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Scholars have identified benefits of viewing work as a calling, but little research has explored the notion that people are frequently unable to work in occupations that answer their callings. To develop propositions on how individuals experience and pursue unanswered callings, we conducted a qualitative study based on interviews with 31 employees across a variety of occupations. We distinguish between two types of unanswered callings—missed callings and additional callings—and propose that individuals pursue these unanswered callings by employing five different techniques to craft their jobs (task emphasizing, job expanding, and role reframing) and their leisure time (vicarious experiencing and hobby participating). We also propose that individuals experience these techniques as facilitating the kinds of pleasant psychological states of enjoyment and meaning that they associate with pursuing their unanswered callings, but also as leading to unpleasant states of regret over forgone fulfillment of their unanswered callings and stress due to difficulties in pursuing their unanswered callings. These propositions have important implications for theory and future research on callings, job crafting, and self-regulation processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Organization Science is the property of INFORMS: Institute for Operations Research and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
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Organization Science
Vol. 21, No. 5, September–October 2010, pp. 973–994
issn 1047-7039 !eissn 1526-5455 !10 !2105 !0973
informs®
doi 10.1287/orsc.1090.0497
© 2010 INFORMS
When Callings Are Calling: Crafting Work and Leisure in
Pursuit of Unanswered Occupational Callings
Justin M. Berg, Adam M. Grant
The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104
{bergj@wharton.upenn.edu, grantad@wharton.upenn.edu}
Victoria Johnson
Organizational Studies Program, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109,
vjohnsn@umich.edu
Scholars have identified benefits of viewing work as a calling, but little research has explored the notion that people
are frequently unable to work in occupations that answer their callings. To develop propositions on how individuals
experience and pursue unanswered callings, we conducted a qualitative study based on interviews with 31 employees
across a variety of occupations. We distinguish between two types of unanswered callings—missed callings and additional
callings—and propose that individuals pursue these unanswered callings by employing five different techniques to craft
their jobs (task emphasizing, job expanding, and role reframing) and their leisure time (vicarious experiencing and hobby
participating). We also propose that individuals experience these techniques as facilitating the kinds of pleasant psycholog-
ical states of enjoyment and meaning that they associate with pursuing their unanswered callings, but also as leading to
unpleasant states of regret over forgone fulfillment of their unanswered callings and stress due to difficulties in pursuing
their unanswered callings. These propositions have important implications for theory and future research on callings, job
crafting, and self-regulation processes.
Key words: work orientation; calling; job crafting; self-regulation; psychological well-being; regulatory focus
History: Published online in Articles in Advance January 22, 2010.
Your calling is calling.
—Monster.com advertisement
The average American changes jobs 10 times between
the ages of 18 and 42 (Bureau of Labor Statistics 2006),
and similar trends are occurring in Europe (Alogoskoufis
1995). As traditional career paths are quickly becoming a
thing of the past (Briscoe and Hall 2006, Hall and Mirvis
1995), people are increasingly expecting more from their
work than financial rewards and promotions (Rousseau
et al. 2006). In addition to these extrinsic benefits, indi-
viduals often seek occupations that will provide fulfill-
ment of core personal values (Judge and Bretz 1992),
meaning and purpose (Wrzesniewski et al. 2003), self-
expression (Kahn 1990, Shamir 1991), and opportunities
to help others (Grant 2007, Thompson and Bunderson
2003). In short, people in a wide range of work contexts
are not only looking for a job; they are also looking for
a calling (Bellah et al. 1985, Heslin 2005, Wrzesniewski
2003). Consistent with past research, we define a call-
ing broadly as an occupation that an individual (1) feels
drawn to pursue, (2) expects to be intrinsically enjoyable
and meaningful, and (3) sees as a central part of his or
her identity (e.g., Wrzesniewski et al. 1997).
Research suggests that experiencing work as a call-
ing is associated with a series of psychological benefits,
including increased life, health, and job satisfaction
(Hall and Chandler 2005, Heslin 2005, Wrzesniewski
et al. 1997). Occupational callings are often associated
with feelings of passion—strong emotional inclinations
toward work-related activities that individuals find inter-
esting, important, and worthy of their time and energy
(Vallerand et al. 2003). Conversely, feeling unable to
pursue a calling may undermine psychological well-
being by producing a high degree of frustration (Scheier
and Carver 1988), disappointment (Bell 1985), or regret
(Gilovich and Medvec 1995), which may ultimately
hinder job performance (e.g., Wright and Cropanzano
2000). Indeed, recent research suggests that the process
of searching for a calling is associated with feelings
of discomfort, indecision, and identity confusion (Duffy
and Sedlacek 2007).
Although some people may feel that they have found
and fulfilled their “one true” occupational calling, others
may feel that they have not answered their occupational
callings. More than ever before, people are exposed to
and encouraged to engage in a wide range of activities
and interests, one or more of which may develop into
a calling that they feel drawn to pursue in their careers
(Schwartz 2004). Many members of Generations X and
Y were raised to believe that “you can be anything you
want to be” (Twenge 2006, p. 72) and that “anything
is possible: never give up on your dreams” (p. 86). As
973
Berg, Grant, and Johnson: Unanswered Occupational Callings
974 Organization Science 21(5), pp. 973–994, © 2010 INFORMS
a result, many individuals experience the pull of occu-
pational callings that are not formally or convention-
ally part of their chosen occupations. However, little
research has addressed how these individuals experience
and respond to feeling called to an occupation outside
of their current occupational role. Because most adults
spend more than half their waking lives at work, unan-
swered occupational callings are a potentially important
concern for both individuals and the organizations that
employ them. Accordingly, it is critical to understand
how individuals experience and respond to unanswered
occupational callings.
To address this unexplored question, we conducted a
qualitative study of employees in both the nonprofit and
for-profit sectors. We used our findings from interviews
with 31 employees to develop propositions on how indi-
viduals experience and pursue unanswered occupational
callings. More specifically, we identify five techniques
that individuals use to pursue their unanswered callings
through crafting their jobs and their leisure time, and we
examine the pleasant and unpleasant psychological states
that individuals associate with the process of using these
crafting techniques. We discuss the important implica-
tions of our findings for theory and future research on
callings, job crafting, and self-regulation.
Unanswered Occupational Callings
The notion of viewing work as a calling emerged dur-
ing the Protestant Reformation early in the 16th century.
Martin Luther’s interpretation of the New Testament
preached the importance of heeding the occupational
calling (Beruf) put forth by God. No longer was monas-
tic renunciation of the material world counted as the
chief sign of moral superiority; instead, the diligent and
responsible exercise of an occupation was considered
the highest moral achievement possible on earth (Weber
1958). Under Luther’s influence, the notion of having a
calling spread widely through Protestant Europe. Today,
although the idea of a calling has become predominantly
secular in its meanings and uses (Wrzesniewski 2003),
the word still retains a moral connotation, in that it is
generally used to describe work thought to benefit the
common good (Thompson and Bunderson 2003). The
religious origins of “calling” have complicated efforts to
converge on a single secular definition (Bunderson and
Thompson 2009).
