Transnational Contexts for Professional Identity Development in Accounting

Abstract

Global expansion in the boundaries of professional work, the introduction of managerial concepts and thinking, and changes in the organizational form of professional service firms all impact the process by which professionals come to identify with their profession. The focus of this paper is on transnational professional careers and professional identity development, which remain an under-researched aspect of how globalization affects the professions. Based on original survey data from Australia, we chart the influence of social and organizational contexts on professional identity development for migrant and local accounting professionals respectively. Findings suggest that unlike the “boundaryless” opportunities associated with globe-trotting professionals, the majority of professional migrants are significantly constrained by the organizational and inter-subjective settings in which they work. Theoretically, we extend the concept of professional identity development to include not only formative early career experiences, but also large institutional jolts such as those provided by migration. Findings also help expand current understandings of organizations as sites of professionalization by shedding light on their impact on transnational careers.

Keywords

accountants globalization identity migration professions

In recent decades the environment in which professionals define themselves in their professional role has changed dramatically. Global expansion in the boundaries of professional work, the introduction of managerial concepts and thinking, and changes in the organizational form of professional service firms all impact the process by which professionals come to identify with their profession (Faulconbridge & Muzio, 2012; Slay & Smith, 2011). While the professionalization process has traditionally been portrayed as occurring within a nation-state (Cooper & Robson, 2006), in recent decades globalization has significantly altered contexts for professionalization. Previous attempts to understand how globalization is affecting the professions have mainly focused on regulatory frameworks and organizational expansion across national borders (Dobusch, Mader, & Quack, 2013; Faulconbridge & Muzio, 2012; Suddaby, Cooper, & Greenwood, 2007). In addition, studies have shown how professional networks can impact globalization, via knowledge flows facilitated by the return migration of professionals from developing countries (Saxenian, 2006; Saxenian, Motoyama, & Quan, 2002). The focus of this paper is on transnational professional careers and professional identity development, which remain an under-researched aspect of how globalization affects the professions. Foreign-born professionals constitute a large proportion of the workforce in various professional occupations such as computing (22% of computing professionals in the US), university teaching (20% of university instructors in the US), and healthcare (28% in the UK) (OECD, 2007), yet systematic research on the life and work of the migrant professionals themselves is still relatively scant (Sabharwal, 2011).

The growth of professional migration compels an examination of how recent changes in institutional frameworks and organizational structures and practices are affecting both migrant and local professionals. While the transnational mobility of professionals—particularly, return or circular migration of professionals from developing countries—has been extolled by extant literatures as an instance of global knowledge transfer (Saxenian, 2006), and transnational professionals referred to as modern-day “Argonauts” (Saxenian, 2006) or the kinetic elite (Cresswell, 2006; Elliott & Urry, 2010; Felstead, Jewson, & Walters, 2005), we problematize romanticizing transnationalism in the professions. Instead, we propose that the organizational contexts and work-based interactions migrant professionals experience can place them at a distinct disadvantage. We focus on the construction of professional identity, whose importance has been renewed in the face of increased rationalization and managerialization of the professions. Professional identity is constructed in a highly complex social context which includes association with professional bodies, organizational environments, varying work practices, and the status hierarchy of roles within the profession (Anderson-Gough, Robson, & Grey, 1998, p. 14; Covaleski, Dirsmith, Heian, & Samuel, 1998; Lander, Koene, & Linssen, 2013). Despite presumed uniformity of professional privilege in traditional theories of the professions (e.g. Abbott, 1988; Freidson, 2001), professional labor markets have always been socially structured, leading to variations in self-conceptions as professionals (Cooper & Robson, 2006; Hanlon, 1994). Historically, social stratification along class, gender and ethnicity lines has characterized boundaries to professions such as accounting (Bourdieu, 1984; Jacobs, 2003; Kirkham & Loft, 1993; Walker & Shackleton, 1998) and dentistry (Adams, 1998). For example, Hanlon (1994) showed that in accounting, male white auditors performed high-status work while bookkeepers and clerks—who were often women or new immigrants—were engaged in peripheral work. We ask whether, in the face of impediments in upward mobility in their organizations, migrant professionals adhere more strongly to professional identity, as well as how organizational contexts matter in professional identity development for migrant and non-migrant professionals.

Organizations are a site as well as an actor in the professionalization project (Faulconbridge & Muzio, 2012, p. 137). Organizations also have the potential to shape professional identity through culture, power relations, work design, and the provision of resources (Suddaby, Gendron, & Lam, 2009; Suddaby, Greenwood, & Wilderom, 2008). Abundant research on professional socialization has shown that organizational practices and cultures deeply influence what professionals come to understand as appropriate standards of conduct and practice (Alvesson & Willmott, 2002; Anderson-Gough, Grey, & Robson, 2001; Andersson, 2012; Cooper & Robson, 2006). We contend that both local and migrant professionals may adjust their professional identity in response to inter-subjective interpretations of organizational practices, perceived opportunities for mobility and autonomy, and power relations in organizational settings (Goffman, 1956; Raz & Fadlon, 2006; Rumens & Kerfoot, 2009). For migrant professionals, encountering changed work environments in their adopted country—which can include new job characteristics, and the extent to which resources such as training, development, and mentoring are accessible—may impact overall assessments about their experience as a professional. A key theoretical consideration from the viewpoint of group dynamics is whether organizational practices and cultures are perceived as reproducing, ameliorating, or neutral towards status differences among groups (Ely & Thomas, 2001).

In this study, we chart the influence of social and organizational contexts on professional identity development for both groups of professionals. We anticipate that our findings will contribute to better understanding constraints and opportunities of transnational professionalism. Our theoretical contributions are two-fold. We extend the concept of professional identity development to include not only formative early career experiences, but also large institutional jolts such as those provided by migration. Second, our findings help expand current understandings of organizations as sites of professionalization by shedding light on their impact on transnational careers. The design and execution of this study sets it apart from other papers in this special issue—based on original survey data from Australia, we examine the strength of professional identity for migrant and local accounting professionals, using multivariate regression modeling. Nevertheless, the theme we examine—how the globalizing of professional work interacts with organizational settings to affect professionals’ conceptions of themselves—is core to the spirit of the current Special Issue. This study dovetails Zanoni and Janssens’ findings in this issue in demonstrating that work and group dynamics impact how “diversity” is experienced in the workplace. The present findings also complement the results reported by Hirst and Humphreys (this issue) in revealing that organizations can alter or fragment the nature of professional work, as well as Wasserman and Frenkel’s (this issue) findings in demonstrating how the spatial and social configuration of work can both reinforce existing inequalities among groups as well as engender resistance. In the following sections, we describe the research context, develop hypotheses building on theories of transnational careers and socialization processes, report on findings, and discuss potential contributions to understanding transnational contexts for professionalization.

Research Context

The context for this research is permanent, skill-based migration, a phenomenon which is rapidly increasing around the world, particularly in the EU, Australia, and Canada (OECD, 2007). This phenomenon is distinct from circular migration, under which migrant professionals return to home countries as entrepreneurs (Saxenian, 2006), and from expatriate mobility (Fang, Jiang, Makino, & Beamish, 2010), in which multinational organizations deploy their staff to cross-border assignments. While all three types of migration have been on the rise, permanent skill-based migration to developed country destinations arguably occurs on the largest scale (OECD, 2007).

