Perceptions Of Meaningful Work Research Articles

The perception of meaningful work by employed and self-employed workers in the sphere of education

The collection of studies on meaningful work is still quite fragmented and lacks resumptive theoretical models that can be applied to various employment statuses. This article examines the meaningful work phenomenon for both employed and self-employed workers using qualitative data. Drawing on 16 in-depth semi-structured interviews with school teachers and self-employed private tutors in Russia, the analysis demonstrates the nature of meaningful work constructed by employment status. Different institutional frameworks form institutional legitimacy, professional community, the final product of work and the prestige of occupation. The article’s primary theoretical contribution is the development of a theoretical model that describes the multifaceted and impermanent nature of meaningful work. The practical implications include the revelation of prominent differences among workers having different employment statuses, which is a solid foundation for future attempts in conducting quantitative research.

Knowledge sharing as a cornerstone for sustainability: the dual mediating roles of job engagement and meaningful work

Purpose This study, grounded in social exchange theory, aims to explore the relationship between knowledge sharing and organizational sustainability, with a particular focus on the dual mediating roles of job-related psychological factors, specifically job engagement and meaningful work. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from 373 employees across six large companies in South Korea. The study then used Model 6 of Hayes’ PROCESS hierarchical regression of SPSS 29 for hypothesis testing. Findings The study reveals a strong connection between knowledge sharing and its positive influence on employee job engagement and the perception of meaningful work, both of which play essential mediating roles in promoting organizational sustainability. The findings emphasize the critical importance of knowledge sharing in driving sustainability efforts, showing how the interplay between job engagement and meaningful work significantly enhances these outcomes. Originality/value This research contributes to social exchange theory by demonstrating the dual mediating roles of job engagement and meaningful work between knowledge sharing and sustainability.

Enhancing Meaningful Work The Roles Of Spiritual Leadership^J Intrinsic Motivation^J And Employees' Gender

In today's workplace, employees grapple with finding meaningful work amidst the complexities of a dynamic business landscape shaped by rapid technological advances, uncertainties, intensified customer demands, and the impacts of events like the COVID-19 pandemic. These challenges induce emotional and physical strains, leading to a sense of anomie, resulting in reduced productivity, performance, job satisfaction, and heightened turnover intentions. Holistic leadership is crucial to addressing these issues, focusing on enhancing intrinsic motivation and cultivating a deeper sense of meaningful work. Based on self-determination theory and spiritual leadership framework, this study suggests positive correlations between spiritual leadership and employees' perception of meaningful work, with intrinsic motivation partially mediating the relationship and gender moderating it. Findings from 448 employees in Kenyan commercial banks reveal intrinsic motivation partially mediates, and gender moderates, the relationship between spiritual leadership and employees' perception of meaningful work. The study's implications and recommendations for future research are provided.

Nudge theory on intrapreneurship: a conceptual view

Purpose This study aims to discuss appropriate individual, organizational and macroleveled conditions when it is desired to foster intrapreneurship with nudge techniques. Design/methodology/approach Conceptual paper. Findings This paper aims to provide theoretical framework on the relationship between nudges approach and intrapreneurship and offer measurable propositions at different level of analysis for future research. Originality/value At the individual level it is theorized that nudges techniques on intrapreneurship will work when: “agents are aware of being nudged”, “choice architect is a well-recognized leader”, “perception of meaningful work is high” and “agents had former experience about being nudged”. At the organizational level it is claimed that the “number”, “type” and “frequency” of nudges plays the prominent role. Lastly, at the macrolevel it is postulated that “cultural adjustments”, “providing education” and “forming networks” sets the ground for pushing masses to intrapreneurial activities via nudges.

Counseling trainees’ academic burnout, meaningful work, and career choice satisfaction: A resilience framework

AbstractThis study focused on examining counseling trainees’ perceptions of meaningful work as a resilience factor against decreased career choice satisfaction, which is related to burnout experience. As a result of latent moderated structural equation modeling, academic burnout and meaningful work were significantly related to career choice satisfaction. Furthermore, meaningful work significantly buffered the negative relationship between academic burnout and career choice satisfaction. Our findings suggest that meaningful work plays both compensatory and protective roles against the negative effect of academic burnout on career choice satisfaction. We provided implications for counselor training and preparation.

