Industrial Psychology Research Articles

Strategic Marketing Management: Unveiling Consumer Psychology through Qualitative Analysis and Literature Review

The purpose of this qualitative research study is to explore consumer psychology and its implications for strategic marketing management. Grounded in the grounded theory methodology, the study aims to delve into the multifaceted nature of consumer decision-making processes, the influence of emotions on brand perception, the role of social media in shaping consumer behavior, and the significance of brand identity and differentiation in the competitive marketplace. The research methodology involves a comprehensive review of existing literature related to consumer psychology and strategic marketing management, encompassing scholarly articles, books, and reports. Data analysis procedures include systematic coding, categorization, and interpretation of qualitative data extracted from the literature. The key findings of the study underscore the intricate interplay of factors influencing consumer behavior, including attitudes, emotions, social norms, and perceived behavioral control. Emotions emerge as a crucial determinant of brand perception, with positive emotional experiences fostering brand loyalty and negative emotions undermining consumer trust. Social media platforms play a pivotal role in shaping brand perceptions and purchase decisions, while brand identity serves as a strategic asset for differentiation and market positioning. The study contributes to a deeper understanding of consumer psychology and provides insights for marketers to develop targeted and effective marketing strategies that resonate with consumers' motivations and preferences.

Disparities of Self-compassion and Job Satisfaction across Decision-Making Styles among Filipino Workers

Self-compassion and job satisfaction of Filipino workers across their decision-making styles are constructs of the present study being presented in the field of work. This paper aimed to identify the decision-making style; describe and measure the degree of self-compassion and job satisfaction; and determine the difference in self-compassion and job satisfaction across decision-making styles among respondents. The General Decision-making Styles Questionnaire (GDSQ), Self-compassion Scale, and Job Satisfaction Survey were administered to 359 respondents who aged from 28-60 years old, regardless of gender, across different companies in Calabarzon. The respondents were employees from entry level positions, supervisors, as well as executive level positions. Results have shown that rational, intuitive, dependent, avoidant, spontaneous, and dependent were the decision-making styles among respondents. The degree of self-compassion was at a high level (M=142.78, SD=21.16), while the degree of job satisfaction showed respondents’ ambivalence towards their job (M=3.51, SD=0.46). The Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) confirmed a significant difference (Fobt= 5.054**, p of 0.0001) in the self-compassion and job satisfaction across decision-making styles among Filipino workers and was validated by Fisher’s LSD as a post hoc test. Outcomes of the study is recommended as a basis in proposing intervention programs in human resource management and industrial psychology. Mixed-method research is recommended to strengthen the concepts of self-compassion and related variables in this study.

Personality Detector

Abstract: Personality detection has become an important area of research due to its potential applications in various fields such as marketing, psychology, and human resource management. In this paper, we present a personality detector that utilizes the Big Five personality traits model to analyze and predict the personality traits of individuals. The Big Five personality traits model is widely used in personality psychology, and it consists of five dimensions: openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. Our system utilizes a machine learning algorithm that analyzes various features such as text, social media posts, and speech to predict an individual's personality traits. The front-end of the system is developed using Python and Django, making it easy to use and accessible to anyone with an internet connection. We evaluated our system using a dataset of 1000 individuals and achieved an accuracy of 85% in predicting their personality traits

Identifying the critical skillset of top crime scene examiners: Why this matters and why agencies should develop top performers

AbstractProcessing a crime scene is complex. When scenes are processed well, higher quality specimens can be detected and collected. Inadequately managed scenes increase risk of ineffective investigations and poorer justice outcomes. Government reports from around the world have stated that some crime scene examiners outperform their peers. If processing a crime scene is vital for optimal outcomes, then who should we employ, and train, for this complex and challenging role? What skills do they need? In 2010, the seminal work into the technical and non‐technical skills of top crime scene examiners commenced in Australia. This team used empirical techniques from occupational psychology and business management to identify a cluster of 7 key cognitive, social, leadership skills, and technical/scientific knowledge to develop a profile of top crime scene performers. This work was published in a series of papers between 2012 and 2017. In 2023, the original work was combined with current international empirical findings to build a robust, comprehensive, and more generalizable picture of the holistic skillset of top crime scene examiners. The rationale for developing a skillset is to assist forensic agencies to create targeted recruitment procedures and inform the content of early career training programs for their crime scene teams. With recruitment and training done well, organizations are better placed to attract, develop, and retain personnel with potential to excel in complex roles. When top examiners attend scenes, it is possible the risk of poorer justice outcomes arising from crime scene work could be reduced.This article is categorized under: Forensic Science in Action/Crime Scene Investigation > Crime Scene Examination Forensic Science in Action/Crime Scene Investigation > Education and Formation Forensic Science in Action/Crime Scene Investigation > From Traces to Intelligence and Evidence

