Managers, Professionals, or Public Servants? Organizational Professionals in the Public Sector as Hybrid Professionals

• 成果类型: Article; Early Access
• 署名作者: Alamaa, Linda; Hall, Patrik; Lofgren, Karl
• 署名单位: Halmstad University; Malmo University; Victoria University Wellington
• 刊物名称: PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0033-3298
• DOI: 10.1111/padm.70000
• 发表日期: 2025
• 关键词: IDENTITY WORK; INSTITUTIONAL LOGICS; service; strategies; sense

摘要

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.