ERRATUM TO: Exploring the Association between Calling and Work Engagement: The Mediating Role of Psychological Needs Satisfaction and Perception of Meaningful Work

ERRATUM TO: Exploring the Association between Calling and Work Engagement: The Mediating Role of Psychological Needs Satisfaction and Perception of Meaningful Work

Linking paternalistic leadership to employee creativity: a meaning-based perspective

PurposeIntegrating the pathway model of meaningful work and the intrinsic motivation principle of creativity, the authors investigate why, when and how paternalistic leadership relates to employee creativity in the Chinese organizational context. The authors suggest that the meaning of work (MOW) mediates the relationship between paternalistic leadership and employee creativity. The authors further identify perspective taking as a moderator in the mediated relationship for the path from MOW to creativity.Design/methodology/approachThe authors relied on a sample of 340 employee-supervisor dyads collected from multiple organizations located in Eastern China to test the study hypotheses.FindingsResults indicated that MOW mediated the positive relationships between the benevolence and morality dimensions of paternalistic leadership and employee creativity, and the negative relationship between the authoritarianism dimension of paternalistic leadership and employee creativity. Further, the indirect relationships between the three dimensions of paternalistic leadership (i.e. authoritarianism, benevolence and morality) and employee creativity through MOW were more pronounced when perspective taking was higher rather than lower.Originality/valueThrough a meaning-based perspective, the authors demonstrate that a culture-specific managerial philosophy (i.e. paternalistic leadership) shapes Chinese employees' perceptions of meaningful work and their subsequent creative performance. This paper complements the dominant focus on Western leadership in the creativity literature and denotes that paternalistic leadership matters for employee creativity in Chinese organizations.

Exploring the Association between Calling and Work Engagement: The Mediating Role of Psychological Needs Satisfaction and Perception of Meaningful Work

Exploring the Association between Calling and Work Engagement: The Mediating Role of Psychological Needs Satisfaction and Perception of Meaningful Work

The Impact of a Job Crafting Intervention on Wellbeing in Health Care Leaders.

Job Crafting is a strategy undertaken by highly motivated individuals to modify their own work. Educating individuals about the benefits of this approach has recently been explored in other professions as a wellbeing intervention. We aimed to demonstrate that a Job Crafting intervention for health care leaders would result in improved wellbeing, lower burnout, and enhanced job resources. Fourteen health care leaders across 6 departments at one academic medical center participated in a two-part workshop on Job Crafting between January 1, 2019 and December 31, 2020. Participants completed electronic surveys before and 4-6weeks after the sessions. Pre- and post-intervention scores were compared using Wilcoxon signed rank sum tests. Eighty-six percent of participants stated the sessions were useful and applicable to their jobs, with 93% stating they were a valuable use of time and would recommend sessions to others. Participant Job Crafting behaviors increased following the intervention, with 46% increasing structural and social resources (P = .03) and 85% decreasing Hindrance Demands (P = .02). Increased meaning in work was identified by 38% post-intervention (P = .04). No statistically significant differences were identified in Distress Scores at high risk for burnout pre- and post-intervention (86% for both), but 30% of participants had an absolute improvement (decrease) in their Distress Score. A Job Crafting intervention was associated with high rates of satisfaction among participants and was successful in increasing Job Crafting behaviors and perceptions of meaningful work, but did not result in a change in risk for burnout in the short follow-up period.