The accounting profession has affected the course of globalization and, simultaneously, has been significantly influenced by the globalized economy (Cooper & Robson, 2006; Hanlon, 1999; Suddaby et al., 2008). Historically, accountancy was “the first profession to operate cross-nationally” (MacDonald, 1995, p. 202). In the context of immigrant professionals in Australia, accounting has benefited both from the strong growth of the profession due to economic reorganization and linkage effects with Australian higher education, which has been boosted by demand in nearby Asia for Western accounting standards. As a result, accounting was the top occupation admitting migrants into Australia under the Skilled Migration Program for seven consecutive years since 2005, with an annual average of over 9,000 migrant accountants entering Australia (Department of Immigration and Citizenship, various years). In 2001, overseas-born individuals comprised 36% of persons with undergraduate or postgraduate qualifications in accounting, numbering more than 35,000 (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2001).

Since 1999, Australia has allowed overseas students to sponsor themselves for permanent residency once they have completed accounting programs in Australian institutions and obtained two years of professional training. Given that most Australian employers are reluctant to sponsor residency applications, this change enabled overseas accounting graduates to compete for Australian jobs. This has resulted in a rapid growth in the number of immigrant accounting professionals as well as a diversification of national origin. Traditionally, Australia’s foreign-born accountant population has come from other English-speaking countries and Commonwealth member Asian countries, such as Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore. In recent decades, the numbers and proportion of accountants from China and the Indian subcontinent have increased significantly (Birrell & Rapson, 2005, p. 10). In 2010, in an attempt to protect jobs after the global financial crisis, Australia reduced the number of occupations it recognized under the skilled migration program from more than 400 to approximately 180; however, accounting was retained. A report for CPA Australia, a professional body, found that most overseas students who trained to become accountants in Australia actually settled in this country and were not using Australian degrees to subsequently practice elsewhere (Birrell & Rapson, 2005, p. 13).

Stratification of jobs based on place of origin has been prevalent in Australia’s professions (Groutsis, 2006; Iredale, 1987), confirming the existence of an “ethnic penalty” found in other developed countries (Kalter & Kogan, 2006; Rafferty, 2012; Rissing & Castilla, 2014). A competency-based accreditation process has replaced one initially based on qualifications, in response to structural barriers to recognizing qualifications of overseas professionals (Chapman & Iredale, 1993; Groutsis, 1998; Hawthorne, 1994; Iredale, 1997). Hawthorne (2001, 2002) found a significantly higher likelihood of Eastern European and Asian nurses of non-Commonwealth background working in public hospitals and nursing homes, in comparison with Western European nurses who were more likely to work in private hospitals. Foreign-born professionals of non-English-speaking background in various occupations were found to have difficulty in accessing management positions (Iredale, 1987; Watson, 1996). As a result, immigrants from non-English-speaking backgrounds in comparable jobs are over-educated (Green, Kler, & Leeves, 2007) and underpaid (Birrell, Hawthorne, & Richardson, 2006) relative to those from English-speaking backgrounds. In accounting, a report for CPA Australia found higher rates of unemployment and lower rates of advancement into managerial positions for foreign-born accountants than for local accountants (Birrell & Rapson, 2005, pp. 16–17). Almeida, Fernando and Sheridan (2011) interviewed recruitment managers in accounting firms and employment agencies and found that employer preferences for local experience, knowledge of local clients, and “cultural fit” with a local, mostly male, top management deterred firms from hiring qualified migrant professionals. The authors found that medium and small firms were more likely to discriminate against migrant accountants than large firms, who were inclined to recruit based on qualifications (Almeida et al., 2011, p. 1957).

Given the large increase in the proportion of non-English-speaking migrant accountants in recent decades, our analysis of migrant professionals focuses on those from non-English-speaking backgrounds. Furthermore, since migrant professionals are concentrated in small and medium accounting firms, we focus our study on accountants working in accounting firms other than the “big four”—Ernst & Young, KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and Deloitte. We also include accountants working in firms in industry. Empirical investigations have shown that accountants working in industry, large professional service firms, small firms, and those in public or not-for-profit sectors each have a different sense of their professional identity and responsibilities (Hastings & Hinings, 1970). Relatively little is known about the development of accountants’ professional identity in the context of small and medium accounting firms and firms in industry. Prior research has shown that small and medium accounting firms are more likely than the big four to maintain allegiances to traditional norms of professionalism in determining standards for accounting practice (Ramirez, 2009), in interactions with clients (Cooper & Robson, 2006), and in judging professional norms of conduct and behavior (Barrett, Cooper, & Jamal, 2005). Lander and colleagues (2013, p. 131) pointed out that managerialism has not influenced these firms to the extent that it has large professional service firms, as seen, for example, by the fact that non-partnered professionals as opposed to business-minded partners exert control over the day-to-day operations. Compared to the big four accounting firms, mid-tier firms are more embedded in national institutions as opposed to global contexts, and serve smaller and more local clients (Lander et al., 2013, p. 131). Thus, these firms potentially provide a more challenging environment for migrant professionals.

Migration and Professional Identity

Professional identity is a combination of beliefs, values, motives, and experiences with which people define themselves in their professional role (Schein, 1978). Identification with the profession is seen as essential to building “cohesion” among professionals, thereby enabling them to act as a group in advancing cultural projects such as standards of practice (Freidson, 1994, p. 202). At the individual level, professional identity incorporates work as well as life experiences that provide self-understanding and give meaning to one’s priorities (Schein, 1978). Professional identity also reflects expectations imbued to professional conduct by other members of the profession, by organizations that employ professionals, and by existing cultural values of the wider society (Acker, 1990; Adams, 1998; Alvesson, 2002). The formation of professional identity is seen as a social and developmental process shaped by interactive experiences and life transitions (Hodgson, 2005; Reybold & Alamia, 2008).

We base our contention that migrant accountants are likely to harbor higher levels of professional identity than local accountants on two fronts—the structural position and workplace experience of migrant professionals on the one hand, and the subjective value placed on work by migrants on the other. The relatively low status occupied by migrant professionals and other groups in the profession may prompt them to construct a stronger professional identity. Studies of women in the professions have demonstrated that women actively cultivate professionalism in the face of workplace interactions that undervalue their professional identity (Hatmaker, 2013; Reissner-Roubicek, 2012). While organizational commitment has been depicted as a competing allegiance to professional identities and norms, migrant professionals may feel distanced towards their employing organizations given that they tend to occupy lower ranks in the organizational hierarchy. Disadvantaged groups in professional organizations tend to identify more strongly with the profession and less strongly with the organization. For example, Gunz and Gunz (2007) found that lawyers who perceived an inequity in how organizational rewards were distributed exhibited higher professional identity and lower identification with the organization. Similarly, empirical studies have shown that groups of accountants demonstrate different levels of professional identity depending on relative status and access to clients (Empson, 2004, p. 777). Tax accountants, for example, have traditionally been perceived as lower status than audit accountants. Shielded from interacting with clients, they are less market-driven and more expressly committed to professional norms than audit accountants (Anderson-Gough et al., 1998).

Studies of migrant careers have brought to light the central position of work in migrants’ lives. This is arguably more so in the case of migrant professionals, as the profession itself is instrumental in enabling migration. Most migrants experience status downgrading due to difficulties in transferring their qualifications, and consequent reductions in self-esteem (Krau, 1981). Hence, migrants have lower expectations about career outcomes, yet they place work at the center of their lives and are highly engaged in their jobs (Krau, 1984). As Krau (1984) argued, immigrants cope with life uncertainties triggered by the migration decision by committing themselves intensely to their work. Furthermore, migrants may draw on professional identity in order to compensate for the erosion of their personal and social identity. In a study of Jewish physicians from the former Soviet Union who migrated to Canada, the US and Israel, Shuval (2000) found that physicians spoke of their practice as being even more important to them after migrating, and some described it as the only source of meaning in their new lives. The vast majority sought to re-establish their professional identity at all costs despite regulatory and social hurdles. Given the preceding discussion, we hypothesize that:

Hypothesis 1: Migrant accountants will have higher levels of professional identity than local accountants.

