New Professionals and Experiences of Extreme Values Violations: A Study of Novice Physicians in Kenya

We explain how new professionals experience and respond to professional values violations when working in highly resource-constrained organizational contexts. We draw on a qualitative study of intern physicians in public hospitals in Kenya to show how ‘extreme values violations’ can be institutionally embedded in resource-constrained context. We explain how extreme values violations trigger moral emotions and practical responses on three different pathways: traumatized departure, peer-supported survival, and pragmatic acceptance. Our study provides insight into grand challenges in Africa and opens boundary conditions of Western explanations of professional values in work.