From Shock to Segmentation: How Organizational Adaptation Shapes Professional Trajectories

• In Event: 50220 - Section on Organizations, Occupations, and Work Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 17: Careers, Work, and Family

Abstract

Professions play a significant role in organizational life, yet the ways organizations themselves shape professions remain relatively understudied. Existing research has largely focused on professional change driven by external environments, internal, or inter-professional dynamics. However, the influence of organizations—particularly in creating segmentation within professions and thus variation across different organizational contexts—has been overlooked. To address this gap, we conducted a multiple case study of seven STEM university departments responding to the same shock. We found that departmental responses led to varying degrees of segmentation among researchers: in some settings, the shock prompted high differentiation within the researcher profession, whereas in others, the response produced minimal segmentation. Our findings suggest these differences stem from how departments balanced rights and duties in the face of the shock, shaping both their understanding of the problem and their actions to address it. We extend the literature on professional change by highlighting the vital role of organizational context. We show how organizations’ adaptation to external shocks, their influence on intra-professional segmentation, and the interplay of moral judgment between organizations and professions jointly shape professional trajectories in ways previously underexplored.

Authors

• Søren Lund Frandsen, Copenhagen Business School

• Jane Bjørn Vedel, Copenhagen Business School