Sociologists Bellah et al. (1985) used “calling” along
with “job” and “career” to describe three different ori-
entations that Americans hold toward their work. Those
with a job orientation primarily see their work as a
means to an end. They tend to work to pay for neces-
sities, support their families, and maximize their leisure
time. Those who view their work as a career primar-
ily see work as a pathway to achievement and pres-
tige. They are principally motivated by the challenge
of work and the possibility of enhancing their status
through advancement up a social or organizational hier-
archy. When individuals hold job and career orientations,
their identities tend not to fully overlap with their occu-
pations; they view work as a separate entity from the
rest of life. When individuals hold calling orientations,
however, their identities and occupations are insepara-
bly linked. Those with a calling orientation imbue their
work with personal and social meaning: they perceive it
as intrinsically enjoyable and as making valuable contri-
butions to society.
To empirically document the work orientations pro-
posed by Bellah et al. (1985), psychologists devel-
oped measures of job, career, and calling orientations
and surveyed employees in a variety of occupations
to examine the correlates of holding each orientation
(Wrzesniewski et al. 1997). They discovered that all
three orientations could exist within a single occupa-
tion, that participants in several occupations were fairly
evenly distributed among the three categories of work
orientations, and that each work orientation was associ-
ated with certain predictable outcomes. Having a calling
orientation was linked to several self-reported benefits,
including higher life, health, and job satisfaction, and
lower absenteeism than job- and career-oriented respon-
dents. Recent scholarship has expanded the Bellah et al.
(1985) calling orientation to provide an alternative sec-
ular definition of having a calling (Wrzesniewski et al.
1997). For example, Hall and Chandler (2005) con-
tend that a calling (1) comes from within an individ-
ual, (2) serves the individual and/or community, (3) is
found after much searching, and (4) provides a sense of
purpose, meaning, and fulfillment. They argue that the
experience of a calling is associated with both enhanced
subjective psychological success and higher objective
job performance.
The purported list of benefits connected with view-
ing work as a calling suggests that answering a call-
ing is a positive experience for individuals. However,
researchers have yet to explore how individuals experi-
ence and respond to unanswered callings. We define an
unanswered calling as an occupation that an individual
(1) feels drawn to pursue, (2) expects to be intrinsically
enjoyable and meaningful, and (3) sees as a central part
of his or her identity, but (4) is not formally experienc-
ing in a work role. An unanswered calling is thus an
attitude toward a specific occupation that is not part of
one’s formal occupational role.
Unanswered callings may be more common than ever
before. In recent years, the popular press and media, like
organizational scholars, have extolled the virtues of hav-
ing a calling, and often go a step further in stressing
the dire importance of finding one’s true calling (e.g.,
Brennfleck and Marie 2005). As Leider and Shapiro
(2001, p. 25) admonish, “Until we heed our calling, we’re
not living authentically; we’re adopting someone else’s
Berg, Grant, and Johnson: Unanswered Occupational Callings
Organization Science 21(5), pp. 973–994, © 2010 INFORMS 975
model for who we should be.” Recently, America’s two
largest job search companies launched advertising cam-
paigns urging job seekers to “follow your heart” (Career-
builder.com 2008) and “find your calling” (Monster.com
2008). These companies are both responding and con-
tributing to recent dramatic changes in Western cultural
and employment landscapes that have provided individ-
uals with more opportunities to develop callings. Today,
individuals are exposed to—and can consider—many
more occupational choices than in the past (Schwartz
2004, Twenge 2006). The explosion of choice begins
as early as secondary school, where children are given
opportunities to explore a wide variety of subjects, rang-
ing from math and science to history, social studies, and
languages. As children advance through the school sys-
tem, the number of elective courses available in fields
such as engineering, art, music, theater, psychology, gov-
ernment, creative writing, and economics continues to
rise, and students are encouraged to pursue their inter-
ests in multiple extracurricular activities in the domains
of athletics, politics, drama, music, the arts, and reli-
gion. The range of possible interests to which students
are exposed continues to expand as they attend college,
with a broadened scope of course offerings and an abun-
dance of extracurricular clubs and volunteering opportu-
nities. Throughout their education, students come in con-
tact with many subjects and activities that may develop
into occupational callings that they feel drawn to pursue
in their careers.
Because many members of Generations X and Y have
internalized the idealistic belief that they can become
anything they want or dream to be (Twenge 2006), they
tend to consider a wide range of potential occupational
callings and expect that they will be able to answer these
callings. However, for a significant number of employ-
ees, the world of work is structured in a way that restricts
their ability to pursue all of the occupations that call
to them. Even in the more flexible knowledge economy
of today, jobs are typically designed so that individuals
specialize in a particular set of tasks and are assigned
a specific set of responsibilities (Ilgen and Hollenbeck
1991, Mohrman and Cohen 1995). These duties are often
highly interconnected and interdependent with the work
of other employees, placing social pressure on employ-
ees to perform their responsibilities on time and in a
prescribed way. In addition, formal policies and moni-
toring systems enforced by managers often demand stan-
dardized work procedures and practices that constrain
the level of freedom available to employees in decid-
ing how and when they perform their assigned duties
(Hackman and Oldham 1980). Furthermore, by requir-
ing most individuals to work 40 or more hours per week,
organizations restrict the time available to allocate to
other occupational callings (e.g., Perlow 1999). As a
result, individuals may find it difficult to pursue and ful-
fill all of their occupational callings within one formal
work role; instead, they may feel called toward numer-
ous different occupations, leaving them with one or more
unanswered callings.
Feeling called to multiple occupations may not be the
only cause of unanswered callings. For a variety of rea-
sons, individuals who feel called to only one occupation
may find it difficult to answer this calling. For instance,
many individuals forgo their callings in favor of less sat-
isfying but more financially lucrative or socially desir-
able occupations (Iyengar et al. 2006), and others lack
the necessary skills or opportunities to succeed in their
callings (Twenge 2006). Still others discover callings in
other fields after they have chosen their occupations,
when it is difficult or impossible to pursue their call-
ings because their current jobs are firmly embedded in
their lives (e.g., Lee et al. 2004). As a result, many indi-
viduals may be left with unanswered callings. Despite
the likely widespread existence of unanswered callings,
little research has explored how individuals experience
and respond to unanswered callings. Our objective in
this paper is to address these issues.
Methods
To develop propositions to guide future theory and
research on how individuals experience and respond
to unanswered callings, we used qualitative methods
of data collection and analysis, which are particularly
appropriate for building theory on complex, multifaceted
processes (Lee et al. 1999). We analyzed our data by
taking iterative steps between the data and a developing
set of theoretical ideas (Miles and Huberman 1994). We
conducted a total of 49 interviews, and our final analysis
focuses on 31 interviews with educators at a school and
university, as well as employees at a nonprofit advocacy
organization and a for-profit manufacturing company.
Below, we describe our full process of data collection
and analysis, which unfolded in two separate stages.
Stage 1
Occupational Selection. We began by interviewing
20 educators (10 elementary school teachers and 10
university lecturers, who are professors with no formal
research responsibilities). In accordance with the logic
of extreme case sampling (Eisenhardt 1989), we selected
educators because we expected that many educators
would experience one or more unanswered callings, for
three reasons. First, the field of education often attracts
passionate individuals (Neumann 2006) with a variety
of strong occupational interests (Buskist et al. 2005). As
such, many individuals working in education are likely
to have one or more unanswered callings in addition
to teaching. Second, although many educators enter the
occupation because they feel it is their calling, many
educators do not plan to teach for their entire careers.
