“Called” To Speak Out: Employee Career Calling and Voice Behavior

This study is the first one to explore the relation between career calling and employee voice and two potential mediators of this relationship, felt responsibility for constructive change and employee optimism about the future. Surveys from 406 employees of a law enforcement agency in the Midwest U.S. were analyzed using logistic regression and bootstrapping method with Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to examine support for the hypotheses’ main and mediating effects. A behavioral measure was used to capture employees’ promotive voice behavior. Results indicated that individuals with stronger career calling were more likely to engage in promotive voice, after controlling for personality, perceptions toward work, and organizational tenure. In addition, career calling was positively associated with both felt responsibility and employee optimism. Finally, felt responsibility for constructive change fully mediated the relationship between career calling and promotive voice. The implications of these findings for researchers and practitioners are discussed.

Refugees’ Meaning of Work: A Qualitative Investigation of Work Purposes and Expectations

This study explores the meaning of work for 22 young refugees aged from 18 to 35 from Afghanistan, Eritrea, Iran, Somalia, Syria, Turkey, Ukraine, and Yemen through semistructured interviews. Using consensual qualitative research, we sought to understand the purposes work fulfills, their work expectations, and how purposes and expectations might have changed over time. Results showed that work fulfills many purposes found in the literature, (e.g., development, structure, health, identity, and material benefits) as well as purposes in relation with others and the larger society. Participants expect their work to correspond to their selves (e.g., interests and personality), offer decent working conditions, and allow meaningful relationships and opportunities to help others. Illustrations of two participants’ paths provided insights into a possible change of meaning of work. In addition to implications for practice, the influence of relational and contextual factors is discussed.

“Why can’t I Have the Office Jobs?”: Immigrant Latinx Transgender Peoples’ Experiences with Seeking Employment

Research has documented the experiences of transgender people in seeking employment. To date, no scholarship has explored the experiences of immigrant Latinx transgender people seeking employment in the United States. Using an intersectionality framework, the present study aimed to uncover the experiences of immigrant Latinx transgender people as they sought employment in the United States. A community sample of 18 immigrant Latinx transgender people from a large metropolitan city in Florida engaged in semi-structured interviews. Thematic analysis revealed five themes related to participants’ experiences seeking employment, including: (1) discrimination, (2) limited options, (3) positive experiences, (4) momentary de-transition, and (5) disability benefits as financial relief. Future directions such as exploring ways in which immigrant Latinx transgender people resist discrimination while seeking job opportunities are discussed. Implications for practice and advocacy such as advocating for equitable employment policies that acknowledge the intersectional experiences of this community are presented.

An Examination of Mentors’ Interpersonal Behaviors and Mentees’ Motivation, Turnover Intentions, Engagement, and Well-Being

Using self-determination theory among a sample of student employees, the present cross-sectional study ( N = 358) examines how mentors’ interpersonal behaviors relate to both motivation at work and motivation for a mentoring relationship and how these two contexts of motivation can differentially relate to mentees’ work outcomes. Results revealed that mentors’ need-supportive interpersonal behaviors were associated with greater autonomous motivation at work and in the mentoring relationship and, in turn, to greater well-being and work engagement, and to lower turnover intentions. In contrast, need-thwarting interpersonal behaviors were associated with greater controlled motivation at work and in the mentoring relationship and, in turn, to lower well-being and work engagement, and to greater turnover intentions. Overall, this study illustrates the impact of the mentor–mentee relationship on motivation for work and for the mentoring relationship and provided support for the contribution of both motivational contexts in the work-related outcomes of employees in the workplace.

