The Impact of Meaningful Work on Employee Identity and the Mediating Role of Employee Resilience

Aisha  Kanwal; Rimsha  Maqsood; Meena  Karim

doi:10.32350/jarms/2020/0101/905

Aisha Kanwal Auspak Global Services (Pvt.) Ltd
Rimsha Maqsood University of Management and Technology, Lahore, Pakistan
Meena Karim University of Management and Technology, Lahore, Pakistan

DOI: https://doi.org/10.32350/jarms/2020/0101/905

Keywords: employee identity, employee performance, employee resilience, meaningful work, service sector

Abstract

Abstract Views: 359

The current study focused on the impact of meaningful work on employee identity with a mediating role for employee resilience. Data was collected from a sample of 154 employees currently working in the service sector (call centers) of Lahore, Pakistan. The study was quantitative and the data was analyzed using AMOS software. For this purpose, Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was used to check the model fit statistics and the mediation effect of employee resilience was analyzed using Preacher and Hayes’ (2004) median analysis. Convergent validity was measured through factor loading and AVE value verification of indices; whereas reliability was approved through Cronbach’s alpha. The findings of the current study revealed that meaningful work plays a significant role in enhancing employee resilience, which enables them to cope with challenging situations and thus maintaining their identity. In the service sector, where employees continuously deal with customers, resilience becomes the key to attract and retain potential customers, which allows them to deliver exceptional client service with confidence. This research is among a limited number of studies available on this topic and it will be an important addition to research literature highlighting the impact of meaningful work and employee resilience on employee performance in the context of call centers employees working in Lahore, Pakistan.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Alvesson, M., & Willmott, H. (2002). Identity regulation as organizational control: Producing the appropriate individual. Journal of Management Studies, 39(5), 619–644.

Arnold, K. A., Turner, N., Barling, J., Kelloway, E. K., & McKee, M. C. (2007). Transformational leadership and psychological well-being: The mediating role of meaningful work. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 12(3), 193.

Ashforth, B. E., & Mael, F. (1989). Social identity theory and the organization.

Academy of Management Review, 14(1), 20–39.

Ashmos, D. P., & Duchon, D. (2000). Spirituality at work: A conceptualization and measure. Journal of Management Inquiry, 9(2), 134–145.

Bardoel, E. A., Pettit, T. M., De Cieri, H., & McMillan, L. (2014). Employee resilience: An emerging challenge for HRM. Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, 52(3), 279–297.

Barker, J. R. (1998). Managing identification. In D. A. Whetten, & P. C. Godfrey (Eds.), Identity in organizations (pp. 257−267). Sage Publications.

Blasdel, T. R. (2015). Resilience at work: An exploration of the process of resilience with marketing agency professionals [Doctoral dissertation]. University of Kansas.

Cai, W., Lysova, E. I., Bossink, B. A., Khapova, S. N., & Wang, W. (2018). Psychological capital and self‐reported employee creativity: The moderating role of supervisor support and job characteristics. Creativity and Innovation Management, 28(1), 30–41.

Cooke, F. L., Cooper, B., Bartram, T., Wang, J., & Mei, H. (2016). Mapping the relationships between high-performance work systems, employee resilience and engagement: A study of the banking industry in China. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 1,1–22.

Coutu, D. L. (2002). How resilience works. Harvard Business Review, 80(5), 46– 56.

Crane, M. F. (Ed.). (2017). Managing for resilience: A practical guide for employee wellbeing and organizational performance. Taylor & Francis.

Davies, N. (2016). Resilience tops bill at psychology conference. Occupational Health & Wellbeing, 68(3), 16.

Deetz, S. A. (1994). The micro-politics of identity formation in the workplace: The case of a knowledge intensive firm. Human Studies, 17(1), 23–44.

Deloitte Global Human Capital Trends. (2017). Rewriting the rules for the digital age. Author.

Dutton, J. E., Dukerich, J. M., & Harquail, C. V. (1994). Organizational images and member identification. Administrative Science Quarterly, 39, 239–263.

Elliott, G. C., Colangelo, M. F., & Gelles, R. J. (2005). Mattering and suicide ideation: Establishing and elaborating a relationship. Social Psychology Quarterly, 68(3), 223–238.

Fit for Work Team. (2017, July 7). Building workplace resilience [Blog Post]. https://fitforwork.org/blog/building-workplace-resilience/

Foucault, M. (1985). The history of sexuality (vol. 2). Penguin publisher. Fredrickson, B. L. (2004). The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions.

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 359(1449), 1367.

Gable, S. L., Reis, H. T., Impett, E. A., & Asher, E. R. (2004). What do you do when things go right? The intrapersonal and interpersonal benefits of sharing positive events. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 87(2), 228.

Grant, A. M. (2007). Relational job design and the motivation to make a prosocial difference. Academy of Management Review, 32(2), 393–417.

Gravetter, F. J., & Forzano, L. B. (2009). Research Methods for the Behavioral Sciences (3rd ed.). Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

Hackman, J. R., & Oldham, G. R. (1976). Motivation through the design of work: Test of a theory. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 16(2), 250–279.

Hair, J., Black, W., Babin, B., Anderson, R., & Tatham, R. (1998). Multivariate data analysis (Vol. 5, No. 3, pp. 207-219). Prentice Hall Publication.

