SWEEPING THE FLOOR OR PUTTING A MAN ON THE MOON?

Transcription

1 SWEEPING THE FLOOR OR PUTTING A MAN ON THE MOON? How to define meaningful work? Jitske Both-Nwabuwe Maria Dijkstra Bianca Beersma j.m.c.both@vu.nl # Het begint met een idee Organizational Sciences

2 PUTTING A MAN ON THE MOON BY SWEEPING THE FLOOR 2 Sweeping the floor or putting a man on the moon

3 MEANINGFUL WORK FIELD IS IN ITS ADOLESCENCE Conceptual ambiguity Lack of consensus on definitions and scales Scattered research findings which makes comparability questionable 3 Sweeping the floor or putting a man on the moon

4 HOW TO GROW UP AS A FIELD Pfeffer (1993): consensus in a research field is the basis for scientific progress; without some minimal level of consensus about paradigmatic approaches and methods, knowledge development in the scientific field cannot occur. 4 Sweeping the floor or putting a man on the moon

5 STANDING ON THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS To advance the field of meaningful work we should use an integrated definition of meaningful work 5 Sweeping the floor or putting a man on the moon

6 HOW DID WE GET THERE? METHOD Literature review Meaningful work or meaningfulness in work as a multidimensional construct. 6 Sweeping the floor or putting a man on the moon

7 HOW DID WE GET THERE? METHOD Two inclusion criteria. papers that conceptualize meaningful work as a multidimensional construct. written in English. Exclusion criterion: Papers that do not provide a core understanding of the concept, but explore the role in a certain context with other related concepts. 7 Sweeping the floor or putting a man on the moon

8 WHAT DID WE FIND? RESULTS 14 definitions of meaningful work, 12 theories of meaningful work Definitions not always related to conceptual framework of meaningful work Work rarely defined Tautology in definitions 8 Sweeping the floor or putting a man on the moon

9 WHAT DID WE FIND? RESULTS Definitions could be grouped into 4 groups Positive significance and/or purpose Constituents of meaningful work Fit perspective 9 Fulfillment of dimensions of meaning/significance

10 WHAT DID WE FIND? RESULTS Positive significance or purpose Rosso et al., 2010 MW is work experienced as particularly significant and holding more positive meaning for individuals. Steger et al., 2012 add: the positive valence of MW has a eudaimonic (growth and purposeoriented) rather than hedonic (pleasureoriented) focus. Robertson, Sweeping the floor or putting a man on the moon adds: where "meaning" is the result of making sense of something within the context of one's life.

11 WHAT DID WE FIND? RESULTS Positive significance or purpose Pratt & Ashfort, 2003 Chalofsky, 2003 Lips Wiersma & Wright, 2012 Lips Wiersma & Morris, 2009 Martela, Sweeping the floor or putting a man on the moon Work and/or its context are perceived by its practitioners to be, at minimum, purposeful and significant. MW is which gives essence to what we do and what brings a sense of fulfillment to our lives. MW is an individual subjective experience of the existential significance or purpose of work. MW is work that offers the worker positive significance in life thus contributing to the fulfillment of the human need for meaningfulness

12 WHAT DID WE FIND? RESULTS Constituents of meaningful work Bowie, 1998 Allan, Autin & Duffy, 2016 (based on Steger et al. s framework, 2012) 12 Sweeping the floor or putting a man on the moon MW is work that is freely entered into, that allows the worker to exercise her autonomy and independence, that enables the worker to develop her rational capacities, that provides a wage sufficient for physical welfare, that supports the moral development of employees and that is not paternalistic in the sense of interfering with the worker's conception of how she wishes to obtain happiness. MW is the subjective experience that one's work has significance, facilitates personal growth, and contributes to the greater good.

13 WHAT DID WE FIND? RESULTS Constituents of meaningful work Lee, 2015 Lee, 2015 MW is the discovery of MW existential the discovery meaning of existential from meaning experiencing positive emotion, from experiencing finding meaning positive emotion, from the finding meaning from the work, and work, and pursuing purpose or goals in the workplace. pursuing purpose or goals in the workplace. 13 Sweeping the floor or putting a man on the moon

14 WHAT DID WE FIND? RESULTS Fit perspective Bendassolli et al., 2015 Pavlish & Hunt, 2012 MW is an effect from the coherence between the characteristics one pursues and the characteristics he/she identifies at the work he/she does. Meaningful work is the value of work goals judged in relation to an individual's own ideals and passions and specifically as work that gives essence to what we do and brings fulfillment to our lives. 14 Sweeping the floor or putting a man on the moon

15 WHAT DID WE FIND? RESULTS Fulfilment of dimensions of meaning/significance Miller, 2008 MW is the ability to earn a living doing that which satisfies an individual's psychological, spiritual, and social sense of purpose and contribution. Fairlie, 2011 Meaningful work is defined as aspects of one's job or work environment that facilitate the attainment or maintenance of one or more dimensions of meaning. 15 Sweeping the floor or putting a man on the moon

16 A NEW INTEGRATIVE DEFINITION OF MEANINGFUL WORK Category Positive significance and/ or purpose Fit perspective New integrative definition The subjective experience of existential significance (As the process of personally perceiving work as attributing to, or making sense of, one's reason of existence in the world) as the result of the fit between the individual and work Fulfillment of dimensions of meaning/significance Constituents of meaningful work 16 Sweeping the floor or putting a man on the moon (through the fulfilment of dimensions - which are inherent in every human being - through or in work) These dimensions can further be defined by constituents of meaningful work.

