Search results for: meaningfulness

Authors: Sashank Nyapati, Laura Lorente-Prieto, Maria Peiro

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The general objective of this study is to analyse the mediating role of meaningfulness in the relationships between job autonomy and job satisfaction and supportive organizational climate and job satisfaction. Theories such as the Job Characteristics Model, Conservation of Resources theory, as well as the Job Demands-Resources theory were used as theoretical framework. Data was obtained from the 5th European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS), and sample was composed of 1005 and 1000 workers from Spain and Portugal respectively. The analysis was conducted using the SOBEL Macro for SPSS (A multiple regression mediation model) developed by Preacher and Hayes in 2003. Results indicated that Meaningfulness partially mediates both the Job Autonomy-Job Satisfaction as well as the Supportive Organizational Climate-Job Satisfaction relationships. However, the percentages are large enough to draw substantial conclusions, especially that Job Meaningfulness plays an essential – if indirect – role in the amount of Satisfaction that one experiences at work. Some theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Keywords: meaningfulness, job autonomy, supportive organizational climate, job satisfaction

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Authors: Gamith Mendis

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Even though the doctors are knowledgeable, there's a gap between knowing and being ethical. This is a barrier to establish an ethical doctor-patient relationship. Current health system has oriented in a way that gives a meaning to both the doctor and the patient through intermediate entities. For the doctor, the meaning of the doctor-patient relationship is given through the financial benefits, promotions, and social status. For the patient, the meaning is given through curing of the disease. It is obvious that both are independent entities between the doctor and the patient. As the philosophers like Husserl and Heidegger have pointed out, our subjective world will give the immediate meaningfulness to us. We should seek this immediate meaningfulness of the doctor-patient relationship. The present research has used the existential methodology as guided self-reflections on the lived experiences of a doctor and his students. In this approach, two important aspects have been understood. The first is, establishing the fact that being ethical is itself giving meaningfulness to the doctor’s being without any mediate entities. Simply, it is enjoying being an honest being. The second is by being-with-the-patient while treating the disease; both the doctor and the patient can enjoy the meaningfulness of their human relationship. The medical students and the doctors should focus on this meaningfulness. For that, this discussion should be actively incorporated into the medical curriculum with programs of practical guidance to medical students and should be discussed in patient-care reviews in the health setting within a satisfactory framework.

Keywords: doctor-patient relationship, medical education, medical ethics, medical humanities, qualitative health research

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Authors: Masoud Raei, Mohammadmahdi Sadeghi

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The right to life as the most essential right in human rights issues and in the first group has devoted a special place to itself. Attention to this right and its domain and its reflection in civil rights is one of the most important axis of the rights to life issues. Issues discussed concerning this matter in public law with regard to its status in human rights are the determination of government’s duty toward identification; application and guarantee of this right. The constitutions of countries have chosen different approaches towards the identification of this right and also its limits and boundaries, determining the territory of governments for citizens. The reason for such a difference is the question arising in this regard. It is claimed that without the determination of meaningfulness of the right to life, it is not possible to provide a clear response to this question. The goal of this paper is to justify its theoretical framework from the view of meaningfulness of right to life relying on Quranic verses with a conceptual approach towards the right to life so that the relationship between government and citizens with regard to right to life is determined. Through a comparative study, it is possible to attain significant differences between the teachings of the Holy Quran and human rights documents. The method of this paper is a descriptive-analytic approach relying on interpretation books on Holy Quran.

