2025/06/25 by Linda Alamaa, Patrik Hall, Karl Löfgren · 2 voices
Social Sciences · Business, Management and Accounting · #Public Policy and Administration Research #Management and Organizational Studies #Nonprofit Sector and Volunteering
paper · pdf · doi:10.1111/padm.70000
openalex publication_date 2025/06/25 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
ABSTRACT The expansion of organizational professionals in the public sector is often interpreted as a manifestation of increased managerial control and bureaucratisation, raising questions about shifting professional identities in public administration. This study contributes to research on hybrid professionalism and identity work by examining how organizational professionals themselves perceive this trend and how they justify their roles within public organizations. Based on a narrative analysis of interviews with 24 organizational professionals in Sweden, we examine how they construct their professional identity in relation to competing institutional logics. We expand the concept of hybrid professionalism by incorporating a public service logic alongside managerial and professional logics. We find that respondents frame their identity around the notion of performing a support function for frontline services. This positioning enables them to rearticulate managerial activities as supportive rather than controlling, thereby presenting their work as a response to bureaucratisation rather than a source of it.