Strategic management of professional service firms: Reviewing ABS journals and identifying key research themes

Abstract

While practitioners and researchers point to the relevance and importance of the strategic management of professional service firms (PSFs), limited work has been done on systematically integrating and organizing existing research in this field. In this paper, we aim to strengthen the theoretical foundation of PSF strategic management by providing an overview of the research published in leading academic journals. We identify nine recurring themes in the research conducted on strategic management of PSFs; we show how they have evolved over time and how they relate to relevant theories, research approaches, methods, and other variables of interest. Building on the findings from the literature review, we present an integrated model of key themes in the strategic management of PSFs. We also provide insights into the types of themes, methodologies, industry contexts and geographical scopes addressed in articles published in leading journals. Finally, we discuss avenues for future research and how they could add new perspectives to existing studies.