Over the past three decades the Professional Service Firm (PSF) sector has emerged as one of the most rapidly growing, profitable, and significant in the global economy. In 2013 the accountancy, management consulting, legal, and architectural sectors alone generated revenues of US$ 1.6 trillion and employed 14 million people. PSFs play an important role in developing human capital, creating innovative business services, reshaping government institutions, establishing and interpreting the rules of financial markets, and setting legal, accounting and other professional standards. The study of PSFs can offer insights into the contemporary challenges facing organizations within the knowledge economy, and deepen understanding of more conventional organizations. Despite their significance, however, PSFs have until recently remained very much in the shadows of organizational and management research. The Oxford Handbook of Professional Service Firms marks the coming of age of PSF scholarship with a comprehensive and integrative exploration of current research and thinking on PSFs, featuring contributions from internationally renowned scholars in the fields of organizational and management studies. It is divided into three distinct sections - the professions, the firms, and the professionals that work within them - and covers subjects from governance and leadership to regulation, entrepreneurship, and diversity.Bringing together a broad range of empirical and theoretical perspectives, the Handbook offers many potentially important insights into the contemporary challenges of organizations in the knowledge economy and suggests new lines of inquiry that may shed further light on the activities and performance of PSFs and the professionals who work within them.
1: Laura Empson, Daniel Muzio, Joseph P. Broschak, and Bob Hinings: Introduction Part 1: Professional Service Firms in Context 2: Roy Suddaby and Daniel Muzio: Theoretical Perspectives on the Professions 3: Sigrid Quack and Elke Schussler: Dynamics of Regulation of Professional Service Firms: National and Transnational Developments 4: Mehdi Boussebaa and Glenn Morgan: Internationalization of Professional Service Firms: Drivers, Forms and Outcomes 5: Ian Kirkpatrick and Mirko Noordegraaf: Organisations and Occupations: Towards Hybrid Professionalism in PSFs? 6: Ronit Dinovitzer, Hugh Gunz, and Sally Gunz: Professional Ethics: Origins, applications and developments 7: Andrew von Nordenflycht, Namrata Malhotra and Timothy Morris: Sources of Homogeneity and Heterogeneity across Professional Services Part II: Professional Service Firms: Management and Organization 8: Laura Empson and Ann Langley: Leadership and Professionals: Multiple Manifestations of Influence in Professional Service Firms 9: Huseyin Leblebici and Peter D. Sherer: Governance in Professional Service Firms: From Structural and Cultural to Legal Normative Views 10: John Mawdsley and Deepak Somaya: Strategy and Strategic Alignment in Professional Service Firms 11: Michael Barrett and Bob Hinings: Service Innovation in Professional Service Firms: A Review and Future Research Directions 12: Markus Reihlen and Andreas Werr: Entrepreneurship and Professional Service Firms 13: William S. Harvey and Vincent-Wayne Mitchell: Marketing and reputation within professional service firms 14: Joseph P. Broschak: Client Relationships in Professional Service Firms 15: Mari Sako: Outsourcing and Offshoring of Professional Services Part III: Professional Service Firms: Individuals And Interactions 16: Laurie Cohen: Interplay of Professional, Bureaucratic and Entrepreneurial Career Forms in PSF's 17: Heidi K. Gardner: Teamwork and Collaboration in Professional Service Firms: Evolution, Challenges, and Opportunities 18: Mats Alvesson, Dan Karreman and Kate Sullivan: Professional Service Firms and Identity 19: James Faulconbridge: Knowledge and Learning in Professional Service Firms 20: Hilary Sommerlad and Louise Ashley: Diversity and Inclusion in Professional Service Firms 21: Juani Swart, Nina Katrin Hansen, and Nicholas Kinnie: Strategic Human Resource Management and Performance Management in Professional Service Firms