Clinician responses to management control: Case evidence from a university hospital during the fiscal crisis

Ireland experienced a major fiscal crisis from 2008 to 2013. This paper explores clinician responses to crisis-related control initiatives at one of Ireland's largest university hospitals. Using qualitative research methods within an interpretative framework, our study suggests that some clinicians responded with antipathy, whereas others attempted to engage with managerial demands. Using notions of organizational and occupational professionalism, we link the observed heterogeneity of these responses to factors such as the perceived usefulness of control information, the clinician management relationship, and the clinicians’ specialism. Our analysis supports a nuanced interpretation of clinician behavior where their position along a continuum from resistance to collaboration is affected by group characteristics and beliefs as well as the way control information is collated and disseminated. These findings have implications for the implementation of control measures in various contexts.