Meaningful Job Research Articles

Employment and Energy

At the Global Business Forum in Goa in October 2015, Dr. Romesh Wadhwani highlighted a significant gap in India's economic strategy: while GDP growth surged by 54% in recent years, employment in the organized sector grew by a mere 3%. Projecting into the future, he warned that even a 100% increase in GDP might only yield a 6% rise in employment, emphasizing the need for a focus on creating meaningful job opportunities to prevent social instability and enhance well-being. Dr. Wadhwani proposed several solutions, including expanding vocational training, restructuring education to include vocational streams from high school, and fostering self-employment and entrepreneurship. However, an examination of India's current skill development policies reveals a lack of focus on labor mobility and the impact of automation and energy consumption on job creation. The historical relationship between GDP growth and energy use shows that increased industrial productivity often comes at the expense of job creation due to heightened automation and energy consumption. This trend, combined with the environmental impact of fossil fuel reliance, underscores the limitations of the current growth model. To address these issues, this paper suggests shifting towards a "restoration economy" model. By focusing on low-energy, high-employment jobs in environmental and ecosystem restoration, India can create significant employment opportunities while also contributing to ecological sustainability. Investing in restoration projects and leveraging existing funding programs, such as MG-NREGA, can provide a dual benefit: addressing employment challenges and rebuilding degraded environments. This approach offers a more balanced and sustainable path forward for India's economic and social development

Deciphering the Nature and Dynamics of Gig-Platform Jobs: Workers’ Hidden Precarity

The technology-driven gig-platform sector has emerged as a new source of employment generation both globally as well domestically. This recent transformation in the labour market is reshaping the nature of labour practices, labour relations, workers’ rights, and contracts. The sector has huge potential to generate millions of job opportunities by leveraging the use of digital technology. As this sector continues to generate more jobs, such jobs are portrayed as fostering economic growth, while creating ‘meaningful jobs,’ which are mutually beneficial to workers and employers in terms of providing ‘flexibility and freedom,’ ‘better earning opportunity,’ and ‘promoting social inclusion,’ by which it implies that women are increasingly equipped to find better jobs. This article critically examines the developmental roles of platform jobs which are being particularly highlighted within the policy circle, in academic literature, and tech companies through workers’ lens. It delves deeper into the discussion on those very aspects of platform jobs just listed, including the flexibility and freedom debate, workers’ income, and the gender aspect of jobs. In doing so, it carefully examines these aspects with respect to their implications on workers in terms of working conditions and regulatory aspects. The article brings out the workers’ precarity hidden within those developmental aspects of gig-platform jobs.

The implementation and impact of an advanced practice recognition program.

Meaningful job recognition is a pillar for sustaining healthy work environments and proven beneficial for job satisfaction and retention. However, few dedicated award recognition programs exist for advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs), and no available literature evaluates the impact on professional practice, sense of belonging, and job retention or satisfaction. The purpose of this study was to introduce a novel award recognition program for APRNs and physician associates (PAs) in a large academic medical system and evaluate it's impact on job satisfaction, retention, and sense of belonging. Five awards were created to recognize areas of achievement for clinically practicing APRNs or PAs within an academic health system. Nomination letters were collected, deidentified, and reviewed by an award committee. Winners were announced and received a plaque. A survey was sent to employed APRNs evaluating their response to the program. The survey was sent to both APRNs (83%) and PAs (17%). Survey end points included job satisfaction, willingness to stay in role for 1 and 5 years, sense of community, something to work toward, and increasing recognition of APRNs. Results showed statistical significance in three areas. Advanced practice registered nurses or PAs who were aware of award opportunities and/or nominated for an award showed higher job satisfaction, more likely to stay in job for 1 year, and felt a greater level of recognition. Dedicated APRN award programs may have a positive impact on job satisfaction and retention. This model may be extrapolated to provide greater opportunities for meaningful recognition among clinical APRNs.

