Abstract
The present study analyzed whether one’s work orientation can be organized into work orientation profiles beyond the three pure orientations of job, career, and calling. We tested the existence of these hybrid work orientations in a sample of 959 adults aged from 18 to 71 years old (M = 40.61, SD = 9.54). A cluster analysis showed that the best result consisted of four profiles: “Career-Calling”, “Career-Job”, “Pure Job”, and “Indifference”. Theoretical and practical implications of profile approach to the study of work orientations are discussed at the end.
Highlights
Work orientations embrace the different purposes that work serves for individuals and includes the different meanings that they attribute to paid work (Bellah et al 1985)
When we assume that work orientations are organized into profiles, we propose that the individuals can have hybrid profiles with more than one work orientation
Everyone can simultaneously assign more than one meaning to the work. Starting from this idea, we argue that there are two combined profiles, one of which combines calling with career orientation, whereas the second hybrid profile combines job orientation with career orientation
Summary
Work orientations embrace the different purposes that work serves for individuals and includes the different meanings that they attribute to paid work (Bellah et al 1985). Work orientation is one of the theories that approaches the study of the meaning that people attribute to work. Many authors argue that the work orientation theory provides a useful framework to understand individual’s behavior in a working context (e.g., Peterson et al 2009). This theory was initially proposed by Bellah et al (1985), who argued that there are three work-orientation dimensions: calling, career, and job. Each one of these dimensions represents one different meaning that people attribute to work
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