The Variable Impact of Organizational and Social Contexts

Despite early literature on professionalization having demonstrated that professional work is fundamentally socially organized, recent examinations of changing contexts for professionalization have placed insufficient attention on differing social contexts for professional work across attribute-based groups (Ashcraft, 2013). It is well established that organizational contexts—such as work design, culture, training and development processes—impact the development of professional identity (Alvesson, Ashcraft, & Thomas, 2008; Anderson-Gough et al., 1998). We build on the literature on professional socialization yet propose theoretical differentiation regarding the influence of organizational and social contexts on professional identity development for migrant and local professionals.

Professional socialization is a process through which professionals internalize professional norms, values and cultures, and learn how to behave “appropriately” in conducting tasks (Anderson-Gough et al., 1998, p. 22). The functionalist approach to socialization views it as the process by which fixed and objective traits and knowledge sets associated with the occupation are acquired (Merton, 1957). The interactionist approach, represented by the seminal writings of Becker and his associates (1961), regards socialization as the process by which values and behaviors are adopted through social interactions that provide the context for generating meaning (Goffman, 1956). Following the interactionist approach to professional socialization, we view migrant and local professional identities as shaped out of social contexts of work. Both overall individual perceptions of the professional experience as well as understandings of specific contexts governing opportunities and autonomy at work are of interest. We develop specific hypotheses around three variables: professional experience, training and development opportunities, and job autonomy. Each of these factors has previously been associated with higher levels of professional identity. However, due to the different social contexts in which migrant and local professionals come to understand professional work, we propose that each factor will influence the two groups’ professional identity differently.

Professional experience

Professionals first acquire and subsequently adjust their identity through lived experience (Ibarra, 1999; Knight & Mattick, 2006). Observing role models and receiving feedback, identified as key processes of professional identity validation (Ashforth, 2001), are both dependent on accumulated experience. Thus, the length of time an individual has been practicing in the accounting profession is thought to be positively related to the strength of their professional identity (Ashforth, 2001). Nevertheless, the lower quality of work experience for migrant professionals is likely to weaken this positive relationship, as empirical findings suggest that professionals adjust their sense of identity according to the extent to which their work is deemed that of a “professional.” For example, Pratt, Rockmann and Kaufmann (2006) showed that medical residents “customized” their notion of what it meant to be a physician as they were exposed to different types of work during their training that deepened, challenged, or added information to generalized notions of what it means to be a physician. Migrant professionals are likely to experience challenges in the host country labor market, such as barriers to getting their qualifications recognized, employer preferences for local experience, and discrimination (Al Ariss, 2010; Newton, Pillay, & Higginbottom, 2012). In Australia, studies have found that professional immigrants accept entry-level positions and work in less skilled occupations than those they are qualified for (Green et al., 2007; Junankar & Mahuteau, 2005; Productivity Commission, 2006). Likewise, work experiences gained in migrant professionals’ home countries are devalued by Australian employers (Bauder & Cameron, 2002; Productivity Commission, 2006).

Attitudes based on values of the wider society shape organizational practices and interpersonal relations at the workplace (Acker, 1990; Alvesson, 2002); hence, social skills and cultural and behavioral traits influence judgments on whether someone is a good fit with the organization (Anderson-Gough et al., 1998, pp. 68–70). As a result, migrant professionals often report feeling discriminated against in the workplace (Mawhinney & Xu, 1997; Shuval, 2000). Idealism could turn to cynicism where experience leads to a “reality shock” (Anderson-Gough et al., 1998, p. 28). We propose that due to barriers to entry and mobility as well as the experience of social exclusion at work, length of professional experience will translate into lower levels of professional identity for migrant professionals compared to non-migrant professionals.

Organizational training and development opportunities

Organizational processes such as training and development provide occasions for professional socialization (Alvesson et al., 2008; Cooper & Robson, 2006). Training and development encompass formal processes of skills acquisition as well as, importantly, informal interactions with colleagues and clients that connect people to opportunities in the organization and beyond (Andersson, 2012; Higgins & Kram, 2001; Higgins & Thomas, 2001). For example, developmental mentoring networks play a crucial role in the formation of professional identity (Dobrow & Higgins, 2005; Rettinger, 2011). While training and development as an instance of professional socialization have been known to enhance professional identity (Andersson, 2012), migrant professionals may be less likely than others to expect that training and development opportunities will benefit them. Professionals are likely to view the knowledge transmitted through organizational training and development “inter-subjectively”—as a form of social interaction—instead of purely “objectively” (Raz & Fadlon, 2006). Organizational contexts endow learning actions with status, meaning, and expectations rising from historical background and current power relations (Raz & Fadlon, 2006, p. 166). Participants who regard themselves as relatively disadvantaged within the organization may view training curricula as a formality or ritual if they reproduce existing inequalities instead of begetting meaningful change (Meyer & Rowan, 1977; Raz & Fadlon, 2006). The absence of role models in top organizational positions can also compel members of minority groups to question whether replicating behaviors espoused by the dominant group will aid their career success (Dickens & Dickens, 1982). Similarly, minority group members are likely to question the fairness of evaluations (Milliken & Martins, 1996) and to discount performance feedback from white colleagues (Crocker & Major, 1989; Stewart & Shapiro, 2000). We thus reason that training and development opportunities will be associated with lower levels of professional identity for migrant professionals compared to non-migrant professionals.

Job autonomy

Traditionally, job autonomy, which refers to the extent to which individuals “make independent decisions concerning the appropriate procedures for work tasks and activities” (Wallace, 1995, p. 231), has been regarded as a definitive aspect of professional work (Freidson, 2001; Tolbert & Stern, 1991; Wallace, 1995). Empirical evidence linking job autonomy to professional identity abounds (Fogarty & Kalbers, 2000; Lander et al., 2013, p. 143; Russo, 1998).

It has been argued that professional autonomy may no longer be the central barometer for professionalism due to managerialism, the expansion of consultancy in professional service firms’ portfolios, and the emphasis on market opportunities, all of which influence how professionals see themselves (Kornberger, Justesen, & Mouritsen, 2011; Suddaby et al., 2007; Suddaby et al., 2009). But vestiges of professionalism still remain, particularly in medium and small accounting firms, as previously stated (Cooper & Robson, 2006; Lander et al., 2013; Ramirez, 2009). Furthermore, because migrant professionals usually find themselves in work settings that they do not control, they are likely to value autonomy as a source of their professional identity to an even greater extent than locals. For example, migrants are likely to face limitations in accessing managerial jobs due to the imperfect transfer of professional qualifications and/or employers’ perceptions that they lack “appropriate” social skills (Almeida et al., 2011; Iredale, 1987). Hence, compared to local professionals, the traditional autonomy associated with professional work is likely to provide migrant professionals with a greater assurance of professional identity.

The following three hypotheses summarize the foregoing discussion:

Hypothesis 2: The relationship between professional experience and professional identity will be stronger for local than for migrant accountants.

Hypothesis 3: The relationship between training and development and professional identity will be stronger for local than for migrant accountants.

Hypothesis 4: The relationship between job autonomy and professional identity will be stronger for migrant than for local accountants.

