In this ethnography of a “deep tech” venture, we observed high-status professionals micromanaging and seeking authority over “non-core” tasks. This contrasts with the predictions of prior research that higher-status professionals would hive-off such non-core tasks to lower-status professionals. Through the study, we develop a process model of sanctification that explains this seemingly inconsistent finding. The process of sanctification shapes high-status professionals to seek authority over some impure tasks to “sanctify” them, ensuring they are executed in line with professional interests. To explain sanctification, we introduce the idea of sacred objects using the literature on “the sacred and the profane” in markets and organizations from economic sociology. Sacred objects are conceptual objects with sufficient professional significance to create a clash between the ‘cosmopolitan’ values of the profession and the ‘local’ goals of the firm. Finally, we discuss theoretical and practical implications of sanctification on cross-occupational coordination and the accomplishment of organizational goals.
