Creating Meaning and Purpose at Work

Steger, Michael F.

doi:10.1002/9781118977620.ch5

Cited by 44 publications

(46 citation statements)

References 62 publications

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“…Salas-Vallina and Alegre argued that engagement stems from the feeling of meaningful work. It is also in accordance with Steger's [29] findings or with Walczak and Derbis [37], who argued that seeing work as meaningful is a way to happiness.…”

Section: Methodssupporting

confidence: 87%

“…Steger [29] pointed out that happiness at work is tied to the sense of meaningful work and that workers who see meaning in their work are more committed, engaged, and productive. Salas-Vallina and Alegre [30] argued that happiness at work can be simply defined on the basis of three dimensions: engagement, job satisfaction, and affective organizational commitment.…”

Section: Happiness At Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Does Academic Publishing Lead to Work-Related Stress or Happiness?

Kubátová

2019

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The topic of work-related stress and happiness has recently been of interest to science as well as in practice. Work-related stress has negative effects on workers, organizations, and the whole of society, whereas happiness has positive effects. It is therefore important to monitor the wellbeing of workers. This article deals with stress and happiness as related to academic publishing. To answer the research question of whether academic publishing leads to stress or happiness, a narrative analysis was conducted. Narratives from ten Czech academics were collected and analyzed with the use of a categorical-content approach. The categories used are the general causes of work-related stress and happiness as identified in the literature: work overload, ambiguity, conflict, the sense of meaningful work, job satisfaction, and affective organizational commitment. It was found that academic publishing leads to both work-related stress and happiness. However, stress is more prevalent. Not only do academics experience all the general causes of work-related stress, unfortunately they often lack the sources of happiness. Many specific causes of stress and happiness, as well as unhappiness, were discovered in the narratives. Several ways to improve the situation have been suggested. Refining policies in human resources is particularly important if universities wish to retain their academics.

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Section: Methodssupporting

confidence: 87%

Section: Happiness At Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does Academic Publishing Lead to Work-Related Stress or Happiness?

Kubátová

2019

Publications

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“…Most types of work are thought to suffer from a scarcity of meaningfulness, with negative consequences for motivation, commitment, and wellbeing (Michaelson et al, ; Pratt and Ashforth, ), engagement (Kahn, ; May et al, ), and job performance (Rodell, ). Extant research has thus been mainly interested in how and when individuals experience meaningfulness (Chalofsky, ; Lips‐Wiersma and Morris, ; Rosso et al, ) and how organisations can help to create this experience (Michaelson et al, ; Steger, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Struggling with Meaningfulness when Context Shifts: Volunteer Work in a German Refugee Shelter

Florian

Costas

Kärreman

2018

J Management Studies

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This article draws on an ethnographic study of volunteer work in a German refugee shelter to explore how individual experiences of meaningfulness are intertwined with shifting discursive and organisational contexts. At the beginning of the so‐called refugee crisis, societal discourses portrayed this volunteer work as extraordinarily meaningful – a state we capture through the metaphor of ‘overflow’. This ‘overflow’ mobilised volunteers and was an important point of reference for framing their work experiences as meaningful. Later, shifting discursive and organisational contexts challenged their framings. Instead of letting go, however, the ‘overflow’ triggered volunteers to reframe their experience in dysfunctional ways in order to sustain their sense of meaningfulness. This paper reveals how shifting societal discourses feed into individual experiences of meaningfulness, shows how individuals may respond to such shifts in problematic ways and theorises the nature of such shifts in drawing on Swidler’s notion of settling contexts.

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“…Finally, one of the aspects of a person's approach to their job, which is most consistently found to be associated with job satisfaction, and is protective against burnout, is the ability to find meaning in their work role . One way to reconnect with your sense of purpose in relation to your work could be to try writing your own mission statement.…”

Section: Finding the Meaning In Your Workmentioning

confidence: 99%