Method

Data

This study analyzed a subset of data we collected as part of an ongoing research project on career outcomes for accountants in Australia. No data from this project have previously been published. We distributed an online survey to a randomized list of members from two professional associations in accounting, the Institute of Chartered Accountants Australia (ICAA) and the Certified Public Accountants Australia (CPAA). We stratified the sample of members to contain equal numbers of foreign-born and Australia-born members from both associations, excluding student members. In total, 608 responses from foreign-born accountants and 612 responses from Australia-born accountants were collected (N = 1,220). We excluded from these consecutively in order of mention the following: responses from members residing outside Australia (281 responses), members who were not currently practicing accounting defined as four occupations under the Australian Standard Classification of Occupations (i.e., accountant, external auditor, corporate treasurer, finance manager; 232 responses), and respondents who arrived in Australia as minors (62 responses). We also excluded from the migrant sample those individuals whose first language was English (92 responses) in order to focus on non-traditional groups of migrants to Australia. We dropped samples with incomplete information (9 responses). Finally, we excluded individuals who work for the “big four” (PwC, Deloitte, Ernst & Young, and KPMG; 77 responses). This resulted in a total of 103 (32%) useable responses from foreign-born accountants and 214 (68%) from Australian-born accountants. Our final sample comprised 125 female accountants (40 foreign-born, 85 Australian-born) and 192 male accountants (63 foreign-born, 129 Australian-born). The average age for the foreign-born and Australian-born accountants was 40.2 (SD = 9.7) and 36.4 years (SD = 9.3), respectively.

Measures

Established scales were used to measure the study’s variables. Unless otherwise specified, a seven-point Likert scale was used to assess the substantive variables (1 = strongly agree; 7 = strongly disagree), with items coded such that a higher score represented a higher level of the construct, with the exception of reverse-coded items.

Independent variables

Migrant status

Migrant status was operationalized as having been born abroad and arriving in Australia as an adult (over the age of 18). It was coded 1 if the individual arrived in Australia as an adult born overseas, and 0 if the individual was born in Australia. For reasons discussed above, foreign-born individuals who stated English as their first language were excluded from the sample.

Professional work experience

Respondents were asked what year they first started working in accounting and/or finance. The number of years since respondents first started working in these areas was taken as a measurement of professional experience.

Training and development

We measured training and development employing three items used in Sturges, Guest, Conway and Davey (2002): “I have been given training to help develop my career,” “I have been taught things I need to know to get on in this organization,” and “I have been given work which has developed my skills for the future.” In this sample, coefficient alpha was .86.

Job autonomy

Using a seven point scale (1 = not at all to 7 = very much) for each item, we assessed job autonomy based on a five-item scale developed by Dwyer and Ganster (1991). Participants were asked several questions about their job including the extent to which they were able to choose among a variety of tasks or projects and the extent to which they exercised control over the amount of resources they received. An example of an item is, “How much control do you have over the quality of your work?” In this sample, coefficient alpha was .83.

Dependent variable

Professional identity

Professional identity was measured using the four-item scale developed by Blau (2003). Sample items included: “This profession is important for my self-image” and “I strongly identify with this profession.” In this sample, coefficient alpha was .85.

Controls

In order to rule out alternative explanations for our findings, we controlled for respondents’ gender, age, number of dependants, formal education in accounting, membership in professional associations in accounting, the extent to which respondents engaged in career planning, and position within the organization.

Extant literature on professional identity and role theory has posited that levels of professional identity may differ across men and women, during different phases of one’s life cycle (represented by age), and for parents with dependent children (Gove & Zeiss, 1987; Moen, Dempster-McClain, & Williams, 1992; Reitzes & Mutran, 1994). Gender was coded 0 for females and 1 for males. Age was measured by asking respondents to report the year of their birth. Participants were asked how many dependants they had, if any.

We controlled for membership in professional associations, since participation in professional associations has been associated with higher levels of professional identity (Greenwood, Suddaby, & Hinings, 2002). In our sample, some respondents belonged to multiple professional associations, both within and outside Australia.

Next, we controlled for formal education in accounting. Professionalization has been inextricably related to the establishment of universal credentials and graduate programs (Abbott, 1988; DiMaggio & Powell, 1983, p. 156; Freidson, 1994). Similar to participation in professional associations, formal education provides the context for a shared culture that embodies commonly understood modes of conduct and perception (Allsop & Mulcahy, 1996; Evetts, 1996; Freidson, 1985). Two aspects of formal education were controlled for: attainment of post-high school educational degrees or qualifications in accounting (coded 1 if attained, and 0 if not) and completion of an accreditation program overseen by a professional accounting body (coded 1 if completed, and 0 if not).

Empirical studies have demonstrated that career planning is positively related to career success (Aryee & Debrah, 1993; Gould, 1979; Ng, Eby, Sorensen, & Feldman, 2005; Wayne, Liden, Kraimer, & Graf, 1999). Although direct examination of the relationship between career planning and professional identity has been rare, individuals with clear ideas about what they want to achieve in their careers tend to show a high level of commitment to standards and norms in their profession (Blau, 1985). Career planning was assessed with a four-item scale developed by Gould (1979). Sample items included: “My career goals are clear” and “I know what I need to do to reach my career goals.” In this sample, coefficient alpha was .82.

Finally, we controlled for respondents’ position within their organization to account for the likelihood that managerial roles provide a justification for enacting managerial as opposed to professional logics (Kornberger et al., 2011; Simpson & Carroll, 2008). Specifically, the relationship between our independent variables and professional identity may be different for migrant accountants in managerial roles than for those in non-managerial roles. It is possible, for example, that migrant accountants holding managerial roles will have workplace experiences similar to locals in those roles, that training and development opportunities may be less important given that managers are less likely to see themselves as persons in need of development, and that autonomy may be valued less given managerial discretion. Instead of making explicit predictions about the moderating effect of migrant status for accountants in managerial roles separately, we opted to control for managerial position in our model. This item was coded 1 if the respondent was a “partner” or “manager” in the organization and 0 for all other positions, including “senior” and “accountant.”

Results

Descriptive statistics and inter-correlations of the study variables are summarized in Table 1. We conducted hierarchical multiple regression analysis to assess the incremental explanatory power of variables in each block (Cohen & Cohen, 1983). In line with Aiken and West (1991), we entered control variables in the first step of the regression equation. In the second step, we entered the predictor variables (e.g., migrant status, professional work experience, training and development, and job autonomy) to test for main effects. In step 3, we entered the interaction terms between migrant status and the three independent variables. In order to reduce multi-collinearity, independent variables which are continuous data were centered at their means (Aiken & West, 1991).

Table 1.

Means, standard deviations, and intercorrelations among study variables.

		Mean	S.D.	Min	Max	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
1.	Professional identity	5.55	1.01	1.00	7.00
2.	Gender	0.61	0.49	0.00	1.00	0.07
3.	Age	37.65	9.59	24.00	65.00	0.15*	0.23*
4.	Number of dependants	0.85	1.13	0.00	4.00	0.10	0.20*	0.12
5.	Professional association membership	0.95	0.23	0.00	1.00	−0.09	0.01	0.04	0.02
6.	Formal education in accounting	0.81	0.39	0.00	1.00	−0.04	−0.11	−0.14*	−0.03	0.03
7.	Completion of professional program in accounting	0.89	0.31	0.00	1.00	−0.09	−0.13*	−0.29*	−0.16*	0.14*	0.01
8.	Career planning	5.27	1.14	1.00	7.00	0.36*	0.04	0.08	0.03	0.01	−0.04	0.01
9.	Management position	0.65	0.48	0.00	1.00	−0.10	0.04	−0.12*	−0.04	0.00	−0.03	0.04	0.00
10.	Migrant status	0.32	0.47	0.00	1.00	0.25*	0.01	0.18*	0.07	−0.01	−0.06	−0.28*	0.13*	−0.31*
11.	Work experience	13.56	9.50	1.00	48.00	0.06	0.24*	0.72*	0.14*	−0.03	−0.11*	−0.21*	0.03	−0.08	0.01
12.	Training & development	5.4	1.14	1.00	7.00	0.25	0.04	−0.02	0.04	−0.00	−0.09	0.04	0.23*	0.16*	−0.20	−0.02
13.	Job autonomy	4.76	1.07	1.60	7.00	0.19*	0.13*	0.20*	0.07	−0.02	0.10	0.05	0.23*	0.07	−0.12*	0.21*	0.35*

p <0.05.

