When SME managers justify their professional pathway

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).