The Analysis of the Development of the Chinese Market of the Tide Play Blind Box and the Social Thinking Triggered

In the twenty-first century, research on the connection between aesthetics and psychology has become increasingly extensive. Human aesthetic activity is inseparable from psychology. In modern society, human consumption behavior largely reflects people's psychological activities, and thus research related to consumer psychology has received much attention. Consumption behavior is also an important way of embodying specific behaviors in people's aesthetic activities. In the Chinese market, the trendy toy blind box product industry has been sought after by consumers in recent years. In this industry, marketing and consumer psychology are particularly important, and the current state of the blind box industry shows many social issues, such as human aesthetics and consumer alienation. The article is an exploration of the psychology and aesthetics of mass consumption through research and analysis of the marketing and products of the blind box product industry. This paper may provide some implications for corporate managers, consumers, investors, and policymakers.

Using necessary condition analysis in managerial psychology research: introduction, empirical demonstration and methodological discussion

PurposeIn this paper, the authors aim to present a novel methodological tool – necessary condition analysis (NCA) to aid managerial psychology researchers in properly testing necessity statements.Design/methodology/approachThe authors employ NCA to analyze whether three basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness are necessary for work engagement.FindingsThe authors illustrate the value and application of NCA by revealing that basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness are necessary for work engagement, as proposed by self-determination theory (SDT).Originality/valueThe authors illustrate the importance of the sufficiency-necessity distinction and the relevance of a necessity logic in managerial psychology. They also discuss NCA's methodological implications for managerial psychology research, theory and practice.

How well are open science practices implemented in industrial and organizational psychology and management?

ABSTRACT To address the low reproducibility and replicability of research, Open Science Practices (OSPs) have been developed. Yet, despite increasing awareness of their potential benefits, there has been only little implementation. As journals can act as gatekeepers for scientific discoveries, a potential tendency not to mention OSPs on their websites may help to explain this implementation gap. Therefore, we examined the implementation of OSPs and potential barriers in industrial and organizational psychology and management (IOP/management) journals. Study 1 examined whether and how N = 257 journal websites referred to OSPs. We found that most journals did not mention OSPs. Specifically, only two (1.0%), five (2.5%), and 14 (6.9%) IOP/management journals mentioned preregistration, registered reports, and explicitly welcomed replications, respectively. Study 2 investigated perceived barriers to implementing OSPs with a survey among editors of the IOP/management journals from Study 1. Among the 40 responding editors, 14, 10, and five attributed the lacking implementation of OSPs to a lesser suitability of OSPs for qualitative research, missing authority, and missing familiarity with OSPs, respectively. Based on our findings, the implementation gap could be mitigated by developing new and refining extant OSPs, starting bottom-up initiatives (e.g., researchers directly contacting publishers), and increasing the availability of information on OSPs.

Academic Predictors of Performance in the Board Licensure Examination for Psychometricians

In relation to the adherence of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) offering undergraduate psychology programs to excellent standards of education as translated in the Board Licensure Examination for Psychometricians (BLEP), this study aimed to analyze the predictors of BLEP performance as inputs to curriculum and instruction quality assurance. This study employed a descriptive-quantitative design and collected data using an online survey and data mining. Results from one private-sectarian HEI show that general academic performance – specifically in Theories of Personality, Abnormal Psychology, Industrial Psychology, and Dynamic Psychology courses – were significant predictors of BLEP performance, suggesting that better undergraduate academic performance leads to better BLEP performance. These results highlight the need for enhancing the curriculum and instruction in response to the demands of various regulatory and quality assurance bodies in ensuring that the mandate of HEIs to produce high-quality professionals is achieved through a curriculum-based course audit for review classes and intensified instruction.

