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Time reclaimed: temporality and the experience of meaningful work

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journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-08, 22:14 authored by Catherine Bailey, Adrian Madden
The importance of meaningful work has been identified in scholarly writings across a range of disciplines. However, empirical studies remain sparse and the potential relevance of the concept of temporality, hitherto somewhat neglected even in wider sociological studies of organizations, has not been considered in terms of the light that it can shed on the experience of work as meaningful. These two disparate bodies of thought are brought together to generate new accounts of work meaningfulness through the lens of temporality. Findings from a qualitative study of workers in three occupations with ostensibly distinct temporal landscapes are reported. All jobs had the potential to be both meaningful and meaningless; meaningfulness arose episodically through work experiences that were shared, autonomous and temporally complex. Schutz’s notion of the ‘vivid present’ emerged as relevant to understanding how work is rendered meaningful within an individual’s personal and social system of relevances.

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Accepted version

Journal

Work, Employment and Society

ISSN

0950-0170

Publisher

SAGE Publications

Issue

1

Volume

31

Page range

3-18

Department affiliated with

  • Business and Management Publications

Full text available

  • Yes

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2015-08-27

First Open Access (FOA) Date

2016-04-20

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2015-08-27

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