One study found that 43% of entering educators planned
Berg, Grant, and Johnson: Unanswered Occupational Callings
976 Organization Science 21(5), pp. 973–994, © 2010 INFORMS
to teach no longer than 10 years (Brookhart and Freeman
1992). This evidence suggests that many educators may
have other callings in mind to pursue after teaching.
Third, educators often have autonomous job designs that
allow for substantial flexibility in what curriculum they
teach and how they teach it. This room for agency is
likely to provide opportunities to respond to unanswered
callings (e.g., Wrzesniewski and Dutton 2001).
Participant Selection. We expected university lectur-
ers to provide more extreme cases of unanswered call-
ings than the elementary teachers for three reasons:
(1) lecturers are required to have more training than
teachers, so they may have more complex career histo-
ries and exposure to different occupations; (2) because
lecturers select a more specific academic discipline in
which to specialize, they may have a calling to work
in an occupation related to this specialty; and (3) lec-
turers have more autonomy than teachers, which may
afford them greater flexibility in responding to unan-
swered callings.
We beg an rec r uiti n g part i cipa n ts in th e m idwe s tern
United States with electronic messages explaining that
we were seeking hour-long interviews with educators
about their career paths. The 10 elementary teachers
who participated (nine female, one male) included six
classroom teachers, a media/library specialist, a special-
ist in English as a second language, and a classroom
teacher with part-time administrative duties. The 10 lec-
turers (three female, seven male) came from a variety of
academic disciplines, including business, social science,
English, and foreign language; four had part-time admin-
istrative duties in addition to teaching. We included only
lecturers with no formal research responsibilities.
Data Collection. We developed a protocol of stan-
dard questions to provide a semistructured framework
for examining unanswered callings. The first author con-
ducted all 20 interviews. When relevant but incomplete
responses arose, the interviewer often posed follow-up
questions to probe for further information. The proto-
col was divided into four phases, each of which served
a distinct purpose (see the appendix for a detailed
description). In the first phase, the interviewer asked
respondents questions concerning their feelings about
their current occupation. Using a seven-point Likert-type
scale, one being “not at all similar to me” and seven
being “very much similar to me,” participants provided a
numerical rating using Wrzesniewski et al. (1997) “call-
ing, job, career” work orientation paragraphs. The call-
ing orientation paragraph consists of several statements
that describe people who see their work as highly enjoy-
able, meaningful, and an important part of who they
are. The job orientation paragraph describes people who
see their work as a means to supporting themselves,
their families, and their leisure time. The career orien-
tation paragraph describes people who see their work
as a means of advancing up a hierarchy toward promo-
tions, status, and challenge. Participants rated the extent
to which each of these paragraphs captured their feel-
ings about their current occupations and then explained
why they selected this rating.
In the second phase, the interviewer established a
rough timeline of participants’ career paths and sought
to identify their unanswered callings. To accomplish
this, he asked questions to probe for any occupations
other than teaching that they felt drawn to pursue, which
addressed the first and fourth criteria of our aforemen-
tioned definition of an unanswered calling. Then, to
address the second and third criteria, for each occupation
mentioned, he asked participants, “Imagine you were
currently working in [occupation mentioned]. Using the
same 1–7 scale, how similar would the individuals
described in the [calling] paragraph be to you? Why did
you choose this rating?” To focus our questioning in the
remaining two stages of the interviews and throughout
our data analysis, we deemed any occupation rated five
or higher as an “answered calling” if the participant cur-
rently worked in the occupation, and an “unanswered
calling” if the participant did not currently work in the
occupation but claimed that he or she felt drawn to pur-
sue it. We chose five as our cutoff because the anchor
for a five indicated at least moderate agreement that the
calling paragraph described participants’ feelings about
the focal occupation.
In the third phase, the interviewer explored how the
participants responded if they indeed had one or more
unanswered callings. During the first 10 interviews with
elementary teachers, a clear pattern emerged: partici-
pants described instances of crafting their jobs and using
their leisure time to pursue unanswered callings. To
target this emergent pattern in our subsequent inter-
views, we changed our protocol, modifying questions to
explore salient themes that developed during the qualita-
tive research process. We added the following questions
to our interview protocol:
Have you actively incorporated any aspects of
[unanswered calling] into your job? If so, how?
"Which of these aspects are required by your job
and which ones are not?
"How do you feel about these aspects?
"Have you actively incorporated any aspects of
[unanswered calling] into your life outside of work? If
so, how, and how do you feel about these aspects?
Finally, the fourth phase asked participants to describe
the thoughts, feelings, and actions that followed from
their experiences with unanswered callings. The inter-
views were tape recorded and transcribed; they lasted
between 20 and 90 minutes and averaged approximately
39 minutes.
Data Analysis. We began our a nalys is by ide ntify ing
each participant’s unanswered calling(s) by recording all
Berg, Grant, and Johnson: Unanswered Occupational Callings
Organization Science 21(5), pp. 973–994, © 2010 INFORMS 977
the occupations that he or she described being drawn to
pursue and rated a five or higher on the calling para-
graph. We found that our data from these 20 interviews
focused primarily on individuals with multiple callings,
as the majority of educators in our sample rated teach-
ing as a calling but also viewed other occupations as
callings. To examine how participants responded to hav-
ing multiple callings, we used a three-phase process in
which we generated themes through iterative cycles of
comparing the data with a developing set of codes (Miles
and Huberman 1994).
In the first phase of data analysis, we explored the
general pattern that had emerged within the first sev-
eral interviews: respondents pursued unanswered call-
ings in their work and leisure time. We extracted all of
the quotes from our data that involved efforts to pursue
an unanswered calling at work or during leisure time and
split all these codes into two subcategories: job craft-
ing and leisure crafting. In the second phase, we further
analyzed the codes within these two subcategories by
repeating several cycles of searching for more specific
themes until no new themes emerged, which revealed
three job crafting techniques and two leisure crafting
techniques.
While analyzing the job and leisure crafting codes, we
noticed that respondents described their crafting tech-
niques as influencing their thoughts and feelings. This
observation led into our third phase of data analysis,
where we extracted all the quotes in which partici-
pants linked a psychological state with the experience
of having and pursuing their unanswered callings, which
revealed that respondents associate this process with
both pleasant and unpleasant states. Searching for more
specific themes within these codes uncovered a total of
four psychological states: two that are pleasant and two
that are unpleasant. Finally, we revisited the interviews
to ensure that no relevant codes were missed. We then
moved on to the second stage of our data collection and
analysis.
Stage 2
Compared with many other occupations, educators have
a relatively high degree of autonomy in structuring
and conducting their work. As a result, educators may
have an unusually high degree of opportunity to pur-
sue their unanswered callings within their formal occu-
pational roles. To create a contrast with the level of
autonomy provided by teaching, we conducted a sec-
ond stage of data collection and analysis, obtaining data
from employees in both the nonprofit and for-profit sec-
tors. The first author gained permission to interview
29 employees (13 from a nonprofit political advocacy
organization in the midwestern United States and 16
from a for-profit manufacturing company in the south-
eastern United States) for a separate but related study
aimed at exploring job crafting more generally in two
different organizations (see Berg et al. 2010).
