Personal growth initiative and calling: intrinsic motivation at work
Date
2014
Authors
Jurica, John, author
Dik, Bryan, advisor
Anderson, Sharon, committee member
Fisher, Gwenith, committee member
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Abstract
This study examined relationships between personal growth initiative, which is a desire to actively engage in conscious self-improvement, and the vocational construct of calling, which is defined as a sense of meaning derived from work that is pro-social and emanates from a transcendent summons. The study also examined how personal growth initiative and calling variables were related to positive well-being variables and career development variables. The participants (N = 297) were undergraduate students enrolled in a psychology course at a large public university in the western United States. The results suggested that personal growth initiative can be incorporated into the prevailing model of calling in multiple ways. First, evidence suggested that it may function as a predictor of presence of calling. Second, personal growth initiative may function as a moderator between presence of calling and living a calling. Finally, there was evidence that personal growth initiative may be a mediator between presence of calling and positive criterion variables, including life satisfaction and work hope. The results also suggested that living a calling may not be an important goal for college students, which provides evidence for the possibility that a sense of calling has different effects for individuals in different stages of career development. Implications, limitations, and future directions for this research are discussed.
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Subject
calling
positive psychology
personal growth
college students