Master of Arts / Department of Communications Studies / Sarah E. Riforgiate / A commonly held belief in higher education is that a student’s educational program paves the way towards a specific career choice, forcing students to intentionally choose courses in preparation for a particular line of work (Lair & Wieland, 2012). Recognizing the influential role of education (Jablin, 2001) and the increasing numbers of nonprofit education programs (Mirabella & McDonald, 2012), it is important to understand the educational expectations created by university programs and how these expectations are enacted as students become nonprofit employees. To better understand communication practices that shape the expectations, experiences, and worker identities, this study applies organizational assimilation theory to nonprofit education and work through interviews of nonprofit employees’ experiences after completing a nonprofit education program. Qualitative analysis of the interview transcripts indicates that nonprofit-focused educational programs socialize students to work for a cause that they find personally meaningful. However, not all students are able to meet this expectation, creating two paths, a straight path and a winding path in search of meaningful work. Those on the straight path who found personally meaningful work attributed their experience to an internal locus of control based on an intentional job search and workplace opportunities. Participants who did not find the personally meaningful work they expected used external control attributions by blaming the job market, the way their generation approaches work, and how their educational program created unrealistic expectations. Findings deepen understandings of organizational assimilation theory in terms of education, while bridging educational practices and organizational assimilation theory to contribute practical implications. Practical implications include encouraging education programs to facilitate volunteering and networking opportunities for their students, prospective nonprofit workers to seek out volunteer and job shadowing opportunities, and nonprofit organizations to focus on the assimilation process of new employees.

Many innovative businesses have discovered an added value in collaborating with experts, users or other stakeholders in developing innovative products or services. Not all collaboration with stakeholders, however, corresponds to the criteria for opening up an innovation process to the needs of societal actors under the terms of responsible innovation. The question of what makes collaboration meaningful in the sense of responsible innovation was presented and discussed in a 75 min workshop at the European Science Open Forum (ESOF) in Toulouse, France in June 2018. Identified success factors and challenges for making a collaboration process meaningful for the collaborating parties highlight the importance of competent process preparation and facilitation, investment of time and effort to enable mutual understanding and the development of trustful relationships as well as the collaborating partners' willingness to implement changes that result from the collaboration process.

Syftet med studien är att ge en överblick av begreppet spiritualitet genom att sammanfatta och beskriva det vetenskapliga kunskapsläget inom arbetsterapeutisk forskning. Som metod valdes en litteraturöversikt. I studien ingick 12 vetenskapliga artiklar som var både kvalitativa och teoretiska. Artiklarna söktes i Luleå universitetsbibliotek databaser. Utöver det genomfördes en manuell sökning. Resultatet visar på fyra huvudkategorier med underkategorier. Huvudkategorierna var; Spiritualitet ger mening och mål, Spiritualitet ger support och stöd, Spiritualitet som drivkraft till aktiviteter och Spiritualitet som grund till känslor. Resultatet visar att spiritualitet samspelar med den inre känslan hos en människa och det yttre görandet i en aktivitet. Spiritualitet har betydelse oavsett om trossystem finns eller inte. Slutsatsen av studien visar att spiritualitet är viktigt för människan. Det är av vikt att involvera spiritualitet i klientmötet för arbetsterapeuten eftersom spiritualitet är en viktig del för holism och humanism och som var för sig är grundläggande värdegrund för arbetsterapi. / The purpose of the study is to provide an overview of the concept spirituality by summarizing and describing the state of scientific knowledge in occupational therapy research. As method the study was designed as a literature review. The study included 12 scientific articles that were both qualitative and theoretical. Articles were searched in databases of library in Luleå University of Technology. In addition a manual search was conducted. The results show four major categories with subcategories. The main categories were: Spirituality gives meaning and purpose, Spirituality gives support and assistance, Spirituality as a force to activities and Spirituality as a foundation to emotions. The result shows that spirituality interacts with both the inner feeling within a human being and the external performance of an activity. Spirituality is important regardless of whether a belief system exists or not. The conclusion of the study shows that spirituality is important for humans. It is important to involve spirituality in a client meeting for the occupational therapists because spirituality is an important part of holism and humanism and separately is fundamental ideals for occupational.