Occupation and Participant Selection. The nonprofit
organization’s mission was to advocate for the economic
advancement of women. At the time of the study, it
was an all-female organization with 17 full-time employ-
ees. We expected that many employees in this organi-
zation would have unanswered callings for two reasons:
(1) employees who select the nonprofit sector are often
passionate about helping others and may want to help in
other ways beyond what their current occupations pro-
vide; and (2) employees toward the bottom of nonprofit
hierarchies often hold jobs that include mostly admin-
istrative tasks, which may not fully satisfy their desires
to help others (Grant 2007), leaving them with callings
toward other occupations. To recruit participants, the
executive director announced at an all-staff meeting that
university researchers were seeking people to participate
in an hour-long interview and a brief follow-up survey. A
sign-up sheet was passed around, and 13 employees vol-
unteered to participate in the study. The sample included
two main hierarchical levels: a lower level that included
two coordinators and three associates, and a higher level
that included two senior employees and six directors.
The formal job descriptions of employees at the lower
level involved mostly administrative, logistical, and rou-
tine tasks, whereas employees at the higher level were
responsible for strategizing, innovating, and supervising
the lower level. Lower-level employees had considerably
less autonomy in structuring and conducting their work
than higher-level employees.
The for-profit manufacturing company, a leader in
the natural personal care product industry, employed
approximately 400 people. We selected this organiza-
tion to provide data from work contexts that were sub-
stantially more constrained than both our educator and
nonprofit employee samples. The names of the 16 par-
ticipants (6 female, 10 male) were randomly drawn out
of a hat so that the sample consisted of four employ-
ees from each of four different occupational groups:
maintenance technicians, compounders (i.e., employees
who mix bulk ingredients), customer service represen-
tatives, and marketing brand managers. These groups
were selected to explore a diverse array of occupations
on both the manufacturing (maintenance, compounding)
and administrative (customer service, marketing) sides
of the organization. Employees in maintenance, com-
pounding, and customer service generally had substan-
tially less autonomy in structuring and conducting their
work than marketing employees.
Based on the interview data and conversations with
the executive director at the nonprofit organization and
the vice president of human resources at the for-profit
company, we estimate the relative order of all of the
occupational groups included in this study with respect
to their autonomy to be as follows, beginning with
the highest level of autonomy: (1) university lectur-
ers, (2) nonprofit senior employees and directors (higher
Berg, Grant, and Johnson: Unanswered Occupational Callings
978 Organization Science 21(5), pp. 973–994, © 2010 INFORMS
level), (3) elementary teachers, (4) for-profit market-
ing employees, (5) nonprofit coordinators and associates
(lower level), and (6) for-profit maintenance, compound-
ing, and customer service employees. Because our inter-
views involved extensive discussion of how, why, and
when participants were able to change the boundaries
of their jobs, we were able to establish a well-informed
approximation of the autonomy provided to each occu-
pational group. Overall, these samples provide data from
a relatively diverse assortment of occupations, both in
terms of tasks and organizational contexts.
Data Collection and Analysis. This stage involved
both a qualitative interview and quantitative survey
portion for each participant. We created a section of
the interview protocol, which was devised for a study
exploring job crafting more broadly (Berg et al. 2010),
to focus on the process of job crafting to pursue unan-
swered callings. The section asked respondents the fol-
lowing series of questions: (1) Do you have a dream
occupation other than your own, or another occupation
that you feel drawn to pursue? (2) If so, what about this
occupation appeals to you? (3) Have you actively incor-
porated any aspects of (occupation) into your current
job? (4) If so, why did you incorporate these aspects?
(5) How has incorporating these aspects affected you?
The interviewer repeated these questions for every occu-
pation that each respondent mentioned. We took note of
the occupations that were brought up during this sec-
tion of the interview as “possible unanswered callings.
Then, within 6 weeks of being interviewed, each of
the 16 participants (8 nonprofit, 8 for-profit) who men-
tioned one or more occupations during this section com-
pleted an online survey that included Wrzesniewski et al.
(1997) work orientation paragraphs. After the respon-
dents rated the similarity of the three work orientation
paragraphs to their views of their current occupations,
the survey asked them to rate the calling paragraph for
each possible unanswered calling they mentioned in their
interview. They were prompted in the survey in the same
fashion as the educators were in their interviews, using
the same seven-point Likert-type scale: “Imagine you
were currently working as a [possible unanswered call-
ing]. How similar would the people described in the
paragraph be to you?”
We searched for themes and found that the three job
crafting techniques and the four psychological states
(two pleasant and two unpleasant) that we discovered in
the educator interviews were all prevalent in this second
source of data. Then, we combined our first and second
sources of data and analyzed them as one data set, which
helped us elaborate some of our previous findings. The
additional data enabled us to break down each of the
two unpleasant psychological states into two more spe-
cific subtypes, revealing a total of four unpleasant states.
Even though the interview questions targeted job craft-
ing to pursue unanswered callings, three respondents dis-
cussed instances of leisure crafting, so we coded these
as well. Our final set of findings included two types of
unanswered callings, five crafting techniques, and four
psychological states.
Pursuing Unanswered Occupational
Callings
Our analysis of participants’ calling paragraph ratings
for their current occupations, as well as the other occu-
pations that they feel drawn to pursue, revealed that par-
ticipants fall into three distinct categories: (1) no callings
(do not view any occupation as a calling), (2) answered
callings (view only their current occupation as a calling),
and (3) unanswered callings (have one or more call-
ings other than their current formal occupational role).
Because our objective was to examine unanswered call-
ings, we dropped the participants in the no callings and
answered callings groups and used the unanswered call-
ings group to build our theoretical model. This omitted
3 elementary teachers, 5 nonprofit employees, and 10
manufacturing employees, resulting in a final sample of
31 employees.
In the sections that follow, we articulate a set of
propositions regarding the crafting techniques and psy-
chological states that participants in our study asso-
ciated with having and pursuing unanswered callings.
These propositions are meant to serve as a prelimi-
nary conceptual framework and guide for future research
on unanswered callings. Table 1 contains participants’
pseudonyms, as well as their ratings of their current
occupations on Wrzesniewski et al. (1997) work orien-
tation paragraphs and their ratings of each unanswered
calling on the calling paragraph.
Crafting Techniques and Pleasant
Psychological States
To align their experiences with their motivations to pur-
sue their unanswered callings, participants described tak-
ing active steps to craft or alter their jobs and leisure
activities in pursuit of their unanswered callings. Par-
ticipants who described these crafting techniques often
associated them with two categories of pleasant psycho-
logical states, which map onto the two core dimensions
of psychological well-being: enjoyment and meaning
(McGregor and Little 1998, Ryan and Deci 2001).
Enjoyment is primarily equated with hedonic well-being
(happiness, a favorable balance of positive and negative
affect, and satisfaction), whereas meaning is primarily
equated with eudaimonic well-being (a sense of purpose
and personal growth).1Participants explained that the
job and leisure crafting techniques often brought about
the kinds of enjoyable and meaningful experiences that
they associate with pursuing their unanswered callings.