Johnson, M. J., & Jiang, L. (2017). Reaping the benefits of meaningful work: The mediating versus moderating role of work engagement. Stress and Health, 33(3), 288–297.

Lips, M.-W., & Morris, L. (2009). Discriminating between ‘meaningful work’and the ‘management of meaning’. Journal of Business Ethics, 88(3), 491–511.

Lysova, E. I., Allan, B. A., Dik, B. J., Duffy, R. D., & Steger, M. F. (2018). Fostering meaningful work in organizations: A multi-level review and integration. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 110, 374–389.

Maddi, S. R., & Khoshaba, D. M. (2005). Resilience at work: How to succeed no matter what life throws at you.Amacom Books.

Malik, P., & Garg, P. (2017). Learning organization and work engagement: The mediating role of employee resilience. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 1–24.

Michaelson, C. (2005). I Want Your Shower Time!: Drowning in work and the erosion of life. Business & Professional Ethics Journal, 24(4), 7–26.

Näswall, K., Kuntz, J., Hodliffe, M., & Malinen, S. (2013). Employee Resilience Scale (EmpRes): Technical report. University of Canterbury.

Näswall, K., Kuntz, J., Hodliffe, M., & Malinen, S. (2015). Employee Resilience Scale (EmpRes): Measurement properties (Resilient Organizations Research Report). University of Canterbury.

Nezlek, J. B., & Gable, S. L. (2001). Depression as a moderator of relationships between positive daily events and day-to-day psychological adjustment. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 27(12), 1692–1704.

Ojode, T., Schneider, E. H., Tiffany, H. L., Yung, S., Gao, J.-L., & Murphy, P. M. (2013). The major leukocyte chemotactic and activating factors in the mouse gut lumen are not N-formylpeptide receptor 1 agonists. Journal of Innate Immunity, 5(1), 2–14.

Paul, H., Bamel, U. K., & Garg, P. (2016). Employee resilience and OCB: Mediating effects of organizational commitment. Vikalpa, 41(4), 308–324.

Pratt, M. G., & Ashforth, B. E. (2003). Fostering meaningfulness in working and at work. In K. S. Cameron, J. E. Dutton & R. E. Quinn (Eds.), Positive Organizational Scholarship(pp. 309-327). Berrtt-Koehler publisher.

Preacher, K. J., & Hayes, A. F. (2004). SPSS and SAS procedures for estimating indirect effects in simple mediation models. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers, 36(4), 717-731. 10.3758/bf03206553

Rosenberg, M., & McCullough, B. C. (1981). Mattering: Inferred significance and mental health among adolescents. Research in Community and Mental Health, 2(1), 163–182.

Rosso, B. D., Dekas, K. H., & Wrzesniewski, A. (2010). On the meaning of work: A theoretical integration and review. Research in Organizational Behavior, 30, 91–127.

Selenta, C., & Lord, R. G. (2005). Development of the levels of self-concept scale: Measuring the individual, relational, and collective levels [Unpublished manuscript]. University of Akron.

Sharma, S., Mukherjee, S., Kumar, A., & Dillon, W. R. (2005). A simulation study to investigate the use of cutoff values for assessing model fit in covariance structure models. Journal of Business Research, 58(7), 935–943.

Shin, J., Taylor, M. S., & Seo, M.-G. (2012). Resources for change: The relationships of organizational inducements and psychological resilience to employees' attitudes and behaviors toward organizational change. Academy of Management Journal, 55(3), 727–748.

Shoss, M. K., Jiang, L., & Probst, T. M. (2018). Bending without breaking: A two- study examination of employee resilience in the face of job insecurity. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 23(1), 112.

Stacks, D. (2010). A practioner's guide to public relations research, measurement and evaluation. Business Expert Press.

Steger, M. F., & Dik, B. J. (2010). Work as meaning: Individual and organizational benefits of engaging in meaningful work. In P. A. Linley, S. Harrington & N. Garcea (Eds.), Oxford handbook of positive psychology and work (pp. 131- 142). Oxford University Press.

Steger, M. F., Dik, B. J., & Duffy, R. D. (2012). Measuring meaningful work: The work and meaning inventory (WAMI). Journal of Career Assessment, 20(3), 322–337.

Symon, G., & Clegg, C. (2005). Constructing identity and participation during technological change. Human Relations, 58(9), 1141–1166.

Tajfel, H., & Turner, J. C. (1979). An integrative theory of intergroup conflict. In

W. G. Austin & S. Worchel (Eds.), The Social Psychology of Intergroup Relations(33–47). Brooks/Cole Publishing.

Torres, D. H., & Fyke, J. P. (2013). Communicating resilience: A discursive leadership perspective. Journal of Media and Culture, 16(5), 1–3. http://journal.media-culture.org.au/index.php/mcjournal/article/view/712

Winwood, P. C., Colon, R., & McEwen, K. (2013). A practical measure of workplace resilience: developing the resilience at work scale. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 55(10), 1205–1212.

Ybema, S., Keenoy, T., Oswick, C., Beverungen, A., Ellis, N., & Sabelis, I. (2009). Articulating identities. Human Relations, 62(3), 299–322.