Reference Library

Below are links to articles with an academic bent on professionalism. They are not our articles to publish, so links are provided rather than the article itself.

Emotionality and Professionalism: Exploring the Management of Emotions by Journalists Reporting on Genocide

A very interesting research paper looking at the complex relationship between emotionality and professionalism of journalist whose job it is to report on atrocities. Link here

Professionalism as reputation capital: The moral imperative in the global financial crisis

Emphasises that an individual’s professionalism is valuable by enhancing one’s standing in the workforce, here described as ‘reputation capital’. Link here

How do auditors navigate conflicting logics in everyday practice?

Addresses how accountants’ professionalism is employed in understanding conflicting commercial logic of clients. Link here

Special Issue: The professionalization of action sports: the changing roles of athletes, industry and media.

Professionalisation of an occupation (i.e., an occupation transitioning in to a profession) is not the same as personal professionalism. BUT! There are interesting perspectives and insights to learn, especially in respect of the different expectations placed on members of new professions. Link here

Profile of science education problems in west sumatera and its surroundings

Amongst many interesting insights, this article clearly distinguishes professional (in this case, teachers with teaching qualifications) and professionalism (qualified teachers who are skilled and effective in teaching). This is a vitally important distinction for anyone in any work-role in any occupation. Link here

Cause Lawyers, Political Violence, and Professionalism in Conflict

Managing the conflict between the purpose and requirements of your work-role and societal or organisational expectations is tricky. This article provides insights as to how lawyers manage the conflicts arising from their professional commitment to fairness in social and political environments that have very different ideas. Link here

Professionalism in the Workplace Study

A truly useful study that demonstrates why professionalism is so important. It shows that employers expect graduate employees to come to the workforce complete with professionalism. Link here

Teaching Professionalism to Radiography Students in the Diagnostic Imaging Department

It’s always useful to see how different occupations support the development of professionalism amongst their members. This article also considers some socio-cultural implications for professionalism, being Zambia in this case. Link here

“It Was a Different Environment”: Evaluating a Cultural Exchange Program

Professionalism is influenced by socio-cultural factors, especially with regard to social expectations on communications, etiquette and inter-personal/inter-profession power structures. This is a study that looks at lessons learned by nurses in a cultural exchange programme. Link here

‘Business managers’ in children’s playground: A call for re-envisioning teachers’ professional Identities in Aotearoa New Zealand early childhood policies and practices

Examines the importance and implications of professional identities, in this case teachers in New Zealand. Link here

The Professional Protection Officer – Chapter 42 – Ethics and Professionalism

Ethics are at the very heart of professionalism; here the ethics specific to protection officers are considered. Link here

The Amplifying of Professionalism and Amateurism, and the Emergence of ‘Player Power’

There is always something to learn about professionalism when it is compared with amateurism in the world. Discussion about the difference between amateur and professional sport has been ongoing for decades, and was intensified at the time that the Olympics allowed professional athletes to participate. Concepts of ‘expectations’ and ‘seriousness’ are vastly different to professionals and amateurs. This article looks at Gaelic sports which have a long, proud and successful history of being amateur but there is vast pressure to professionalise. Link here

The Effect of Teachers’ Dress on Students’ Attitude and Students’ Learning: Higher Education View

This is a research paper investigating the effect of how a teacher dresses on their students’ attitudes to learning. There is so much information in this article – the lessons from it for people setting out in the workforce are immense, especially the contribution of one’s appearance and presentation to stakeholders’ perceptions of professionalism. Link here

Evaluation of Lecturers’ Competence in Improving Teaching and Learning Activities

This paper looks at the impact of lecturer competence and professionalism on student outcomes. It considers issues that are relevant to anyone in any work-role such as quality, due seriousness, preparation, thoroughness, experience and developing the habits of professionalism. Link here

Defining the Minimum Expectation of MSW Students: Implementation and Application of Technical Standards

This paper looks to define the minimum technical standards to which social workers should adhere in their work, and therefore which should be taught during training. It demonstrates the importance of expectations and standards and to professional performance. Care should be taken in considering the ethical stance of an occupation’s peak body – any professional should consider whether or not their own personal ethical position is consistent with or at odds with the ethics of the occupation’s peak body. Link here

Ethics of AI Technologies and Organizational Roles: Who Is Accountable for the Ethical Conduct?

