Examining the Pro-Self and Prosocial Components of a Calling Outlook: A Critical Review

Work on callings has burgeoned in the past 20 years, yet recent reviews exposed a lack of conceptual clarity and disagreements around its definition, components and measures. One lingering point of contention revolves around the element of prosociality: is a calling orientation primarily motivated by self-interest, prosocially orientated, or a mix of both? This conceptual paper reviews and examines the pro-self and prosocial component of a calling outlook, by examining and comparing the ways in which they feature in different calling subtypes: classic, neoclassic and modern callings. Our analysis suggests that these subtypes vary in where they are located on a pro-self-prosocial continuum: classic callings are located on the prosocial side of the axis, modern callings are located on pro-self side of the axis, and neoclassic callings can be situated in the middle of the continuum, integrating self-orientated and other-orientated motivations. Our analysis further suggests that these calling subtypes draw on divergent value systems: classic callings are propelled by self-transcendent values, modern callings are driven by self-actualization motivations, and neoclassic callings integrate both value systems. We therefore argue that the subjective experiences of pursuing a calling within each subtype pathway differ, although they may culminate in similar outcomes. The paper offers a novel framework for analyzing people's calling that draws on their values.

You stay home, but we can't: Invisible 'dirty' work as calling amid COVID-19 pandemic

Research on calling has largely focused on its benefits for employees. This study contends that experiencing work as a moral duty based calling in invisible-dirty occupations can yield both favorable and unfavorable employee outcomes. Whether employees feel burdened or supported in their work and family roles depends on the demands and resources provided by the workplace. In a sample of 175 janitors at a large government hospital designated for treating COVID-19 patients in the national capital region of India, hypothesis testing results support that work calling is positively associated with both positive (job performance, subjective career success), and negative (work-family and family-work conflicts, burnout) outcomes. Further, job demands strengthen the relationship of work calling with work-family and family-work conflicts, and burnout, whereas, job resources augment the relationship between work calling and job performance, and subjective career success.

Cognitive and social mechanisms: the role of emotions in creativity through work-based learning from a functionalist perspective

Purpose

From a functionalist perspective, this study aims to examine empirically how positive and negative emotions can exert influence on creativity in the workplace. This study built and tested a theoretical framework that delineates the effect of emotions on employee creativity through different learning mechanisms.

Design/methodology/approach

Field surveys were conducted in a Chinese company and data were collected from 340 employee-supervisor dyads.

Findings

The results indicate that positive emotions were positively related to task-related learning and interactional learning, both of which promote employee creativity. Task-related learning mediated the association between positive emotions and creativity. Nevertheless, negative emotions hindered employees from interactional learning and were negatively associated with creativity. Interactional learning mediated the association between negative emotions and creativity. Moreover, the interaction between positive and negative emotions was negatively associated with task-related learning.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the literature on emotions and employee learning by demonstrating the value of using a functionalist perspective through different procedural mechanisms for employee outcomes and exploring the mediation effects of different learning behaviors in promoting creativity.

A Latent Profile Analysis of Living a Calling, Burnout, Exploitation, and Work–Life Imbalance

Research has predominantly focused on the positive aspects of living a calling (LC), hence more attention needs to be given to its potentially negative aspects. The current study examined profiles of 237 South Korean working adults, defined by individuals’ scores on LC, burnout, exploitation, and work–life imbalance from a person-centered perspective. Then, we examined the role of psychological capital, organizational support, and adequate compensation in predicting profile membership. Lastly, we examined mean differences across class membership in the levels of job satisfaction and work-related psychological and physical symptoms. Latent profile analysis identified three distinct profiles of individuals: the adaptive, average, and maladaptive. Psychological capital, organizational support, and adequate compensation predicted a higher likelihood of membership into the adaptive group, compared to the average group. The adaptive group showed the highest job satisfaction and the lowest work-related psychological symptoms. Implications for calling-related interventions and directions for future research are discussed.