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Table 1 Participants’ Pseudonyms, Unanswered Callings, and Work Orientation Ratings
Org.—Position Unanswered callings Job Career
Number Pseudonym (1–7 calling rating) (1–7 rating) rating rating
Additional callings
1 Fannie Elementary school—Teacher (6) Family law (7) 1 1
2 Greta Elementary school—Teacher (5) Gardening (6) 3 1
3 Linda Elementary school—Teacher (6) Law (5) 1 1
4 Mary Elementary school—Teacher (6) Music (7), speech therapy (5) 1 1
5 Vera Elementary school—Teacher (5) Music (7), ministry (6), adoption advocacy (5) 1 1
6 Abe University—Lecturer (6) Music (6), painting (5) 1 1
7 Andy University—Lecturer (6) Writing (6) 1 5
8 Carl University—Lecturer (6) Consulting (7), higher-ed administration (6) 5 4
9 Craig University—Lecturer (6) Therapy (5) 1 1
10 Gary University—Lecturer (7) Music (6) 1 3
11 Mindy University—Lecturer (5) Business management (5) 1 1
12 Peggy University—Lecturer (5) Pediatric psychology (6), counseling (5) 3 1
13 Rick University—Lecturer (6) Music (6), ministry (6), politics (5), consulting (5) 2 1
14 Tom University—Lecturer (5) Language education training (7) 3 1
15 Anna NP—Program coordinator (5) Advocacy for issues facing Africa (7) 1 5
16 Cathy NP—Policy director (7) Stand-up comedy (5) 1 1
17 Erin NP—Policy associate (5) Maternal child health extension (7) 2 5
18 Paula NP—Senior policy associate (5) University professor (5) 5 1
19 Maya FP—Customer service rep. (5) Marketing (6) 1 7
20 Phil FP—Compounder (5) Photography (5) 2 5
21 Paul FP—Maintenance technician (5) Production training/supervising (6) 2 6
22 Tracy FP—Customer service rep. (7) Spanish–English translation (7) 6 6
Missed callings
23 Amy Elementary school—Teacher (4) Computer animation (7), personal training (7) 7 1
24 Sally Elementary school—Teacher (3) Sales (7) 2 2
25 Thelma University—Lecturer (4) Therapy (5) 3 5
26 Emma NP—Comm. associate (2) Magazine editing (7) 5 6
27 Netta NP—Senior program manager (3) Nursing (5) 5 5
28 Tammy NP—Associate director (4) Teacher (5) 4 4
29 Wendy NP—Program coordinator (3) IT professional (6) 1 7
30 Cal FP—Customer service rep. (2) Improvisational comedy (6) 5 6
31 Cara FP—Brand manager (3) Creative directing (6) 4 7
Note. Org., organization; NP, nonprofit political advocacy organization; FP, for-profit manufacturing firm; IT, information technology; Comm.,
communications.
Job Crafting Techniques. Consistent with Wrzes-
niewski and Dutton (2001), our findings reveal that
people do not simply accept the tasks and roles that
managers outline for them. Instead, they actively shape
their lives at work to incorporate or emphasize aspects
of their unanswered callings. Whereas classic job design
theory focuses on managers designing jobs for employ-
ees (Hackman and Oldham 1980), job crafting cap-
tures the ways in which employees actively change the
behavioral, relational, and cognitive boundaries of their
jobs to alter their experiences and identities at work
(Wrzesniewski and Dutton 2001). Our data analysis
induced three types of job crafting techniques that partic-
ipants describe using to create opportunities for pursuing
their unanswered callings: task emphasizing, job expand-
ing, and role reframing. In the following sections, we
explain these techniques and how participants often asso-
ciate them with pleasant psychological states of enjoy-
ment and meaning. We also provide illustrative examples
of each technique in Table 2.
Task emphasizing. Task emphasizing involves high-
lighting tasks that are already formally a part of one’s
job to pursue an unanswered calling, either by (1) chang-
ing the nature of an assigned task to incorporate aspects
of an unanswered calling or by (2) dedicating additional
time, energy, or attention to an assigned responsibil-
ity that is related to an unanswered calling. Participants
describe how task emphasizing in either of these ways
helps them pursue their unanswered callings through an
existing component of their job. Paula, a senior pol-
icy associate with an unanswered calling for univer-
sity teaching, illustrates an example of the first task
emphasizing subtype. She describes how she changed
the nature of her meetings with her intern to incorporate
her unanswered calling for teaching college students,
which provides her with enjoyment and meaning.
I’ve gone out of my way to make sure that whenever
I meet with [our intern], at least half of the meeting is
just me explaining !!!what we’re doing, why, what are
the techniques we’re using, what are the challenges we’re
facing !!! ! I just really enjoy it. I guess it makes me feel
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Table 2 Crafting Techniques
Technique Explanation Illustration
Job crafting
Task emphasizing
(highlighting assigned tasks
to pursue an unanswered
calling)
Changing the nature of an
assigned task to incorporate
aspects of an unanswered
calling
“I still get to help families in my job !!!like when I run events here in the
library, I make sure to talk with students and parents not just about
media stuff, which is my job, but also about them as people!!! ! So I
feel like there are parallels there!!![because] I’m doing something
valuable and something good.” (Fannie)
Dedicating additional time,
energy, or attention to an
assigned task that is related
to an unanswered calling
“I try to use the technology [involved in my job] as much as
possible !!! ! I have a Smart Board in my room. I’m on the technology
district committee, and the technology committee for our school. I
really like being on those committees. I’m excited that I’m going to
start to be able to use more technology in the classroom.” (Amy)
Job expanding
(adding tasks to pursue an
unanswered calling)
Taking on short-term or
temporary tasks to
incorporate aspects of an
unanswered calling
“We had a request into the office for someone to speak at a university
a couple months ago, and so I volunteered!!! ! It gave me a chance
to talk with a whole group of college students about what we do,
and why, and how we’re effective. I really enjoyed it and it was really
exciting and fun for me.” (Paula)
Increasing the number of tasks
continually expected of
individual to incorporate
aspects of an unanswered
calling
“I think I’ve become kind of the go-to person on a junior level for just
anything that has to do with communications or writing, someone
who’s not at the management level. So I work with a lot of the other
Associates when they have ideas or questions about writing and
things like that !!! ! It makes me feel like I’m important !!! ! It’s not
exactly the writing that I want to do in my life, but I think it’s helped
me understand the nuances of word choice and how to message
things, and I enjoy it.” (Emma)
Role reframing
(altering one’s perception of a
role to pursue an unanswered
calling)
Establishing a cognitive
connection to align the
conventional social purpose
of a job responsibility with an
unanswered calling
“I think the question for me has always been kind of, ‘How can I grow
and how can I make a contribution?’ And therapy felt that to me. I
mean, I thought I could make a contribution just in other people’s
lives, and I knew that in hearing their stories and being intimate, on
that sort of intellectual level with them, would make a contribution to
their lives. And it seems to me that teaching is really about the
whole of the student and the faculty member. It’s about their
interaction, and about how what you’re talking about in class might
relate to what you are living in your life. It’s not therapy in the sense
that you don’t intrude on the privacy of folks, but I really think if
education doesn’t help you live more joyfully and creatively and love
better, then it’s not worth much.” (Craig)
Broadening the conventional
social purpose of a job
responsibility to incorporate
an unanswered calling
“I often liken teaching to being a musician because when I’m in front
of a classroom, I put on my performance face. I can be talking in a
rather soft voice like this to you outside a classroom, and as soon
as I enter that classroom, [Guitarist Gary] the performer is on. And
it’s the same way with music; you kind of put on your stage face!!! !
