Arbeitspapier
What makes work meaningful and why economists should care about it
We demonstrate why meaningful work, i.e. job-related activities that individuals view as purposeful and worthwhile, matters to labour economists. Building on self-determination theory, which specifies the roles of autonomy, competence, and relatedness as preconditions for motivation, we are the first to explore the determinants of work meaningfulness. Specifically, using three waves of the European Working Conditions Survey, we show that autonomy, competence, and relatedness explain about 60 percent of the variation in work meaningfulness perceptions. Meanwhile, extrinsic factors, such as income, benefits, and performance pay, are relatively unimportant. Meaningful work also predicts absenteeism, skills training, and retirement intentions, which highlights the concept's economic significance. We provide new insights that could help organise the future of work in a meaningful and dignifying way and propose concrete avenues for future research on meaningful work in economics.
- Sprache
-
Englisch
- Erschienen in
-
Series: GLO Discussion Paper ; No. 509
- Klassifikation
-
Wirtschaft
Labor Economics: General
Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs: General
Nonwage Labor Costs and Benefits; Retirement Plans; Private Pensions
Labor Standards: Working Conditions
Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty: General
General Welfare; Well-Being
Personnel Economics: General
- Thema
-
meaningful work
motivation
non-monetary benefits of work
labour economics
labour market outcomes
self-determination theory
- Ereignis
-
Geistige Schöpfung
- (wer)
-
Nikolova, Milena
Cnossen, Femke
- Ereignis
-
Veröffentlichung
- (wer)
-
Global Labor Organization (GLO)
- (wo)
-
Essen
- (wann)
-
2020
- Handle
- Letzte Aktualisierung
-
10.03.2025, 11:44 MEZ
Datenpartner
ZBW - Deutsche Zentralbibliothek für Wirtschaftswissenschaften - Leibniz-Informationszentrum Wirtschaft. Bei Fragen zum Objekt wenden Sie sich bitte an den Datenpartner.
Objekttyp
- Arbeitspapier
Beteiligte
- Nikolova, Milena
- Cnossen, Femke
- Global Labor Organization (GLO)
Entstanden
- 2020
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