IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cbr/cbrwps/wp345.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Work Intensification and Employment Insecurity in Professional Work

Author

Listed:
  • Suzanne J. Konzelmann
  • Frank Wilkinson
  • Roy Mankelow

Abstract

Professional work is a category of employment that has traditionally been associated with high levels of worker autonomy, economic and social status. During the past decade, changes in customer expectations, government policy and technology have generated pressures resulting in enhancement of the quality and efficiency of service provision, expansion in task requirements and a need for higher levels of discretion. In this sense, professional work has been upgraded. However, the changes have also led to a deterioration in the economic and social status of professional work, adversely impacting on the social and psychological well-being of professional workers. This paper examines these developments in five professions including two established professions (lawyers and pharmacists), one aspiring profession (midwives) and two emerging professions (counselling psychologists and human resource managers). The empirical findings are based on a survey of 1270 professional workers conducted in 2000 and 2001.

Suggested Citation

  • Suzanne J. Konzelmann & Frank Wilkinson & Roy Mankelow, 2007. "Work Intensification and Employment Insecurity in Professional Work," Working Papers wp345, Centre for Business Research, University of Cambridge.
    • Handle: RePEc:cbr:cbrwps:wp345
    Note: PRO-2
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cbr.cam.ac.uk/fileadmin/user_upload/centre-for-business-research/downloads/working-papers/wp345.pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Broadbent, Jane & Laughlin, Richard, 1997. "Contracts and Competition? A Reflection on the Nature and Effects of Recent Legislation on Modes of Control in Schools," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 21(2), pages 277-290, March.
    2. Leland, Hayne E, 1979. "Quacks, Lemons, and Licensing: A Theory of Minimum Quality Standards," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 87(6), pages 1328-1346, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Professional work; counseling psychologists; human resource managers; lawyers; midwives; pharmacists; job satisfaction and morale.;

    JEL classification:

    • J44 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Professional Labor Markets and Occupations
    • L84 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Personal, Professional, and Business Services

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cbr:cbrwps:wp345. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (Ruth Newman and Georgie Cohen). General contact details of provider: http://www.cbr.cam.ac.uk .

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service hosted by the Research Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis . RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.