Professional Service Organizations Research Articles

Capturing and Analysing Employee Behaviour: An Honest Day’s Work Record

For a range of reasons, organisations collect data on the work behaviour of their employees. However, each data collection technique displays its own unique mix of intrusiveness, information richness, and risks. For the sake of understanding the differences between data collection techniques, we conducted a multiple-case study in a multinational professional services organisation, tracking six participants throughout a workday using non-participant observation, screen recording, and timesheet techniques. This led to 136 hours of data. Our findings show that relying on one data collection technique alone cannot provide a comprehensive and accurate account of activities that are screen-based, offline, or overtime. The collected data also provided an opportunity to investigate the use of process mining for analysing employee behaviour, specifically with respect to the completeness of the collected data. Our study underlines the importance of judiciously selecting data collection techniques, as well as using a sufficiently broad data set to generate reliable insights into employee behaviour.

Investigating the existence of ethnic bias in professional services

The underrepresentation of ethnic minorities persists in professional service organizations because some are reluctant to hire minority employees owing to fear of negative customer evaluations. I apply expectancy violation theory to challenge the assumptions behind such hiring practice and predict that in unambiguous service encounters between majority customers and minority professional service providers (PSP) detrimental consequences are less salient. In four scenario-based studies in two contexts (lawyer, physician), I manipulate PSP ethnicity status and find that clients rate minority (vs. majority) PSPs more favorably in terms of competence, satisfaction, and rapport; rapport also mediates the relationship between PSP ethnicity status and clients’ compliance with their advice. This relationship is moderated by social dominance orientation too. A fifth study shows that the predicted relationships largely hold for positively and negatively valenced encounters. These results suggest an absence of bias effects in professional service settings and have implications for research and practice.

Organizational Voicing Architecture in the Age of Social Media – a Case Study in Professional Service Organizations

ABSTRACT Digital communication technologies, particularly social media, enable members of organizations at all levels and across all functions to communicate with external stakeholders. This has required organizations to rethink and restructure their strategic communication management, especially the orchestration of their communicative human resources. Using a qualitative case-study approach, this article examines how professional service organizations create and maintain their stakeholder relations in the contemporary media landscape through the orchestration of employee voice and enactment as organizational spokespersons. The findings show that organizations have created structural architectures that they use as a basis for strategic communication management. Based on these findings, the study introduces a novel concept of organizational voicing architecture, which refers to the conceptual structure and overall logical arrangement of organizational spokespersons who act as organizational representatives in the corporate communication system. Additionally, by integrating the findings related to the voicing architecture with existing knowledge about organizational listening, the study broadens understanding of the mechanism with which organizations strategically orchestrate their stakeholder relationships, and hence contributes to the strategic and corporate communication and public relations literature.

Effects of human capital on revenues: evidence from professional service organizations in Taiwan

This paper specifies a trans-log revenue function to estimate the relationship between service revenue outputs and three key human capital inputs, including formal education, work experience, and professional training. Using a Taiwanese pooled cross-sectional sample of 22,875 observations over the period 1992-2021, we divide the total sample into international and non-international audit firms based on their total audit revenues. We find that the average partial effects (APEs) on revenues are much higher for international than for non-international audit firms, suggesting that audit firm size affects audit firms’ financial performance. We also find that investments in both formal education and work experience significantly contribute to the growth of service revenues (but if such investments are beyond the optimal level, they may contribute to the reduction of revenues) and that such growth is much larger for international than for non-international audit firms. Although we find that, in our statistical analysis, professional training contributes to the reduction of service revenues, our graphical analysis justifies this intriguing finding, which is attributed to a lagged return on professional training investments. In theory, human capital suggests that professional training is a needed process to raise future service revenues. Overall, our findings shed light on the APEs of human capital inputs on revenue generation and have practical implications for regulators and practitioners to understand how and to what extent human capital can make a positive contribution to the growth of audit firms’ revenues.

Missionale diakonaat: Van fragmentasie na integrasie en impak

The Dutch Reformed Church has a history of social care and development through its professional social service organisations, and of goodwill through its congregations and members. Since 2002, declarations of intent for transformative service from the church in all its facades have testified to the Dutch Reformed Church’s commitment to contribute to a better life for everyone in South Africa. However, it appears in practice that the Dutch Reformed Church’s response has fallen into silos and that it has been challenging to accomplish collective impact.The publication of the Dutch Reformed Church’s Framework Document for Missional Transformation (2013) has increased the need for an in-depth discussion about the diaconate. An outdated diaconate policy (1994) exposed problems with which the Dutch Reformed Church is struggling. It showed, among other things: the ecclesiocentric focus of the diaconate; a theological departure that has not kept pace with the development of a missional theology; and the disposition for separate operatives between the different forms of ecclesiastical diaconate.The aim of this article is to react to the potential for collaboration between different forms of the diaconate in the Dutch Reformed Church. The Research Strategy for Missional Transformation (2018) provides an approach that allows clarification of a research problem that leads to the design of prototypes in the next phase of research. The research shows that collaboration should be approached in a nuanced way, and that practice theory for integrated diaconal ministry should be further researched and developed.Intradisciplinary and interdisciplinary implications: Theological development contributes to a new appreciation for a holistic, interdisciplinary approach to diaconal work.

