Amy Wrzesniewski - Center for Positive Organizational Scholarship

Amy Wrzesniewski
Associate Professor of Organizational Behavior
Yale School of Management
amy.wrzesniewski@yale.edu
Website
Focus
The focus of my research is on how individuals derive meaning from their jobs within
challenging work and life contexts. My work seeks to explain the psychological and social
processes through which work meanings develop. As well, I study the implications of these
work meanings for individuals and organizations. Specifically, I study how individuals’
orientations toward work influence organizational identification, job crafting, motivation,
behaviors on the job, career trajectories between organizations, the meaning of work, and
feelings and thoughts about work.
My research has developed from studying work orientations (i.e., work as a job, a career, or a
calling) as an individual differences phenomenon to studying the dynamic interplay between
the work context and work orientation. The process that unfolds when an individual’s work
orientation enters an organizational context affects the way the individual defines the job,
engages with others in the organization, and enacts an organizational role.
As well, the organizational context may reinforce, weaken, or have no effect on work
orientation. My interest in the impact of organizational practices and work arrangements on
individual experiences of work reflects a broadening of the lens I bring to the study of the
meaning of work. I have chosen to study work meanings through a lens of problematic work
contexts. This approach allows me to isolate particularly salient features of the organizational
context in order to understand how they affect the expression of work orientation. The
contexts in which I study the meaning of work include “dirty work” jobs (jobs that are judged by
self or others to be odious or onerous), constrained occupational choices (in which individuals
are not able to enter their desired occupation), periods of unemployment, virtual work, and
organizations with conflicted identities. These contexts allow me to both test and build upon
theories of the meaning of work, motivation and job design.
Specific Research
My general research frame draws from the influential work of Bellah and colleagues (1985) and
their assertion that individuals experience work in one of three distinct ways: as a ‘job,’ (in
which the individual is primarily concerned with the financial rewards of work); a ‘career,’ (in

which the individual is focused on advancing within the occupational structure); or a ‘calling,’
(in which the individual works not for financial gain or career advancement, but instead for the
sense of fulfillment that the work brings). I have used this core insight to develop and test
theory about how work orientations affect individual behavior through their effects on goal
structures that individuals bring to their work. Currently, I am studying how both the individual
actions of employees and the social environment at work shape work orientations and the
broader experience of the job (Wrzesniewski, Dutton, & Debebe, 2003).
My work addresses the possibility of finding positive meaning in work through a variety of
paths: the work itself, its perceived contribution to the greater good, interactions and
relationships with others on the job, and the ability to challenge oneself, to name a few. The
roles that individuals and organizations can play in pursuit of this meaning stands at the heart
of my focus in this domain.
Related References
Bellah, R. N., Madsen, R., Sullivan, W. M., Swidler, A., & Tipton, S. M. 1985. Habits of the heart:
Individualism and commitment in American life. New York: Harper & Row.
Gandal, N., Roccas, S., Sagiv, L. & Wrzesniewski, A. (2005). Personal value priorities of
economists. Human Relations, 58, 1227-1252.
Wrzesniewski, A., Dutton, J. E., & Debebe, G. (2003). Interpersonal sensemaking and the
meaning of work. Research in Organizational Behavior, 25, 93-135.
Wrzesniewski, A. (2002). “It’s not just a job”: Shifting meanings of work in the wake of 9/11.
Journal of Management Inquiry, 11(2), 230-234.
Wrzesniewski, A., & Dutton, J. E. (2001). Crafting a job: Revisioning employees as active crafters
of their work. Academy of Management Review, 26(2), 179-201. Reprinted in C. L. Cooper & W.
H. Starbuck (Eds.), Work and Workers: A Three-Volume Set. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications,
2005.
Wrzesniewski, A., McCauley, C. R., Rozin, P., & Schwartz, B. (1997). Jobs, careers, and callings:
People’s relations to their work. Journal of Research in Personality, 31, 21-33.
Wrzesniewski, A. & Tosti, J. (2005). Career as a calling. In J. H. Greenhaus & G. A. Callanan
(Eds.), Encyclopedia of Career Development. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.
Wrzesniewski, A. (2003). Finding positive meaning in work. In K. S. Cameron, J. E. Dutton, & R. E.
Quinn (Eds.), Positive Organizational Scholarship. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler.

Wrzesniewski, A., Rozin, P., & Bennett, G. (2002). Working, playing, and eating: Making the
most of most moments. In C. L. M. Keyes & J. Haidt (Eds.), Flourishing: The Positive Person and
the Good Life. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.