Professionals' accounts for work-related deceptions

Using interview and observational data, this article analyzes how private d etectives account for using work-related deceptions. I place special emphas is on how practitioners' accounts draw on professional affiliations and org anizational resources that are less available to individuals in their priva te lives. These affiliations and resources include economic and demographic characteristics of employers, practitioners, clients and investigative tar gets, state licensing, the profession's social repute, and asymmetries in s pecialized knowledge between practitioners and laypersons. The conclusion a ddresses how accounts for work-related deceptions benefit professionals thr ough advantaging them over targets, obscuring harmful consequences of work, and helping them and their clients to avoid negative labeling.