Describing work as meaningful: towards a conceptual clarification

The influence of meaningful work on the mental health of SME employees in the COVID-19 era: can coping strategies mediate the relationship?

BACKGROUND

Stress, depression, and anxiety are prevalent issues among SME employees during the COVID-19 pandemic. Even while having meaningful work that expressively contributes to individual growth has been related to improving mental health, employees' work may also need to adopt coping strategies to increase outcomes. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between meaningful work (positive meaning, meaning-making, and greater good motivations) and mental health, as well as coping strategies (problem-focused and emotion-focused) as a mediator of this relationship.

METHODS

Meaningful work, coping strategies, and mental health were evaluated in empirical research based on a sample of 462 SME employees working in Malaysia. Structured questionnaires were used to collect the data and analyze it through Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) using AMOS 21.0.

RESULTS

The findings of the study show the importance of meaningful work in influencing the mental health of SME employees, particularly during a crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic. This suggests that the more they value and see their work as meaningful, the more capable they are of dealing with limitations and mental health problems associated with crises. The study also discovered a partial mediating role for coping strategies between employees' mental health and meaningful work.

CONCLUSION

This study encourages employees to constantly feel connected and discover continued possibilities to work and learn even during crisis situations. In order to improve human resource efficiency in emerging markets, managers and owners of SMEs must implement the model developed by the researchers.

Differentiated Management of IT Service Workers

This article examines how the widespread adoption of IT service management best practices challenges traditional approaches to managing IT workers. Via a multiple case study of servitized IT functions, it was found that IT service workers might be usefully segmented into four groups: ‘Customer-focussed Technicians’, ‘Developing IT Talent’, ‘Skilled IT Artisans’, and ‘Skilled IT Locals’. It is proposed that this segmentation is useful for managers practicing in IT functions that combine compatible IT service management and IT project management ‘best practices’. Specifically, such employee segmentation may enable differentiated people management practices to improve worker performance within IT functions delivering IT service projects and ongoing service provision.

The Relationship between Gratitude, Wellbeing, Spirituality, and Experiencing Meaningful Work

Poor mental wellbeing not only affects an individual and their family, but it also affects the workplace and the society as a whole. Consequently, it is crucial to investigate approaches that can promote a positive mindset in order to enhance wellbeing. This study aimed to explore the association between gratitude, wellbeing, spirituality, and experiencing meaningful work. A sample of 197 participants (69.5% female) completed measures of gratitude, experiencing meaningful work, spirituality, and several wellbeing indices. Gratitude was significantly positively associated with happiness, life satisfaction, flourishing, positive affect, spirituality, and experiencing meaningful work. A mediation analysis revealed that the relationship between wellbeing and experiencing meaningful work was partially mediated by gratitude. Additionally, spirituality did not moderate the relationship between gratitude and experiencing meaningful work. Overall, the findings indicate that fostering a grateful mindset could enhance wellbeing and work engagement, which in turn could lead to the experience of meaningful work.

Reclaiming cognitive crafting: an integrative model of behavioral and cognitive practices in job crafting

Purpose

This paper aims to present a model of how cognitive and behavioral crafting practices relate, reconciling the two dominant and conflicting job crafting theoretical perspectives.

Design/methodology/approach

Starting by examining the role of cognition and cognitive practices in job crafting, this paper reconstitutes the theorizing path that led to the exclusion of cognitive crafting from job crafting theory, explores existing theorizing efforts to (re)integrate cognitive crafting back into job crafting and proposes a new job crafting model (re)integrating behavioral and cognitive practices.

Findings

By conceiving cognitive crafting practices as a sensemaking layer that spans across and reciprocates with all behavioral crafting practices, the proposed model specifies the role of behavior and cognition (and the mutual relations between them) in job crafting, while resuming its meaning-making orientation.

Originality/value

This paper offers novel insights on underspecified aspects of the job crafting theory, improving its heuristic value. It clarifies how meaning is assembled and enacted by people in work environments, allowing for more integrated and comprehensive explanations about how people relate to work.

Can transcendence be attained through mindfulness? The mediating role of meaningful work

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to study the motivational mechanism of meaningful work (MFW) between the relationship of mindfulness and transcendence in an Indian context.

Design/methodology/approach

To achieve the research objective, a cross-sectional study was conducted. We have collected data from 311 participants (employees of large Indian manufacturing organizations, both public and private) using a self-administered survey questionnaire. Collected data was examined using path analysis.

Findings

Results suggest that MFW partially mediates the relationship between mindfulness and transcendence. Overall, this study highlights the role of mindfulness in making employees more passionate, joyful, and energetic at the workplace to achieve transcendence.

Practical implications

This study suggests ways through which positive emotions and a sense of meaningfulness can be enhanced. It also provides valuable implications for managers by suggesting various practices for enhancing an employee's transcendence.

Originality/value

The study contributes to the positive organizational behavior field by providing some novel insights with a focus on mindfulness, MFW and transcendence. It also fills the void in the area of transcendence empirical studies related to the Indian context.

Impact of transactional, relational and balanced contract on affective commitment

Purpose

This paper is aimed at examining the impact of three types of psychological contracts such as transactional, relational and balanced contract on affective commitment by keeping meaningful work (MFW) as a mediator in this relationship.

Design/methodology/approach

The data of 355 employees was collected from the large heavy Indian manufacturing organizations. The mediation path was analyzed through SPSS macro computational tool, i.e. PROCESS.

Findings

The result suggests that MFW partially mediates the relationship between all three types of psychological contract and affective commitment.

Originality/value

The study adds value to research in organizational behavior and human psychology by providing new insights on employee-employer relationships, MFW, and commitment.

Meaningful work and organizational outcomes

Purpose

This study aims to explore how employees’ meaningful work is associated with organizational outcomes at public Jordanian universities with the existence of individual work performance as a mediating variable.

Design/methodology/approach

The population of the study was 7,746 administrative staff working at four public Jordanian universities. Questionnaires were distributed to 576 participants. However, only 442 questionnaires were acceptable for further investigation, and these questionnaires were analyzed using SPSS version 22. Several statistical data analysis techniques were used including exploratory factor analysis, Cronbach’s alpha, descriptive analysis and multiple regression. Moreover, Baron and Kenny’s approach was applied to test the hypotheses developed.

Findings

A new dimensionality of variables under investigation emerged at the purification stage using validity and reliability techniques. The findings of the study show that meaningful work has a positive relationship with organizational outcomes. The findings also indicate that individual work performance shows a partial mediating role in the link between meaningful work and organizational outcomes. In addition, the findings imply that any effort to improve individual work performance at public Jordanian universities can help in offering a better understanding of organizational outcomes.

Practical implications

This study recommends that universities focus more on meaningful work and individual work performance programs and practices.

Originality/value

This study provides a framework and understanding of how work meaning and individual work performance relates to organizational outcomes in one model.