Table 2 shows the regression analysis results with professional identity as the dependent variable. Hypothesis 1 predicted that migrant accountants will have higher levels of professional identity than local accountants. Supporting hypothesis 1, the coefficient of migrant status was positive and significant (β = .49, p <0.001).

Table 2.

Hierarchical moderated regression analysis.

	Step 1	Step 2	Step 3
Control Variables
Gender	0.039 (0.35)	0.044 (0.41)	0.060 (0.55)
Age	0.010 (1.61)	0.011 (1.35)	0.010 (1.20)
Number of dependants	0.055 (1.15)	0.043 (0.94)	0.051 (1.11)
Professional association membership	−0.395 (–1.66)	−0.405 (–1.78)	−0.418 (–1.86)
Formal education in accounting	−0.033 (–0.24)	0.015 (0.11)	−0.001 (–0.00)
Completion of professional program in accounting	−0.122 (–0.67)	0.018 (0.10)	0.023 (0.13)
Career planning	0.309*** (6.65)	0.222*** (4.71)	0.239*** (4.98)
Management position	−0.195 (–1.74)	−0.142 (–1.26)	−0.152 (–1.37)
Main Effects
Migrant status (MS)		0.491*** (3.93)	0.772*** (3.82)
Work experience (WE)		−0.005 (–0.68)	0.005 (0.53)
Training & development (TD)		0.198*** (3.98)	0.267*** (4.28)
Job autonomy (JA)		0.070 (1.30)	−0.035 (–0.54)
Two-way Interactions
WE × MS			−0.024* (–2.15)
TD × MS			−0.222* (–2.25)
JA × MS			0.327** (2.89)
R²	0.166	0.248	0.279
R² change		0.083***	0.030**
F	7.655***	8.372***	7.747***

Hypotheses 2 to 4 predicted that professional experience, training and development, and job autonomy, respectively, will interact with migrant status in their relationship to professional identity. First, we proposed that the relationship between professional experience and professional identity will be stronger for local professionals as compared to migrant professionals (H2). Second, we anticipated that the relationship between training and development and professional identity will be stronger for local professionals as compared to migrant professionals (H3). Third, we expected that the relationship between job autonomy and professional identity will be stronger for migrant as compared to local professionals (H4).

The results generally supported all of our predictions. As shown in Table 2, the inclusion of the multiplicative interaction terms in step 3 explained an additional amount of variance in professional identity compared to the main effects model in step 2 (∆R² = 0.03, p <.01), and the coefficients of all three interaction terms were statistically significant. Specifically, the interaction between professional experience and migrant status was negatively significant (β = −.02, p <.05), suggesting that the relationship between professional experience and professional identify is stronger for locals than migrants; the interaction between training and development and migration status was negatively significant (β = −.22, p <.05), suggesting that the association between training and professional identity is stronger for locals compared to migrants; and the interaction between job autonomy and migrant status was positively significant (β = .33, p <.01), suggesting that the relationship between job autonomy and professional identity is significantly stronger for migrants than for locals. Thus, hypotheses 2, 3, and 4 were supported.

To facilitate the interpretation of the interaction effects, we extracted information from the regression equations and plotted the effects of professional experience, training and development, and job autonomy on professional identity at each level of the moderator (migrant accountant vs. local accountant). In Figure 1a, b, c, dashed lines represent migrant professionals while solid lines represent local professionals. Figure 1a shows the interaction effect between professional experience and migrant status on professional identity. The slope for migrant professionals (dashed line) is negative and significant (β = −0.024, t = −2.31, p <.05) while the slope for local-born professionals (solid line) is not negative and non-significant (β = 0.007, t = 0.70, p >.05), suggesting that, as predicted, the negative impact of work experience on professional identity is notable among migrant professionals but it is not necessarily so among native-born professionals. Figure 1b depicts the interactive relationship among migrant status, training and development, and professional identity. As predicted, the slope is positive and significantly steeper for local professionals (β = 0.307, t = 4.78, p <.05) than for migrant professionals (β = 0.130, t = 1.61, p >.05). Figure 1c displays the interactive effect of migrant status and job autonomy on professional identity. As proposed, we saw a significantly stronger effect of job autonomy on professional identity for migrant professionals (β = 0.251, t = 2.60, p<.05) than for non-migrant professionals (β = 0.44, t = 0.67, p >.05).

Figure 1.

Interactions between migrant status and professional experience, training and development, and job autonomy.

Discussion

We shed light on a hitherto under-researched aspect in the globalization of professions—permanent, skill-based migration—and its impact on the professionalization process by asking how the development of professional identity is conditioned by work-based experiences for migrant and non-migrant accountants. Findings suggest that unlike the “boundaryless” opportunities and liberation associated with circular, entrepreneurial professionals in information technology (Arthur & Rousseau, 1996; Saxenian, 2006;) and globe-trotting professionals in finance and managerial consulting (Elliott & Urry, 2010), the majority of professional migrants are significantly constrained by the organizational and inter-subjective settings in which they work. Our theoretical contributions are two-fold. We first theorize professional identity as a process and outcome reflecting transnational as well as nationally bound experiences. In doing so we build on the interactionist school of professional socialization but expand its horizons to include post-migration adjustments to professional identity. Extant studies have examined professional socialization occurring in one national context, implicitly or explicitly assuming that the formative years as trainee or early career accountant are key to professional identity development. In comparison, the current findings help construct a dynamic concept of professional identity that responds to transnational social contexts where professionals generate meanings to measure and compare experiences in the host country with those first learned in their countries of origin. In this sense, migration is a “transition” experienced in one’s career akin to parenthood, getting one’s PhD or obtaining tenure as an academic (Reybold & Alamia, 2008). But unlike the aforementioned examples, migration constitutes a large institutional and social jolt forcing professionals to work in unfamiliar institutional surroundings and often relegating them to a lower social and organizational status. It is understandable then that migrant professionals’ overall assessment of their professional experience is colored by their experience in the host country and explains, for example, why a weaker relationship exists between tenure in the occupation and professional identity for migrant professionals. As seen in Figure 1a, the relationship between professional experience and professional identity was positive for locals but strongly negative for migrants.

A second contribution of this study is deepening our understanding of organizations as a site of professionalization in an era of globalization by outlining their impact on transnational professional careers. The professional socialization literature has relatively recently diversified to include the influence of organizations in the socialization process (Alvesson & Willmott, 2002; Anderson-Gough et al., 1998; Hodgson, 2002). Diversity studies have also contributed to understanding how organizational culture and practices construct and reconstruct the dominant cultural hierarchy within the professions, for example, by reinforcing the association of Western cultural traits and male behaviors with what it means to be “professional” (Hatmaker, 2013; Slay & Smith, 2011). Our findings demonstrate that, as with other processes of professional socialization, the transnational context of migration interacts with and works through formal and informal organizational structures and practices to impact professional identity development. Hence, for example, stratification of opportunities in the organizational setting can influence the meanings that professionals assign to professionalization processes driven by organizational practices such as training and development. Apparently well-meaning organizational practices can be of little help or even be perceived as counter-productive to individual careers if they are not viewed as conducive to workplace climates respectful of demographic and cultural diversity (Nishii, 2013; Shore, et al., 2011).