When and how digital platforms empower professional services firms: an agility perspective

PurposeDrawing on a strategic agility perspective, the authors develop a theoretical framework and empirically examine how digital platform adoption and capability impact business performance via digital-enabled strategic agility in the context of professional service firms.Design/methodology/approachThe authors propose and examine a conceptual framework based on survey data from 127 professional service firms in New Zealand.FindingsThis study reveals the impact of digital platform capability on the business performance of professional service firms that employ digital platform technologies. The results suggest that organizational innovation and managers' creative efficacy will be used as distal antecedents and contribute to digital platform capabilities. In addition, digital strategic agility can mediate the link between digital platform capabilities and business performance.Originality/valueThis study is one of the first to investigate when and how digital platforms empower professional service firms. This study reveals the role of digital strategic agility and digital platform capabilities in knowledge-intensive enterprises. This research advances the development of knowledge-based economy in the information age by applying and extending strategic agility to the uncertain and volatile business environment. The authors' new conceptualization provides a deeper understanding of how and why professional services business and organizations can adapt to the post-COVID era smoothly and successfully.

Labor Market Integration of High-Skilled Immigrants in Canada: Employment Patterns of International Medical Graduates in Alternative Jobs.

Background: International medical graduates (IMGs) in Canada are individuals who received their medical education and training outside Canada. They undergo a complex licensing procedure in their host country and compete for limited opportunities available to become practicing physicians. Many of them cannot succeed or do not have the resources or interest to undergo this complex and unpredictable career pathway and seek alternative career options. In this study, we aimed to understand how IMGs integrate into the alternative job market, their demographic characteristics, and the types of jobs they undertake after moving to Canada. Methods: An anonymous cross-sectional, online, nationwide, and open survey was conducted among IMGs in Canada. In addition to demographic information, the questionnaire included information on employment status, types of jobs, professional experience, and level of medical education and practice (e.g., specialties, subspecialties, etc.). We conducted a survey of 1740 IMGs in total; however, we excluded responses from those IMGs who are currently working in a clinical setting, thus limiting the number of responses to 1497. Results: Of the respondents, 43.19% were employed and 56.81% were unemployed. Employed participants were more likely to be older males, have stayed longer in Canada, and had more senior-level job experience before moving to Canada. We also observed that the more years that had passed after graduation, the higher the likelihood of being employed. The majority of the IMGs were employed in health-related nonregulated jobs (50.45%). The results were consistent across other demographic characteristics, including different provinces, countries of origin, gender, time since graduation, and length of stay in Canada. Conclusions: This study found that certain groups of IMGs, such as young females, recent immigrants, recent graduates, and less experienced IMGs had a higher likelihood of being unemployed. These findings will inform policymakers, immigrant and professional service organizations, and researchers working for human resources and professional integration of skilled migrants to develop programs and improve policies to facilitate the employment of IMGs through alternative careers.

Benefits and Burdens of Subchapter S in a Check-the-Box World

The Treasury's issuance of the check-the-box regulations (CTB) in late 1996 has intensified debate about whether there should be a single federal income tax regime for all private business firms (PBFs), including passthrough entities, whose equity interests are not publicly traded. This revived concern for parity in tax treatment among the various forms of passthrough entities arose because the CTB regulations generally allow a business entity with two or more owners to be taxed as a partnership for federal income tax purposes, regardless of its organizational structure and corporate-like characteristics under state law. Before the CTB regulations, unincorporated entities were required to maintain at least two noncorporate characteristics in order to avoid the double tax regime of Subchapter C. Revenue Ruling 88-76, which permitted limited liability companies (LLCs) to achieve partnership tax status under the former regulations, inspired state legislatures to jump on the LLC bandwagon by adopting LLC statutes and amending existing LLC statutes to conform to liberalized federal income and transfer tax interpretations. All states now have limited liability company laws, and many have added the limited liability partnership (LLP), which is a hybrid form of organizational structure, between the LLC and the limited partnership (LP), intended primarily for professional service organizations. The primary benefit of the LLP is that it insulates partner-members in professional service organizations from vicarious liability for malpractice errors and omissions.

