The antecedents and consequences of a strong professional identity among medical specialists

This article introduces a conceptual framework for understanding the antecedents of a strong professional identity among medical specialists and its consequences for the quality of healthcare. Three work conditions are proposed under which a professional identity improves the overall work productivity within a specialty, but impedes the efforts of medical specialists to work effectively with others outside their domain because of the experience of identity threat. These conditions are: complex multidisciplinary collaborations, the emergence of new specialties and medical technological developments. The framework has important theoretical and practical implications and calls for future studies on individual characteristics of specialists and on organizational factors that may ensure the benefits and circumvent the threats of a strong professional identity.