17 A NEW INTEGRATIVE DEFINITION OF MEANINGFUL WORK Meaningful work is the subjective experience of existential significance as the result of the fit between the individual and work. subjective experience of existential significance' = the process of personally perceiving work as attributing to, or making sense of, one's reason of existence in the world. 'result of the fit = the fulfilment of dimensions which are inherent in every human being through or in work. These dimensions can further be defined by constituents of meaningful work. work' = paid tasks and activities on an occupational basis that are lawful as regards to their nature. 17 Sweeping the floor or putting a man on the moon

18 CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS The construct of meaningful work was still sub optimally defined Achieving consensus instead of developing new definitions will greatly facilitate scientific maturation in the field of meaningful work. The subjective experience of existential significance as the result of the fit between the individual and work. 18 Sweeping the floor or putting a man on the moon

19 CONCLUSIONS AND FURTHER RESEARCH How to go further: Consensus on constituents of meaningful work Study validity of existing scales that correspond with the new integrative definition. Outside the scope of this presentation. 19 Sweeping the floor or putting a man on the moon

20 THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION! 20 Sweeping the floor or putting a man on the moon

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22 HOW DID WE GET THERE? METHOD Another literature review Identify existing MW scales that alignment with the new integrative definition and are tested on their validity 22 Sweeping the floor or putting a man on the moon

23 HOW DID WE GET THERE? METHOD Two inclusion criteria: empirical studies that used, validated or adapted instruments that measured meaningful work as a multidimensional construct studies written in English Three exclusion criteria: studies in which no definition of meaningful work was provided the method of measuring meaningful work was not described meaningful work was measured one dimensionally 23 Sweeping the floor or putting a man on the moon

24 WHAT DID WE FIND? RESULTS Many studies use instruments that measure concepts that are related to the construct of meaningful work or do not address the various dimensions of meaningful work The four included scales in this review are: Comprehensive meaningful work Scale (CMWS) The work and meaning inventory (WAMI) Meaningful work Scale (MWS) Meaning in Work Scale 24 Sweeping the floor or putting a man on the moon

25 Scales CMWS WAMI MWS Meaning in Work WHAT Developing DID WE and FIND? Meaning RESULTS making Subscale becoming self Moral correctness Expressiveness and identification at work Work as a part of life toward meaningful existence Subscale Expressing full potential Autonomy Alignment with definition Development and learning Subscale Unity with others Quality of working relationships Subscale Service to others Greater good Work Utility Meaningful purpose and goals of work Subscale Inspiration Subscale Reality Subscale Subscale Subscale Balance Positive meaning in work Meaning from work itself Experienced positive emotion in work In alignment with proposed definition? Partly, the result of fit perspective 25 Sweeping the floor or putting a man on the moon Partly, the subjective experience perspective Partly, the result of fit perspective Partly, the subjective experience

26 WHAT DID WE FIND? RESULTS Psychometric characteristics Title and author Comprehensive meaningful work Scale (CMWS) Lips Wiersma & Wright (2012) The work and meaning inventory (WAMI) Steger et al. (2012) Meaningful work Scale (MWS) Bendassolli et al. (2015) Meaning in Work Lee (2015b) Study sample Convergent Discriminant CFI value of 0.90 RMSEA value of Reliability scores 250 or larger r=0.70 or higher r=0.30 or lower or greater 0.06 or less above 0.7 X 0 X/0 X X X X 0 0 X 0 X X 0 0 X X X X 0 X 26 Sweeping the floor or putting a man on the moon

27 INTEGRATIVE SCALE OF MEANINGFUL WORK By evaluating the alignment of subscales with the proposed definition we found that none of the scales are aligned with the full definition, but do partly. This findings suggest that a scale can be developed that fully aligns with our proposed definition by integrating the scales. We found that WAMI and CMWS showed values of acceptable model fit. 27 Sweeping the floor or putting a man on the moon

28 INTEGRATIVE SCALE OF MEANINGFUL WORK We argue for the use of an integrative CMWS and WAMI in light of our proposed definition and their assessed psychometrics characteristics. 28 Sweeping the floor or putting a man on the moon