Financial crime compliance in professional services: Moving beyond the three lines of defence

The role of professional services in the fight against Financial Crime is as integral as that of the financial sector. Often viewed as ‘Gatekeepers’, professional services including Accountants, Auditors, Lawyers and Tax professionals have a significant role to play in combatting the flow of illicit funds through the world’s economies. This paper explores how professional service organisations, in particular within the Accounting profession, approach compliance with complex and fast-changing rules as they respond to expectations placed on them by regulators, clients and other stakeholders. Examining the traditional ‘three lines’ model for compliance frameworks, the author asks the question, ‘Is it time to move beyond the three lines of defence?’ As part of a broader approach to Enterprise Risk Management consideration is given to the role of education and empowerment as ways of enabling professionals meet their obligations with these key non-negotiable compliance requirements.

Hybridity in Nordic Higher Education

ABSTRACT This article builds on the concept of nested hybridity. It emphasizes professional practices and organizational design in studying hybridity of steering and management of professional public service organization. The article compares public sector dynamics in higher education in Finland, Norway, and Sweden. The data consists of surveys and interviews on performance management in Nordic universities. Previous studies on hybridity of professional work and public organizations define hybridity as a multidimensional concept that occurs at different levels of social practices. While the multifaceted nature of hybridity is clear, demarcating between levels of hybridity and theoretical approaches remains complex. Based on our empirical findings, no clear top-down or bottom-up causality chains are identified. We question whether hybridity is nested as the levels of hybridity are intervened and connected, but not all levels have implications for all other levels.

Strong ties, information seeking, and ecosystem brokerage among actors in the Atlantic Canadian entrepreneurial ecosystem

While weak ties have received considerable research attention, less is known about the role of strong ties in this context or the interplay among different types of ties. This study addressed this gap, at least partially, by investigating the outreach made by Atlantic Canadian entrepreneurs to improve their businesses through a survey of knowledge-seeking behaviors of 533 Atlantic Canadian entrepreneurs identified 1666 different ecosystem actors among 3397 separate knowledge-seeking events. The findings from this study highlight the importance of a confluence of strong and weak ties in serving as conduits through which entrepreneurs secure resources from ecosystem support providers. When a breadth of knowledge is required (i.e. both business and technical), entrepreneurial firms establish strong ties with specific government agencies and universities. When primarily business knowledge is needed, entrepreneurial firms form strong ties with government agencies, while government agencies in turn establish strong ties with a wider range of stakeholders across the ecosystem actors. Finally, when primarily technical knowledge is needed the strong ties are leveraged primarily by entrepreneurial firms to embed themselves within the partner organizations, which tend to be universities and professional service organizations. The article concludes with implications for theory and practice.

Forensic intellectual disability services: differences in staff perspectives in the Danish and Norwegian systems

PurposePersons with intellectual disabilities (ID) who offend are treated differently depending on the national jurisdiction. Norway and Denmark are two such examples. The differences in care models may also have an impact on staff perspectives. This paper aims to study the differences between Norwegian and Danish staff members within secure forensic ID services.Design/methodology/approachA cross-sectional study involving Norwegian (n= 145) and Danish staff (n= 279) in secure forensic learning disabilities services was conducted. The response rates were 50% in Denmark (n= 147) and 69% in Norway (n= 98), respectively. An electronic survey covering five sets of topics (demographic characteristics, working conditions, workplace culture, work motivation and work resilience) was used. The findings was statistically analysed using SPSS.FindingsThis study confirmed that staff in the two neighbouring countries have common conceptions of their employment. Danish staff were more exposed to violent incidents (t= 4.1(237);p< 0.001). There was greater concern with workplace safety in Denmark (t= 5.2(237);p< 0.001) compared to more team-based and rigid working conditions in Norway (t= −2.6(237);p< 0.01).Originality/valueThese differences are discussed in relation to some important national differences in a professional culture, educational systems, service organisation and legal issues that possibly add realistic explanations to the findings.

