Title

Work Calling: Exploring the Communicative Intersections of Meaningful Work and Organizational Spirituality

School/Department

School of Fine Arts and Communication

Publication Date

3-2016

Abstract

In the present study, we first describe three themes from the interdisciplinary literature: sacred and secular variations; calling as historically and culturally situated; and potential benefits, alienation, and marginalization. Second, through a thematic analysis (Owen, 1984) based on participant data, we examine how participants’ understanding and interpretation of work calling as an overarching meaningfulness, a combination of personal passion and skill set, and a contribution to society serve as definitional makers. We argue that these findings emphasize the processural and constitutive nature of work calling. We conclude by highlighting the communicative dimensions of work calling as they may contribute to future critical and empirical work, noting the possibilities for sense-making theory to intervene in this interdisciplinary area of inquiry.

Keywords

Communication in organizations

Publication Title

Communication studies

Volume

67

Issue

3

First Page

339

Last Page

358

DOI of Published Version

10.1080/10510974.2016.1148751

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