On the other hand, findings suggest that organizations can positively influence professional identity development through work design. In the current study, job autonomy was valued by all professionals, but migrant professionals valued it even more than did local professionals (see Figure 1c). We interpret this finding in the context of power relationships and their impact on career ascension within organizations (Ely & Thomas, 2001). As mentioned earlier, local professionals accede to managerial positions in greater proportion than migrant professionals. In additional analysis not presented here, we found that the impact of job autonomy on professional identity was not significantly different for local and migrant professionals holding a managerial position. This provides support for our contention that the stronger value placed on job autonomy is derived from a relative lack of opportunity for upward progression in migrant professionals’ careers and that managerial discretion is a potential competitor to professional autonomy for local and migrant professionals.

Implications and future research

This research has expanded the boundaries of the study of diversity in the professions to include an important and hitherto relatively overlooked group, migrant professionals. Given the similarity in workplace experiences between migrants on the one hand, and women and minority groups on the other by virtue of their relatively low status within the organization and the profession, we believe that our findings can be cautiously extended to understanding the organizational contexts that impact professional identity development for these latter groups. Although conducted in a non-professional work setting, Zanoni and Janssens’ findings in this issue reveal the importance of examining the impact of group dynamics and occupational socialization on individual attitudes towards diversity management. We also believe that in the same way that women and minorities are critical of taken-for-granted notions of professional identity, and seek to redefine what it means to be professional (Dryburgh, 1999; Hatmaker, 2013; Slay & Smith, 2011), migrant professionals are likely to question parochial practices that uphold existing power relationships and to favor the introduction of more open, international practices in recruitment and professional development. Further research on diversity in the professions might examine whether and how low-status groups within a profession challenge informal forms of professional closure that typically operate through organizational culture and practice (Ackroyd, 1996). Wasserman and Frenkel in this issue offer a rich account of how female administrative clerks sought to challenge dominant professional norms by purposefully advancing alternative cultural norms. Relatedly, more research is needed to investigate whether low-status professional groups may rely more on professional institutions, such as standard-setting bodies and professional associations, as a source of their identity instead of organizational sources of professionalization given the adverse climate they encounter in many organizations. Lastly, this study has highlighted that despite residing outside the limelight of the usual focus of globalizing professional service firms, small and medium professional service firms and industry have progressively become sites of transnational professionalism. Future research might want to examine in more depth the interaction between transnational professionalism and managerialism in small and medium professional service firms (Faulconbridge & Muzio, 2012; Lander et al., 2013; Suddaby et al., 2009).

Footnotes

Funding

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Author biographies

Kyoung-Hee Yu is a senior lecturer at UNSW Business School at the University of New South Wales. Her research has focused on institutional and organizational change processes affecting work and employment. Her recent work has examined the mobility of work under globalization, organizational responses to pressures from social movements, and comparative employment relations in Asia. She earned her doctorate from the MIT’s Sloan School of Management.

Sunghoon Kim is a senior lecturer in the UNSW Business School at the University of New South Wales. He received his PhD from Cornell University. His research interests include strategic human resource management, diversity management, and industrial relations in emerging economies.

Simon Lloyd D. Restubog is Professor of Management at the Australian National University. His research interests include employee–employer relationships, destructive leadership and career development. His work has appeared in publications including Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Management, Journal of Management Studies, Journal of Organizational Behavior, Leadership Quarterly, Journal of Vocational Behavior, and British Journal of Industrial Relations, among others.

References

Abbott

A. D.

(1988). The system of professions: An essay on the division of expert labor. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Acker

(1990). Hierarchies, jobs, bodies: A theory of gendered organizations. Gender & Society, 4(3), 139–158.

Ackroyd

(1996). Organization contra organizations: Professions and organizational change in the United Kingdom. Organization Studies, 17, 599–621.

Adams

T. L.

(1998). Combining gender, class, and race: Structuring relations in the Ontario dental profession. Gender & Society, 12, 578–597.

Aiken

L. S.

West

S. G.

(1991). Multiple regression: Testing and interpreting interactions. Newbury Park, CA: SAGE Publications.

Al Ariss

(2010). Modes of engagement: Migration, self-initiated expatriation, and career development. Career Development International, 15, 338–358.

Allsop

Mulcahy

(1996). Deconstructing professional identity: Doctors’ public and private responses to criticism. In Olgiati

Orzack

Saks

(Eds.), Professions, identity, and order in comparative perspective (pp. 73–95). Oñati, Spain: International Institute for the Sociology of Law.

Almeida

Fernando

Sheridan

(2011). Revealing the screening: Organisational factors influencing the recruitment of immigrant professionals. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 23, 1950–1965.

Alvesson

(2002). Understanding organizational culture. London: SAGE Publications.

10.

Alvesson

Lee Ashcraft

Thomas

(2008). Identity matters: Reflections on the construction of identity scholarship in organization studies. Organization, 15, 5–28.

11.

Alvesson

Willmott

(2002). Identity regulation as organizational control: Producing the appropriate individual. Journal of Management Studies, 39, 619–644.

12.

Anderson-Gough

Grey

Robson

(2001). Tests of time: Organizational time-reckoning and the making of accountants in two multi-national accounting firms. Accounting Organizations and Society, 26, 99–122.

13.

Anderson-Gough

Robson

Grey

(Eds.) (1998). Making up accountants: The organizational and professional socialization of trainee chartered accountants. Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing.

14.

Andersson

(2012). Normative identity processes in managers’ personal development training. Personnel Review, 41, 572–589.

15.

Arthur

M. B.

Rousseau

D. M.

(1996). Introduction: The boundaryless career as a new employment principle. In Arthur

M. B.

Rousseau

D. M.

(Eds.), The boundaryless career: A new employment principle for a new organizational era (pp. 1–20). New York: Oxford University Press.

16.

Aryee

Debrah

(1993). A cross-cultural application of a career planning model. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 14, 119–127.

17.

Ashcraft

K. L.

(2013). The glass slipper: “Incorporating” occupational identity in management studies. Academy of Management Review, 38, 6–31.

18.

Ashforth

B. E.

(2001). Role transitions in organizational life: An identity-based perspective. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

19.

Australian Bureau of Statistics (2001). Census 2001.

20.

Barrett

Cooper

D. J.

Jamal

(2005). Globalization and the coordinating of work in multinational audits. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 30, 1–24.

21.

Bauder

Cameron

(2002). Cultural barriers to labour market integration: Immigrants from South Asia and the Former Yugoslavia. Research on Immigration and Integration in the Metropolis Working Paper Series, no. 02-03. Vancouver, Canada. Vancouver Centre of Excellence. Retrieved from http://mbc.metropolis.net/assets/uploads/files/wp/2002/WP02-03.pdf

22.

Becker

H. S.

(1961). Boys in white: Student culture in medical school. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

23.

Birrell

Hawthorne

Richardson

(2006). Evaluation of the General Skilled Migration Categories. Department of Immigration Multicultural Affairs, Australia.

24.

Birrell

Rapson

(2005). Migration and the Accounting Profession in Australia. Melbourne, Australia: Centre for Population and Urban Research, Monash University.

25.

Blau

G. J.

(1985). The measurement and prediction of career commitment. Journal of Occupational Psychology, 58, 284–297.

26.

