Examining Transformative Agency within Constrained Contexts: A comparative case study of refugee camp entrepreneurship

This study examines the transformative capacity of refugee entrepreneurs within constrained institutional contexts (CICs) through a comparative case study of the Zaatari and Azraq refugee camps in the host nation of Jordan. Employing Strong Structuration Theory (SST) as a theoretical lens, the research explores: how institutional constraints enable and constrain refugee agency, whether refugee entrepreneurs preserve or challenge existing structures, and under what conditions do severely constrained actors develop immunity from institutional control. The empirical evidence shows intricate dynamics whereby identical institutional structures and humanitarian agencies, housing the same displaced Syrian population, produce fundamentally divergent ecosystems. Zaatari evolved into an economic outlier with over 1,800 businesses, becoming Jordan's fourth-largest city, while its sister camp maintained just 375 regulated enterprises under comprehensive institutional oversight. Drawing on 48 interviews, observation, and naturalistic data, this study employs qualitative comparative analysis through retroduction (critical realism) and methodological bracketing (context-conduct analysis). This study demonstrates that transformative capacity surfaces primarily from asymmetries between external institutional constraints and internal collective capabilities. In sum, this research makes three theoretical contributions. First, it reframes institutional void theory by demonstrating that voids function along an enabling-constraining spectrum depending on temporal emergence, spatial-demographic configuration, and regulatory
variance. Second, it introduces the concept of shadow institutions as dual-functioning mechanisms that both erode formal structures and bridge individual agency into collective transformative capacity. Third, it extends SST by showing that transformative outcomes
depend on the specific weighting between external structures (ES) and internal structures (IS) at their intersection. The findings challenge assumptions of policy transferability in humanitarian contexts and highlight how comprehensive institutional design can inadvertently
constrain economic self-sufficiency for refugee populations. This research provides a framework for understanding how severely constrained actors circumvent and ultimately reshape the institutional structures that constrain them, with implications extending beyond
refugee studies to broader questions of agency, institutional change, and marginalised populations.