This paper directly links ethics as the key element of professionalism. Ethics, and therefore professionalism, is essential for Artificial Intelligence developers because of the potential for harm to humans should AI technology be developed in an ethical vacuum. Interesting! Link here

The relationship between personality characteristics and adherence to professional values among nursing students

A really important investigation that assesses the relationship between an individual’s personality and how they gain and adhere (or not) to the values of their professional occupation – in this case nursing, but there are lessons to be learned for anyone in any role. Link here

Negotiations in Europe

Professionalism is subject to socio-cultural norms and expectations. This book provides a perfect example of this. The authors assert that there is a particular way to approach business negotiation in Germany. That ‘particular way’ takes prevailing German cultural preferences into account, such as creating a clear agenda that is distributed in advance of negotiations meetings. Link here

The relationship between professional and commercial obligations in dentistry: a scoping review

This article considers the impact of increased commercialisation and commodification of dentistry has impacted the professionalism of dentists, both positive and negative. In a broader sense, Personal Professionalism must consider the possible conflicts of commercial realities with the commitment to professionalism and – especially – how to manage such conflicts. Link here

Protecting Yourself and Succeeding on Social Media

There is a small but important reference to professionalism in this article. The important point it makes is that any comments you make on social media, whether personal or professional, are there forever and for all to see – be careful when communicating thoughts and feelings as they can have a negative impact on your professional reputation. Link here

Professional Identity Formation of Pharmacy Students During an Early Preregistration Training Placement

This article looks at how the lived experience of Pharmacy trainees affect the development of professionalism and professional identity (what it is to be a Pharmacist). Definitely worth a read – trainees recognise that poor timekeeping and poor physical appearance detract from their professionalism. This supports Personal Professionalism’s contention that professionalism is best learned by active reflection on experience using an underlying model or understanding of what professionalism is. Link here

‘Peer Physical Examination’ as a Tool for Learning Human Anatomy and Clinical Skills

This appears to be useful contribution to clinical practice, but for our purposes, it includes an interesting definition of professionalism of healthcare providers: “Healthcare providers’ (HCPs) professionalism refers to their commitment and ability to respond to the health needs of the communities they serve and to act in the best interest of patients.” Link here

Career Consequences of Firm Heterogeneity for Young Workers: First Job and Firm Size

A truly fascinating study about the impact of early-career experience in small versus larger organisations on career trajectory. Too much in this paper to summarise here! But compulsory reading for anyone in helping young people on to a successful career path. Link here

Inconsistent role modeling of professionalism in family medicine residency

Although describing the professionalism of medical doctors, we can take lessons about the “experiences with positive role modeling of professionalism”and apply them to other occupations and work-roles. Link here

Radiologists should give thoughts to improve service professionalism and patient esteem

This article ties the esteem in which one is held with professionalism. Specifically, the implication for radiologists is that they should take the care to ensure developing a relationship with patients which in turn increases the esteem in which the radiologists are held, thereby increasing the esteem of the whole profession of radiology. We share the belief that esteem is linked with professionalism – from our point of view, that’s the case at the individual level as well as at the level of the occupation/profession. Link here

Shared Decision Making seen through the lens of Professional Identity Formation

Findings from this paper should be applied to anyone looking to improve their professionalism. At the risk of over-simplifying, developing a professional lens (via role identification) is important for improved decision making in the performance of one’s work-role. Link here

Experience Student Background and Their Behavior in Problem Solving

Wow! What a finding! Teacher professionalism is a more important factor influencing students’ learning problem-solving behaviours than students’ own internal drivers of behaviour. This supports the contention that professionalism is essential! Link here