There is a limited body of research that illuminates the various positive life-, health-, and work-related outcomes that an individual may experience through the pursuit of his or her occupational calling. An occupational calling is defined as an occupation that a person feels drawn to, finds intrinsically enjoyable and meaningful, and identifies as a central part of his or her identity. The extant literature on occupational callings, however, rarely considers the possible detrimental effects of having an occupational calling other than to explain unexpected study results. These unexpected study results hint at adverse psychological and job-related outcomes when an individual fails or does not have the ability to pursue an occupational calling, a concept this paper refers to as an "Unanswered Occupational Calling." An Unanswered Occupational Calling is specifically defined as an occupational calling that an individual perceives, but is not currently pursuing. Scholarly work is needed to explore the individual and organizational consequences of an individual's experience of an Unanswered Occupational Calling. Consequently, the purpose of this research was twofold: (1) to develop and generate preliminary construct validity evidence for a newly developed Unanswered Occupational Calling instrument; and (2) to explore the nomological network of the Unanswered Occupational Calling construct. To that end, I conducted two studies, the first of which was required for initial scale construction. The central purpose of the second was to explore the nomological network of Unanswered Occupational Callings. Overall, Study 1 and 2 supported the construct validity of the newly developed Unanswered Occupational Calling instrument. As expected, the Unanswered Occupational Calling instrument was shown to relate positively to intrinsic work motivation and negatively to work engagement, job involvement, career commitment, and answered occupational callings. Also as expected, those who more strongly endorsed an Unanswered Occupational Calling also tended to experience more physical symptoms, psychological distress, and withdrawal intentions and less job and life satisfaction. These results are consistent with previous research that suggested that there may be detrimental effects of perceiving, but not pursuing, an occupational calling.

The notion of recovery from mental illness has become a significant force in mental health policy, practice and literature. As a process, recovery can been described as the lived experience of personal growth and search for meaning after the onset of mental illness. The following phenomenological inquiry seeks to understand the meaning of day-to-day activities for 13 people in recovery from mental illness. In the recovery literature there has recently been a growing interest in the everyday aspects of recovery. Routine interactions between people and the human and non-human environment have been recognised as being significant in the recovery process. Additionally, there has been a call within occupational therapy literature for research focused on exploring the experience and meaning of different forms of occupation. This study aims to address and add to these areas of interest within the current literature. Recovery narratives were collected from the participants in two phases, using an open ended conversational style of interview. The first phase focused on gathering stories that reflected the lived experience of recovery for eight participants. The recorded interviews were transcribed and analysed using the hermeneutic philosophy of Martin Heidegger. In the second phase of interviewing a further five participants shared their stories. In this round the conversations were focused on some of the dynamics of activity and recovery that had emerged as broad themes in the first phase. This allowed further depth to be added to the data and subsequent analysis. The interpretation focused on descriptions of engagement in activity during different periods of the participants’ recovery journeys. It was important to dwell with the stories and allow themes of experience and meaning to emerge. Particular phrases and words were highlighted and their meaning explored if they showed something of the participants’ lived experience. Through a process of writing, reflecting and re-writing the findings were refined and clarified over time. Everyday activity was found to be an important medium for change as well as a recovery outcome in itself. Findings add to existing understandings about occupation as a medium for healing and transformation within the context of recovery from mental illness. In particular, the study highlights the dynamics at play in different modes of doing and the way in which carers can influence the experience and meaning of activity.

