Meaningful Work: A Review, Synthesis and Research Agenda

Abstract

Changes in work and workplaces in a pandemic-stricken world, has increased the importance of finding meaningfulness in work and changed the understanding of what is meaningful. Although prior literature has focused on conceptual and empirical foundations of meaningful work, they did not seem to have given adequate effort towards a cohesive understanding of meaningful work. This paper consolidates the literature on meaningful work by providing a comprehensive review of its definitions, antecedents, and consequences. We review more than sixty definitions of meaningful work and offer ten specific approaches, that is further categorized under three broad operationalization of the concept. Next, we review the antecedents and outcomes that have been widely studied in the literature. We conclude by proposing an agenda for future research by offering five specific potential areas followed by theoretical contribution, that is likely to extend our understanding of meaningful work to create a better world together.