Keywords: meaningfulness, objectivism, separatism, right to life

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Authors: Iveta Ludviga, Agita Kalvina

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This paper aims to link together the concepts of job satisfaction, work engagement, trust, job meaningfulness and loyalty to the organisation focusing on specific type of employment–academic jobs. The research investigates the relationships between job satisfaction, work engagement and loyalty as well as the impact of trust and job meaningfulness on the work engagement and loyalty. The survey was conducted in one of the largest Latvian higher education institutions and the sample was drawn from academic staff (n=326). Structured questionnaire with 44 reflective type questions was developed to measure toe constructs. Data was analysed using SPSS and Smart-PLS software. Variance based structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) technique was used to test the model and to predict the most important factors relevant to employee engagement and loyalty. The first order model included two endogenous constructs (loyalty and intention to stay and recommend, and employee engagement), as well as six exogenous constructs (feeling of fair treatment and trust in management; career growth opportunities; compensation, pay and benefits; management; colleagues; teamwork; and finally job meaningfulness). Job satisfaction was developed as second order construct and both: first and second order models were designed for data analysis. It was found that academics are more engaged than satisfied with their work and main reason for that was found to be job meaningfulness, which is significant predictor for work engagement, but not for job satisfaction. Compensation is not significantly related to work engagement, but only to job satisfaction. Trust was not significantly related neither to engagement, nor to satisfaction, however, it appeared to be significant predictor of loyalty and intentions to stay with the University. This paper revealed academic jobs as specific kind of employment where employees can be more engaged than satisfied and highlighted the specific role of job meaningfulness in the University settings.

Keywords: job satisfaction, job meaningfulness, higher education, work engagement

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Authors: Nisha Harry

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The study discussed in this article sought to assess whether a sense of professional efficacy mediates the relationship between personal factors and career adaptability. A quantitative cross-sectional survey approach was followed. A non–probability sample of (N = 409) of which predominantly early career and permanently employed black females in call centres in Africa participated in this study. In order to assess personal factors, the participants completed sense of meaningfulness and emotional intelligence measures. Measures of professional efficacy and career adaptability were also completed. The results of the mediational analysis revealed that professional efficacy significantly mediates the meaningfulness (sense of coherence) and career adaptability relationship, but not the emotional intelligence–career adaptability relationship. Call centre agents with professional efficacy are likely to be more work engaged as a result of their sense of meaningfulness and emotional intelligence.

Keywords: call centre, professional efficacy, career adaptability, emotional intelligence

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Authors: Y. R. Lai, J. C. Jehng, T. T. Chang

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Team is a popular job design in the management settings. Because people on a team need to work together to complete a lot of tasks, the interaction between team members strongly influences team effectiveness. The study examines the effect of social capital and empowering leadership on team cohesion. There are three facets of social capital: structural facet, relational facet, and cognitive facet. Empowering leadership includes enhancing the meaningfulness of work, fostering participation in decision making, expressing confidence in high performance, and providing autonomy from bureaucratic constraints. Data were collected from 181 team members of 47 teams in the real estate agency industry. The results show that the relational social capital, enhancing the meaningfulness of work, and providing autonomy from bureaucratic constraints are positively related to two dimensions of team cohesion: sense of belonging and feelings of moral. Additionally, expressing confidence in high performance is negatively related to sense of belonging.

Keywords: social capital, empowering leadership, team cohesion, team effectiveness

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Authors: Wilson Bastos, Sigal G. Barsade

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Much of what happens in the marketplace revolves around the provision and consumption of goods. Recent research has advanced a useful categorization of these goods—as experiential versus material—and shown that, from the consumers’ perspective, experiences (e.g., a theater performance) are superior to objects (e.g., an electronic gadget) in offering various social and psychological benefits. A common finding in this growing research stream is that consumers gain more happiness from the experiences they have than the objects they own. By focusing solely on those acquiring the experiential or material goods (the consumers), prior research has remained silent regarding another important group of individuals—those providing the goods (the employees). Do employees whose jobs are primarily focused on offering consumers an experience (vs. object) also gain more happiness from their occupation? We report evidence from four experiments supporting an experiential-employee advantage. Further, we use mediation and moderation tests to unearth the mechanism responsible for this effect. Results reveal that work meaningfulness is the primary driver of the experiential-employee advantage. Overall, our findings suggest that employees find it more meaningful to provide people with an experience as compared to a material object, which in turn shapes the happiness they derive from their jobs. We expect this finding to have implications on human development, and to be of relevance to researchers and practitioners interested in how to advance human condition in the workplace.

