Conflict in Commitment: What Do Professionals Experience?

This study focuses on how professionals experience commitment to their organisation (i.e. the professional service firm) and their client organization. More specifically, we discuss what happens to the commitment of professionals to their organization and the client organization when professionals face conflicting demands from both organizations. We identified three areas professionals experience conflict: expectations, obligations and operational issues. Our results show that professionals’ experience of commitment vary as they face different degrees of conflict, organizational support, and clarity in their work. Our results contribute to the existing literature by shedding a light on the commitment experiences of employees who work across boundaries with specific implications and discussion on how professional service firms should manage the expectations of their critical human capital i.e. professionals.