It’s entertaining education: edu-tainment. And I’m doing that all the
time. I’m trying to make class time interesting and fun and
entertaining because research on education demonstrates when
people are in a good mood, they tend to learn better and learn
more !!! ! I remember when I was performing and I had my rock
band and my other bands, the high which I got from playing in front
of people was very similar to the high which I get from performing
teaching in front of people.” (Gary)
Leisure crafting
Vicarious experiencing
Seeking fulfillment through
others’ participation in an
unanswered calling
“Whenever we do go to a concert or musical theater !!! ! I will fantasize
a little bit and daydream about if I was the one up there singing, or I
was the one up there playing the piano!!! ! I really don’t think I have
the talent to really do anything very important from the musical end,
but I’m happy that I still have it in my life for my own enjoyment.”
(Mary)
Hobby participating Pursuing leisure and volunteer
activities related to an
unanswered calling
“I’m not going to retire from either. As long as I can hold a guitar in my
hands, I’m going to be playing. And as long as I can stand in front
of a class and teach, and somebody lets me, I’m going to be doing
that !!! ! Music more so. I can see somebody getting too old to
teach. But I can’t imagine somebody, or at least I can’t imagine
myself, ever getting too old to at least once in a while, pick up my
instrument and play it. Because it’s just a different world. It’s a totally
different world.” (Abe)
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like I’m fulfilling !!!a little bit of that part of my other
passion of working with college students!!![to] kind of
foster their passion for social justice and kind of bring
them alongside.
Meetings with her intern were already a part of Paula’s
job, but she altered this task to involve more teaching,
enabling her to experience enjoyment and meaning that
she associates with pursuing her unanswered calling for
being a university professor. Tom, a lecturer who has an
unanswered calling for being a professional trainer of
language educators, illustrates an example of the second
subtype of task emphasizing. Because Tom’s adminis-
trative duties require him to train new lecturers, he does
not need to take on extra tasks. Instead, he explains how
emphasizing this existing aspect of his job by devoting
more time to it provides him with enjoyable and mean-
ingful experiences.
Fall term, they need more training from me!!! ! So what
I try to do is be around the office, have the door open so
they can come on by and talk to me and ask me questions.
I really like working with instructors and figuring out the
issues that they’re having. It teaches me a lot, and makes
me think back to what I was doing when I was a first
year instructor and how to handle these things!!! ! So
for very selfish reasons, I do this job because it allows
me to do things that I like to do. It’s noble in the sense
that [I’m] helping the future of America, but at the same
time, I’m feeding my own needs of what I want from
my job.
By allocating more time to training new lecturers, Tom
uses the task emphasizing technique to create addi-
tional opportunities to pursue his unanswered calling.
These examples illustrate how individuals with unan-
swered callings emphasize aspects of their existing tasks
to enhance their experiences of enjoyment and meaning,
giving them a sense of fulfillment for their unanswered
callings.
Job expanding. Job expanding involves adding tasks
to incorporate aspects of an unanswered calling, either
by (1) taking on short-term, temporary tasks or by (2)
adding new tasks to a job. Tracy, a customer service rep-
resentative at the manufacturing firm, provides an exam-
ple of the first subtype of job expanding. To pursue her
unanswered calling for Spanish–English translating, she
often volunteers her translating abilities, which she finds
enjoyable and meaningful.
Within the company I’ve volunteered to do the Spanish–
English translating whenever they need help!!! ! I feel
great about it because, for one, I love translating. I was
an interpreter for Immigration for about nine years, and
I just really enjoy it. And then I love that fact that
the employees here know that someone can help them,
because sometimes they come to the front office and
they need something, and they can’t communicate. And I
just feel good about helping more, making sure that they
understand.
Although Tracy is not required to perform translating
services, expanding her job by taking on temporary
translating duties has enabled her to pursue her unan-
swered calling at work.
Carl, a university lecturer, employs the second sub-
type of job expanding. To pursue his unanswered call-
ing for academic consulting, he increased the number
of tasks required of him by taking on administrative
duties, which allows him to satisfy his strong interests in
generating new programs and designing sustainable cur-
ricula more than his lecturer job previously permitted.
He explains how these extra responsibilities give him a
sense of meaningful personal achievement.
What [makes me] happy about consulting is putting pro-
fessionalism into use. I have expertise in curriculum cre-
ation and setting programs that the university could put
into use. I think that the world would be a better place if
[my expertise] was put into use!!! ! [So] I have taken on
an administrative role and what I do like about admin-
istration is building [and] creating programs!!! ! This is
something I do like and I put a lot of work into!!![and]
doing it properly gives me some sort of personal achieve-
ment. For someone like myself, such a realization is a
kind of fringe benefit of the job.
Unlike Tracy, who took on temporary duties, Carl ex-
panded the number of tasks formally required of him
to permanently incorporate aspects of his unanswered
calling into his job. Tracy and Carl demonstrate how
expanding a job can incorporate aspects of an unan-
swered calling into one’s work experiences, fostering
experiences of enjoyment and meaning.
Role reframing. Role reframing involves altering
one’s perception of the meaning of his or her work to
match an unanswered calling, either by (1) establishing
a cognitive connection to align the conventional social
purpose of a job responsibility with an unanswered call-
ing or by (2) broadening the conventional social purpose
of a job responsibility to incorporate an unanswered call-
ing. Anna, a program coordinator at the nonprofit orga-
nization, provides an illustration of the first subtype of
role reframing. She has an unanswered calling to be a
professional advocate for issues facing Africa, and she
establishes meaningful connections between her job and
this unanswered calling.
I feel good about the work that I do and it’s one of those
things where you’re not just filing stuff or putting stuff
away. When I do file something, you can trace that all
the way to the end to somebody out there !!!who used
[our website] and got their dream job. That’s a good
feeling !!! ! I’m a huge activist for African women and
girl children who’ve been orphaned by AIDS, and I think
while the topic isn’t the same, certainly the behavior and
the intentions here match what I do elsewhere. So when-
ever I leave here, it’s not like, “Yay! I’m going to go do
finally what I want to do.” There’s a connection there.
Like I said, while the content or the subject matter’s not
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the same, the actions and the purpose is, I think, the
same. And so it’s a continuation. So I guess I get a sim-
ilar sense of validation to a certain extent.
Because Anna sees her work as serving a similar social
purpose as her unanswered calling, she describes being
able to gain a parallel sense of meaning and fulfillment,
or “validation,” as she put it, for her unanswered calling
within the context of her current occupation.
Abe, the lecturer who was mentioned above with
respect to his unanswered callings for music and paint-
ing, gives an illustration of the second role refram-
ing subtype. He has broadened the role he assumes
while teaching to incorporate his calling for perform-
ing music by approaching teaching as a performance,
and believes this framing fosters meaningful interactions
with students.