Blau

(2003). Testing for a four-dimensional structure of occupational commitment. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 76, 469–488.

27.

Bourdieu

(1984). Distinction: A social critique of the judgement of taste. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

28.

Chapman

B. J.

Iredale

R. R.

(1993). Immigrant qualifications: Recognition and relative wage outcomes. International Migration Review, 27, 359–387.

29.

Cohen

(1983). Applied multiple regression/correlation analysis for behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

30.

Cooper

D. J.

Robson

(2006). Accounting, professions and regulation: Locating the sites of professionalization. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 31, 415–444.

31.

Covaleski

M. A.

Dirsmith

M. W.

Heian

J. B.

Samuel

(1998). The calculated and the avowed: Techniques of discipline and struggles over identity in Big Six public accounting firms. Administrative Science Quarterly, 43, 293–327.

32.

Cresswell

(2006). On the move: Mobility in the modern western world. New York: Routledge.

33.

Crocker

Major

(1989). Social stigma and self-esteem: The self-protective properties of stigma. Psychological Review, 96, 608–630.

34.

Department of Immigration and Citizenship (various years). Report on Migration. Canberra: Australian Government.

35.

Dickens

J. B.

(1982). The black manager: Making it in the corporate world. New York: Amacom.

36.

DiMaggio

P. J.

Powell

W. W.

(1983). The iron cage revisited: Institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields. American Sociological Review, 48, 147–160.

37.

Dobrow

S. R.

Higgins

M. C.

(2005). Developmental networks and professional identity: A longitudinal study. Career Development International, 10, 567–583.

38.

Dobusch

Mader

Quack

(2013). Governance across borders: Transnational fields and transversal themes. Berlin: Max-Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, Cologne.

39.

Dryburgh

(1999). Work hard, play hard – Women and professionalization in engineering: Adapting to the culture. Gender & Society, 13, 664–682.

40.

Dwyer

D. J.

Ganster

D. C.

(1991). The effects of job demands and control on employee attendance and satisfaction. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 12, 595–608.

41.

Elliott

Urry

(2010). Mobile lives. London: Routledge

42.

Ely

R. J.

Thomas

D. A.

(2001). Cultural diversity at work: The effects of diversity perspectives on work group processes and outcomes. Administrative Science Quarterly, 46, 229–273.

43.

Empson

(2004). Organizational identity change: Managerial regulation and member identification in an accounting firm acquisition. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 29, 759–781.

44.

Evetts

(1996). Professional engineering identities and jurisdictional competition. In Olgiati

Orzack

Saks

(Eds.), Professions, identity, and order in comparative perspective (pp. 57–70). Oñati, Spain: International Institute for the Sociology of Law.

45.

Fang

Jiang

G.-L. F.

Makino

Beamish

P. W.

(2010). Multinational firm knowledge, use of expatriates, and foreign subsidiary performance. Journal of Management Studies, 47, 27–54.

46.

Faulconbridge

J. R.

Muzio

(2012). Professions in a globalizing world: Towards a transnational sociology of the professions. International Sociology, 27, 136–152.

47.

Felstead

Jewson

Walters

(2005). Changing places of work. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

48.

Fogarty

T. J.

Kalbers

L. P.

(2000). An empirical evaluation of the interpersonal and organisational correlates of professionalism in internal auditing. Accounting and Business Research, 30, 125–136.

49.

Freidson

(1985). The reorganization of the medical profession. Medical Care Research and Review, 42(1), 11–35.

50.

Freidson

(1994). Professionalism reborn: Theory, prophecy, and policy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

51.

Freidson

(2001). Professionalism: The third logic. London: Polity.

52.

Goffman

(1956). The presentation of self in everyday life. Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh, Social Sciences Research Centre.

53.

Gove

W. R.

Zeiss

(1987). Multiple roles and happiness. In Crosby

(Ed.), Spouse, parent, worker: On gender and multiple roles (pp. 125–137). New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

54.

Gould

S. A. M.

(1979). Characteristics of career planners in upwardly mobile occupations. Academy of Management Journal, 22, 539–550.

55.

Green

Kler

Leeves

(2007). Immigrant overeducation: Evidence from recent arrivals to Australia. Economics of Education Review, 26, 420–432.

56.

Greenwood

Suddaby

Hinings

C. R.

(2002). Theorizing change: The role of professional associations in the transformation of institutionalized fields. Academy of Management Journal, 45, 58–80.

57.

Groutsis

(1998). Immigrant Women and the Recognition of Their Qualifications: Case Studies of Nursing and Medical Professionals. PhD, University of New South Wales, Sydney.

58.

Groutsis

(2006). Geography and credentialism: Assessment and accreditation of overseas-trained doctors. Health Sociology Review, 15, 59–70.

59.

Gunz

(2007). Hired professional to hired gun: An identity theory approach to understanding the ethical behaviour of professionals in non-professional organizations. Human Relations, 60, 851–887.

60.

Hanlon

(1994). The commercialisation of accountancy: Flexible accumulation and the transformation of the service class. Basingstoke, UK; New York: St. Martin’s Press.

61.

Hanlon

(1999). International professional labour markets and the narratives of accountants. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 10, 199–221.

62.

Hastings

Hinings

C. R.

(1970). Role relations and value adaptation: A study of the professional accountant in industry. Sociology, 4, 353–366.

63.

Hatmaker

D. M.

(2013). Engineering identity: Gender and professional identity negotiation among women engineers. Gender Work and Organization, 20, 382–396.

64.

Hawthorne

(1994.). Labour market barriers for immigrant engineers in Australia. Canberra: Australian Government Printing Service.

65.

Hawthorne

(2001). The globalisation of the nursing workforce: Barriers confronting overseas qualified nurses in Australia. Nursing Inquiry, 8, 213–229.

66.

Hawthorne

(2002). Qualifications recognition reform for skilled migrants in Australia: Applying competency-based assessment to overseas-qualified nurses. International Migration, 40, 55–91.

67.

Higgins

M. C.

Kram

K. E.

(2001). Reconceptualizing mentoring at work: A developmental network perspective. Academy of Management Review, 26, 264–288.

68.

Higgins

M. C.

Thomas

D. A.

(2001). Constellations and careers: toward understanding the effects of multiple developmental relationships. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 22, 223–247.

69.

Hirst

Humphreys

(2015). Configurable bureaucracy and the making of Modular Man. Organization Studies, 36, 1531–1553.

70.

Hodgson

(2002). Disciplining the professional: The case of project management. Journal of Management Studies, 39, 803–821.

71.

Hodgson

(2005). Putting on a professional performance: Performativity, subversion and project management. Organization, 12, 51–68.

72.

Ibarra

(1999). Provisional selves: Experimenting with image and identity in professional adaptation. Administrative Science Quarterly, 44, 764–791.

73.

Iredale

R. R.

(1987). Wasted skills: Barriers to migrant entry to occupations in Australia. Sydney.

74.

Iredale

R. R.

(1997). Skills transfer: International migration and accreditation issues. Wollongong, Australia: University of Wollongong Press.

75.

Jacobs

(2003). Class reproduction in professional recruitment: Examining the accounting profession. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 14, 569–596.

76.

Junankar

P. N.

Mahuteau

(2005). Do migrants get good jobs? New migrant settlement in Australia. Economic Record, 81, S34–S46.

77.

Kalter

Kogan

(2006). Ethnic inequalities at the transition from school to work in Belgium and Spain: Discrimination or self-exclusion? Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, 24, 259–274.

78.

Kirkham

L. M.

Loft

(1993). Gender and the construction of the professional accountant. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 18, 507–558.

79.