Keywords: employee happiness, experiential versus material jobs, work meaningfulness

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Authors: Thomas Ousterhout

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In an effort to test the ability of a commercial grade EEG headset to effectively measure the N400 ERP, a replication study was conducted to see if similar results could be produced as that which used a medical grade EEG. Pictures of meaningful and meaningless hand postures were borrowed from the original author and subjects were required to perform a semantic discrimination task. The N400 was detected indicating semantic processing of the meaningfulness of the hand postures. The results corroborate those of the original author and support the use of some commercial grade EEG headsets for non-critical research applications.

Keywords: EEG, ERP, N400, semantics, congruency, gestures, emotiv

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Authors: Mohammad Naseh Nasrollahi Shahri

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The article draws on Michael Bakhtin’s theory of language to examine peer interactions. It represents an analysis of other-repetition in student interactions. Several recent studies have explored various aspects of repetition in multiple contexts. However, other-repetition in peer interactions has not received enough attention. Building on previous studies, this study examines patterns of other-repetition or appropriation in the context of discussion activities performed by EFL learners. The analysis highlights the meaningfulness of other-repetition in a way that distinguishes them from rote-repetition. It is suggested that instances of repetition constitute third spaces between the self and other which provide ideal settings for language learning and demonstrate student agency and engagement.

Keywords: repetition, agency, Bakhtin, dialogue

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Authors: Jayashree Aanand, Gajjam

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The grammatical tradition in Sanskrit literature emphasizes the importance of the correct use of Sanskrit words or linguistic units (sādhu śabda) that brings the meritorious values, denying the attribution of the same religious merit to the incorrect use of Sanskrit words (asādhu śabda) or the vernacular or corrupt forms (apa-śabda or apabhraṁśa), even though they may help in communication. The current research, the culmination of the doctoral research on sentence definition, studies the difference among the comprehension of both correct and incorrect word forms in Sanskrit and Marathi languages in India. Based on the total of 19 experiments (both web-based and classroom-controlled) on approximately 900 Indian readers, it is found that while the incorrect forms in Sanskrit are comprehended with lesser accuracy than the correct word forms, no such difference can be seen for the Marathi language. It is interpreted that the incorrect word forms in the native language or in the language which is spoken daily (such as Marathi) will pose a lesser cognitive load as compared to the language that is not spoken on a daily basis but only used for reading (such as Sanskrit). The theoretical base for the research problem is as follows: among the three main schools of Language Science in ancient India, the Vaiyākaraṇas (Grammarians) hold that the corrupt word forms do have their own expressive power since they convey meaning, while as the Mimāṁsakas (the Exegesists) and the Naiyāyikas (the Logicians) believe that the corrupt forms can only convey the meaning indirectly, by recalling their association and similarity with the correct forms. The grammarians argue that the vernaculars that are born of the speaker’s inability to speak proper Sanskrit are regarded as degenerate versions or fallen forms of the ‘divine’ Sanskrit language and speakers who could not use proper Sanskrit or the standard language were considered as Śiṣṭa (‘elite’). The different ideas of different schools strictly adhere to their textual dispositions. For the last few years, sociolinguists have agreed that no variety of language is inherently better than any other; they are all the same as long as they serve the need of people that use them. Although the standard form of a language may offer the speakers some advantages, the non-standard variety is considered the most natural style of speaking. This is visible in the results. If the incorrect word forms incur the recall of the correct word forms in the reader as the theory suggests, it would have added one extra step in the process of sentential cognition leading to more cognitive load and less accuracy. This has not been the case for the Marathi language. Although speaking and listening to the vernaculars is the common practice and reading the vernacular is not, Marathi readers have readily and accurately comprehended the incorrect word forms in the sentences, as against the Sanskrit readers. The primary reason being Sanskrit is spoken and also read in the standard form only and the vernacular forms in Sanskrit are not found in the conversational data.