Unfree Markets: The Slaves’ Economy and the Rise of Capitalism in South Carolina

Justene Hill Edwards's brilliant book argues that the business ventures of enslaved people from colonial times to emancipation were integrated into the broader political economy of slavery in South Carolina. African-descended South Carolinians did not just labor for enslavers. Many worked for themselves in small enterprises and networks that permitted them, in many cases, a return. The book's graceful prose and lucid argumentation will appeal to students and specialists. Unfree Markets explores changes over time, arguing that enslavers’ efforts to regulate Black business activities in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries gave way to predatory involvement in enslaved people's dealings in the nineteenth century, partly because of the state's shift from rice to cotton as the primary economic activity. This shift prefigured predatory capitalism of later eras. From 1686 onward, the colonial legislature worked to establish a legal framework that sanctioned independent Black business activities while bringing them under the control of enslavers.As South Carolina became a majority Black plantation society, its leaders worked assiduously to exert control over African-descended people's independent economic activities while at the same time sponsoring them. The task labor system of cultivating rice was exquisite industrial psychology that left labor time for self-directed enterprises. Enslavers also permitted bondspersons to cultivate marginal lands and hire themselves out for wages. The result was a seemingly widespread practice of marketing produce, poultry, and other consumables and a Black consumer market for goods, including, notably, alcohol. That symbiosis seems to have helped diversify the colony's economy, and enslaved people sold necessities to whites despite being legal chattel property themselves.Nineteenth-century South Carolina enslavers found self-serving reasons to prey on the economic activities they insisted enslaved people do. Charles C. Pinckney (nephew of South Carolina's constitutional delegate Charles Cotesworth Pinckney) was adamant that enslaved people cultivate their own food and trade surpluses for “luxuries of life” (133). In Hill Edwards's view, enslavers like Pinckney were predatory paternalists whose self-serving rationale twisted a novel form of exploitation into a defense of race-based slavery.Both enslaved and enslavers practiced recognizable forms of capitalism, which Hill Edwards understands as economic actors investing resources in activities designed to generate returns. It was not uncommon for an enslaver to encourage enslaved people to steal cotton, which that enslaver paid for in whiskey. The resulting configuration of capitalism was expansive. And Hill Edwards's definition provides enough space for enslaved market actors to be petty capitalists based on the concept of free time rather than freedom. One of the book's interventions is “how the rise of capitalism in the early nineteenth century undermined racial solidarity among white South Carolinians, while still keeping enslaved people in bondage” (83). This is a crucial point.Racial solidarity dissolved in slavery's capitalism, which in South Carolina meant that enslavers protected and extended financial interests in slavery by sanctioning Black enterprise. “Merchants were eager to sell to and barter with enslaved people, and in the process, thumbed their noses at fellow white citizens who opposed their trade with slaves” (165). Slavery's capitalism disadvantaged poor whites and enslaved people but for reasons that divided wealthy, poor, and enslaved. That fine-grained distinction is one of the reasons labor historians will benefit from this exceptional scholarship.Traversing contexts among enslavers and enslaved, Hill Edwards deftly expands categories of capitalism and labor value. Historians like Diana Ramey Berry have successfully linked the new history of capitalism with the lived realities of enslaved people, rendering them human actors in a system carefully calibrated to commoditize or commodify their labor, bodies, sexuality, and so on. Unfree Markets builds on this insight, along with many others, integrating enslavers’ strategies and enslaved people's counterstrategies, showing that even complex and robust business activities among enslaved people were subject to predatory manipulation by enslavers and other white market actors. Here slavery by itself does not fill the conceptual spaces of capitalism or its predatory form in this period, since so many market actors who were not enslavers were taking advantage of a lack of civil rights among African-descended vendors and producers. Below-market prices paid to enslaved businesspeople appear as a Black tax in a society in which slavery was tightly woven into the social fabric of racism. And enslaved people's success in some aspects of business does not mean they were winning contests with enslavers.Unfree Markets points to the post-Emancipation landscape of capitalism that disadvantaged free South Carolinians of African descent and, more broadly, predatory inclusion of later eras.

Hadrami’s leadership in Islamizing Jambi: Managerial psychology perspective

Hadrami’s leadership in Islamizing Jambi: Managerial psychology perspective

Testing the “holy grail” of industrial psychology as a non-recursive bow pattern model in higher education using the PLSe2 method