Relationship Between Emotional Intelligence and Performance

A handy read for the aspiring professional! It establishes a link between performance (‘task accomplishment’) and emotional intelligence (includes issues including self-awareness, self-regulation, social skill, empathy and motivation). Professionalism, in our opinion, works at the junction of Performance and Presence, the latter of which implies possession of emotional intelligence. Link here

Influence of Pharmacy Characteristics and Customer Quality of Life on Satisfaction of Community Pharmacy Customers

There is a lot to take from this article, but one stand-out finding is the link between perceived professionalism and personal presentation. Customers WANT their pharmacists to be professional and tend to judge professionalism through ‘Presence’, such as does a pharmacist LOOK professional and is the pharmacist approachable and available? Link here

New Survey Shows 5 Employee Engagement Disconnects

Emplify released the findings of a survey of 1,000 U.S. employees to understand issues around staff engagement by managers. Compulsory reading for all leader managers with implications for inculcating a culture of professionalism in teams. Link to Forbes article here Link to Emplify report here

The Effect of Professionalism, Organizational Culture, Leadership Style, Independence Auditors on Auditor Performance with Intelligence Spiritual as a Variable Moderating on Office Public Accountants in Medan

This article contributes a number of interesting concepts to the discussion on professionalism, including giving a clear distinction between the professions and individual professionalism; and introduces the concept of religion and spiritualism into professionalism from the point of view that one’s personal values must necessarily influence one’s professionalism. Link here

Impact of Emotional Intelligence on Professionalism in IT sector

This is an overdue study on how Emotional Intelligence (EI) impacts professionalism. While I do not necessarily agree with the definition of professionalism used by the authors nor the interpretation of their findings, this paper is still an important one, drawing attention to the fact that people must consider their behaviours and emotions in the work place, and that professionalism is beyond solely completing technical work. Link here

The Effect of Independence, Integrity,Professionalism, and Professional Skepticism on the Accuracy of Giving Audit Opinion

A truly helpful paper! Even though this paper is about the Audit profession, many of the topics are directly applicable to anyone in any occupation. The concept of professional scepticism is a fascinating one. Link here

Entrepreneurship, Professionalism and Leadership Intention of Generation Z

From the paper’s introduction: “This study aims to measure the level of entrepreneurship, professionalism, and leadership intention of the Z generation”. Interesting stuff! Link here

Entrepreneurship, professionalism, leadership: A framework and measure for understanding boundaryless careers

From the abstract: “Specifically, we argue that entrepreneurship, professionalism, and leadership (EPL) can serve as three key dimensions of subjective career space”. It’s an interesting insight about understanding individual approach to career trajectory. Link here

Rammya Mathew: Professionalism in a time of crisis

This is a brief but important article in the British Medical Journal from a medical doctor reflecting on the amazing professionalism of health professionals as they fight COVID19. All credit to these brilliant people. The comment on professionalism is noteworthy – junior doctors are being trained rapidly to take on more senior tasks; very senior doctors are now working as first responders – their skills are needed, it’s an ‘all hands on deck’ moment in time and these dedicated professionals are doing what needs to be done to protect and heal the rest of us. Link here

Ethics in Neurosurgical Practice

This is clearly not a book for most people! However, I do like this observation: “‘Professionalism is central to all medical education, and the objective of teaching is to internalize the value system of the medical profession to ensure the socially and ethically responsible delivery of care”. Link here

Nurses’ views on workload, care rationing and work environments: a qualitative descriptive study

Research into the ‘distress’ experienced by nurses through ‘missed nursing care’ which results from financial constraints. A difficult topic that goes to the very heart of being professional in a constrained world. Link here

Qualifying Faults – The Role of Professionalism and Accountability in Bidding Procedures