Navigating Incongruent Perspectives of Meaningful Work: Moral Outrage and Inhabited Institutions

While others play a fundamental role in constituting and legitimating meaningful work, how individuals negotiate incongruence between self and others’ perceptions remains unexplored. Drawing from a case study of promotion reform within a STEM-focused higher education institution, we utilize an abductive analytical approach to develop a model of how individuals move beyond individually-experienced incongruence between self and others’ perceptions of meaningful work to collectively transform what constitutes meaningful work within their organization. We identify three meso-processes—1) articulating incongruence; 2) voicing moral outrage and 3) integrating organizational distinctiveness and external legitimacy—and show how they build upon each other over time to enable actors to transform the institutional arrangements that maintained and reified incongruence. Our contributions are threefold. We develop a model of how actors navigate incongruent perceptions of meaningful work among a multiplex of relevant others, and the meso-processes undergirding this process. Second, we contribute to research at the interface of meaningful work and business ethics by showing how moral outrage helps forge collective action and greater congruence around what constitutes meaningful work. Third, we introduce an inhabited institutions perspective to scholarship on meaningful work. In so doing, we show how individuals are both bounded by and exert agency over existing institutional arrangements, and help springboard future research on meaningful work embedded within both organizational and institutional contexts.

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.

Experience of meaningful work for self-employed individuals

Orientation: This article is about the experience of meaningful work for self-employed individuals. Research purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore how meaningful work is experienced by self-employed individuals. Motivation for the study: Research tends to focus on meaningful work from either the formally employed individual or the organisational perspective, and very little research has included the perspective of self-employed individuals. The number of employed individuals considering self-employment, however, has increased since the outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which triggered a global recession that has resulted in a substantial number of job losses and questionable job security in various employment sectors. Research design/approach and method: This was an interactive qualitative study to explore the experience of meaningful work for self-employed individuals. A social constructionist paradigm was adopted to study participants’ attitudes towards their work, their values and feelings, what drives them and their perceptions of meaningful work. Data was collected and analysed from a purposive sample of five self-employed individuals. Main findings: This study revealed that purpose is the primary driver in self-employed individuals’ experience of meaningful work. Purpose facilitates feeling stimulated and creative expression. Cooperation encourages participation in meaningful work. Fulfilment is the primary outcome of self-employed individuals’ experience of meaningful work. Practical/managerial implications: Self-employed individuals can create opportunities for meaningful work. This study provides an understanding of the experience of self-employed individuals when they perform work they consider meaningful and the implications thereof. Contribution/value-add: This study complemented existing literature on meaningful work and literature on self-employment, and may facilitate the experience of meaningfulness by the growing number of self-employed individuals.

Definitions of Meaningful Work for Generation X and Millennial Cuspers

<i>Objective</i>: In today’s multigenerational workforce, organizational leaders continuously seek methods to retain valued employees. Employees who perceive their work-related values are in alignment with their employer is central to intentions to quit. In this study, generational differences in definitions of meaningful work among the Gen X and Millennials cusp cohorts and between genders were investigated. <i>Method</i>: A quantitative nonexperimental survey approach was applied using self-reported measures of the Comprehensive Meaningful Work Scale (CMWS). Two hundred eleven US-based employees in various professional, semi-professional, and non-professional occupations provided their perceptions of meaningful work. An ANOVA was used as the method of analysis. <i>Results</i>: The results indicated no significant differences in definitions of meaningful work between individuals of Gen X and Millennials on the cusp of their generation. Furthermore, there were no significant differences in definitions of meaningful work between gender of Gen X and Millennial cusp cohorts. The results revealed similarities in definitions of meaningful work among Gen X and Millennial Cuspers and between genders. <i>Conclusions</i>: Employees of all generations pursue meaningful work. Recommendations include the use of qualitative methodological approaches, longitudinal studies, and multiple data points to explore intergenerational differences to analyze how generations effect change in the workplace.

Pediatric Residents' Sense of Meaning in Their Work: Is This Value Related to Higher Specialty Satisfaction and Reduced Burnout?