PurposeThe direction of causality between job satisfaction and job performance (known as the holy grail of industrial psychologists) is undetermined and related research findings in different organizational contexts are mixed. Based on the ample literature, mainly from Western countries, on the relationship between job satisfaction and job performance, a non-recursive bow pattern model was utilized to investigate the direct relationship between these two variables in an Asia–Pacific higher education system.Design/methodology/approachThis study is quantitative in approach and survey in design. Additionally, to meet the statistical requirements of non-recursive bow pattern analysis, the authors added welfare as a theory-driven instrumental variable to introduce exogenous variability. Using the efficient partial least squares (PLSe2) estimator, the authors fitted the model to the data collected from 2008 academics affiliated with Malaysian public universities and polytechnics.FindingsThe results showed that while job satisfaction is considerably influenced by welfare, it is not a significant predictor of job performance directly. In addition, a meaningful positive correlation between the disturbance terms of job satisfaction and job performance was observed, suggesting the existence of other factors that could increase both job satisfaction and job performance. The findings' theoretical and practical implications are discussed, and a list of theory-driven evidenced-based policies in this regard is provided.Originality/valueThis is the first study to test a non-recursive bow pattern model and examine the holy grail of industrial psychology based on the PLSe2 methodology, as a parametric approach to partial least squares (PLS), in a higher education context. This study also provides higher education researchers with the advantages of the PLSe2 method, especially in causal-predictive modeling, in the context of applied higher education research.

Presenteeism Is Reloaded and Ready for Further Research – A Commentary on Priebe, J. and Hägerbäumer, M. (2023)

Presenteeism Is Reloaded and Ready for Further Research – A Commentary on Priebe, J. and Hägerbäumer, M. (2023)

Call for Papers: “Work/Organizational Psychology in Africa: Amplifying African Perspectives in the Practice and Research of Work/Organisational Psychology in Africa”

Call for Papers: “Work/Organizational Psychology in Africa: Amplifying African Perspectives in the Practice and Research of Work/Organisational Psychology in Africa”A Topical Issue of International Perspectives in Psychology: Research, Practice, ConsultationCharles Tchagneno, Sandiso Bazana, and Zonke ZunguCharles TchagnenoLaboratory of Psychology, University of Franche-Comté, Besançon, FranceLIP/PC2S, University Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, FranceSearch for more papers by this author, Sandiso BazanaDepartment of People, Organizations and Society, Grenoble Ecole de Management, Grenoble, FrancePsychology Department, Rhodes University, Makhanda, South AfricaSearch for more papers by this author, and Zonke ZunguSchool of Management Studies, University of Cape Town, South AfricaSearch for more papers by this authorPublished Online:April 12, 2023https://doi.org/10.1027/2157-3891/a000073PDFView Full Text ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInReddit SectionsMoreReferencesChristopher, J. C., & Hickinbottom, S. (2008). Positive psychology, ethnocentrism, and the disguised ideology of individualism. Theory & Psychology, 18(5), 563–589. 10.1177/0959354308093396 First citation in articleCrossref, Google ScholarIslam, G., & Zyphur, M. J. (2006). Critical industrial psychology: What is it and where is it. Psychology in Society, 34, 17–30. https://ssrn.com/abstract=2684636 First citation in articleGoogle ScholarJahoda, G. (2016). On the rise and decline of ‘indigenous psychology. Culture & Psychology, 22(2), 169–181. 10.1177/1354067X16634052 First citation in articleCrossref, Google ScholarKazi, M. T. B., & Indermun, M. V. (2014). Critique and critical theory in industrial psychology: What is it? Where is it? Arabian Journal of Business and Management Review (Nigerian Chapter), 2(4), 88–94. 10.12816/0011585 First citation in articleCrossref, Google ScholarNibafu, E. Q. F., Du Plessis, M., & Abrahams, F. (2021). Contextual relevance and decolonisation of South African industrial psychology training: An exploratory case study. Journal of Psychology in Africa, 31(2), 203–208. 10.1080/14330237.2021.1903155 First citation in articleCrossref, Google ScholarFiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Special Issue: Building an Equitable Global Psychology – Giving Voice to Indigenous Psychology in Southeast AsiaVolume 12Issue 2April 2023ISSN: 2157-3883eISSN: 2157-3891 InformationInternational Perspectives in Psychology (2023), 12, pp. 130-131 https://doi.org/10.1027/2157-3891/a000073.© 2023Hogrefe PublishingPDF download

Analyzing the Effect of Organizational Commitment, Spiritual Motivation and Spiritual Leadership on Employee Performance through Job Satisfaction

Organizational commitment has become a topic of discussion in various literatures, such as the public sector literature (non-profit sector) and the private sector, which are generally profit-oriented (profit orientation). These are listed in various kinds of literature, for example, industrial and organizational psychology literature on education, theology, health, hospitality, social workers, and medicine using processed data using SEM with Amos version 24 software, the sample of respondents is 165. The results indicated that organizational commitment, spiritual motivation, and leadership significantly positively affect employee job satisfaction. Also, this study found that employee satisfaction, organizational commitment, and spiritual motivation significantly positively affect employee performance. Besides that, spiritual leadership does not significantly affect employee performance. In conclusion, this study has successfully examined the effect of organizational commitment, spiritual motivation, and spiritual leadership on employee performance through job satisfaction.