“The bad job brings the good one”: photovoice study with female and male waste workers in Rwanda

ABSTRACT Within the circular economy framework in Africa, sustainable waste management can contribute to improving the environment and creating green jobs. However, recycling activities are mostly carried out by informal workers, who are often forgotten in discussions about the circular economy. To ensure the development of a socially just circular economy, their voices must be heard and their needs accounted for. This study took place in Rwanda, a circular economy leader in Africa, and explored the experiences of workers engaged in biowaste recycling, with a particular focus on the distinctions between the experiences of female and male workers. We used photovoice as a methodology, allowing waste workers to visually report on the benefits and drawbacks of being involved in biowaste recycling. Seventeen waste recyclers took pictures representing different working experiences, which was followed by individual in-depth interviews to elicit the meaning behind each picture. Data analysis consisted of a reflexive thematic content analysis of interview transcripts and a participatory data analysis with the workers. The results show that the workers valued their jobs for their social relations at work, being responsible for a task, being productive, and generating savings. Workers negatively highlighted the health risks associated with waste sorting, difficult working conditions, and low salaries. We found gendered differences in workers’ marital status and access to paid work opportunities. Although working in waste recycling encompasses occupational risks, this photovoice study highlights that access to work improves workers’ relative well-being and that this type of circular economy can help create meaningful jobs.

Assessing Theories and Strategies Regarding Career Transition for Students with Visual Impairments

The purpose of this paper is to examine evidence-based theories and strategies that can aid in comprehending and fostering the career transitioning of students with visual impairments. Understanding the various career transitioning theories will enable career professionals and visually impaired students to achieve a successful career counselling encounter. The suggested theoretical models highlight the importance of psychological and social variables in predicting a successful transition and the attainment of good and meaningful jobs by visually impaired students. The theories discussed in this paper include Schlossberg's transition theory; Bridges’ transition framework; Psychological model for student retention; Psychology of working theory; Opportunity structure theory; Liquid modernity and life design; and Career construction theory. This article contributes to the literature on career counselling by arguing and elucidating the theoretical significance of these vocational counselling theories and strategies as they pertain to promoting career transition for visually impaired students. Theoretical knowledge could help to inform counselling methods and enable professionals, and various institutions to understand the contextual drivers of career transitioning, advocate for more inclusive workplaces, and explore solutions to reduce the number of unemployed visually impaired graduates. Career counsellors can adapt many techniques if they use an integrated theoretical approach to help visually impaired students transition from school to their potential employment. 
 
 

Workplace Spirituality and Turnover Intentions: Mediating Role of Job Satisfaction

The voluntary staff turnover problem is a significant challenge for the IT industry. This study examines how workplace spirituality affects IT workers' job happiness and quitting intentions. Data was gathered from 302 IT organisation employees using the "Temporal separation" method, which addresses common method variance bias, to assure accurate results. To analyse and evaluate the hypotheses, the researchers used Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). According to the research’s conclusions, job happiness fully mediates the association between workplace spirituality and employees' intention to leave. Industry practitioners should prioritize fostering workplace spirituality by promoting positive interpersonal relationships and meaningful job designs, as well as establishing an organizational culture centered on the organization's vision and mission. This study offers potential solutions to IT industry practitioners who struggle with managing attrition.

Is Academic Agency Relevant for the School-to-Work Transition of Lower Attainers? Evidence from Canada and England.

Academic agency is recognized as an important predictor of higher education attainment among the general population during the school-to-work transition. However, there is little evidence on whether (a) academic agency is associated with higher education attainment among young people facing education difficulties (i.e., lower attainers), (b) academic agency is associated with a smooth entry in a meaningful job among lower attainers, and (c) these associations vary across educational contexts. This study draws on longitudinal data from lower attainers in the province of Québec (Mage = 16.31, SD = 0.98; 48% females) and in England (Mage = 15.86, SD = 0.72; 42% females), two regions with similar education systems, yet different vocational training provision. In both samples, fewer than one in four participants reach higher education by age 20. Also, in both countries academic agency is associated with a greater likelihood of being in higher education compared to other employment and education outcomes at age 20, but not with rapid entry into meaningful employment. Thus, focussing on higher education attainment and academic-related factors such as academic agency is of limited relevance for understanding lower attainers' success over school-to work transitions. For them, understanding this transition also requires considering rapid entry in meaningful employment, as well as non-academic forms of agency supporting such work-oriented outcomes.

