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

Florian, Mona; Costas, Jana; Kärreman, Dan

doi:10.1111/joms.12410

Cited by 56 publications

(84 citation statements)

References 106 publications

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“…Drawing on self-determination theory, our findings highlight the relevance of the societal legitimation of alternative career options (including less commonly chosen careers such as self-employment) to enable everyone to make truly volitional choices about their career. This complements existing explanations of how context affects meaningfulness at work, which emphasize congruence with societal values and norms ( Florian et al, 2019 ; Lepisto and Pratt, 2017 ) rather than enhancing the diversity of choice sets.…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 64%

“…Moreover, we offer new insights on how meaningful work can be shaped by societal contexts that past reviews on meaningful work have called for ( Bailey et al, 2019 , p. 22). While there is first research that suggests that the changing legitimacy of social issues can impact the meaningfulness of volunteers' work ( Florian et al, 2019 ), we offer a complementary lens. This lens emphasizes how social legitimacy of more ‘niche’ career options, which are typically only picked up by a minority of individuals in the workforce, enables volitional choice even for those who do not embrace this career and thereby enhances their meaningfulness of work.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Second, work on the MW justification perspective suggests a different mechanism that predicts the opposite. It suggests that the experience of MW occurs in alignment with prevailing social norms and values based on “an increased experience of social validation and support” ( Lepisto and Pratt, 2017 , p. 115; also Florian et al, 2019 ). Applied to our context, high NSLE should reinforce the experience of MW for the self-employed, because the evaluation of the worthiness of one's work is argued to be shaped by the social, cultural and institutional context ( Lepisto and Pratt, 2017 ) and high NSLE would offer social validation and legitimation of their career choice.…”

Section: Theoretical Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Self-employment and eudaimonic well-being: Energized by meaning, enabled by societal legitimacy

Stephan

Tavares

Carvalho

et al. 2020

Journal of Business Venturing

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This study investigates why and where self-employment is related to higher levels of eudaimonic well-being. We focus on meaningfulness as an important eudaimonic process and subjective vitality as a eudaimonic well-being outcome that is central to entrepreneurs' proactivity. Building on self-determination theory, we posit that self-employment, relative to wage-employment, is a more self-determined and volitional career choice, which enhances the experience of meaningfulness at work and perceptions of work autonomy. In a multi-level study of 22,002 individuals and 16 European countries, meaningfulness at work mediates the relationship between self-employment and subjective vitality and explains this relationship better than work autonomy. We identify moderating effects of context: the societal legitimacy of entrepreneurship in a country affects the choice set of alternative career options that individuals can consider and thus shapes the experience of meaningfulness at work and work autonomy, and thereby indirectly subjective vitality. These findings expand our understanding of eudaimonic well-being, entrepreneurs' work, and the role of context in entrepreneurship and well-being research. They complement existing research on hedonic well-being of entrepreneurs and extend the scarce literature on their eudaimonic well-being.

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 64%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Theoretical Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Self-employment and eudaimonic well-being: Energized by meaning, enabled by societal legitimacy

Stephan

Tavares

Carvalho

et al. 2020

Journal of Business Venturing

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“…CSR is seen as helping workers gain a greater sense of engagement with their work by infusing a greater sense of purpose in their activities (Aguinis and Glavas, 2019). On the other hand, some more critical sociological research regards meaningfulness as a potentially ‘overflowing’ if not ‘overloaded’ organizational element that could create dysfunctional effects (Florian et al, 2019). Integrating both perspectives could help explain why and how CSR professionals and other employees sometimes experience CSR-related forms of meaningfulness, and how these relate to organizational outcomes.…”

Section: Addressing Common Blind Spots and Leveraging Complementaritimentioning

confidence: 99%

Critical Essay: The reconciliation of fraternal twins: Integrating the psychological and sociological approaches to ‘micro’ corporate social responsibility

2019

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Aguinis and Glavas’ call for a deeper understanding of the microfoundations of corporate social responsibility has spurred a growing number of empirical micro-CSR (corporate social responsibility) studies. Micro-CSR scholars share the common goal of developing a clear picture of the microfoundations of CSR—a holistic theoretical and empirical understanding of how individual actions and interactions drive CSR-related activity—but pursue this objective from a variety of angles. Our research suggests that although many scholars work under the same ‘micro-CSR’ banner, they approach their goal from a wide range of disciplines, use different methodologies, and study different phenomena. In this critical essay, we show that most micro-CSR research can be classified in one of two distinct sub-fields: ‘psychological micro-CSR’ and ‘sociological micro-CSR.’ We compare the differences between these orientations (including their distinct empirical approaches, and contributions of both fields of micro-CSR) and explore possible opportunities for cross-fertilization between the psychological and sociological approaches. Finally, we suggest ways in which micro-CSR scholars could exploit the complementarities and eliminate the blind spots common to the two dominant micro-CSR approaches.

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“… 27 One study demonstrated the importance of exploring motivation through an anthropological lens, showing how changing socio-political contexts influenced volunteer engagement during Germany’s immigration crisis. 28 Volunteers initially borrowed from broader public discourses to attribute meaning to their efforts with refugees, but as the socio-political relations with refugees changed, they altered the ‘meaningfulness’ of their work by drawing on new social discourses about migrants. We appreciatively draw from this approach.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating the motivation of Red Cross Health volunteers in the COVID-19 pandemic: a mixed-methods study protocol

Heyerdahl

Vray

Leger³

et al. 2021

BMJ Open

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IntroductionVoluntary organisations provide essential support to vulnerable populations and front-line health responders to the COVID-19 pandemic. The French Red Cross (FRC) is prominent among organisations offering health and support services in the current crisis. Comprised primarily of lay volunteers and some trained health workers, FRC volunteers in the Paris (France) region have faced challenges in adapting to pandemic conditions, working with sick and vulnerable populations, managing limited resources and coping with high demand for their services. Existing studies of volunteers focus on individual, social and organisational determinants of motivation, but attend less to contextual ones. Public health incertitude about the COVID-19 pandemic is an important feature of this pandemic. Whether and how uncertainty interacts with volunteer understandings and experiences of their work and organisational relations to contribute to Red Cross worker motivation is the focus of this investigation.Methods and analysisThis mixed-methods study will investigate volunteer motivation using ethnographic methods and social network listening. Semi-structured interviews and observations will illuminate FRC volunteer work relations, experiences and concerns during the pandemic. A questionnaire targeting a sample of Paris region volunteers will allow quantification of motivation. These findings will iteratively shape and be influenced by a social media (Twitter) analysis of biomedical and public health uncertainties and debates around COVID-19. These tweets provide insight into a French lay public’s interpretations of these debates. We evaluate whether and how socio-political conditions and discourses concerning COVID-19 interact with volunteer experiences, working conditions and organisational relations to influence volunteer motivation. Data collection began on 15 June 2020 and will continue until 15 April 2021.Ethics and disseminationThe protocol has received ethical approval from the Institut Pasteur Institutional Review Board (no 2020-03). We will disseminate findings through peer-reviewed articles, conference presentations and recommendations to the FRC.

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

Cited by 56 publications

References 106 publications

Self-employment and eudaimonic well-being: Energized by meaning, enabled by societal legitimacy

Self-employment and eudaimonic well-being: Energized by meaning, enabled by societal legitimacy

Critical Essay: The reconciliation of fraternal twins: Integrating the psychological and sociological approaches to ‘micro’ corporate social responsibility

Evaluating the motivation of Red Cross Health volunteers in the COVID-19 pandemic: a mixed-methods study protocol

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