Examining Financial Strategy Management: Understanding Financial Performance, Investment Decisions, and Strategic Approaches through Qualitative Description and Literature Review

This research delves into the complexities of financial strategy management through a qualitative examination and literature review, aiming to illuminate key insights into managing financial performance, investment decisions, and strategic approaches within organizations. The primary objective of this study is to provide a comprehensive understanding of financial strategy management by synthesizing existing knowledge and identifying gaps for further exploration. The research methodology involves a qualitative description and literature review, drawing upon seminal works by renowned scholars in finance, economics, psychology, and strategic management. Findings from the literature review underscore the multifaceted nature of financial strategy management, emphasizing the significance of adopting a balanced and comprehensive approach to financial performance evaluation, integrating both quantitative metrics and qualitative insights. Moreover, the research highlights the pivotal role of investment decisions in driving organizational performance outcomes, elucidating insights from modern portfolio theory, behavioral finance, and empirical studies. Additionally, the study identifies diverse strategic approaches in financial management, ranging from Mintzberg's ten schools of strategy formulation to Porter's competitive strategy frameworks, emphasizing adaptability, innovation, and strategic flexibility in navigating dynamic business environments. The research contributes theoretical insights by enriching existing frameworks and offers practical implications for managerial practice, guiding organizations in enhancing financial management practices and achieving sustainable competitive advantage.

An Empirical Study on the Information Formality Motivation, Social Influence, and Goal Commitment of Knowledge Workers

A knowledge worker's goal commitment is critical to the success of system implementation in the organization. This paper investigates an individual's information formality motivation and social influence as important determinants in developing goal commitment in the system implementation based on the social psychology and information management literature. An empirical test of the proposed model was conducted in the field test (n = 148). PLS was used to analyze the model and supported the validity of the results. Social influence and information formality influence knowledge worker's goal commitment (R2 = 0.36) as expected. Social influence has a higher effect on goal commitment than information formality motivation. The results of this study will help us understand the antecedents of goal commitment in the system implementation based on the social influence theory and personal information management model. The paper includes implications for the designers and information system (IS) managers to effectively understand knowledge worker's goal commitment in the organization.

The effectiveness of virtual reality package on improving the quality of work life and organizational vitality

Introduction: The quality of work life is one of the most important variables in the field of industrial and organizational psychology, which leads to an increase in individual performance and organizational productivity by creating organizational vitality. Today's organizations use many measures to improve the quality of work life and the vitality of employees, one of the newest methods is the use of virtual reality. 
 Methods and Materials: The purpose of this research was to investigate the effectiveness of virtual reality on the quality of work life and organizational vitality of employees. The research was a semi-experimental pre-test-post-test type with a control group. The sample of this research was 30 employees of Iran's New Energy Organization, who were assigned in two groups of 15 people, experimental and control. The tools of this research were Walton's quality of work life questionnaire (1973) and Kroloff's organizational vitality (2007). The experimental group of 15 people underwent the virtual reality training package during 8 sessions (10 minutes each session). After collecting the data, they were analyzed using the covariance analysis method.
 Results: The results showed that the difference between the average scores of the post-test of the quality of work life and organizational vitality in the two experimental and control groups is significant (P<0.01). Therefore, it can be said that the virtual reality package has a favorable effect on the quality of work life and organizational vitality and improves the quality of work life and organizational vitality.
 Conclusion: It is suggested that organizations and companies use the virtual reality package to improve quality of work life and organizational vitality of their employees.

How do university–industry alliances respond to the trust crisis in green technology innovation activities?

