Agency through Informality: How Bangladeshi Restaurant Owners Navigate Structural Constraints in Times of Crisis
长期追踪孟加拉国餐馆在多次危机中的表现，识别出三种通过非正式实践行使的能动性形式，揭示非正式性不仅是劣势补偿，更是战略资源，对研究移民创业和雇佣关系的学者有参考价值。
How do Bangladeshi restaurant owners exercise agency during periods of extreme uncertainty? This question matters most when resource-constrained businesses face existential threats. This longitudinal study examines Bangladeshi-owned restaurants across multiple crises, identifying three agency forms operating through informal practices: navigational (contextual adaptations), relational (social network mobilisation) and innovative (entrepreneurial repositioning). Despite facing similar structural constraints, restaurants exhibited divergent trajectories reflecting their differential deployment of these agency forms. The study advances mixed embeddedness theory by providing a dynamic account of how entrepreneurs actively engage with structural contexts rather than merely responding to them. It contributes to employment relations literature by reconceptualising informality not as a compensatory response to disadvantage but as a strategic resource through which entrepreneurs exercise agency during structural constraints while maintaining operational flexibility. This perspective shows how informal employment practices serve as sophisticated mechanisms for balancing worker needs with business imperatives in challenging conditions.