Addressing the silver tsunami in the accounting industry

PurposeAs Baby Boomers continue to retire, organizations should have plans in place that successfully execute this transition. Some industries, such as accounting, are unique in that there is specialized knowledge required by employees, including education and work experience. This study examines what accounting organizations are doing to manage this transition. The research question posed is as follows: How are organizations in the accounting industry addressing anticipated retirements?.Design/methodology/approachThis is a qualitative study that is interpretive. In order to answer the research question, six managers who are involved in the hiring process at accounting organizations of varying sizes were interviewed. Semi-structured interviews were conducted and coded using the software program, Dedoose, in order to develop themes that addressed the research question.FindingsBy conducting semi-structured interviews that focused on efforts related to this issue, it was found that accounting organizations are focusing on three aspects related to the research question: Accounting firms are focusing on (1) culture, (2) knowledge and (3) transition as they lead their organizations through this time.Practical implicationsThis research project provides insight into how some accounting organizations are managing issues related to increasing retirements. By knowing how other organizations are handling these issues, accounting organizations can use this knowledge to prepare, themselves, for anticipated retirements. This knowledge is also valuable in other fields that provide professional services (e.g., medical and legal).Originality/valueThis topic has not been fully explored in the accounting industry. The findings of this study are useful to accounting firms, world-wide, as well as to organizations in other professional services fields, world-wide. This research could be further explored in other professional services organizations, such as the health and legal fields.

Managing operations in professional service organisations - identifying roles and tasks of professionals and managers in courts

In professional services there exists a duality in controlling the workflow between professionals and managers who both have partly different perspectives and preferences. The purpose of this paper is to empirically explore what are the roles and tasks of professionals and managers in workflow control and how these two actors interact. The study is executed as a single case study applying grounded theory as a research method. The case organisation is the Insurance Court of Finland, which presents a distinct setting for studying workflow control due to its highly individual-centred nature, which yet has also features of mass services. The findings describe the way workflow control happens in interaction between managers and self-managing professionals. Professionals have great autonomy in workflow control, but it is limited to concern only their own case-handling silos. Managers have several roles in workflow control, which are related in different ways to professionals' self-management.

The Wuhan model of visual health management for students : a referential framework for the public-school health system

According to the Healthy China Action Plan, gives full play to the role of preventing and controlling student myopia by promoting student health. The primary focus is placed on education in schools, and has integrated educational resources to develop a multi-level myopia prevention and control system and service network for school students. The network contains educational adminstrative, schools, families, and professional technical service organizations. By integrating multiple disciplines, has built a comprehensive vision health management service system for all students. The Internet and cloud intelligent monitoring facilitated the establishment of a smart vision health management platform for students, which thoroughly and efficiently implemented myopia prevention and control to safeguard students’ visual health by engaging in education, monitoring, and supervision. The prevention and control of student myopia is a breakthrough for comprehensive healthy development of students. A comparison of the standard myopia rate in in 2019 and 2018 revealed that the standard myopia rate at different learning stages of primary school, junior high school, and high school dropped by 3.31, 2.50, and 2.26 percentage points, respectively, and the rate of myopia in primary school was significantly lower than the national level. Post-epidemic surveys showed that the compliance rate and the awareness rate of the visual environment and visual behaviors of primary and secondary school students in reached more than 80%, and prevalence of newly onset myopia or decreased vision was 30%, which was lower than the national average. The Wuhan Model” provides an important referential framework for public health services for school students. 【摘 要】武汉市落实健康中国行动精神,充分发挥学生近视防控工作在学生健康促进中的作用,以教育为主线、以学校为 阵地,通过整合教育资源,建立由教育行政管理部门、学校、家庭和公益性专业技术服务机构组成的多层次学校学生近视综 合防控体系与服务网络,融合多学科,针对全体学生构建全过程的视力健康管理服务体系,并运用互联网+云智能监测,建 立智慧化学校学生视力健康管理平台,全面高效实施学校学生视力健康教育、监测、监控、监管工作的近视防控新路径,以 学生近视防控工作作为突破口,全面促进学生体质健康。武汉市 2019 与 2018 年标准近视率对比,不同学习阶段标准化近 视率小学、初中、高中分别下降了 3.31, 2.50, 2.26百分点,小学阶段近视率明显低于全国水平。疫情后调查显示,武汉市中 小学生家庭视觉环境及视觉行为的达标率和知晓率达到 80%以上,新生近视或视力下降人群为 30%,低于国家平均水平。 “武汉模式” 对于完善当前的学校学生、公共卫生工作不足具有重要借鉴意义。

Controlling management to deliver diversity and inclusion: Prospects and limits

AbstractThis study explores the attempts by executives in an organisation with a strategic business case for diversity and inclusion to close the equality implementation gap—between what is espoused and what is achieved—through greater control over managers in order to direct their actions towards pro‐diversity objectives, with a specific focus on gender and ethnicity in the internal human resource development processes. Drawing on agency theory and exploring data from interviews with executives and senior managers in an exemplar case study (the UK division of a multinational professional services organisation), the study shows how increased control through mandatory diversity training, diversity targets and diversity monitoring can push managers towards making progressive steps but is ultimately constrained by the need for management discretion. The actions and counter narratives by managers reveal the limits of control and expose tensions in an approach that combines attitudinal change with behavioural control. The agency of managers means the equality implementation gap can be reduced but never completely closed.