PurposeWith the evolution of the turbulent environment constantly triggering the emergence of a trust crisis between organizations, how can university–industry (U–I) alliances respond to the trust crisis when conducting green technology innovation (GTI) activities? This paper aims to address this issue.Design/methodology/approachThe authors examined the process of trust crisis damage, including trust first suffering instantaneous impair as well as subsequently indirectly affecting GTI level, and ultimately hurting the profitability of green innovations. In this paper, a piecewise deterministic dynamic model is deployed to portray the trust and the GTI levels in GTI activities of U–I alliances.FindingsThe authors analyze the equilibrium results under decentralized and centralized decision-making modes to obtain the following conclusions: Trust levels are affected by a combination of hazard and damage (short and long term) rates, shifting from steady growth to decline in the presence of low hazard and damage rates. However, the GTI level has been growing steadily. It is essential to consider factors such as the hazard rate, the damage rate in the short and long terms, and the change in marginal profit in determining whether to pursue an efficiency- or recovery-friendly strategy in the face of a trust crisis. The authors found that two approaches can mitigate trust crisis losses: implementing a centralized decision-making mode (i.e. shared governance) and reducing pre-crisis trust-building investments. This study offers several insights for businesses and academics to respond to a trust crisis.Research limitations/implicationsThe present research can be extended in several directions. Instead of distinguishing attribution of trust crisis, the authors use hazard rate, short- and long-term damage rates and change in marginal profitability to distinguish the scale of trust crises. Future scholars can further add an attribution approach to enrich the classification of trust crises. Moreover, the authors only consider trust crises because of unexpected events in a turbulent environment; in fact, a trust crisis may also be a plateauing process, yet the authors do not study this situation.Practical implicationsFirst, the authors explore what factors affect the level of trust and the level of GTI when a trust crisis occurs. Second, the authors provide guidelines on how businesses and academics can coordinate their trust-building and GTI efforts when faced with a trust crisis in a turbulent environment.Originality/valueFirst, the interaction between psychology and innovation management is explored in this paper. Although empirical studies have shown that trust in U–I alliances is related to innovation performance, and scholars have developed differential game models to portray the GTI process, building a differential game model to explore such an interaction is still scarce. Second, the authors incorporate inter-organizational trust level into the GTI level in university–industry collaboration, applying differential equations to portray the trust building and GTI processes, respectively, to reveal the importance of trust in CTI activities. Third, the authors establish a piecewise deterministic dynamic game model wherein the impact of crisis shocks is not equal to zero, which is inconsistent with most previous studies of Brownian motion.

“Transforming” Personality Scale Development: Illustrating the Potential of State-of-the-Art Natural Language Processing

Natural language processing (NLP) techniques are becoming increasingly popular in industrial and organizational psychology. One promising area for NLP-based applications is scale development; yet, while many possibilities exist, so far these applications have been restricted—mainly focusing on automated item generation. The current research expands this potential by illustrating an NLP-based approach to content analysis, which manually categorizes scale items by their measured constructs. In NLP, content analysis is performed as a text classification task whereby a model is trained to automatically assign scale items to the construct that they measure. Here, we present an approach to text classification—using state-of-the-art transformer models—that builds upon past approaches. We begin by introducing transformer models and their advantages over alternative methods. Next, we illustrate how to train a transformer to content analyze Big Five personality items. Then, we compare the models trained to human raters, finding that transformer models outperform human raters and several alternative models. Finally, we present practical considerations, limitations, and future research directions.

Searching for meaning in a disruptive world – Constructing a lexicon of the meanings of meaning

Orientation: Meaning is not a concept whose significance needs to be debated anymore. Rather, the meaning of meaning is a concept that needs more clarity to improve its understanding.Research purpose: In this paper, the construct of meaning is deconstructed to develop a lexicon of the respective meanings of meaning, especially as they apply to the domain of work.Motivation for the study: Descriptions of the various meanings of meaning tend to be lost across many different journal articles and books. More clarity regarding the meanings of meaning and how they compare and relate with each other is essential to promote valid research and influential practice in this field.Research approach/design and method: Theoretical research is conducted through a literature study and the meanings of meaning are determined through theory synthesis and topical analyses.Main findings: Meaning is a multidimensional construct, especially as it applies to the work context. The concept of meaning in life is distinct and should be distinguished from related concepts, such as the meaning of work, meaning at work, meaning in work, and meaningful work.Practical/managerial implications: By clarifying meanings of meaning, the lexicon provides a unique reference work for scholars, and an essential guide for practitioners in the fields of psychology, industrial and organisational psychology, and even psychiatry, who aspire to advance and promote meaningfulness in their work contexts.Contribution/value-add: As far as could be established, this is the first lexicon of the meanings of meaning in one easy-to-use compendium, for accurate comparison and reference.