Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe and analyze how physicians and nurses strategicallyemploy the managerial logic.Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative case study incorporating interviews and observations.Findings – Neither physicians nor nurses were prone to strategically employing the managerial logic.However, when doing so nurses were able to acknowledge the legitimacy of managerial impact on practice,whereas the physicians were not. Consequently, physicians might find other, more subtle, ways tostrategically employ the managerial logic.Originality/value – This paper argues for and makes explicit the applicability of qualitative methods inorder to delineate actors’ strategic use of available and accessible institutional logics, the conditions for suchusage, as well as the multiplicity of actors’ interactions that needs to be taken into account when conductingqualitative data analysis of such occurrences. By the merits of the qualitative research approach utilized inthis study, novel insights concerning the strategic use of the managerial logic in the everyday work ofphysicians and nurses were obtainable. These insights emphasize the necessity of acknowledging situational,organizational and institutional context, incorporating inter-professional power discrepancies and relationsvis-à-vis managers.