Research on Work as a Calling…and How to Make It Matter

TLDR

Work as a calling offers unique insights into individuals’ relationships with work, yet its influence on mainstream organizational and occupational psychology research remains limited. The study reviews literature on work as a calling, identifies barriers such as definition, differentiation, generalizability, and relevance, and proposes a path forward. The authors propose an integrated conceptualization of calling, termed transcendent calling, that emphasizes both inner passion and enjoyment and outer duty and destiny. The key finding is the transcendent calling framework, which integrates inner and outer dimensions of calling to guide future research.

Abstract

The concept of work as a calling has the potential to provide unique and powerful insights into how individuals relate to their work and organizations. However, although this concept may be one of the oldest in the study of work—harking back to the Protestant Reformation—its impact on mainstream OP and OB research has been limited. We review the research literature on work as a calling, and identify several issues that are preventing research in this area from reaching its potential—issues of definition, differentiation, generalizability, and relevance. We consider each of these questions and propose a path forward. Central to that path forward is an integrated conceptualization of calling—what we call a transcendent calling—that puts dual emphasis on the inner requiredness of passion and enjoyment and the outer requiredness of duty and destiny.