Personal and Organizational Characteristics Antecedents of Meaningful Work

The contribution presents evidence of the role played by personal and organizational characteristics of employees in the experience of meaningful work. As referred to the individuals’ experience of value and significance of their work, meaningful work is a critical working phenomenon both for individuals (e.g., individuals’ well-being) and organizations (e.g., workers’ productivity). Therefore, a large number of studies have tried to understand its antecedents, however, it is still not clear about how and to what extent personal and organizational characteristics are associated with meaningful work. For instance, it is unclear the roles of a higher level of education as well as financial returns or good working conditions (e.g., high level of salary and good health insurance) for the pursuit of meaningful work. The contribution considers such a need for knowledge and aims to understand the antecedent role of personal and organizational characteristics in the experience of meaningful work. 570 Italian employees participated in a cross-sectional study that comprised measures of meaningful work and related facets, as well as questions on personal and organizational characteristics. Data were analyzed via the MANOVAs and results showed significant associations with meaningful work dimensions and personal characteristics, such as education, social class and health as well as organizational characteristics, such as job contract, job sector and salary.