial agency manifests itself. By reviewing the extant literature on entrepreneurial agency and showcasing highlights of the five manuscripts included in the special issue, this editorial contributes to literature by proposing three complementary perspectives on constrained entrepreneurial agency including agency in constrained contexts, constrained positions in context and interpretations and enactments of constraints in contexts. These three perspectives draw upon important conceptual, empirical and methodological issues and stress the need for more critical entrepreneurship research that expands our understanding of constrained entrepreneurial agency around external structural constraints, imposed positions of the individual or groups of entrepreneurs within contexts, or individual interpretations and enactments based on meanings, discourses and cognitions that shape experiences, respectively.