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1. Introduction
There is a growing literature on the professionalization of project management (PM) and a consensus that amongst new knowledge-based occupations this group has made considerable progress toward professionalization (Hodgson and Muzio, 2011; Morris, 2010; Muzio et al., 2011b; Paton et al., 2013). For instance, the Project Management Institute (2017) with 477,616 worldwide members is one of the world’s largest and most global professional associations. PM itself has developed a systematic and comprehensive body of knowledge (PMBOK) and a system of formal qualifications whilst in the UK the Association of Project Management (APM) has been recently awarded a Royal Charter, a high profile symbol of a professional status. So, PM in Anglo-Saxon countries at least has successfully developed many of the institutions traditionally associated with professionalism (Hodgson and Muzio, 2011). Importantly, there is also a sense in this literature that professionalization has been accomplished through new and novel strategies compared with those deployed by traditional professions, such as law and medicine. In particular, PM seems to be developing a new pattern of corporate professionalization (Kipping et al., 2006; Muzio et al., 2011b; Thomas and Thomas, 2013) which engages very actively with large organizations which are the key users and employers of project managers, while traditional profession relied more on the state sanctioned monopolies.
Most research on PM draws on experiences in Anglo-Saxon contexts and on the UK in particular (Hodgson and Muzio, 2011; Morris et al., 2006). Whilst this makes sense given the particularly developed character of PM in these contexts, it also provides clear case for conducting research in other national contexts. Empirically, this is important as it could corroborate and qualify the UK story with insights from other countries. It is also important theoretically given the existence of fundamental differences between professionalization patterns in Anglo-Saxon and continental contexts. Whilst this is well documented in relation to established professions such as law, medicine or accountancy (Burrage and Torstendahl, 1990; Faulconbridge and Muzio, 2007; Krause, 1996; Macdonald, 1995; Morgan and Quack, 2005; Muzio and Faulconbridge, 2013; Neal and Morgan, 2000) no studies have considered these debates with regards to the professionalization of new occupations such as PM. Against this gap in the literature, we undertake a case study of...