Work Values and Job Satisfaction: The Mediating Role of Basic Psychological Needs at Work

This study investigated the mediating role of basic psychological needs at work in the association from work values to job satisfaction. Using a four-factor model of work values, we tested how each work value factor was related to basic psychological need satisfaction and frustration at work. The sample included 228 workers (72% female) surveyed twice over a 7-week interval. Results showed that need satisfaction at work was positively predicted by intrinsic and social work values and negatively predicted by extrinsic work values. Need frustration at work was positively predicted by extrinsic and status work values and negatively predicted by intrinsic work values. Also, need satisfaction fully mediated the relationship from intrinsic, extrinsic, and social work values to job satisfaction. These findings suggest that organizational and career development interventions aiming to enhance employees need satisfaction at work should aim to promote growth-oriented work values endorsement rather than instrumental work values.

Just and Inclusive Team Climates Affect Mentoring Satisfaction: The Roles of Negative Mentoring and Race

As more work is being conducted in teams, mentees have increased opportunities to develop non-traditional mentoring relationships. We investigate how and when three aspects of team climate (procedural justice, interpersonal justice, and inclusion) influence mentoring satisfaction among mentees with an informal secondary mentor. Using survey data from 116 researchers on environmental science teams, we test whether (a) just and inclusive team climates are related to mentoring satisfaction through positive and negative mentoring experiences and (b) race moderates the relationships between just and inclusive team climates and mentoring satisfaction. We found that negative mentoring experiences mediated the relationships between just and inclusive team climates and mentoring satisfaction. Further, just and inclusive team climates were positively related to mentoring satisfaction, especially for people of color. These results suggest that positive team climates support informal mentoring in teams by reducing negative mentoring experiences and creating a welcoming environment for individuals from marginalized groups.

A Cultural Orientation Approach to Work Orientation: Mongolian Workers’ Jobs, Careers, and Callings

Culturally held beliefs about the self and its relations with others affect the way individuals view their work. In this study, we examined the associations between individualism-collectivism and the three work orientations (i.e., viewing work as a job, a career, or a calling). We also investigated whether the positive effects of a calling orientation can be generalized to a developing eastern country, Mongolia. Using a sample of 352 Mongolian workers, we found that those endorsing horizontal collectivism tended to view their work as a calling more than as a job or a career. Mongolians with a calling orientation reported having better satisfaction with job, salary, and life, more work meaningfulness, and less turnover intention than those viewing work as a job or a career. The results suggest that cultural orientations and work orientations are intertwined, and the positive roles of a calling orientation are generalizable to Mongolia.

Growth Opportunities and Entrepreneurial Performance: Testing Strengths Use and Meaning-Making as Moderators of the Relationship

The present study investigates how developable behavioral (strengths use) and cognitive (meaning-making) mechanisms moderate the relationship between personal growth opportunities and entrepreneurial performance. We relied on a cross-sectional design. Data were gathered from 208 Romanian entrepreneurs and analyzed via hierarchical multiple linear regressions. The employed moderators boost the investigated relationship, both separately and interactively. The three-way interaction shows that entrepreneurs have to employ strengths use and meaning-making concomitantly to be able to capitalize on growth opportunities effectively. Consequently, this will enable entrepreneurs to rate their business performance more positively because they will perceive they have the necessary resources to invest in the business. Conversely, at low levels of strengths use and meaning-making, the presence of growth opportunities erodes entrepreneurial performance. This study identifies strengths use and meaning-making as vital psychological tools that allow an increase in entrepreneurial performance thus altering business-related investment and continuance decisions.

Adolescents’ Future Expectations of Work and Education Within Adaptation Model of Career Construction Theory

The current study suggested and tested a model to investigate the associations between adolescent future expectations of work and education (AFE-WE; adaptive responses) and positive future expectations (PFE; adaptivity) through concern, control, curiosity, and confidence (adaptability resources) as well as the role of the gender. The data were gathered from 806 high school students (59% girls), recruited from eight different public schools in Gaziantep, Turkey. Structural equation model was used. The results showed that the PFE predicted the AFE-WE and concern, control, curiosity, and confidence. Yet, concern contributed to the AFE-WE, only and partially mediated the relationships between the PFE and the AFE-WE. The proposed model did not change across gender. These findings were discussed within cultural context and addressed implications for theory, research, and practice.