The role of hybrid professionals in the public sector: a review and research synthesis

Professionals appointed with managerial roles working in public organizations are expected to act as the junction between the professional and managerial domains, and to add value by spanning organizational and professional boundaries. At the same time, their role urges them to cope with conflicts emerging from such complex organizational contexts. In the last decades, a wide variety of approaches have enlivened the debate on this topic, mainly – but not exclusively – with regard to the role of hybrid roles in the health-care sector. Through descriptive investigations, the paper explores the results of a systematic literature review and propose a classification of the emerging approaches.