Keywords: experimental sociolinguistics, grammaticality and meaningfulness, Marathi, Sanskrit

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Authors: Nikeshala Weerasekara, Roshan Ajward

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Contemporary business environment, given the circumstance of stringent scrutiny toward corporate behavior, organizations are under pressure to develop and implement solid overarching Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategies. In that milieu, in order to differentiate themselves from competitors and maintain stakeholder confidence banks spend millions of dollars on CSR programmes. However, knowledge on how non-western bank employees perceive such activities is inconclusive. At the same time recently only researchers have shifted their focus on positive effects of compassion at work or the organizational conditions under which it arises. Nevertheless, mediation mechanisms between CSR and compassion at work have not been adequately examined leaving a vacuum to be explored. Despite finding a purpose in work that is greater than extrinsic outcomes of the work is important to employees, meaningful work has not been examined adequately. Thus, in addition to examining the direct relationship between CSR and compassion at work, this study examined the mediating capability of meaningful work between these variables. Specifically, the researcher explored how CSR enables employees to sense work as meaningful which in turn would enhance their level of compassion at work. Hypotheses were developed to examine the direct relationship between CSR and compassion at work and the mediating effect of meaningful work on the relationship between CSR and compassion at work. Both Social Identity Theory (SIT) and Social Exchange Theory (SET) were used to theoretically support the relationships. The sample comprised of 450 respondents covering different levels of the bank. A convenience sampling strategy was used to secure responses from 13 local licensed commercial banks in Sri Lanka. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire which was developed based on a comprehensive review of literature and refined using both expert opinions and a pilot survey. Structural equation modeling using Smart Partial Least Square (PLS) was utilized for data analysis. Findings indicate a positive and significant (p < .05) relationship between CSR and compassion at work. Also, it was found that meaningful work partially mediates the relationship between CSR and compassion at work. As per the findings it is concluded that bank employees’ perception of CSR engagement not only directly influence compassion at work but also impact such through meaningful work as well. This implies that employees consider working for a socially responsible bank since it creates greater meaningfulness of work to retain with the organization, which in turn trigger higher level of compassion at work. By utilizing both SIT and SET in explaining relationships between CSR and compassion at work it amounts to theoretical significance of the study. Enhance existing literature on CSR and compassion at work. Also, adds insights on mediating capability of psychologically related variables such as meaningful work. This study is expected to have significant policy implications in terms of increasing compassion at work where managers must understand the importance of including CSR activities into their strategy in order to thrive. Finally, it provides evidence of suitability of using Smart PLS to test models with mediating relationships involving non normal data.

Keywords: compassion at work, corporate social responsibility, employee commitment, meaningful work, positive affect

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Authors: Debalina Datta, Pratyaypratim Datta, Kunal Kanti Majumdar

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Introduction: In India 8.1% of total population is elderly. The standard of living and meaningfulness of life are indirectly measured by assessing quality of life of elderly. So, it is important to improve quality of life. Quality of life is an individual’s understanding of his/ her life situation with respect to his/ her values and cultural context as well as in relation to his/her goals, expectations and concerns. The present study was planned to assess the quality of life of geriatric people in urban West Bengal, India. Materials and methods: It was a community based cross sectional observational study conducted among people aged 60 years and above in Kolkata and Sonarpur region of West Bengal, India. Data collection was done by house to house visit using Quality of Life- BREF questionnaire (WHOQOL-BERF) developed by WHO. Analysis of quality of life of physical, psychological, social relationship and environmental domain was done using SPSS (version 16.0). Results: Transformed score (0-100 scale) was used for each domain. Mean of physical, psychological, social relationship and environmental domain were found to be 42.25, 40.84, 39.62 and 48.36 respectively. There was no significant difference in score between Kolkata and Sonarpur people in any domain except social relationship domain, where people living at Sonarpur scored significantly better. Conclusion: Rehabilitation of old age people can be done by improving their quality of life. Social interaction with people of all ages, allowing them to take important family decision, engaging them in different social activities can help a lot.