Teaching is a performance!!!and I’d say the same thing
would be true with a rock musician !!! ! I find myself
ending up doing all kinds of, like, unconventional things
in my classrooms !!!that’s something that I bring over
from my music experience. Because, I mean, when
you’re on stage, it’s just like, “Hello, Wisconsin!”!!!and
you get that rapport going with them. So I can, like, walk
from the stage all the way up to the back of the class-
room on the tops of the tables. I’ve done that any number
of times. It really changes the whole dynamic of what
we’re doing !!!I bring students up on stage. I’ll tell jokes.
I’ll throw things out to the audience. Whatever it takes
to engage them.
Although Abe’s expanded framing of his lecturer role
may seem unique, another lecturer, Gary, employs a
nearly identical example of role reframing (see Table 2).
These examples illustrate how reframing the social pur-
pose of the work can help people find enjoyment and
meaning in pursuing their unanswered callings through
their formal occupational roles.
Unanswered callings, job crafting, and enjoyment and
meaning. In summary, participants described pursuing
their unanswered callings through task emphasizing, job
expanding, and role reframing. They discussed how
these efforts helped them feel a sense of fulfillment
for their unanswered callings by providing the kinds
of enjoyable and meaningful experiences at work that
they associate with pursuing their unanswered callings.
These linkages are consistent with existing theory on
job crafting (Wrzesniewski and Dutton 2001), as well
as theoretical perspectives on person–environment fit
(Caplan 1987), coping (Folkman and Moskowitz 2004),
and self-regulation (Scheier and Carver 1988). Apply-
ing these theories, we propose that unanswered callings
lead individuals to recognize that their work situations
are misaligned with their personal values, needs, and
preferences. This misalignment motivates individuals to
seek out alignment by crafting their jobs through task
emphasizing, job expanding, and role reframing, and
these techniques create better alignment between their
ideal and actual work experiences, resulting in enhanced
enjoyment and meaning at work. We capture these rela-
tionships with two propositions.
Proposition 1. The presence of unanswered callings
motivates individuals to engage in the job crafting tech-
niques of (a) task emphasizing, (b) job expanding, and
(c) role reframing.
Proposition 2. Pursuing unanswered callings through
job crafting techniques increases the likelihood of expe-
riencing enjoyment and meaning at work.
Leisure Crafting Techniques. In addition to crafting
their jobs, we discovered that participants pursue their
unanswered callings outside the domain of work using
two “leisure crafting” techniques, which are similar to
the job crafting techniques in that they involve people
exercising initiative, agency, and proactivity to create
opportunities for experiencing states of enjoyment and
meaning that they associate with pursuing their unan-
swered callings as formal occupations. These findings
expand the boundaries of when, where, and how an
occupational calling can be pursued, and also indicate
that the concept of job crafting should, in some situa-
tions, be extended beyond the strict boundaries of orga-
nizational life to include leisure time as well. In so
doing, our research draws attention to the importance
of the work–leisure interface for future research on job
crafting and callings.
Because leisure time is usually more flexible than
work time, individuals often use leisure crafting tech-
niques to pursue unanswered callings in ways that would
be difficult or impossible to do at work. Anna, who has
an unanswered calling for Africa-related advocacy, pro-
vides an illustration of how some unanswered callings
are difficult to incorporate using the job crafting tech-
niques, and are thus more suited for leisure crafting.
I worked with at-risk youth looking for summer jobs,
and I would always bring articles and conversations that
I was having at [Africa advocacy] meetings. There was
always a disconnect. It didn’t make sense to them. They
weren’t interested. And because I was so into it, I always
took that as an insult and an affront to me, and so after
a while, I realized that I had to keep it in my [nonwork]
life and stop bashing the kids with things that they didn’t
care about.
Anna’s failed efforts to craft her unanswered calling into
her occupation led her to realize that she could pursue
it more effectively in her leisure time. This is consistent
with theory and research on the work–leisure interface
that suggests that individuals often pursue opportunities
in their leisure time to make up for what they lack in
their work time (Miller and Weiss 1982). We therefore
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Table 3 Prevalence of Missed vs. Additional Callings and Job Crafting Techniques by Occupational Group
Average number of job
crafting techniques
Occupational group (from weakest to (No. of techniques/
strongest situation) Missed callings Additional callings No. of participants)
(1) University lecturers 10% (1/10 participants) 90% (9/10 participants) 3!1 (31/10)
(2) Nonprofit senior employees 50% (2/4 participants) 50% (2/4 participants) 2!75 (11/4)
and directors (higher level)
(3) Elementary teachers 29% (2/7 participants) 71% (5/7 participants) 2!1 (15/7)
(4) For-profit marketing employees 100% (1/1 participants) 0% (0/1 participants) 2 (2/1)
(5) Nonprofit coordinators 50% (2/4 participants) 50% (2/4 participants) 1!75 (7/4)
and associates (lower level)
(6) For-profit maintenance, compounding, 20% (1/5 participants) 80% (4/5 participants) 1!2 (6/5)
and customer service employees
Notes. Consistent with the preceding discussion, there was a strong negative correlation between the strength of situation (dummy-coded
1–6 as displayed above) and the number of job crafting techniques reported by participants, r=0!63, p<0!001. This finding corroborates
our interpretation that individuals reported greater job crafting in weak situations. We did not include the average number of leisure crafting
techniques described by each group because only the interview protocol for our first round of interviews (with the two groups of educators)
included questions that specifically probed for leisure crafting—our second round of interviews included only questions that probed for job
crafting. However, comparing the average number of leisure crafting techniques described by the two groups of educators supports our
proposition that feeling unable to pursue unanswered callings at work motivates individuals to pursue leisure crafting, because teachers—
who face a stronger situation than lecturers—averaged 2.0 leisure crafting techniques, whereas lecturers averaged 1.2 leisure crafting
techniques.
propose that individuals resort to leisure crafting tech-
niques when job crafting is difficult or ineffective.
Proposition 3. When individuals feel unable to pur-
sue their unanswered callings through job crafting, they
are more likely to utilize leisure crafting techniques.
A key factor that appeared to influence whether par-
ticipants used job or leisure crafting techniques was
the strength of the situation. Strong situations are those
in which individuals feel a high degree of pressure to
behave in a prescribed manner, and weak situations are
those in which individuals have greater autonomy and
discretion to choose their own courses of action (Mischel
1973). In other words, strong situations place more con-
straints on individuals’ behavior than weak situations.
In weak situations, individuals are likely to engage in
considerable job crafting; in strong situations, individ-
uals are likely to feel that job crafting techniques are
more difficult or impossible to undertake (Wrzesniewski
and Dutton 2001). Our data provide support for this pat-
tern. In Table 3, the six occupational groups included
in our sample are listed according to the strength of
the situation faced by participants in each group, begin-
ning with the highest degree of autonomy and thus the
weakest situation (university lecturers), along with the
average number of job crafting techniques described by
a participant in each group. The number of job crafting
techniques for each participant inversely relates to the
group’s relative situation strength (e.g., university lec-
turers, who face the weakest situation, have the highest
average number of job crafting techniques, whereas for-
profit maintenance, compounding, and customer service
employees, who face the strongest situation, have the
lowest average).
Proposition 4. The strength of the situation shapes
whether individuals are more likely to use job or leisure
crafting techniques, such that (a) in weak situations, job
crafting techniques are more common, whereas (b) in
strong situations, leisure crafting techniques are more
common.
