A Person-Centric View of Meaningful Work: The Effect of Personal Goal Strivings and Age on Employees Experiencing Meaning in Work.

详细信息   

• 作者：Hayman ; Esther van Til.
• 学历：Doctor
• 年：2013
• 毕业院校：Seattle Pacific University
• Department：Industrial/Organizational Psychology.
• ISBN：9781303198649
• CBH：3567757
• Country：USA
• 语种：English
• FileSize：3608810
• Pages：115

文摘

Understanding what contributes to adults experiencing meaningful work is important,given that work is a central part of most individuals existence. Furthermore,because employees can experience the same job very differently,it is vital to consider a person-centric approach in order to examine what might affect meaning in work. Within management and social-sciences literature,three streams of scholarship in relation to meaning in ones work were reviewed: a) work motivation,b) work orientation,and c) workplace spirituality. Given the lack of agreement among researchers regarding how to define meaningful work,this study makes important distinctions between meaning in work and other similar expressions,such as meaning of work,meaning at work,meaning from work and work as meaning. The personal strivings work of Emmons Emmons,1999； Emmons & Schnitker,2013),the global meaning systems of Park Park & Edmondson,2011； Slattery & Park,2011),and the meaning and work dimensions of Steger,Dik,and Duffy Hill & Dik,2012； 2012) informed some of this studys theoretical foundations. The Short Strivings Questionnaire Schnitker,Fernandez,Thomas,& Emmons,2013) was used to evaluate the effect spiritual,intrinsic,and extrinsic personal goal strivings had in relation to employees experiencing a sense of meaning in their work. The Work and Meaning Inventory Steger et al.,2012) was used to assess meaning in work and is based on a multidimensional model that suggests meaningfulness in work consists of experiencing: a) positive meaning in work,b) meaning-making through work,and c) greater good motivations. This study,using the Work and Meaning Inventory,examined the interactive and main effects of age on the relationship between the three personal strivings and experiencing meaning in work. I hypothesized that age would be a significant predictor of experiencing meaning in work. I also predicted that there would be a separate positive interactive effect of spiritual striving,and of intrinsic striving,and of employee age on experiencing meaning in work. Thirdly,I hypothesized that there would be a negative interactive effect of extrinsic striving and employee age on experiencing meaning in work. Study participants were a broad sample of working adults N ＝ 196) from 22 different occupations,with a majority of them female 65.3%),white 83.7%),in the private work sector 61.2%),residing in the U.S. 91.3%) and having a four-year college degree or more 78.6%). Their ages ranged from 20 to 72 M ＝ 4.15,SD ＝ 13.2). The study results revealed that age,spiritual striving,and intrinsic striving were positively associated with experiencing meaning in work. As well,the results indicated that employee age had a positive linear relationship with meaningful work: older employees reported experiencing stronger meaning in work； R2 ＝ .06,F1,195) ＝ 13.36,p ＝ .000. There was a significant main effect for spiritual striving on experiencing meaning in work； DeltaR 2 ＝ .07,DeltaF1,194) ＝ 14.35,p ＝ .000,and for intrinsic striving on experiencing meaning in work； R2 ＝ .03,DeltaF1,193) ＝ 5.54,p ＝ .02. For instance,as spiritual striving or intrinsic striving increased,experiencing meaning in work increased,no matter what the age of the employees---there were no interactive effects for those two strivings with age. However,age moderated the relationship between extrinsic striving and meaning in work with an unexpected crossover effect； DeltaR 2 ＝ .02,DeltaF3,195) ＝ 4.24,p ＝ .04. Specifically,when employee age was older than the mean age 41.5 years),the relationship between extrinsic striving and meaning in work was negative: as age and extrinsic striving increased,experiencing meaning in work decreased. When employee age was younger than the mean,the relationship between extrinsic striving and meaning in work was positive: as age and extrinsic striving increased,experiencing meaning in work increased. These findings represent an important advance in understanding the role of employee age and personal goal strivings in terms of experiencing meaning in work,given that this study was the first to use a broad age range and diverse occupational sample when examining these variables. This studys results inform organizations that their older workers are more likely to have a better sense of what contributes to meaning in their work than their younger employees. Employees bring their spiritual strivings to work,no matter what their occupation or work sector. Spiritual strivings are worthwhile for not only contributing to individuals meaning in life,but also for contributing to their meaning in work. Meaning in work appears to reflect an integration of employees experiences as they develop a clearer sense of their values and beliefs,which for some employees occurs over time. Abstract shortened by UMI.).