Keywords: quality of life, elderly, Urban West Bengal, India

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Authors: Nerissa Gloria Balboa, Aire Yukdawan, Venice Gordula, Rhea Jannagen Curva

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This research examined the lived experiences and compared their similarities and differences of former Catholics turned Muslim converts in and out of prison. Qualitative comparative study with an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis approach was used to explore the lives of Muslim converts. Interviews were conducted at Islamic Studies, Call and Guidance of the Philippines (ISCAG) and Tarbiyyah Islamic Female Institute for Muslim converts out of prison, New Bilibid Prison (NBP) and Correctional Institution for Women (CIW) for Muslim converts in prison. Results of the study show that first, for Muslim converts out of prison, exploration begins through (1) experiences of Catholicism as a norm in the family and eventual realization of its emptiness in practice, (2) experiences of Islam as a norm in the environment and discovery of meaningfulness of Islam (3) experiences of gradual holistic transformation of being a Muslim; and (4) experiences of extension of oneself towards family and society. Secondly, for Muslim converts in prison, exploration begins through (1) experiences of Apathy towards Catholicism and eventual deviation from moral standards, (2) experiences of prison condition as an environment of reflection on spirituality; and (3) experiences of positive effects of being a Muslim inside Prison. Comparisons show that there exists similarities and differences across the two settings in terms of (1) experiences of Catholicism and the degree of its internalization and actualization, (2) experiences of Islamic encounters and the process of conversion; and (3) experience of Islamic devotion and Islamic construct for the self. Theoretical bases of religious conversion found in unique contexts are discussed, initiating a paradigm shift of thinking that is needed to address the deeply rooted prejudices within Catholic and Islamic circles.

Keywords: Catholicism, Islamic conversion, social psychology, religion

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Authors: Shazia Anwer

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The current TV Talk Shows, especially on domestic politics in Pakistan are following the Aristotelian techniques, including deductive reasoning, three modes of persuasion, and guidelines for communication. The application of “Approximate Truth is also seen when Talk Show presenters create doubts against political personalities or national issues. Mainstream media of Pakistan, being a key carrier of narrative construction for the sake of the primary function of national consensus on regional and extended public diplomacy, is failing the purpose. This paper has highlighted the Aristotelian communication methodology, its purposes and its limitations for a serious discussion, and its connection to the mistrust among the Pakistani population regarding fake or embedded, funded Information. Data has been collected from 3 Pakistani TV Talk Shows and their analysis has been made by applying the Aristotelian communication method to highlight the core issues. Paper has also elaborated that current media education is impaired in providing transparent techniques to train the future journalist for a meaningful, thought-provoking discussion. For this reason, this paper has given an overview of HEC’s (Higher Education Commission) graduate-level Mass Com Syllabus for Pakistani Universities. The idea of ethos, logos, and pathos are the main components of TV Talk Shows and as a result, the educated audience is lacking trust in the mainstream media, which eventually generating feelings of distrust and betrayal in the society because productions look like the genre of Drama instead of facts and analysis thus the line between Current Affairs shows and Infotainment has become blurred. In the last section, practical implication to improve meaningfulness and transparency in the TV Talk shows has been suggested by replacing the Aristotelian communication method with the cognitive semiotic communication approach.