A truly insightful paper that looks at how professionalism and accountability influence behviours and decision making in the bidding process. A key conclusion is that “that professionalism and process accountability moderate the bias” of players on the buying side of the bidding process. An amazing example is that laypeople are more likely to qualify a bid if the sale price is not sealed, whereas a professional is not as influenced by ‘low price’ in their decision-making. Skill, knowledge, experience, ethics and a structured approach are facets of professionalism at work here. Thanks authors – this is a fascinating piece of work. Link here

Paradoxes of Professionalism

This article clearly articulates the benefits and limitations of professionalism in a the US military, albeit specific to a context. I am intrigued by this line that describes how professionalism has served the military well: it has done so by “establishing a baseline for its commitment to nonpartisanship, principled deference to civilian authority, and a capacity for operational and tactical excellence.” Link here

Digital Professionalism in Patient Care: A Case-Based Survey of Surgery Faculty and Trainees

A study that looks at the impact on professionalism of medical practitioners of their using digital devices in the presence of patients. It would seem that patients’ perceptions of practitioner professionalism is diminished when they use digital devices, possibly because the patients feel like the practitioner is more focused on the technology than them. Link here

Professionalism in Engineering Technology: A Study of Final
Course Grades, Student Professionalism, Attendance, and
Punctuality

A snippet from this paper, where it is asserted that at on US university: ‘professionalism [of students] is demonstrated through attendance, punctuality, and assignment deadline behavior’. It would seem that by defining and assessing professionalism thus, the university is aiming to prepare students for their future working life. Useful! Link here

Personal Factors Affecting Medical Professionalism: A Qualitative Study in Iran

An Iranian study that looks at the influence of personal characteristics on the professionalism of medical practitioners. It supports my contention that you are not a different person in your professional role, but a ‘work version’ of yourself, and that you bring all your personal characteristics with you to work. Some are advantageous, others are not. Part of being professional is knowing which is which and how to manage them.

Effectiveness of Teacher Professionalism Development Through Self-Empowerment in Primary Schools

An interesting paper jam-packed with information about professionalism. They draw a distinction between what governments might consider professionalism (qualifications, licence to practise) and what professionalism is in practice (behaviours, mastery over bodies of knowledge, setting standards for students). Useful! Link here

The Relationship Between Education and Policing Skill Sets

Policing is subject to constant change. Ok, most us have jobs that are subject to change but changes to policing are unlike anywhere else. New crime, new types of crime, disruptive technology, the role of police in dealing with terrorism are substantial challenges to police, policing and officer professionalism. This article looks at the link between education and skill sets including that of professionalism. Link here

NZ organisation accountability and reporting

As sports become increasingly professional, the administration of sport must become more transparent and accountable for performance, both athletic and commercial. This article considers the state of accountability of administration in professional sport in New Zealand. Link here

Between sexuality and professionalism: Experiences of gay workers at Blued, a Chinese gay social app company

The link, relationship or overlap between your private and working lives is a tricky one. You are one person in two different roles, but they need each other to thrive. The situation explored in this article brings this to life where sexuality has influenced work choices; this article then seeks to understand the effect of sexuality on work performance. Link here

Male Perspectives on Female Performance in the Real Estate Industry of Malaysia

This is an article specific to women seeking careers in male-dominated real estate sector in Malaysia, but it makes some really valuable observations on what enables professionalism: good networking with colleagues; ability to understand situations (I think this is about ‘reading’ social situations and how to respond); ability to multi-task; ability to manage crises; willingness to share information and power; to find a path that is satisfactory to all stakeholders (or ‘neutral’ as the authors put it); seek support from others to develop a greater degree of trust, self-esteem and respect for ideas from colleagues; dedication, commitment, and loyalty to the organisation; and sensitivity in relationships. A fascinating contribution to the subject. Link here

Personalising Professionalism: Balance, Risk, Chance, Change…

The introduction to this paper asserts “that personal values and preferences make good foundations for academic development.” I think that this applies to professionalism development too. Personal values and preferences are part of your personal life that you take into your working life. Link here.