Physician wellness is frequently measured as the absence of burnout, rather than the perception of meaningful work. This study of pediatric residents aimed to test the hypothesis that their sense of meaning at work is associated positively with specialty satisfaction and negatively with burnout. In June 2018, we surveyed residents at a large urban pediatrics program, using the Work and Meaning Inventory (WAMI), the Global Specialty Satisfaction measure, and a single-item burnout measure. Residents were surveyed at the end of their intern, second or third/fourth year. We compared resident responses to outcome measures by year, gender, race, and type of program (pediatrics and medicine-pediatrics). We assessed the associations between WAMI scores and specialty satisfaction using linear regression and between WAMI scores and burnout using logistic regression, both adjusted for residency year and characteristics. The survey was completed by 119/154 (77.3%) residents. Mean WAMI score was 40.6 ± 5.6 (standard deviation), mean specialty satisfaction score was 11.9 ± 2.4, and 48.7% (58/119) of residents reported burnout with no significant differences in scores by residency year, gender, race, or type of program (all P > .05). Residents' WAMI scores were positively associated with specialty satisfaction (r=+0.57, P < .001) and negatively associated with burnout (adjusted odds ratio =0.80, 95% confidence interval 0.73-0.89). Pediatric residents' sense of meaning at work was significantly positively associated with specialty satisfaction and negatively associated with burnout. We recommend that efforts to improve resident wellness focus on interventions to foster meaning in work, such as supporting team cohesion and autonomy in job design.

Linking Ability-Job Fit and Work Engagement in the Public Sector

While work engagement has been extensively investigated in private sector research, culminating in an extensive body of knowledge and a thriving engagement “industry”, much less research has been undertaken in public sector contexts. Yet, a focus on engagement may be particularly important given the extent and nature of public sector reforms internationally. This paper draws on the job demands- resources (JDR) model to provide a more nuanced understanding of the processes underpinning work engagement in the public sector. We test a model which examines whether the fit between perceptions of ability and demands is associated with engagement and whether this relationship is mediated by perceptions of meaningful work. We also consider whether prosocial motivation moderates the relationship between ability-job fit and meaningful work. We test our model by drawing on data from two large-scale employee surveys (study 1: N = 10,401 and study 2: N = 18,926) undertaken within the civil service in Ireland. Our findings support the relationships we hypothesize. Our paper discusses our study’s contribution to knowledge and its implications for practice.

Thriving on demand: Challenging work results in employee flourishing through appraisals and resources.

Resources theories of occupational stress (e.g., conservation of resources theory) argue that job demands deplete employees’ resources, and the challenge–hindrance model of occupational stress proposes that some demands tend to be appraised by employees more as challenges and others more as hindrances. Focusing on challenge demands, we propose and test a model in which work demands influence two resources (employees’ sense of self-worth and work meaningfulness) via appraisal processes, and the resources subsequently contribute to employees’ flourishing in their lives. Data were collected from U.S. employees at two separate points with a 1-month interval. Challenge appraisals of demands had positive effects on the two motivational resources, organization-based self-esteem and perceptions of meaningful work, and hindrance appraisals had negative effects on them. The findings suggest adapting conservation of resources theory to add appraisals as mediators between demands and resources. Overall, the present study shows a spillover effect and extends well-being research by providing evidence that resources created by positive organizational experiences contributed to promoting general positive well-being in employees’ lives in the form of flourishing.

Ethical leadership and knowledge hiding: an intervening and interactional analysis

ABSTRACT The work at hand examined the mediating role of meaningful work in the negative association between ethical leadership and service employees’ knowledge-hiding behavior. The role of harmonious work passion as a contingent factor of the direct association between ethical leadership and service employees’ knowledge-hiding behavior was also tested. Based on time-lagged (three waves, two months apart) survey data collected from 471 employees working in 52 service sector firms spanning different industries, the results showed a negative association between ethical leadership and service employees’ engagement in knowledge-hiding behaviors, both directly and indirectly, via meaningful work. It was also found that the direct association between ethical leadership and knowledge hiding was contingent on harmonious work passion. The findings suggest that managers can deter service employees’ engagement in knowledge-hiding behaviors and achieve a sustainable competitive advantage by demonstrating ethical behaviors and bolstering employees’ perceptions of meaningful work.

