Date of Conferral

8-12-2026

Date of Award

August 2026

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Management

Advisor

Keri Heitner

Abstract

Canadian self-regulating professions govern the conduct of professionals through legislatively mandated organizations, yet the conditions under which their management fails, and self-regulatory authority is lost, remain poorly understood. Governing boards and provincial governments need to understand this concern as a leading indicator of governance failure, erosion of public confidence, and conditions that may precipitate the loss of self-regulatory authority. The purpose of this descriptive, historical, multiple-case study was to explore how recent management failures in three Canadian self-regulating professional organizations can guide decision-makers in choosing sustainable management practices and governance models. Freidson's professionalism framework, neo-institutional theory, and strategic management grounded this study. A census approach yielded 125 documents across three cases: the B.C. College of Teachers, the Ordre des ingénieurs du Québec, and the Real Estate Council of British Columbia. Data analysis using thematic coding, source criticism, and triangulation revealed seven themes: (a) governance issues, (b) decision-making dynamics, (c) ethical and professional conduct, (d) accountability and oversight, (e) public interest versus self-interest, (f) regulatory capture, and (g) crisis-driven reform. Findings suggest that sustainable self-regulation requires a genuine public interest in governance decisions, proactive oversight, governance arrangements designed to resist capture, and demonstrated institutional capacity for timely self-correction. Implications for tangible social impact include the potential for governing boards and provincial governments to apply the strategic foresight framework, using a structured diagnostic tool, to identify governance conditions associated with regulatory failure and respond before needing external intervention.

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