Autonomy of independent professionals: A political process perspective

This article looks into the issue of autonomy, often portrayed as a key feature of modern work arrangements, in particular of Independent professionals (IPros). Given the absence of conclusive evidence in the current debate opposing structural and agency views on autonomy at work, we study how Ipros perform their job referring to three main analytical dimensions: formalization, verticality and openness. Our empirical material is composed of critical incidents reported by 37 executive coaches working in France. We show that IPros' autonomy unfolds over a 3-phase process combining the three aforementioned dimensions of autonomy that we associate with power strategies. This combination therefore reflects a complex interaction between structural and agentic factors, paving the way for a political process perspective on autonomy. Therefore, our paper advocates combining rather than opposing structural and agentic views on autonomy, and also expands the traditional agentic view of IPros' autonomy beyond the dominant psychological argument. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.