Chapter 1: Professional Identity: Features and Implications

Over the last years, research on identity is receiving increasing attention (Brown, 2015). One of the reasons for this is the interest in the dynamics that identity involves in its formation (Ashforth, Rogers, & Corley, 2011).

With specific reference to professional identity, research to date has left a number of questions unanswered relating to the factors that influence the profession, how professionals carry out their tasks, and how they conceive the change in their professions in the face of context and jurisdictional threats. More specifically, although much has been written about the changes occurring in professional practices and jurisdiction, scant attention has been given to professionals’ changing identities in the context of the ever-expanding pressures and increasing regulatory entropy (Ahuja, Nikolova, & Clegg, 2017). This lack of understanding of who professionals truly are and the challenges surrounding their professions is a notable deficiency, as they fulfil a crucial and well-acknowledged social role (Chreim, Williams, & Hinings, 2007). Indeed, professionals are conventionally recognized as workers who apply their knowledge, skills, and judgement to complete tasks in the pursuit of their own, their customers, and, in some cases, the public’s interests (e.g. accountants, lawyers, and doctors; Bottery, 1998; Empson, Muzio, Broschak, & Hinings, 2015; Johnson, 1972; Madden & Mitchell, 1993; Samuel, Covalenski, & Dirsmith, 2009; Schön, 1983; Paisey & Paisey, 2000, 2006; Pierce, 2007; Pratt, Rockmann, & Kaufmann, 2006; Preston, Cooper, Scarbrough, & Chilton, 1995; Willmott, 1990).