Examining perspectives on professional certification for an emerging strategic management profession.

摘要

The purpose of this quantitative survey research study was to examine practitioner perspectives on professional certification and related professionalization attributes to determine if significant associations existed between select variables. To address the problem of advancement, this study involved the development of a professionalization framework based on peer-reviewed literature to enable the determination of an approximate level of professionalization for an emerging strategic management profession. The research involved the use of a survey instrument with Likert-type, ordinal-scaled questions enabling 206 respondents to provide their perspectives on an array of topics of interest to leaders and practitioners operating primarily in the management consulting industry. The predictor variables included practitioner certification status, involvement in association activities, and type of employment. The criterion variables included professional certification, certification programs for strategic management, and advancement of professional knowledge. Descriptive and inferential statistics for predictor and criterion variables were analyzed through frequencies and percentages, cross tabulation, and chi-square analysis. The findings of the research indicated statistically significant associations or correlations for each of the three major hypotheses. Further, an approximate medium level of professionalization (L=3) was determined for the emerging strategic management profession. This research was intended to inform and guide the leaders of the Association for Strategic Planning and Institute of Management Consultants in their current and future execution of activities promoting the advancement of strategy practitioners.