Meaningful teaching in physical education – A study of pupils opinions of the contents and teachers methods to activate and account inactive pupils. Nowadays people in society are getting more and more inactive, and we have during our practice at different schools, noticed that many pupils are uncalled for and inactive at the lessons in physical education. The purpose with the study is to see what pupils in the ninth grade thinks about the contents of the subject and what they want it to contain to make the teaching more meaningful. The study also looks in to different methods that teachers in physical education use to make the lesson feel meaningful for all the pupils and how they work to activate and account inactive pupils. To collect the information we chose to distribute questioners to pupils and do interviews with teachers. In question of contents, the pupils want to do activities with a high level of effort and they want to have a varying and challenging teaching. To create a context the pupils wanted more theory and they think that the teaching gets more meaning if they get more responsibility and have influence over the lesson. To activate and account the inactive pupils, the teachers in this study tries to create a secure environment and they think it’s important with an open dialogue whit their pupils. They want to make their pupils feel competent and secure enough to participate in the teaching. Different methods they used were to find special solutions and adapt the teaching after individuals and levels to activate all the pupils.

<p>Meaningful teaching in physical education – A study of pupils opinions of the contents and teachers methods to activate and account inactive pupils.</p><p>Nowadays people in society are getting more and more inactive, and we have during our practice at different schools, noticed that many pupils are uncalled for and inactive at the lessons in physical education. The purpose with the study is to see what pupils in the ninth grade thinks about the contents of the subject and what they want it to contain to make the teaching more meaningful. The study also looks in to different methods that teachers in physical education use to make the lesson feel meaningful for all the pupils and how they work to activate and account inactive pupils. To collect the information we chose to distribute questioners to pupils and do interviews with teachers. In question of contents, the pupils want to do activities with a high level of effort and they want to have a varying and challenging teaching. To create a context the pupils wanted more theory and they think that the teaching gets more meaning if they get more responsibility and have influence over the lesson. To activate and account the inactive pupils, the teachers in this study tries to create a secure environment and they think it’s important with an open dialogue whit their pupils. They want to make their pupils feel competent and secure enough to participate in the teaching. Different methods they used were to find special solutions and adapt the teaching after individuals and levels to activate all the pupils.</p>

U.S. public institutions of higher education are unique work environments that employ millions of faculty, staff, and administrators. Reported research on human resource issues for non-academic employees within higher education, however, is scarce. Given that staff who work in higher education are increasingly being asked to perform at higher levels with equal or fewer resources, research is needed as to how these outcomes can be achieved. The purpose of this study was to determine to what extent non-academic middle manager participative and supportive leadership behaviors are related to employee perceptions of meaningful work (conceptualized as growth satisfaction, empowerment, person-job fit, and affiliation commitment) and to employee learning goal orientation, organizational citizenship behavior, and intention to turnover. A population of 4,235 employees within a large public institution of higher education in the southwestern part of the United States was asked to participate in an online survey. The survey was comprised of items from eight validated instruments with 45 items and additional demographic information. Respondents totaled 1,333 (31.5%). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for reliability, exploratory factor analysis, and structural equation modeling techniques. Results of the study led to revisions of the initially proposed constructs via exploratory factor analysis, giving rise to seven constructs: Cooperative Leader Behavior, Work Fulfillment and Identity, Work Influence and Affiliation, Learning Goal Orientation, Personal Industry, Interpersonal Helping, and Intention to Turnover. Evaluation of the structural model for the revised constructs, with one added path, resulted in good fit (chi^2=3246.397 [796]=4.078, p=.000; CFI=.941; TLI=.936; RMSEA .048; SRMR=.051). Cooperative Leader Behavior was significantly and positively related to employee perceptions of Work Fulfillment and Identity (beta=.517, p<.05) and Work Influence and Affiliation (beta=.643, p<.05). Cooperative Leader Behavior, Work Fulfillment and Identity, and Work Influence and Affiliation were significantly and negatively related to Intention to Turnover (beta=-.436, p<.05; beta=-.480, p<.05; beta=-.293, p<.05, respectively). Work Fulfillment and Identity was significantly and positively related to Learning Goal Orientation (beta=.261, p<.05) and Personal Industry (beta=.309, p<.05). Work Influence and Affiliation was significantly and positively related to Interpersonal Helping (beta=.274, p<.05). Finally, Work Fulfillment and Identity and Work Influence and Affiliation had a significant bi-directional relationship (beta=.848, p<.05). Conclusions drawn from the results of this study led to, 1) recommendations and implications for the training and development of middle managers, 2) recommendations and implications for theory and research, and 3) recommendations and implications for practice. Higher education institutions that desire to foster employee perceptions of meaningful work and influence performance drivers such as intention to turnover should focus on developing middle-manager cooperative leadership behaviors. Additional research is needed to continue to revise, refine and validate the new constructs identified in this study, as well as to identify additional performance drivers in higher education responsive to cooperative leader behavior.