I feel the need – the need for speed! Unreasonable tasks, work pace, psychological detachment and emotional exhaustion

PurposeAt the dawn of a new decade, as ever more corporations are pursuing sustainable working conditions and advocating employee well-being, employees are increasingly tending to feel fatigued and drained by their work, which compromises their performance. Drawing on the job demands–resources model and social acceleration debate, the authors test a moderated mediation model. Specifically, the authors hypothesise that unreasonable tasks raise perceptions of emotional exhaustion when the pace of work is increased and investigate the moderating role of psychological detachment.Design/methodology/approachThis study used a sample of 245 employees from Europe, all knowledge workers, to test the hypotheses.FindingsApart from unreasonable tasks being directly related with emotional exhaustion, this relationship was mediated by the perceived work pace. In addition, the authors establish psychological detachment as a relevant moderator for the mediating effect.Practical implicationsManagers and HR practitioners are equipped with a better understanding of the effects of an increasing speed of work, the conditions leading to it and the individual and organizational resources that may help to create healthy and meaningful job positions, which facilitate employee efficiency.Originality/valueOur study expands the literature on contemporary stressors and adds to what is known about the ‘dark side’ of job demands that affect the organizational bottom-line, as well as the resource-based mechanism that can buffer the negative effects.

Industry 5.0 – characteristic, main principles, advantages and disadvantages

Purpose: The aim of the paper is to analyze the Industry 5.0 concept and compare it with Industry 4.0. Design/methodology/approach: Critical literature analysis. Analysis of international literature from main databases and polish literature and legal acts connecting with researched topic. Findings: Industry 5.0 offers several benefits that make it worth adopting in manufacturing industries, including improved efficiency, greater quality control, sustainability, enhanced worker safety, improved customer experience, cost savings, competitive advantage, increased innovation, and positive social impact. By integrating human creativity and intuition with advanced machinery and technology, Industry 5.0 promises to create a more sustainable, flexible, and socially responsible manufacturing environment that delivers higher quality products and more meaningful jobs. Originality/value: Detailed analysis of all subjects related to the problems connected with the Industry 5.0. Keywords: Industry 4.0; innovation, industrial enterprise, design thinking, innovativeness. Category of the paper: literature review.

The importance of the employer brand on the labour market: case study from Czech Republic

The case study proposes a methodological procedure for building an employer brand applied to two real companies between 2016 and 2019. The process of creating an employer brand includes three phases: (1) knowledge – analysis of the current situation and setting SMART goals, (2) creation – design of a communication strategy and selection of appropriate communication tactics and (3) implementation – development of an action plan with detailed calculation and design of control tools. The paper focuses on ways in which marketing and HR departments should work together to develop a good employer brand. Other sub-issues include: Can the same method of employer branding methodology be implemented in industrial and service corporations? Are the same principles important both in a B2B company and in a company in the B2C market? The paper presents the results of a focus group survey and a questionnaire survey among employees of two selected companies. The results of the study show that through cooperation it is possible to formulate meaningful job offers, become a company attractive to employees, fulfill their needs and at the same time fulfill the company’s strategic goals.

Altruism, Jobs, and Alternative Certification: Mathematics Teachers’ Reasons for Entry and Their Retention

This study examines the relationship between alternatively certified mathematics teachers’ stated reasons for entry and their odds of retention at the school level and at the district level. Study participants were members of the 2006 and 2007 cohorts of New York City Teaching Fellows who completed three surveys over a 9-year period. Administrative data sets from the New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE) provided employment history of cohort members as well as demographic information about the teachers and sites of employment in New York City (NYC) public schools. Drawing on retention and survey data, we found that, of the four reasons for entry factors, two were predictive of NYCTF mathematics teacher retention (i.e., job benefits and alternative certification) and two were not (i.e., altruism and meaningful job). Given the cost associated with recruiting and training alternatively certified teachers, information to improve the initial selection process and increase the rate of retention makes financial sense for districts that employ alternatively certified teachers.

ENTREPRENEURIAL DEVELOPMENT AS A BRIDGING TOOL FOR UNEMPLOYMENT IN BAYELSA STATE, NIGERIA

The responsibility of advancing a society falls to the highest degree of human creativity, which is greatly correlates with the state's level of superior training and deliberate growth of education. Such growth or progress is only possible when every member of society has a meaningful job and a rising per capita income. The goal of this project is to use entrepreneurial development to address the unemployment issue in Bayelsa State. The study is made more difficult by the fact that the community being investigated is experiencing a hydra-headed setback caused by corrupt activities and the unemployment crisis. Only when government educational programs are focused on a well-designed education that can result in job establishment and also self-dependence. Government might accomplish such social growth through entrepreneurship education. Therefore, this essay explores the role of entrepreneurship education and how it could support employment creation in the setting under study. Also mentioned were the difficulties of excellent entrepreneurial education. The article concluded by offering some recommendations on how to overcome the difficulties and increase job creation in the area under study.

