“…Volunteers reported how ‘the smiles on the faces’ (Lina) made them experience their work as meaningful. In displaying gratitude, refugees confirmed volunteers’ sense of being carers for and helpers of those in need (see also Fehr et al, ; Grant, ):It was really just, well, a friendly and easy contact in which their flight and all their horrible experiences were not in focus, but rather their joy and gratefulness for being able to arrive somewhere. And I really got a lot out of this.…”
Section: Findings: Contextual Shifts Of Meaningfulness In the Welcomementioning
confidence: 76%
“…For some, this shift led to a loss of meaningfulness (see also Barrett and Dailey, ; Cohen et al, ), which helps explain why volunteer numbers dropped so drastically. For some, it led to a compensation across different domains, e.g., when making up for lacking refugee gratitude by introducing rituals of thanking each other (see also Fehr et al, ). Others tried to find alternate ways of conceptualising their experiences to fit with their ideals of meaningfulness.…”
Section: Discussionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Some volunteers compensated for the absent refugee gratitude by introducing rituals of thanking each other (see also Fehr et al, ). After an exhausting shift in the kitchen, for instance, the shift supervisor asks the volunteers to gather and says ‘I really appreciate very much that you sacrificed your afternoon’.…”
Section: Findings: Contextual Shifts Of Meaningfulness In the Welcomementioning
confidence: 99%
“…This atmosphere graced activities organised by and for the volunteers: a Christmas party, a ‘helpers’ party, a ‘We say thank you’ party, and other rituals of gratitude, such as ‘thank you’ postcards from the non‐profit managing the shelter (see also Fehr et al, ). In sum, all this created a community that strengthened volunteers’ sense of purpose.…”
Section: Findings: Contextual Shifts Of Meaningfulness In the Welcomementioning
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.
“…Volunteers reported how ‘the smiles on the faces’ (Lina) made them experience their work as meaningful. In displaying gratitude, refugees confirmed volunteers’ sense of being carers for and helpers of those in need (see also Fehr et al, ; Grant, ):It was really just, well, a friendly and easy contact in which their flight and all their horrible experiences were not in focus, but rather their joy and gratefulness for being able to arrive somewhere. And I really got a lot out of this.…”
Section: Findings: Contextual Shifts Of Meaningfulness In the Welcomementioning
confidence: 76%
“…For some, this shift led to a loss of meaningfulness (see also Barrett and Dailey, ; Cohen et al, ), which helps explain why volunteer numbers dropped so drastically. For some, it led to a compensation across different domains, e.g., when making up for lacking refugee gratitude by introducing rituals of thanking each other (see also Fehr et al, ). Others tried to find alternate ways of conceptualising their experiences to fit with their ideals of meaningfulness.…”
Section: Discussionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Some volunteers compensated for the absent refugee gratitude by introducing rituals of thanking each other (see also Fehr et al, ). After an exhausting shift in the kitchen, for instance, the shift supervisor asks the volunteers to gather and says ‘I really appreciate very much that you sacrificed your afternoon’.…”
Section: Findings: Contextual Shifts Of Meaningfulness In the Welcomementioning
confidence: 99%
“…This atmosphere graced activities organised by and for the volunteers: a Christmas party, a ‘helpers’ party, a ‘We say thank you’ party, and other rituals of gratitude, such as ‘thank you’ postcards from the non‐profit managing the shelter (see also Fehr et al, ). In sum, all this created a community that strengthened volunteers’ sense of purpose.…”
Section: Findings: Contextual Shifts Of Meaningfulness In the Welcomementioning
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.
“…However, our empirical model did not examine this mediating mechanism of HR climate strength, partly due to the inherent difficulty of collecting highly valid and reliable data on HR climate emergence (Ostroff & Bowen, ). Future researchers could try to address this limitation by building on recent developments in organizational climate emergence (Fehr, Fulmer, Awtrey, & Miller, ; Fulmer & Ostroff, ).…”
Although the importance of positive, trusting, and cooperative relations between HR professionals and line managers has been well documented, little is known about how organizations can systematically nurture such relationships. This article specifies the “HR–line‐connecting HRM system,” which consists of a bundle of HRM practices designed to improve the relationship between HR and line managers. Drawing on the social capital perspective and HR strength theory, we propose that such HRM practices develop HR managers' social networks with line managers and facilitate the formation of a shared language between them, which should in turn result in low employee turnover. Our theory is generally supported by empirical analyses on data from Chinese high‐tech firms.
Objectives
Workplace gratitude is important for improving work‐related outcomes and individual well‐being. Although the gratitude at work scale (GAWS) was developed in the United States, it has not been corroborated in Asian countries with interdependent cultures. This study aimed to develop and validate the GAWS among Japanese workers.
Method
Japanese workers completed online surveys at baseline (N = 206) and 2 weeks later (N = 103). The Japanese GAWS was developed according to the international guidelines. We measured (a) trait gratitude as comparison for the criterion‐related validity, (b) work‐related outcomes/factors (eg, work engagement), and (c) well‐being (eg, eudemonic well‐being at work) as comparisons for convergent validity. Cronbach's alpha, intra‐class correlation coefficients (ICCs), and measurement errors were calculated to assess reliability; measurement validity was evaluated by correlational analyses and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA).
Results
A total of 206 and 93 workers were included for baseline and follow‐up analyses, respectively. Cronbach's alpha and ICCs of the Japanese GAWS ranged from 0.81 to 0.91. CFA showed that the 2‐factor model (ie, gratitude for (a) a supportive work environment and (b) meaningful work) demonstrated a good fit (χ
2
(34) = 67.58, CFI = 0.967, TLI = 0.956, RMSEA = 0.069, SRMR = 0.037), similar to the original version. As we had hypothesized, overall GAWS and the two domains were significantly correlated with trait gratitude, work‐related outcomes/factors, and well‐being.
Conclusions
The Japanese GAWS demonstrated good reliability and validity. Future research should explore mechanisms related to workplace gratitude and further intervention studies among workers.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