High depressive symptom prevalence in dental students associated with lifestyle and well-being characteristics.

Studies show health professional students have a high prevalence of depression. Dental students are especially susceptible due to the burden of the highest debt, exposure to bloodborne pathogens and chronic pain frequency. However, few studies on depression among U.S. dental students exist. This study aims to determine: (1) the difference in depression prevalence between U.S. dental students, the general population, and medical students; and (2) demographic and lifestyle characteristics associated with depressive symptoms in dental students. Researchers surveyed dental students in California in 2018 using a 36- item questionnaire. The Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), a validated diagnostic screening tool, measured depressive symptoms suggesting clinically significant moderate to severe depression. Additionally, participants answered demographic and lifestyle characteristics questions. Data analysis included bivariable chi-square tests and multivariable logistic regression. The response rate was 19.1%. The crude depressive symptom prevalence (27.7%) was similar to that of depression in medical students (27.2%) and higher than the U.S. population (7.7%). Bivariable analysis indicated several characteristics significantly associated (P ≤ 0.05) with moderate to severe depressive symptoms in dental students, including experience of injury/pain, financial insecurity, self-reported minority status, perception of meaningful work, and year in school. Multivariable logistic regression modeling estimated 5 well-being categories as significantly associated with higher odds of not having major depressive symptoms. Prevalence of depressive symptoms among California dental students is similar to depression in medical students and higher than the general population. Results suggest a significant proportion of dental students experience moderate to severe depression and require accessible resources.

Does Meaningful Work Explains the Relationship Between Transformational Leadership and Innovative Work Behaviour?

Executive Summary Transformational leaders motivate their followers to relook their job by elevating the status of the job from being boring, repetitive and menial into something more meaningful and significant. This ascendance of employee’s job as something important and its contribution to overall organizational vision is what prompts them to engage in innovative work behaviour. Therefore, it would be interesting to test the indirect effect of transformational leadership on followers’ innovative work behaviour as mediated through followers’ perception of meaningful work. The current study is set to serve two purposes. First, to clear the confusion regarding the findings related to transformational leadership’s influence on employee’s innovative work behaviour. Second, to investigate the mediating role of meaningful work in explaining the relationship between transformational leadership and innovative work behaviour. Data was collected from two samples, Sample I (349 executives) and Sample II (539 executives), working in two different manufacturing organizations in Eastern India. The results of both the samples confirm that transformational leadership significantly influences employee’s innovative work behaviour. Also, the study (both Samples I and II) finds meaningful work to partially mediate the relationship between transformational leadership and employees’ innovation. In order to lend further credibility to our mediation finding, we carried out Sobel test and bootstrapping technique to strengthen our assertion. This study replicates previous empirical investigations by exploring the relationship between transformational leadership and employee’s innovative behaviour at work in Indian manufacturing context. The study also strives to enrich the extant literature by testing the mediating role of meaningful work in explaining the relationship between transformational leadership and employee innovation.

Understanding Generational Differences: Perception of Meaningful Work and its Effect on Well-being

In the last decade the topic of generational difference at work has been widely discussed by both scholars and practitioners as Millennials began to play a larger role in the global workforce. This paper aims to provide a better understanding of generational differences in the perception of meaningful work and its relationship with well-being. Specifically, this study seeks to identify how the perception of meaningful work differs for Millennials compared to past generations. Drawing from prior literature by classic motivation theorists and humanistic psychologists we present a theoretical framework for meaningful work its relationship with indicators of well-being. We analyzed work orientation data from International Social Survey Program collected between 1989 to 2015, using a time-lag study approach where we compared respondents of the same age cohort from different generations. Our analysis revealed that although generational differences do exist, the differences may not have a large practical significance. Furthermore, we also found that specific job characteristics are significant predictors of certain indicators of well-being. Finally, we also established ‘Interesting job’ as the key job characteristic that is crucial for not only helping an incumbent to realize the meaning in their work but also necessary for their well-being at work.