ANALISIS DAMPAK SUPERVISI KELAS TERHADAP KUALITAS KINERJA PENDIDIK

One component that functions meaningfully in achieving educational goals is educational supervision. Education Supervision is a very meaningful job in improving the quality of education. The quality of education is closely related to the professionalism of educators in experiencing current and future educational problems. This study aims to determine the description of the principal's supervision in improving the performance of educators, supporting faktors, and inhibiting faktors in the implementation of supervision, especially in terms of 1) Implementation of Principal Class Supervision in Improving Educator Performance; 2) Results of Principal's Class Supervision in Improving Educator Performance. The method used in this study uses a qualitative method. A qualitative method as a research procedure that presents descriptive data in a few words written or spoken by people or actors that can be observed. Qualitative research is used to reveal descriptive data from information about what they do and what they experience towards the research focus.

Craft Reconfiguration: Rediscovering Traditional Craft Despite Modernizing Forces

Using an inductive research design, the current study provides an exploration of how traditional craft can be reconfigured through entrepreneurial action, revealing unique processes by which craft persists as a source of meaningful jobs and income, despite modernizing forces. Whereas prior assessments primarily explore how modernization reconfigures traditional craft, the focus in this article is on entrepreneurship’s role in challenging cultural remnants attached to craft while maintaining traditional elements in contemporary craft. The findings indicate that craft can be recontextualized, revitalized, and repurposed through entrepreneurial action, such that it then can be rediscovered and adapted to contemporary market demands. First, craft is recontextualized, from a culturally anchored tradition mainly performed at home to a commercially embedded practice performed in organizational settings. Second, craft is revitalized through modern approaches to production, equipment, and design that turn craft into something more accepted in the broader economy and enable it to compete with industrialized products. Third, craft is repurposed, from a practice performed for family and friends to artistry that addresses market needs, shifting from marginalization to a far more commercial practice. These findings offer theoretical contributions to emerging efforts to rediscovering craft, in that they reveal the unique processes by which craft, even if pushed to the margins, can persist as a vital source of economic and social prosperity in the marginalized communities that rely on it.

The dark side of meaningful work‐from‐home: A nonlinear approach

AbstractChanges in the technological environment of work already in motion over the last few years, but accelerated by the COVID‐19 pandemic, place individuals' search for meaningfulness in their work under a new light. In this context, we draw on enrichment theory and the ego‐depletion perspective and challenge the prevailing notion that meaningfulness is always positive and hypothesize that, under certain conditions, there can be such a thing as “too much meaningfulness.” A two‐wave study of 243 full‐time employees working from home during the COVID‐19 pandemic in the United States offers support for a nonlinear effect of meaningfulness of work for workaholics, such that it has a positive effect on individuals up to a certain point, but a negative effect if there are excessive amounts of meaningfulness. We discuss these findings in light of the debate around the moral duty of managers and firms to offer meaningful jobs to employees and offer practical suggestions for firms.

The Contribution of Psychological Resilience and Job Meaningfulness to Well-being of Working Cancer Survivors.

Although studies suggest that cancer survivors face workplace obstacles, to date there has been little empirical research regarding the personal and environmental factors that can help cancer survivors adjust to work. The purpose of this study was to examine how working survivors' resilience and job meaningfulness were related to their well-being outcomes, including lower cancer-related intrusive thoughts, fatigue, and presenteeism. We recruited 200 full-time employed cancer survivors from online participant panels using Qualtrics. Participants responded to an online survey that measured their resilience, job meaningfulness, job-related psychological distress, and well-being outcomes. We conducted descriptive statistical analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and moderated mediated analysis to examine the psychological process in which resilience and job meaning are associated with cancer survivors' mental health and work outcomes. Findings: The relationship between cancer survivors' resilience and their well-being outcomes depended on job meaningfulness. For survivors whose jobs were not highly meaningful, their resilience was related to reduced job-related psychological distress, which, in turn, was related to lower intrusive thoughts, fatigue, and presenteeism. For survivors with highly meaningful jobs, they did not need to rely on resilience to protect them from workplace psychological distress and other negative outcomes. Conclusion/Application to Practice: It is important for working cancer survivors to develop resilience, especially when they do not perceive their work as highly meaningful. Successful resilience-building interventions can buffer the negative impact of low job meaningfulness and help working survivors achieve better outcomes. In addition, organizations can actively help enrich survivors' jobs to increase perceived meaningfulness.

