Professional Misconduct in Healthcare: Setting Out a Research Agenda for Work Sociology

Abstract

In the light of its surprising absence in extant literature in the domain of the sociology of work, specifically within the journal Work, Employment and Society, this article represents a ‘call to arms’ for research focused upon professional misconduct in healthcare. Specifically, interrogation of four dimensions of professional misconduct in healthcare is called for: a broader definition of professional misconduct; antecedents of professional misconduct that recognize the effect of context; professional response to regulation of misconduct; and the hierarchical and affective challenge to frontline professionals blowing the whistle on professional misconduct.