When SME managers justify their professional pathway [De la justification des parcours professionnels de cadres en PME]

The article analyzes the justifications of executives who have joined an SME on their professional pathway. We mobilize the social "valuation" of the experience lived and "proximity" as a managerial specificity of SMEs. Our inductive analysis of 25 life stories leads to the emergence of arguments embedding work-related dimensions (autonomy, versatility, proximity to power) with space-related dimensions (affective-identity, economic security, living environment quality).