IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jbuset/v185y2023i4d10.1007_s10551-023-05356-6.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

What Makes Work Meaningful?

Author

Listed:
  • Samuel A. Mortimer

    (University of Pennsylvania)

Abstract

Prior scholarly approaches to meaningful work have largely fallen into two camps. One focuses on identifying how work can contribute to a meaningful life. The other studies the antecedents and outcomes of workers experiencing their work as meaningful. Neither of these approaches, however, captures what people look for when they seek meaningful work—or so I argue. In this paper, I give a new, commitment-based account of meaningful work by focusing on the reasons people have to choose meaningful work over other options. I draw on philosopher Ruth Chang’s account of voluntarist reasons (reasons that arise from an act of the will) to argue that commitments can create distinctive reasons to pursue certain work. It is the presence of these distinctive reasons that makes work meaningful.

Suggested Citation

  • Samuel A. Mortimer, 2023. "What Makes Work Meaningful?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 185(4), pages 835-845, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:185:y:2023:i:4:d:10.1007_s10551-023-05356-6
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-023-05356-6
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10551-023-05356-6
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10551-023-05356-6?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ruth Yeoman, 2014. "Conceptualising Meaningful Work as a Fundamental Human Need," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Meaningful Work and Workplace Democracy, chapter 1, pages 8-38, Palgrave Macmillan.
    2. Christopher Michaelson, 2021. "A Normative Meaning of Meaningful Work," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 170(3), pages 413-428, May.
    3. Ruth Yeoman, 2014. "Conceptualising Meaningful Work as a Fundamental Human Need," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 125(2), pages 235-251, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mai Chi Vu & Roger Gill, 2023. "Are Leaders Responsible for Meaningful Work? Perspectives from Buddhist-Enacted Leaders and Buddhist Ethics," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 187(2), pages 347-370, October.
    2. Evgenia I. Lysova & Jennifer Tosti-Kharas & Christopher Michaelson & Luke Fletcher & Catherine Bailey & Peter McGhee, 2023. "Ethics and the Future of Meaningful Work: Introduction to the Special Issue," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 185(4), pages 713-723, July.
    3. Tuure Haarjärvi & Sari Laari-Salmela, 2022. "Examining the Role of Dignity in the Experience of Meaningfulness: a Process-Relational View on Meaningful Work," Humanistic Management Journal, Springer, vol. 7(3), pages 417-440, December.
    4. Jens Jørund Tyssedal, 2023. "Work is Meaningful if There are Good Reasons to do it: A Revisionary Conceptual Analysis of ‘Meaningful Work’," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 185(3), pages 533-544, July.
    5. Santiago Mejia, 2023. "The Normative and Cultural Dimension of Work: Technological Unemployment as a Cultural Threat to a Meaningful Life," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 185(4), pages 847-864, July.
    6. Frank Martela, 2023. "The Normative Value of Making a Positive Contribution–Benefiting Others as a Core Dimension of Meaningful Work," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 185(4), pages 811-823, July.
    7. Anica Zeyen & Oana Branzei, 2023. "Disabled at Work: Body-Centric Cycles of Meaning-Making," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 185(4), pages 767-810, July.
    8. Harry Hummels & Patrick Nullens, 2022. "‘Other-wise’ Organizing. A Levinasian Approach to Agape in Work and Business Organisations," Humanistic Management Journal, Springer, vol. 7(2), pages 211-232, October.
    9. Lei Qi & Xin Wei & Yuhan Li & Bing Liu & Zikun Xu, 2020. "The Influence of Mistreatment by Patients on Job Satisfaction and Turnover Intention among Chinese Nurses: A Three-Wave Survey," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(4), pages 1-16, February.
    10. Caleb Bernacchio, 2021. "Virtue Beyond Contract: A MacIntyrean Approach to Employee Rights," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 171(2), pages 227-240, June.
    11. Bliss, Sam & Egler, Megan, 2020. "Ecological Economics Beyond Markets," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 178(C).
    12. Elisabeth Nöhammer, 2022. "Meaning, Needs, and Workplace Spirituality," Merits, MDPI, vol. 3(1), pages 1-20, December.
    13. Arnaldo Camuffo & Federica Stefano & Chiara Paolino, 2017. "Safety Reloaded: Lean Operations and High Involvement Work Practices for Sustainable Workplaces," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 143(2), pages 245-259, June.
    14. Yejun Zhang & Mark C. Bolino & Kui Yin, 2023. "The Interactive Effect of Perceived Overqualification and Peer Overqualification on Peer Ostracism and Work Meaningfulness," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 182(3), pages 699-716, January.
    15. Wen Wang & Roger Seifert, 2022. "The End of Meaningful Work in the Not-for-Profit Sector? A Case Study of Ethics in Employee Relations Under the New Business-Like Operation Regime," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 181(1), pages 1-14, November.
    16. Shakeel Ahmed & Zarain Islam & Mashhood Ur Rehman & Muhammad Hasnain Ali, 2021. "Meaningful Leadership: How Can Leader Contribute To Meaningful Work? The Mediating Role Of Cooperativeness," ILMA Journal of Social Sciences & Economics (IJSSE), Ilma University, Faculty of Management Science, vol. 1(1), pages 1-14.
    17. Caleb Bernacchio, 2023. "Business and the Ethics of Recognition," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 185(1), pages 1-16, June.
    18. Mai Chi Vu & Nicholas Burton, 2022. "The Influence of Spiritual Traditions on the Interplay of Subjective and Normative Interpretations of Meaningful Work," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 180(2), pages 543-566, October.
    19. Christopher Michaelson, 2021. "A Normative Meaning of Meaningful Work," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 170(3), pages 413-428, May.
    20. Müller, Monika & Huber, Christian & Messner, Martin, 2019. "Meaningful work at a distance: A case study in a hospital," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 37(6), pages 719-729.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:185:y:2023:i:4:d:10.1007_s10551-023-05356-6. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.