Using structured decision-making to identify the appropriate type of entity for the centers for disease control and prevention of China

Objective: To develop evidence-based appropriate type of entity for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in order to improve the performance of disease control and prevention system in China. Methods: This study firstly proposed the core functions and essential public health programs for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Using Structured Decision-Making, this study presented three alternative options for type of entity to make essential public health programs succeed, and reviewed the pros and cons of alternative options based on 15 evaluation indicators. Questionnaires were distributed to 47 stakeholders between April 10 and April 20 of 2020. Finally, an appropriate type of entity for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was identified by using both qualitative and quantitative methods. Results: A total of 47 stakeholders ranked alternative options. Aggregated scores of each alternative option was computed after weighting each indicators. The results shows that Option 1(professional technical civil service organization)has the highest score (58.22). Conclusion: Professional technical civil service organization is appropriate type of entity for Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Competition and Sustainability: Evidence from Professional Service Organization

Two professional service organizations, an auditor and a tax agent, provide services to the same target clients. Taiwan established a new regulatory system for tax agents in 2004, which directly enhances their ability to compete with auditors. From the perspective of the economic theory of regulation, this study investigates the indirect effects of the new regulatory system on the business of auditors. We focus on auditors in proprietorship audit firms and divide the sample period into before and after 2004. This study establishes a cross-sectional regression equation to test our hypotheses. We classify the types of business into three levels, total amount, three categories and six individual items. Based on the 1989–2017 Survey Report of Audit Firms in Taiwan, we find that auditors perform better after 2004, indicating that increased competition leads to positive sustainability for auditors. Further results show that the effects of the regulation on auditors’ performance are greater after 2004, additional evidence of the positive indirect effect on auditors. This study contributes to the literature, provides public policy implications to regulators and contributes managerial information to auditors.

Glass Floors and Glass Ceilings: Sex Homophily and Heterophily in Job Interviews

Abstract A widely assumed but little-tested theory of employment interviewing suggests that female job applicants will be evaluated more favorably when they are paired with female versus male interviewers. To capitalize on this hypothesized affinity, a number of organizations have begun explicitly pairing female job applicants with female interviewers, in hopes of increasing the representation of women among new hires. However, whether this practice actually results in more favorable outcomes for female job candidates remains an open empirical question. Using data on job interview evaluations from a large, professional service organization, we test the effect of matching female job candidates with female interviewers on interview scores. Highlighting the contextually dependent nature of sex homophily, we find that the effect of being matched with a female interviewer varies by the female candidate’s perceived skill level. Sex matches in job interviews work in favor of those female candidates perceived to be lowest in skill; have a small, statistically nonsignificant negative effect for female candidates of average perceived skill; and have a significant, negative effect for women at the highest level of perceived skill. We argue that matching female candidates with female evaluators in job interviews can operate both as a glass floor that can prevent female applicants from falling below a certain scoring threshold but also a glass ceiling that can prevent the most skilled female applicants from receiving the most favorable interview ratings.

Tapping on the Rumor Mill: Rumor and Gossip as a Resource in Post-Merger Integration

Extant literature has portrayed a negative image of rumor and gossip. Particularly in situations of radical organizational change, such as Mergers and Acquisitions (M&As), rumor and gossip are often considered undesirable byproducts of organizations that ought to be systematically overcome. Despite recent calls from scholars to place more emphasis on the positive characteristics of rumor and gossip, these aspects have remained underdeveloped. This paper explores how rumors and gossip following a merger can be viewed as a resource affecting employees’ reactions to and understanding of organizational change. We draw on the literature of mergers and acquisitions, organizational change and communication to analyze an in-depth case study of a recent merger between two professional services organizations in the United Kingdom. Through 27 interviews with affected employees, we examine how rumor and gossip help employees better deal with and respond to the uncertainty created by the merger. Our findings suggest three ways in which rumor and gossip act as a purposeful and productive resource: responding to shock, decoding information and synthesizing realities. This paper contributes to management literature by recognizing the positive virtues of rumor and gossip and extending knowledge of their roles as a resource during mergers and change. In ways similar to arguments on resistance to change, we draw implications for research and practice in reframing rumor and gossip away from its pejorative assumptions toward being something more generative and integral to the change process itself.