Knight

L. V.

Mattick

(2006). ‘When I first came here, I thought medicine was black and white’: Making sense of medical students’ ways of knowing. Social Science & Medicine, 63, 1084–1096.

80.

Kornberger

Justesen

Mouritsen

(2011). “When you make manager, we put a big mountain in front of you”: An ethnography of managers in a Big 4 accounting firm. Accounting Organizations and Society, 36, 514–533.

81.

Krau

(1981). Immigrants preparing for their second career: The behavioral strategies adopted. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 18, 289–303.

82.

Krau

(1984). Commitment to work in immigrants: Its functions and peculiarities. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 24, 329–339.

83.

Lander

M. W.

Koene

B. A. S.

Linssen

S. N.

(2013). Committed to professionalism: Organizational responses of mid-tier accounting firms to conflicting institutional logics. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 38, 130–148.

84.

MacDonald

K. M.

(1995). The sociology of the professions. London; Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.

85.

Mawhinney

(1997). Reconstructing the professional identity of foreign-trained teachers in Ontario schools. TESOL Quarterly, 31, 632–639.

86.

Merton

R. K.

(1957). The student-physician: Introductory studies in the sociology of medical education. Cambridge, MA: Published for the Commonwealth Fund by Harvard University Press.

87.

Meyer

J. W.

Rowan

(1977). Institutional organizations: Formal structure as myth and ceremon. American Journal of Sociology, 83, 340–363.

88.

Milliken

F. J.

Martins

L. L.

(1996). Searching for common threads: Understanding the multiple effects of diversity in organizational groups. Academy of Management Review, 21, 402–433.

89.

Moen

Dempster-McClain

Williams

R. M.

(1992). Successful aging: A life-course perspective on women’s multiple roles and health. American Journal of Sociology, 97, 1612–1638.

90.

Newton

Pillay

Higginbottom

(2012). The migration and transitioning experiences of internationally educated nurses: A global perspective. Journal of Nursing Management, 20, 534–550.

91.

Eby

L. T.

Sorensen

K.L.

Feldman

D.C.

(2005). Predictors of objective and subjective career success: A meta-analysis. Personnel Psychology, 58, 367–408.

92.

Nishii

(2013). The benefits of climate for inclusion for gender-diverse groups. Academy of Management Journal, 56, 1754–1774.

93.

OECD (2007). International Migration Outlook 2007.

94.

Pratt

M. G.

Rockmann

K. W.

Kaufmann

J. B.

(2006). Constructing professional identity: The role of work and identity learning cycles in the customization of identity among medical residents. Academy of Management Journal, 49, 235–262.

95.

Productivity Commission (2006). Economic Impacts of Migration and Population Growth. Canberra: Productivity Commission of Australia.

96.

Rafferty

(2012). Ethnic penalties in graduate level over-education, unemployment and wages: Evidence from Britain. Work, Employment & Society, 26, 987–1006.

97.

Ramirez

(2009). Constructing the governable small practitioner: The changing nature of professional bodies and the management of professional accountants’ identities in the UK. Accounting Organizations and Society, 34, 381–408.

98.

Raz

A. E.

Fadlon

(2006). Managerial culture, workplace culture and situated curricula in organizational learning. Organization Studies, 27, 165–182.

99.

Reissner-Roubicek

(2012). “The guys would like to have a lady”: The co-construction of gender and professional identity in interviews between employers and female engineering students. Pragmatics, 22, 231–254.

100.

Reitzes

D. C.

Mutran

E. J.

(1994). Multiple roles and identities: Factors influencing self-esteem among middle-aged working men and women. Social Psychology Quarterly, 57, 313–325.

101.

Rettinger

(2011). Construction and display of competence and (professional) identity in coaching interactions. Journal of Business Communication, 48, 426–445.

102.

Reybold

L. E.

Alamia

J. J.

(2008). Academic transitions in education: A developmental perspective of women faculty experiences. Journal of Career Development, 35, 107–128.

103.

Rissing

B. A.

Castilla

E. J.

(2014). House of Green Cards: Statistical or preference-based inequality in the employment of foreign nationals. American Sociological Review, 79, 1226–1255.

104.

Rumens

Kerfoot

(2009). Gay men at work: (Re)constructing the self as professional. Human Relations, 62, 763–786.

105.

Russo

T. C.

(1998). Organizational and professional identification: A case of newspaper journalists. Management Communication Quarterly, 12, 72–111.

106.

Sabharwal

(2011). High-skilled immigrants: How satisfied are foreign-born scientists and engineers employed at American universities? Review of Public Personnel Administration, 31, 143–170.

107.

Saxenian

Motoyama

Quan

(2002). Local and global networks of immigrant professionals in Silicon Valley. San Francisco, CA: Public Policy Institute of California.

108.

Saxenian

(2006). The new argonauts: Regional advantage in a global economy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

109.

Schein

E. H.

(1978). Career dynamics: Matching individual and organizational needs. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.

110.

Shore

L. M.

Randel

A. E.

Chung

B. G.

Dean

M. A.

Ehrhart

K. H.

Singh

(2011). Inclusion and diversity in work groups: A review and model for future research. Journal of Management, 37, 1262–1289.

111.

Shuval

J. T.

(2000). The reconstruction of professional identity among immigrant physicians in three societies. Journal of Immigrant Health, 2(4), 191–202.

112.

Simpson

Carroll

(2008). Re-viewing ‘role’ in processes of identity construction. Organization, 15(1), 29–50.

113.

Slay

H. S.

Smith

D. A.

(2011). Professional identity construction: Using narrative to understand the negotiation of professional and stigmatized cultural identities. Human Relations, 64, 85–107.

114.

Stewart

M. M.

Shapiro

D. L.

(2000). Selection based on merit versus demography: Implications across race and gender lines. Journal of Applied Psychology, 85, 219–231.

115.

Sturges

Guest

Conway

Davey

K. M.

(2002). A longitudinal study of the relationship between career management and organizational commitment among graduates in the first ten years at work. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 23, 731–748.

116.

Suddaby

Cooper

D. J.

Greenwood

(2007). Transnational regulation of professional services: Governance dynamics of field level organizational change. Accounting Organizations and Society, 32, 333–362.

117.

Suddaby

Gendron

Lam

(2009). The organizational context of professionalism in accounting. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 34, 409–427.

118.

Suddaby

Greenwood

Wilderom

(2008). Introduction to the Journal of Organizational Behavior’s special issue on professional service firms: Where organization theory and organizational behavior might meet. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 29, 989–994.

119.

Tolbert

P. S.

Stern

R. N.

(1991). Organizations of professionals: Governance structures in large law firms. In Tolbert

P. S.

Barley

S. R.

(Eds.), Organizations and professions (pp. 97–117). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.

120.

Walker

S. P.

Shackleton

(1998). A ring fence for the profession: Advancing the closure of British accountancy 1957–1970. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 11(1), 34–71.

121.

Wallace

J. E.

(1995). Organizational and professional commitment in professional and nonprofessional organizations. Administrative Science Quarterly, 40, 228–255.

122.

Wasserman

Frenkel

(2015). Spatial work in between glass ceilings and glass walls: Gender-class intersectionality and organizational aesthetics. Organization Studies, 36, 1485–1505.

123.

Watson

(1996). Opening the glass door: Overseas-born managers in Australia. Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service.

124.

Wayne

Liden

Kraimer

Graf

(1999). The role of human capital, motivation and supervisor sponsorship in predicting career success. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 20, 577–595.

125.

Zanoni

Janssens

(2015). The power of diversity discourses at work: The interlocking nature of diversities and occupations. Organization Studies, 36, 1463–1483.