The Double-Edged Sword Effects of Career Calling on Occupational Embeddedness: Mediating Roles of Work-Family Conflict and Career Adaptability

Based on the conservation of resource theory, we proposed a two-path model to examine the double-edged sword effects of career calling on occupational embeddedness via work-family conflict (WFC) and career adaptability. The proposed theoretical model and hypotheses were tested by structural equation modeling technology with a sample of nurses from five hospitals in China (total N = 368). Career calling has a double-edged sword effect on occupational embeddedness via WFC and career adaptability. Career calling has positive effects on WFC and career adaptability. WFC and career adaptability, in turn, negatively and positively influence occupational embeddedness, respectively. In addition to the well-established positive effects, career calling may also have adverse effects on occupational outcomes. Given the worldwide shortage of nursing staff, how career calling affects nurses' occupational embeddedness needs to be more understood. This study highlights the importance of career calling and occupational embeddedness. Nurse managers need to improve the level of nurses' career adaptability and reduce their level of WFC and hence increase their occupational embeddedness.

Global mobility and the career of the stay-at-home partner

Purpose

Contemporary global mobility and dual careers are two key features of working life today. Little is known, however, about where they intersect, where one partner travels for their career, while the other partner is left behind, caring for the family and attempting to manage their own career. The purpose of this paper is to explore how the partner’s career is impacted by the traveller’s absence, and the strategies employed to enable their continued career development.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper employs a qualitative methodology, drawing on semi-structured interviews with the partners of international yachtsmen.

Findings

The findings highlight the prioritisation of the traveller’s career, for reasons of finance and their passion for their career. The implications of this could be detrimental to the partner’s career. Personalised, flexible working arrangements are essential in order for the partner to achieve a sustainable career of their own.

Research limitations/implications

The gendered nature of the sample provides an opportunity for further research examining the implications of the female being the traveller and the male the stay at home partner.

Practical implications

The paper examines a range of alternative strategies for maintaining or developing the career when also faced with additional family responsibilities.

Originality/value

This paper gives consideration to the career of the stay at home partner. A new dual-career strategy is identified – the entrepreneurial secondary career strategy, which has the potential to deliver the flexibility required to manage both work and family demands, and allow partners to enact their authentic career.

Construction and Initial Validation of the Work Orientation Questionnaire

The goal of the present research was to develop a model of work meaning, consisting of five orientations: job (financial compensation), career (advancement and influence), calling (prosocial duty), social embeddedness (belongingness), and busyness (filling idle time with activities). Two versions of the Work Orientation Questionnaire (WOQ), which measures these five orientations, were developed—for young adults and for working adults. Study 1 describes the development of the WOQ and psychometric properties for young adults. Exploratory ( N = 200) and confirmatory ( N = 447) factor analyses supported a five-factor solution, and the five scales, which correspond to the five orientations, had adequate internal consistency reliabilities (median = .81). The divergent validity of the WOQ was supported, as shown by the negligible associations of the five orientations with the 12 scales of the Career Decision-Making Profiles questionnaire. In Study 2, the analyses of the responses of 506 employed adults also supported the five-dimensional structure, and four of the WOQ scales were associated with work satisfaction ( R 2 = .33). Implications for research and practice are discussed along with future research directions.

You Can Only Go Full Speed for So Long: The Career Development of Psychologists Working in Psychosocial Oncology Settings

Cancer centers have adopted a holistic approach to cancer treatment to better meet the psychosocial needs of cancer survivors. However, the current number of psychosocial providers in oncology is inadequate to meet the growing demand and psychosocial providers may face barriers in accessing oncology-specific training. The current study aims to explore the career development of psychologists working in oncology to inform training and workplace supports, as well as to inform training for health psychologists interested in other sub-specialties. Interviews were conducted with 20 psychologists with oncology work experience. Data were analyzed using the consensual qualitative research method. Results indicated three primary domains: (a) factors influencing entry into the field, (b) factors influencing ongoing career decision-making, and (c) factors influencing success in psychosocial oncology. The complexities of these domains are discussed; suggestions for supporting psychologists interested in psychosocial oncology at individual as well as systemic levels are provided.

