Zones of engagement: where meaning in work meets personal identity

Alisa M. Cortez and Owen Hanley Lynch

International Journal of Human Resources Development and Management, 2015, vol. 15, issue 2/3/4, 170-184

Abstract: In this study, the relationship between meaning in work and personal identity was examined using data from 115 men and women across 20 professions between ages 20 to 74 and various educational levels. A mixed-method, dual-team qualitative analysis revealed five broad zones of engagement. These zones of engagement are both descriptive and prescriptive in nature as they capture a moment-in-time interaction between person and work experience and can be used in developmental intervention dialogue toward a different desired experience. The implication of this work reveals the dynamic relationship between meaning in work and personal identity, and contributes to scholarship and applied practice by identifying specific identity-work relationships which are open to change and development.

Keywords: meaning in work; personal identity; self-concept; vocational psychology; employee engagement; industrial psychology; qualitative research methodology; grounded theory; phenomenology; zones of engagement; intervention dialogue; identity-work relationships. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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