Governance of professional service firms: a configurational approach
Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
Standard
In: Schmalenbach Journal of Business Research (SBuR), Vol. 7, No. 1, 01.06.2014, p. 125-160.
Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
Harvard
APA
Vancouver
Bibtex
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
T1 - Governance of professional service firms: a configurational approach
AU - Harlacher, Dirk
AU - Reihlen, Markus
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2014, The Author(s).
PY - 2014/6/1
Y1 - 2014/6/1
N2 - Professional service firms (PSFs) such as accounting firms, management consultancies, or advertising agencies use very different forms of governance ranging from traditional professional partnerships to public corporations. In spite of the extensive literature, little academic work has been done to synthesize the wealth of theoretical and empirical work on PSF governance into a more comprehensive theory of PSF governance. Taking configuration theory as our theoretical approach, we identify three classes of design parameter (legal form, organizational governance structure, and the systems for managing professionals) and six contingency factors (service commoditization, service diversification, firm size, capital intensity, firm culture, and risk of litigation) that are synthesized into four configurations of PSF governance. These are described, respectively, as the founder-dominated, the collegial, the managerial, and the entrepreneurial configuration.
AB - Professional service firms (PSFs) such as accounting firms, management consultancies, or advertising agencies use very different forms of governance ranging from traditional professional partnerships to public corporations. In spite of the extensive literature, little academic work has been done to synthesize the wealth of theoretical and empirical work on PSF governance into a more comprehensive theory of PSF governance. Taking configuration theory as our theoretical approach, we identify three classes of design parameter (legal form, organizational governance structure, and the systems for managing professionals) and six contingency factors (service commoditization, service diversification, firm size, capital intensity, firm culture, and risk of litigation) that are synthesized into four configurations of PSF governance. These are described, respectively, as the founder-dominated, the collegial, the managerial, and the entrepreneurial configuration.
KW - Management studies
KW - Archetype theory
KW - Configuration theory
KW - Governance
KW - Professional partnership
KW - Professional service firms
KW - Public corporation
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84961211273&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s40685-014-0006-8
DO - 10.1007/s40685-014-0006-8
M3 - Journal articles
VL - 7
SP - 125
EP - 160
JO - Schmalenbach Journal of Business Research (SBuR)
JF - Schmalenbach Journal of Business Research (SBuR)
SN - 2366-6153
IS - 1
ER -