| Abstract: | Occupational communities represent boundedcultures populated bypeople with similar work identitiesthat transcend organizational settings. In this paper,I examine the relationship between an occupational community's culture and its ability to controlstrategic resources that advantage its members. Drawingon an empirical examination of the Canadian forensicaccounting, I argue that reputation acts as a strategic resource, not only for individualmembers, but for the community as a whole. Thecommunity's practice standards and membership rules workto heighten the importance of individual practitioners' reputations, which in turn benefits clientcommunities by conferring legitimacy on their claims,and restricts entry into forensic accounting. The roleof reputation in Canadian forensic accounting serves to illuminate the importance of resources that,rather than being held in some proprietary fashion, areshared among actors who are, ostensibly, in competitionwith one another. |
