Agency at Work, Learning and Professional Development: An Introduction

Göller, Michael; Paloniemi, Susanna

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-60943-0_1

Cited by 24 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Current literature also suggests that agency can be understood as an individual capacity, skill, or competence (Goller and Paloniemi, 2017). In this case, agency is notably conceptualized as an individual characteristic encompassing the dispositions and competences that enable individuals to make choices and initiate actions in such a way as to exercise control in their professional lives and work environments (Goller, 2017;Goller and Harteis, 2017).…”

Section: Agency At Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Emotional Agency at Work: The Development and Validation of a Measure

et al. 2022

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Despite intensive research on agency in education and work environments, the topic remains underexplored through the lens of emotions. This study conducted the development and validation of a quantitative measure to explore emotional agency in working life. Empirical data (N = 240) were collected via a web-based survey within the professional domains of healthcare and real estate services. The participants’ age, educational level, and gender corresponded to the domain-specific and general employee distribution in Finland. The questionnaire items were based on a theoretical construct of emotional agency at work. Exploratory factor analysis indicated that emotional agency includes two dimensions: Emotional Competence at Work and Influencing Emotions at Work. Exploratory structural equation modeling showed these dimensions to be equivalent across the studied professional domains. Furthermore, the convergent and discriminant validity of the measure was confirmed in relation to the emotional climate at work and work engagement. The study enriches the current theory of agency and emotions at work by exploring their connection. It also proposes a novel measure of emotional agency at work (the E-Ag measure), offered as a useful tool for researching and developing working life and organizational behavior.

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Section: Agency At Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Emotional Agency at Work: The Development and Validation of a Measure

et al. 2022

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“…Yeoman (2014) defines meaningful work from the human needs perspective, which emphasises the role of freedom, autonomy and dignity. The concept of meaningful work is also closely related to the concept of agency, which includes individuals' intentionality, sense of capability and power to act purposefully and to play contributing roles as workers and citizens (Goller and Paloniemi, 2017).…”

Section: Good Organisations and Meaningful Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Feeling Good and Being Inspired on Campus

Riivari¹,

Malin²,

Jääskelä³

et al. 2019

Business Ethics and Care in Organizations

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Theories related to good and caring organisations have gained interest amongst researchers. In particular, the concept of meaningful work has been under discussion recently in academia.This study contributes to knowledge of the concept of meaningful work by examining it from the perspective of good and caring organisations in the higher education context. Our focus in this chapter is on the positive opportunities individual lecturers have to make their own work meaningful and to promote their students' experiences of meaningfulness. The empirical findings are based on the analysis of qualitative data collected from a management course with special attention to relational features, such as dialogue, collaboration and communication, that have been found to be crucial to meaningful work and good organisations.

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“…The issue of agency has grown in importance in light of recent expectations for continuous learning and innovativeness at work. Agency has been used as a tool to analyze change in professional and organizational practices and challenges (Eteläpelto et al, 2013; Goller & Paloniemi, 2017). Since work today is an activity between people who need each other in order to confront what is not yet provided for by the prescriptive work organization, there is increasing interest in agency as well as its drivers and restrictions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Agency is usually associated with individuals who make decisions, take initiatives, and act proactively, (Eteläpelto et al, 2013; Goller & Paloniemi, 2017). It indicates the capacity of individuals to act as active participants to have control over their work and lives.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Digital Stories Representing Agency Enhancement at Work

Hakanurmi

Palonen

Murtonen

2021

Adult Education Quarterly

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This case study about agency enhancement at work in a business organization is based on narrative inquiry. After a staff development project lasting 2½ years, the employees produced digital stories concerning their meaningful moments at work. Through social interactional narrative analysis, multimodal transcription, and text analysis, we examined how agency was enhanced according the narratives. Agency enhancement involved the incoherency between present cognitive models, attitudes, and practices of work compared with inner or outer expectations. Employees used lifelong experiences in their digital stories, which provided a rich source of data, including the visuals and transcripts, offering a unique vantage point for narrative analysis. These digital stories revealed the sociocultural, transformative, and situational modalities of agency enhancement as well as the relationship between epistemic selves and sociocultural bindings in the reforming of agency.

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Agency at Work, Learning and Professional Development: An Introduction

Cited by 24 publications

References 21 publications

Emotional Agency at Work: The Development and Validation of a Measure

Emotional Agency at Work: The Development and Validation of a Measure

Feeling Good and Being Inspired on Campus

Digital Stories Representing Agency Enhancement at Work

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