Keywords: Aristotelian techniques of communication, current affairs talk shows, drama, Pakistan

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Authors: Fatemeh Rouhi, Hadi Nassiri

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Earning forecast is a key element in economic decisions but there are some situations, such as conflicts of interest in financial reporting, complexity and lack of direct access to information has led to the phenomenon of information asymmetry among individuals within the organization and external investors and creditors that appear. The adverse selection and moral hazard in the investor's decision and allows direct assessment of the difficulties associated with data by users makes. In this regard, the role of trustees in corporate governance disclosure is crystallized that includes controls and procedures to ensure the lack of movement in the interests of the company's management and move in the direction of maximizing shareholder and company value. Therefore, the earning forecast of companies in the capital market and the need to identify factors influencing this study was an attempt to make relationship between moral hazard and corporate governance with earning forecast quality companies operating in the capital market and its impact on Earnings Forecasts quality by the company to be established. Getting inspiring from the theoretical basis of research, two main hypotheses and sub-hypotheses are presented in this study, which have been examined on the basis of available models, and with the use of Panel-Data method, and at the end, the conclusion has been made at the assurance level of 95% according to the meaningfulness of the model and each independent variable. In examining the models, firstly, Chow Test was used to specify either Panel Data method should be used or Pooled method. Following that Housman Test was applied to make use of Random Effects or Fixed Effects. Findings of the study show because most of the variables are positively associated with moral hazard with earnings forecasts quality, with increasing moral hazard, earning forecast quality companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange is increasing. Among the variables related to corporate governance, board independence variables have a significant relationship with earnings forecast accuracy and earnings forecast bias but the relationship between board size and earnings forecast quality is not statistically significant.

Keywords: corporate governance, earning forecast quality, moral hazard, financial sciences

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Authors: Cosette Maiky

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Seven years have passed since the crisis erupted and the list of challenges to peacebuilding and interreligious dialogue is still growing ever more discouraging: Violence, displacement, sectarianism, discrimination, radicalisation, fragmentation, and collapse of various social and economic infrastructure have notoriously plagued the war-torn country. As the situation in Syria and neighbouring countries is still creating a real concern about the future of the social cohesion and the coexistence in the region, in her function as Field Expert on Arab Countries at King Abdullah bin Abdelaziz Centre for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue, the author shall present a systematic review paper that focuses on the radicalization of Islam in Syria. The exercise was based on a series of research questions that guided both the review of literature as well as the interviews. Their relative meaningfulness shall be assessed and trade-offs discussed in each case to ensure that key questions were addressed and to avoid unnecessary effort. There was an element of flexibility, as the assessment progressed, to further provide and inject additional generic questions. The main sources for the information were: Documents and literature with a direct bearing on the issues of relevance collected in all available formats and information collected through key informant interviews. This latter was particularly helpful to understand what some of the capacity constraints are, as well as the gaps, enablers and barriers. Respondents were selected among those who are engaged in IRD activities clearly linked to peacebuilding (i.e. religious leaders, leaders in religious communities, peace actors, religious actors, conflict parties, minority groups, women initiatives, youth initiatives, civil society organizations, academia, etc.), with relevant professional qualifications and work experience. During the research process, the Consultant carefully took account of sensitivities around terminologies as well as a highly insecure and dynamic context. The Consultant (Arabic native speaker), therefore, adapted terminologies while conducting interviews according to the area and respondent. Findings revealed: the deep ideological polarization and lack of trust dividing communities and preventing meaningful dialogue opportunities; the challenge of prioritizing IRD and peacebuilding work in the context of such a severe humanitarian crisis facing the country; the need to engage religious leaders and institutions in peacebuilding processes and initiatives, the need to have institutions with specific IRD mandate, which can have a sustainable influence on peace through various levels of interventions (from grassroots level to policy and research), and lastly, the need to address stigma in media representation of Muslims and Islam. While religion and religious agendas have been massively used for political issues and power play in the Middle East – and elsewhere, more extensive policy and research efforts are needed to highlight the positive role of religion and religious actors in dialogue and peacebuilding processes.

Keywords: radicalisation, Islam, Syria, conflict

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