Well-being in the workplace: The role of Wrzesniewsky`s concept of work orientation.
Sprache des Vortragstitels:
Englisch
Original Tagungtitel:
17th congress of the European Association of Work and Organizational Psychology
Sprache des Tagungstitel:
Englisch
Original Kurzfassung:
Purpose: Wrzesniewsky et al. (1997) describe three types of work orientation: Persons consider their work either as a job, with the main focus on financial rewards, as a career, with ambitions for advancement, or as a calling, where the job is seen as a vocation. The authors note that these types of orientation may be related to various forms of well-being. Researchers have suggested that cognitive job insecurity, which is negatively correlated with subjective well-being, may affect people`s work orientation. The aim of this study was to test whether Wrzesniewsky`s concept could act as a mediator in explaining the connection between job insecurity and well-being.
Design/Methodology: On the basis of a cross-sectional design and an online survey with 240 employees, simple mediation analyses were conducted.
Results: Cognitive job insecurity was negatively correlated with affective and cognitive well-being, and the concept of work orientation emerged as a significant partial mediator: job orientation was enhanced by job insecurity, which was further associated with lower well-being. Calling orientation was impaired by job insecurity, but in contrast to our expectations, was not significantly related to well-being.
Limitations: Conclusions regarding causality cannot be drawn because of the cross-sectional design.
Research/Practical Implications: This study calls attention to the potential impact of job insecurity on well-being and on employees` work orientation.
Originality/Value: The present research shows that viewing one?s job as a calling does not inevitably result in better psychological well-being.