In the current South African context, negative work attitude of teachers has become a phenomenon to be reckoned with as it has a detrimental effect on the education system. Although research on this phenomenon is still scarce, a growing interest in work attitude and its different underlying constructs is obvious from the increase of work attitude research. It is now time to investigate ways to improve work attitude, one of which could be to invest in meaningful work. The aim of this study is to expand on the understanding of the relationship between experiencing a sense of calling and work attitude as well as to determine the influence of meaningful work on this relationship. Through this study the researcher proposed an adapted model of Steger, Pickering, Shin and Dik (2011) which will serve as an academic tool for future research. This model will also be applicable as a management tool to understand and deal with teachers’ negative work attitude. A quantitative, cross-sectional survey design was used. The analysis was based on data from a representative sample of teachers recruited from primary and secondary schools in the Fezile Dabi district (n = 270) formerly known as the Northern Free State School district. The following measuring instruments were administered: The Calling and Vocation Questionnaire (CVQ), The Work and Meaning Inventory (WAMI), The Work Preference Inventory (WPI) and The Career Decision Profile (CDP). The researcher used the analytic approach of structural equation modelling by means of the statistical program Mplus. The results revealed that a statistically significant relationship existed between the experience of a sense of calling and work attitude. Results also supported the hypothesis that meaningful work has an indirect effect on the relationship between the experience of a calling and work attitude. The findings of this study indicated that positive work attitude tends to be enhanced by the addition of meaningful work. The Department of Education will have to take ognisance of ways to create meaningful work if they wish to succeed in educational transformation, as meaningful work has an indirect effect on the relationship between the experience of a calling and work attitude of teachers. Future studies should include longitudinal studies to validate the proposed adapted model and to identify more predictors of positive work attitude. / MA (Industrial Psychology), North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2013

The notion of recovery from mental illness has become a significant force in mental health policy, practice and literature. As a process, recovery can been described as the lived experience of personal growth and search for meaning after the onset of mental illness. The following phenomenological inquiry seeks to understand the meaning of day-to-day activities for 13 people in recovery from mental illness. In the recovery literature there has recently been a growing interest in the everyday aspects of recovery. Routine interactions between people and the human and non-human environment have been recognised as being significant in the recovery process. Additionally, there has been a call within occupational therapy literature for research focused on exploring the experience and meaning of different forms of occupation. This study aims to address and add to these areas of interest within the current literature. Recovery narratives were collected from the participants in two phases, using an open ended conversational style of interview. The first phase focused on gathering stories that reflected the lived experience of recovery for eight participants. The recorded interviews were transcribed and analysed using the hermeneutic philosophy of Martin Heidegger. In the second phase of interviewing a further five participants shared their stories. In this round the conversations were focused on some of the dynamics of activity and recovery that had emerged as broad themes in the first phase. This allowed further depth to be added to the data and subsequent analysis. The interpretation focused on descriptions of engagement in activity during different periods of the participants’ recovery journeys. It was important to dwell with the stories and allow themes of experience and meaning to emerge. Particular phrases and words were highlighted and their meaning explored if they showed something of the participants’ lived experience. Through a process of writing, reflecting and re-writing the findings were refined and clarified over time. Everyday activity was found to be an important medium for change as well as a recovery outcome in itself. Findings add to existing understandings about occupation as a medium for healing and transformation within the context of recovery from mental illness. In particular, the study highlights the dynamics at play in different modes of doing and the way in which carers can influence the experience and meaning of activity.