Outcomes of Meaningful Work: A Meta‐Analysis

By B. Allan, Cassondra Batz-Barbarich, Haley M. Sterling, Louis Tay. Journal of Management Studies, 2018

506 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Using job characteristics theory as a framework, we calculated meta‐analytic effect sizes between meaningful work and various outcomes and tested a mediated model of meaningful work predicting proximal and distal outcomes with meta‐analytic structural equation modelling (MASEM). From 44 articles (N = 23,144), we found that meaningful work had large correlations (r = 0.70+) with work engagement, commitment, and job satisfaction; moderate to large correlations (r = 0.44 to −0.49) with life satisfaction, life meaning, general health, and withdrawal intentions; and small to moderate correlations (r = −0.19 to 0.33) with organizational citizenship behaviours, self‐rated job performance, and negative affect. The best MASEM fitting model was meaningful work predicting work engagement, commitment, and job satisfaction and these variables subsequently predicting self‐rated performance, organizational citizenship behaviours, and withdrawal intentions. This meta‐analysis provides estimated effect sizes between meaningful work and its outcomes and reveals how meaningful work relates directly and indirectly to key outcomes.

Subfields: Demography, General Health Professions, Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/0c4d259c801e79e33ad91e63362b3ebdceb6577a

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Citations in the corpus

Beyond intrinsic and extrinsic motivation: A meta-analysis on self-determination theory’s multidimensional conceptualization of work motivation (2021, unknown): “We complement this line of work, showing that meaningful work may not only relate to well-being (Allan et al., 2019), but also—and particularly—contributes to predicting performance.”
Meaningful Work, Job Resources, and Employee Engagement (2021, background): “Meaningfulness has been associated with psychological well-being [51]; greater commitment, satisfaction, and involvement [52]; increased work motivation [31,42]; and lower absenteeism [53].”
Teachers’ well-being and job satisfaction: the important role of positive emotions in the workplace (2021, background): “Perceiving work as meaningful can be regarded as an important driver of job satisfaction, as a meta-analysis has found these factors to be extensively related (Allan et al. 2019).”