Meaningful Work: An Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior Perspective

Evgenia I. Lysova and Luke Fletcher

No 1667, GLO Discussion Paper Series from Global Labor Organization (GLO)

Abstract: As interest in meaningful work is growing both from scholars and practitioners, it is of great importance to provide an overview of the meaningful work literature to date. In this chapter, we zoom in on the developments so far in the field of organizational psychology and organizational behavior. We first reflect on the conceptualization of meaningful work, the theoretical framework underlying research in the field, and methodological considerations. Then, we provide an overview of antecedents and outcomes of meaningful work in the form of an input-process-output model. Among antecedents, we discuss person-focused, relations-focused, work and occupational context-focused, organization-focused, and society-focused factors. In relation to the outcomes of meaningful work, we highlight the range of them researched to date, focusing on work-related attitudes, behavioral work outcomes, work-family-non-work interplay, and health and wellbeing. As we provide an overview of the extant research so far, we critically reflect on key problematic gaps, challenges, and assumptions. In doing so, we provide ideas for important future research directions that aim to promote interdisciplinary and forward-looking development of the meaningful work field.

Keywords: meaningful work; work meaningfulness; meaning in work; organizational behavior; organizational psychology (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J24 J28 J81 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lma
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:glodps:1667

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