Pandemics, professionalism and the duty of care: Concerns from the coalface

A fascinating article, reflecting the COVID19 fears. Medical professionalism is grounded in the social contract, which is the understanding that members of professions enjoy certain social privileges in return for commitment to serve – in this case, the commitment to serve persists despite the threat and fear caused by COVID19. The social contract does not apply to other people or occupations, but the lesson is that to be considered to be professional, one could choose to view his/her work contract as a commitment to serve, even in the face of (reasonable!) fears and threats.

The Impact of Competition-Based Learning on Enhancing Students’ Motivation, Engagement and Professionalism: A Case Study of Fashion Design Undergraduates in Hong Kong

This article introduces two interesting observations about professionalism. They link professionalism with problem-solving in competitive environments and make the case that, therefore, student education should include elements of competition. I like it! Link here

Fostering Professionalism and Scientificity through Integration of Disciplinary and Research Knowledge

It’s hard to argue against the key point of this chapter. That point is that educators should be trained in research methodology in addition to their particular discipline. The authors assert that “a scientific reflective habitus and theory application competence as manifestation of professionalism of teachers and educational specialists”. I agree! Link here

Toward a new professionalism in Saudi Arabia: could council for exceptional children standards be a catalyst for change in special education?

This article considers a new form of professionalism for educations in Saudi Arabia to cater for children with different educational needs. They asser that “definitions of professionalism often involve quality of practice and the setting of standards”, which is an interesting perspective, and go on to say that practice and standards are not necessarily fit for purpose. Interesting. Link here

This article makes a strong case for role-modelling in nurse training. The authors link trust with professionalism (with which I totally agree) and observe that “trust is attained by viewing and experiencing expected characteristics”. To me, ‘experiencing expected characteristics’ = ‘professionalism observed’. Neat. Link here

The author argues for the ‘ascension’ of sports managers to sports leaders through three areas of consideration. She distinguishes professionalism as ‘must do’ from ‘should do’ (ethics) and ‘can do’ (social responsibility). Interesting. Link here

Many things to learn from this piece, but the one that jumps out is the different perceptions of professionalism by different generations. Older people report that their perception of doctor professionalism is reduced if the doctor is wearing scrubs; younger people’s perceptions are relatively less affected by the doctors’ attire. Useful. Link here

A timely book for an important topic. It looks at fake news, what it means and its source, which is linked to journalist professionalism, amongst other sources. Regardless of personal thoughts about ‘fake news’, this is a valuable discussion. Link here

Professional Competence Evaluation of MTs Social Teacher in Mranggen District, Dema

and

Development of Teacher Competence Guidance Model Based on Scientific Approach

Two articles out of Indonesia addressing measuring teacher professionalism. Interesting reading. It also touches on social expectations of teacher professionals that would seem to be specific to Indonesia – this supports my contention that professionalism is socially informed with respect to ethics and interpersonal interactions, but extends that contention to ‘client’ (in this case, ‘student’) outcomes. Links here and here

Protective or connective professionalism? How connected professionals can (still) act as autonomous and authoritative experts

This is more about sociological perspectives of professionalism, including changes to professions with changes in social expectations and drivers for cross-profession collaboration. Useful insights. Link here.

Association between emotional intelligence and professionalism among dental hygiene students

A helpful article that concludes that there is a causative link between Emotional Intelligence (EI) and professionalism. It suggests that developing EI can boost one’s ability to develop their professionalism. Makes sense to me! Link here.

Becoming a Dentist: Tracing Professional Identity Development through Mixed-Methods Data Mining of Student Reflections

A great article about dentistry and how dental students develop their professional identity. Even if one is not a member of a formal profession, there is plenty of information about how one might develop their own professional identity. Link here.

Beyond competence: negotiating identity and agency in the professional development of student psychometrists

Another great example of the premise that technical skills alone are not sufficient for professionalism. Issues of identity, demeanour, manner and positioning are considered to be important for professionalism. Link here.