My thesis examines moral and political responses to the character of work through critical evaluation of the work we do to sustain a stable social order suitable for human acting and being. My original contribution rests upon my application of Wolf s (2010) distinct bipartite value of meaningfulness (BVM) to the structure of action in work, which integrates the objective and subjective dimensions of meaningfulness when subjective feelings of attachment are united. to an assessment of the objective worthiness of the object. Work which is structured by the BVM is a fundamental human need, because it addresses our inescapable interests in autonomy, freedom, and social recognition, which are met when work is non-alienated, non-dominated and dignified. To realise the BVM, each person must possess the capabilities for objective valuing and affective attachment, in addition to their equal status as eo-authorities in the realm of value. Being able to participate in creating and sustaining positive values through meaning-making alleviates concerns that meaningful work is a perfectionist ideal which undermines autonomy. But meaning-making gives rise to interpretive differences over values and meanings which often remain as pre-political potentials unless brought into public deliberation through deliberative practices. I argue that realising the BVM in work requires a politics of meaningfulness generated by a system of workplace democracy, where democratic authority at the level of the organisation is combined with agonistic democratic practices at the level of the task. Furthermore, capability justice requires the satisfaction of two principles ~ the principle of egalitarian meaning, such that all persons must be able to experience their work as meaningful, and the threshold of sufficient meaning, such that work is sufficiently meaningful when constituted by the values of autonomy, freedom and social recognition. I conclude that the relevant capabilities for meaningfulness are realised, indirectly, through institutional guarantees for the Capability for Voice. Ruth Yeoman Abstract

Thesis advisor: Michael G. Pratt / Evidence is mounting that recognition from others may play a critical role in shaping an individual’s experience of meaningful work; so how do workers find meaningfulness when their work is “invisible”? I examine this tension through a qualitative, inductive study of the occupation of linemen—the women and men who construct and repair power lines. By examining this invisible occupation, my research explains the conditions that foster the “recognition gap”—a disparity between the recognition linemen believe they deserve and the recognition they actually receive. This recognition gap ultimately produces meaningfulness insecurity—feelings of uncertainty or doubt about the meaningfulness of their work. Moreover, this research also explains how linemen overcome this meaningfulness insecurity through intuitive feelings of pride in beautiful completed work. Through a process motivated by a desire to avoid criticism for ugly work, linemen develop “expert schemas” that allow for intuitive—rapid, nonconscious, and affectively charged—reactions to the appearance of a completed job. When positive, these intuitive judgements foster experiences of meaningfulness. By explaining these processes, this dissertation re-casts meaningfulness from an individual accomplishment to one that is deeply dependent on social cues; and from a process requiring thoughtful reflection to one driven by intuitive judgements. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2023. / Submitted to: Boston College. Carroll School of Management. / Discipline: Management and Organization.

Research on the definition and conceptual understanding of meaningful work is fragmented. The purpose of this study is to better understand characteristics of people who experience meaningful work. Variables will be selected based on conceptual importance and empirical significance from a range of theoretical perspectives on meaningful work. The following constructs were studied through cluster analysis: (a) meaningful work, (b) authenticity at work, (c) career confidence, (d) work centrality, (e) religiousness, (f) meaning in life, (g) coworker satisfaction, (h) calling, (i) work engagement, (j) career commitment, and (k) work values. A sample of 437 adults who endorsed finding their work meaningful were recruited through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk) online data collection service. A two-step process by Gore (2000) was followed for the data analysis. First, hierarchical cluster analysis using the “NbClust” package in R statistical software (Charrad, Ghazzali, Boiteau, & Niknafs, 2015) was used to determine the best number of clusters. Subsequently, k-means cluster analyses were used to assign individual cases to specific clusters.

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

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.

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.

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

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Special Education, Counseling and Student Affairs / Judy Hughey / College counseling has been a unique profession among the helping professions that seeks to provide mental health and academic support to college students. One vocational danger for college counselors has been the onset of burnout. The loss of resources leading to burnout, as explained by the Conservation of Resources theory, may have been connected to today’s higher education administrative position of performing more responsibilities with less staffing. This research study examined the relationship between work duties assigned to college counselors, as measured by the College Counselor Activity Rating Scale, and the level of burnout for those counselors, as measured by the Shirom-Melamed Burnout Measure. The first five hypotheses examined the relationship between burnout and non-counseling duties by utilizing a hierarchical multiple regression analysis with various tests of mediation and moderation. The sixth hypothesis explored the assertion that college counselors at small institutions of higher education (institutional enrollment less than 5000 students) are more likely to engage in non-counseling duties. Members of the American College Counseling Association were recruited to serve as the population sample frame for the study. Because no instrument existed to measure counseling and non-counseling duties for college counselors, the College Counselor Activity Rating Scale was developed as a part of the study. Validation procedures were utilized in the form of an expert panel and pilot study for the College Counselor Activity Rating Scale. Of the six null hypotheses, all six were retained with limited power. Further analysis showed statistically significant relationships between burnout, perceived workload, and meaningful work. In addition, three non-counseling duties items, all related to administrative duties, were statistically significantly related to burnout. The key findings, implications and recommendations for future research were discussed.

Hochschild's study of emotional labour, how emotions are handled in wage work involving interaction with others, was the starting point for emotional labour studies. However, previous research on emotional labour in the non-profit sector is rather limited. Therefore, this study aims to inquire how emotion labour is expressed in a voluntary work carried out exclusively by women. Furthermore, the study intends to determine whether the boundary between acting professionally  and  acting  personally  tends  to  become  more  diffuse  in  voluntary  work.  The study  is  based  on  interviews  with  six  volunteers  currently  working  at  Kvinnohuset  and  the ambition  has  been  to  successfully  capture  their  experiences  about  how  emotional  labour  is managed  by  them  during  their  voluntary  work.  The  study  shows  that  the  volunteers  at Kvinnohuset work with emotional labour in a transboundary manner, which means that they commute between acting professionally and personally in order to maintain the purpose and culture   of   the   Kvinnohuset,   which   is   important   for   the   organization   to   progress   and relationships  to  flourish.  In  addition  to  this,  the  study  shows  that  the  existing  definition  of emotional   labour   does   not   correspond   to   the   emotional   labour   that   can   be   found   at Kvinnohuset.  Through  an  elaborated  model  of  similarities  and  differences  between  how emotional labour is handled in wage work and in the non-profit sector, we have proposed a more  precise  definition  of  emotional  labour  in  the  non-profit  sector,  which  is  emotional procreation.