Meaning making and faith-work integration: a qualitative study of university students
Date
2021
Authors
Alayan, Alexandra J., author
Dik, Bryan J., advisor
Anderson, Sharon, committee member
Crain, Tori, committee member
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Abstract
Recent interest in the interface of religion, spirituality, and work has grown, with scholarly developments in the areas of the Faith at Work movement, workplace spirituality, and vocational psychology. Most research exploring religion/spirituality and work has focused on working adults. To date, research examining religion/spirituality and career choice and development has been sparse, despite calls for further research in this area. The current study used a meaning- making approach to explore religion/spirituality and work integration related to career development in an undergraduate student population. Written responses from 170 religiously- identifying students were coded and analyzed using a six-phase inductive qualitative thematic analysis approach. Several themes related to students' experiences of faith-work integration emerged, including support and comfort, calling/purpose, guidance and influence on ethics and values, path/plan, prosocial, separation/boundaries, lifestyle impact, work fact, personal fit and fulfillment, talents/strengths, and work ethic. Of note, many participant responses were coded into two or three themes. These findings indicate that for many undergraduate students who identify as highly religious, their religious belief systems do play a role in their career development process. Also, undergraduate students seek to integrate their religion/spirituality and their career development process in ways that do not neatly fit into single integration strategies, particularly during developmental stages characterized by discovery, exploration and crystallization. Future research should continue to explore formal integration typologies related to career development within undergraduate student populations to provide added insight in this area.
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Subject
Faith at Work movement
workplace spirituality
career development
undergraduate students
integration strategy