Multiple Meanings of Calling: Next Steps for Studying an Evolving Construct

Research on work as a calling has rapidly increased in recent years, yet the lack of consensus regarding the construct’s definition presents key challenges to researchers, most notably the potential lack of coherence as research on calling accumulates. We begin with a brief overview of current definitions in the literature to illustrate the overlapping yet distinct conceptualizations of the construct, placing them along a continuum of “neoclassical” to “modern.” Next, we explore strengths and shortcomings of the two most commonly employed methodological strategies for studying calling, the “top-down” and “bottom-up” approaches. We invite researchers to adopt a third strategy, the typological approach (and the taxometric method in particular), to offer much-needed conceptual clarity by empirically investigating whether there are distinct types of calling or whether the construct is best conceptualized as dimensional in nature. Finally, we present recommendations to guide researchers, reviewers, and consumers of research related to work as a calling on a path that reduces its ongoing conceptual murkiness.

South Korean Salespersons’ Calling, Job Performance, and Organizational Citizenship Behavior

This study examined the association between salespersons’ sense of calling and their job performance and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) and investigated the mediating role of occupational self-efficacy and the moderating role of living one’s calling on the relationships. The results indicated that salespersons’ level of calling was moderately associated with their OCB but not related to their job performance. Occupational self-efficacy fully mediated the relationship between salespersons’ sense of calling and their job performance and partially mediated the relationship between their sense of calling and OCB. Additionally, we found positive interactions between endorsing a calling and living a calling as predictors of occupational self-efficacy and OCB. The results suggest that occupational self-efficacy plays a critical role in linking callings and job performance and that the ability to live one’s calling strengthens the benefits of endorsing a calling in a sales context. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Living a Calling, Nationality, and Life Satisfaction

The present study examined the differences in the experience of a calling among working adults in the Unites States and India. First, we examined group differences in perceiving a calling and living a calling between Americans and Indians, with Indians being more likely to endorse perceiving and living out a calling than Americans. Second, we tested a moderated, multiple mediator model to investigate the mediating role of life meaning and job satisfaction in the relation of living a calling to life satisfaction and the moderating role of nationality. Supporting prior research, both life meaning and job satisfaction were found to mediate the relation between living a calling and life satisfaction. Furthermore, we found that nationality moderated the living calling–life meaning and living calling–job satisfaction links. These results indicate the importance of nationality in the link between living a calling and life satisfaction. Implications for research are discussed.

Does the Source of a Calling Matter? External Summons, Destiny, and Perfect Fit

This study examined the endorsement of three different sources of a calling—external summons, destiny, and perfect fit—and how the endorsement of these sources related to levels of living a calling, job satisfaction, and life satisfaction. With a sample of 200 employed adults, participants were asked to select a source group that best described where their calling originated. A multivariate analysis of variance revealed no significant differences among the three primary source groups on levels of living a calling, job satisfaction, or life satisfaction. However, group membership was a significant moderator in the relation of living a calling to life satisfaction. Specifically, the relation of living a calling to life satisfaction was more pronounced for participants endorsing a destiny belief than for those endorsing other sources. Overall, results indicate that as long as workers feel they are living out their calling, the source of their calling matters little in terms of how calling links to job and life satisfaction.

Research on Work as a Calling

Research on work as a calling has increased substantially in the last 5 years within vocational psychology and related disciplines. This special issue brings together a diverse group of scholars who address four key needs of empirical research on calling: (a) research on the measurement of calling and closely related constructs, (b) research with participants from outside the United States, (c) research using qualitative and longitudinal designs, and (d) research and theory that explores the conditions in which a sense of calling can lead to negative outcomes. Our hope is that these articles will advance the growing literature on the study of work as a calling.