Work Stressors and Occupational Health of Young Employees: The Moderating Role of Work Adaptability.

Work adaptability refers to the work experience, habits, and skills that enable an individual to adapt to current or changing work tasks and situations. It is a coping resource that individuals use to mitigate various types of stress. Adopting the interaction model of work stress, this study investigated 168 young employees in 20 organizations in Zhejiang Province through interview research and a questionnaire survey. The results show that work adaptability has a significant main effect on occupational health. The work adaptability of employees plays a moderating role in the relationship between occupational health and lack of work meaning stress, role conflict stress, interpersonal relationship stress, negative organizational atmosphere stress, and total score of work stressors. Young employees with high work adaptability have worse occupational health under high-level stress situations due to a lack of work meaning. For promoting occupational health in young employees, organizations should have this group of workers complete meaningful jobs or inform them of the importance of their jobs, reduce role conflict, and create a supportive organizational atmosphere. For management, it is imperative to eliminate high-level stress that stems from a lack of work meaning in order to retain young employees with high work adaptability. These findings shed light on how work adaptability helps young employees deal with stress and improve their occupational health. In organizational and self-stress management, it is beneficial to improve employees’ work adaptability continuously as a means of effectively resisting stress and maintaining occupational health.

Neglecting physician desires to teach at an academic medical facility: A mixed method investigation of the consequences

Purpose Recent findings have suggested that physicians who spend more time participating in their most meaningful job activities (e.g. teaching) are less likely to experience burnout. The current study aimed to expound upon this finding, focusing specifically on the role of teaching in promoting meaning and preventing burnout. Method A total of 428 physicians at a large academic healthcare institution completed an online survey that included measures of burnout and other relevant variables. In the second part of this study, 20 physicians participated in interviews with the aim of expounding upon and contextualizing the findings from Part 1. Results Results from Part 1 suggested that although meaningfulness derived from teaching was associated with reduced burnout, this association was only true for those who indicated that clinical teaching was among the most meaningful parts of being a physician. In addition, physicians were less likely to spend time working on their most meaningful job activity when it was teaching. Part 2 illustrated why teaching in the clinical environment can be so meaningful and protective against burnout. Conclusions Many physicians are unable to teach due to the increasing demands of medical institutions, which may contribute to the increasing levels of burnout in healthcare providers.

Fostering Work Meaningfulness for Sustainable Human Resources: A Study of Generation Z

This study is drawn from the psychology of sustainability exploring meaningful job characteristics for Generation Z and their influence on employee retention. We hypothesised that intrinsic qualities of job characteristics foster experienced meaningfulness which, in turn, enhances employees’ intention to stay. An online survey targeted to Generation Z was adopted for the study. We received 746 usable responses for the analysis. Nested model comparisons with a structural equation approach and chi-square difference tests were used to assess the mediating role of work meaningfulness in the hypothesised relationships. The best-fit model to data was then used for hypotheses testing. We found that skill variety, autonomy and task significance engender experienced meaningfulness for Generation Z. Work meaningfulness was the mechanism underpinning the relationships between these job characteristics and intention to stay. Task feedback was not significant for either meaningfulness or intention to stay, whereas task identity affected only intention to stay but not meaningfulness. This research contributes to the literature on work meaningfulness and generations by examining the work behaviours of Generation Z. Because experienced meaningfulness can enhance Generation Z’s willingness to stay and support organisational sustainability, an organisation can retain its generational cohort by providing selective work design strategies to fit the generation’s characteristics.

Perception of Meaningful Work and Job Satisfaction of Accounting Faculty Members

Meaningful work is the values formed by the person's expectations about their workplace. Job satisfaction is the positive feelings one has for one's job. This study aims to measure whether accounting academicians find their jobs meaningful and their satisfaction levels in their careers. The sample size is 164 people who are accounting academics in Turkey. The study measured the relationship between the meaningful job and job satisfaction, and the subdimension of the meaningful job was examined. Significant relationships were found between some sub-dimensions of meaningful work and job satisfaction.