Institutional Change and Innovation in the Working Lives of Scientists and Professionals

The globalization of labor markets and the ability to collect and critically use information, combined with increasing costs and calls for accountability, have altered the working lives of scientists and professionals (lawyers, physicians, accountants, managers, college professors and those whose livelihoods are tied to them), and not always for the better.

Scientists and professionals confront an environment where traditional prerogatives that privilege autonomy and peer evaluation are being replaced by managerial and financial oversight designed to increase efficiency and standardization in professional life. From medical utilization boards to outsourced legal work, institutional review boards and college administrations, the landscape of professional and scientific work is changing and those changes have implications for access, competitiveness, training, and recruitment of professionals and scientists worldwide.

NOTE: This research has been funded by the National Science Foundation.