Hi Jaz,

There is certainly considerable literature in the professionalism and new professionalism realm on this topic - a few of which might be of use to you in your research:

Blackburn, M., & McGhee, P. (2004). Talking Virtue: Professionalism in Business and Virtue Ethics. Global Virtue Ethics Review, 5(4), 90-122.

Bogh Andersen, L., & Holm Pedersen, L. (2012). Public service motivation and professionalism. International Journal of Public Administration, 35(1), 46-57.

Bottery, M. (1996). The Challenge to Professionals from the New Public Management: Implications for the Teaching Profession. Oxford Review of Education, 22(2), 179-198.

Cooper, D.J., & Robson, K. (2006). Accounting, professions and regulation: Locating the sites of professionalization. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 31(4), 415-444.

Schwarcz, S.L. (2006). Financial Information Failure and Lawyer Responsibility. Journal of Corporation Law, 31(4), 1097-1123.

Greenwood, R., Suddaby, R., & Hinings, C.R. (2002). Theorizing change: the role of professional associations in the transformation of institutionalized fields. Academy of Management Journal, 45(1), 58-80.

Stieb, J.A. (2011). Understanding Engineering Professionalism: A Reflection on the Rights of Engineers. Science & Engineering Ethics, 17(1), 149-169.

Laing, G.K., & Perrin, R.W. (2011). The Iron Cage of the Profession: A Critique on Closure in the Australian Accounting Profession. Asian Social Science, 7(6), 35-41.

Kim, S.-Y., & Reber, B.H. (2009). How Public Relations Professionalism influences Corporate Social Responsibility: A Survey of Practitioners. Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, 86(1), 157-174.

Best of luck with your research!

Jennifer

Thanks Jennifer!!! Appreciate for your help.

I suggest you explore the theory starting with public interest theory, contracting theory and capture theory.

Best wishes

Walter

Hi Jaz,

I think that this is a great research topic an Jennifer provides a great list of articles.

The questions is what lens you use.

From a political/legal arena you're talking about common domains and resources and how they are distributed. 

Professional, government, and industry groups negotiate both what is the public interest and what role they play in it by creating codes, standards, and rules.

The institutional work perspective of Roy Suddaby, Tom Lawrence, and Bernard Leca is particularly powerful for exploring this area. Cynthia Hardy and Steve Maguire's work is focused on how actors deinstitutionalize practices for their interpretation of the public interest. My work is on how actors negotiate the meaning of contested practices to "ensure" the public interest. 

My own perspective is that actors compete to define what the public's interest is and how they relate to it (work to maintain and create it).

Hope this is useful.