This study examines change initiated from the center of mature organizational fields. As such, it addresses the paradox of embedded agency — that is, the paradox of how actors enact changes to the context by which they, as actors, are shaped. The change examined is the introduction of a new...

How do new professional service firms strategically position themselves in fields where developing a favourable external reputation is critical to performance? Are certain positioning strategies more effective than others? This study reveals that most professional service firm start-ups attempt...

How do new professional service firms strategically position themselves in fields where developing a favourable external reputation is critical to performance? Are certain positioning strategies more effective than others? This study reveals that most professional service firm start-ups attempt...

Explores the development of regulations for “Accounting for Research and Development” in four countries: USA, UK, Federal Republic of Germany and Sweden. Seeks to illuminate the processes of accounting regulation in the specific institutional contexts of each advanced capitalist country,...

The paper analyses the changing nature of professionalism through a study of the effects of a change in the regulatory context of the U.K. accounting profession. The emphasis is on how accountacy, as a professional project, is managed. Profesions are viewed as institutions whose direction and...

The interplay between the ideology of the profession that seeks to legitimize accounting's regulatory regime and the practices of accountants in expanding the scope of the markets for their labour is critical to understanding the changing “professional” ideology of accountants. This...