Meaningful Work

The aim of the present paper is to determine influence of job crafting on B2B salesperson performance through meaningful work in banking industry. This study applies role-resource avoidance approach theory to explain how job crafting affects Business to Business salesperson outcome and behavioral performance through mediating role of meaningful work. To achieve the research objectives, research data were collected from 175 B2B salesperson and their managers branches of four different Banks of Iran. Structural Equation Modeling was used by SmartPLS (2) software to analyze the impact of job crafting activities on salesperson performance through mediating role of meaningful work. Results of the present study indicated that three types of job crafting activities (i.e., role-approach crafting, resource-approach crafting and role-avoidance crafting) are positively related to salespersons’ selling and non-selling behavioral performance through meaningful work. The resource-avoidance activities are negatively related to salespersons’ selling behavioral performance through meaningful work, but they have not scientific influence on non-selling behavioral performance. Moreover, the salesperson’s both selling and non-selling behavioral performance is positively related to salesperson outcome performance. Prior quantitative studies of job crafting have focused on role orientation or resource orientation but in this study, we used role-resource avoidance approach perspective that suggested new and wide taxonomy for job crafting such work role expansion, work social expansion, work organization, adaptation, metacognition, work role reduction and withdrawal activities.

I have previously argued that human flourishing partly consists in the ability to exercise essential human capacities, many of which are non-distinctive and shared with other animals. The concept of flourishing is itself species-specific. Thus, the development of essential capacities (human and nonhuman) comprises a large part of the goods that we ought to promote. Problems about the definition of ‘essential’ are discussed, as are related issues about whether there are necessary and sufficient conditions for the correct use of sortal universal terms. The relation of the exercise of essential capacities to basic needs is investigated, and the essential nature of the human capacity for meaningful work, which has been disputed by John White, is defended. Finally, some suggestions are offered about what the proponents of the capabilities approach might derive from that of essential capacities.