Modern businesses are employing professional workers in growing numbers and
expanding the roles they play within organizations. In professional work, incumbents are
required to comply with a set of values and to accomplish the work goals. The concept
of professionalism basically describes such values, goals and expectations at work.
The process by which professional workers are instilled with professional values and
learn about proper work practices is known as professional socialization. It is the key to
understanding the job attitudes and work behaviours of professional workers.
Professional socialization can be seen as a long-term learning process that starts with
pre-work education (Auster, 1996; Shafer et al., 2002). There are various agents of
socialization, including schools, professional bodies and work organizations. Existing
literature has identified two major aspects of professional socialization, namely, process
and content. The former concerns how the learning has occurred and the latter concerns
what is learned (Lueke and Svyantek, 2000; Lusch et al., 1996).
In this study, we consider both aspects and investigate the sources of and the extent to
which an individual professional has acquired and adopted the values, norms and