Now that we have explained when individuals use
leisure crafting techniques, we discuss how individuals
pursue their unanswered callings through the use of two
leisure crafting techniques: vicarious experiencing and
hobby participating.
Vicarious experiencing. Vicarious experiencing in-
volves seeking fulfillment through other people’s par-
ticipation in an unanswered calling—including family,
friends, or celebrities—which provides the sort of enjoy-
able and meaningful experiences that one associates with
pursing the unanswered calling as his or her own occu-
pation. For example, Vera was able to find fulfillment
by experiencing her unanswered calling for music vicar-
iously through her children.
I was interested in a lot of things, but not super passion-
ate about any one of them, except for music!!! ! If I had
majored in music, I would have probably been a teacher
in orchestra and taught violin lessons. [It] would be very
much of who I was. I played violin, and I think more of
my friends would have been in that field, because I would
have been performing in groups too. [But] I’m glad that
I did go into education, because we later did Suzuki Vio-
lin with our daughters. So my husband and I both prac-
ticed with the kids and [attended] lots of concerts !!! ! I
got fulfillment for doing the music thing through helping
our daughters !!!and that has been an important part of
my life.
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984 Organization Science 21(5), pp. 973–994, © 2010 INFORMS
Rick also employs the vicarious experiencing technique
to pursue his unanswered calling for music, which
affords him enjoyable involvement in activities he could
not otherwise experience.
I’ve been very, very lucky, because I have friends who
do some of the things that I didn’t get to do, so I get to
experience [them] vicariously. I have a friend who is a
huge !!!top-stratum opera star, but I’ve known him since
before he became an opera star. So I’m going to New
York to hear him star in Julius Caesar at the Met. And
he says, “You know, just give me a call a couple of days
ahead and I’ll arrange for you to come backstage” !!!so
I get to touch worlds that I don’t live in.
As these examples demonstrate, people do not necessar-
ily have to experience their callings firsthand. Instead,
they may find ways to pursue their unanswered callings
vicariously through other people.
Hobby participating. Hobby participating involves
engaging in activities and volunteer positions outside of
work that individuals perceive as related to an unan-
swered calling, which may facilitate experiences of
enjoyment and meaning in lieu of pursuing the unan-
swered calling in a formal occupational role. It is impor-
tant to note that this technique does not merely involve
participating in a hobby that one enjoys; rather, it is a
technique that individuals use in their pursuits of unan-
swered callings. As such, we coded hobby participating
as occurring when individuals described the engagement
in the hobby as motivated not purely by enjoyment or
interest, but also by the desire to pursue an unanswered
occupational calling in their leisure time. For example,
Peggy, a lecturer, pursues her unanswered calling for
child psychology by volunteering at an organization that
cares for ill children.
For the last five years, I have been a volunteer at
the Ronald McDonald House !!! ! It’s the house where
families stay when their children are sick and in the
hospital !!! ! I think there is something to be said about
consistency of interest and things you find fulfilling. This
goes back well beyond the very fact that I was inter-
ested in children and illness. [It] goes back to experience
I had in high school working at a children’s hospital in
Philadelphia, working in their play therapy area, watch-
ing kids dealing with illness, and wanting to understand
that better and make a difference in things like that. So
that’s been there for a long time, so it doesn’t surprise
me that even in my volunteer work, I seek out something
that also feeds that interest.
Peggy actively sought this volunteer position, creating
meaningful opportunities to pursue her longtime call-
ing for an occupation in which she helps ill children.
Another example of hobby participating comes from the
lecturer Andy. Although he views teaching as a calling,
he has a stronger unanswered calling to be a professional
writer, which he pursues in his leisure time to find mean-
ing in fulfilling his identity as a writer.
Part of the reason I am working as a lecturer is because
I am trying to write a novel. So that pays no bills at the
moment, but that, in my heart of hearts, is more important
to me than the teaching !!! ! If somebody said I had to
stop writing, I would have no idea who I was, as a person.
Peggy and Andy illustrate how people utilize their
leisure time to pursue their unanswered callings through
hobbies and volunteer positions that facilitate the kinds
of enjoyment and meaning associated with undertaking
their unanswered callings as formal occupations. How-
ever, although Andy is able to gain some fulfillment for
his writing calling through leisure crafting, he struggles
to balance his hobby with his calling for teaching. Andy
is not alone in experiencing unpleasant psychological
states associated with having and pursuing unanswered
callings. Later, we revisit this darker side of unanswered
callings, continuing Andy’s story.
In the meantime, it is important to note that although
participants described that the leisure crafting techniques
helped them feel that they were fulfilling their unan-
swered callings by providing the kinds of enjoyable and
meaningful experiences that they associate with pursuing
their callings, they experienced enjoyment and mean-
ing not in the work domain, but rather in the domain
in which they used the techniques. For example, Peggy
experienced enjoyment and meaning while volunteering
at the Ronald McDonald House, and Andy experienced
enjoyment and meaning while writing at home. These
observations suggest that the psychological impact of
crafting activities is domain specific, a notion that is
consistent with theory and research on domain-specific
memory (Baddeley 1982) and the work–nonwork inter-
face (e.g., Rothbard 2001, Sonnentag 2003). These theo-
retical perspectives suggest that individuals’ experiences
in one domain have stronger cognitive and emotional
effects in that domain than they do in spilling over into
other domains. Thus, we propose the following.
Proposition 5. Pursuing unanswered callings through
leisure crafting techniques increases the likelihood of
experiencing enjoyment and meaning outside of work.
Missed and Additional Callings: Distinct
Psychological Experiences
Having noted several patterns that our participants dis-
play as ways of crafting their jobs and leisure time
in pursuit of their unanswered callings, we turn our
attention to differences between participants in the psy-
chological experience of unanswered callings. As we
analyzed the data from our 31 participants with unan-
swered callings, we noticed that participants described
two different types of unanswered callings, which we
refer to as “missed callings” and “additional callings”
(see Table 1). Participants with missed callings (9) are
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those who do not view their current occupation as a
calling but have one or more unanswered callings, and
participants with additional callings (22) are those who
view their current occupation as a calling and have one
or more unanswered callings. In our sample, the major-
ity of the additional callings occurred among educators,
and most of the missed callings occurred among the non-
profit and for-profit employees.
Although we found that participants with missed and
additional callings described the same basic crafting
techniques to align their work and leisure experiences
with their unanswered callings, these groups discuss dif-
ferent types of motivations for doing so. Participants
with missed callings describe a desire to make up for the
forgone fulfillment of their unanswered callings, whereas
participants with additional callings usually describe a
desire to expand the number of callings that they are
able to pursue beyond their answered calling to create
an ideal balance among their multiple callings.
An illustration of the motivation to pursue a missed
calling comes from Amy, an elementary teacher who has
a missed calling for computer animation.
If I knew what I know now, I would have pursued com-
puter animation !!! ! I would love it. It would be very
much a part of my life, because I could use my creativity.
But being married, I didn’t have an option. The classes
that I took I really, really enjoyed, but it just came to
a dead end. If you wanted to go any further, you [had]
to go to California or Texas !!! ! I do think about how it
would be better if I could have done that.
Unlike Amy, who yearns for forgone fulfillment of her
missed calling, Abe illustrates the motivation to supple-
ment one’s occupation with additional callings:
I’m very happy leading a!!!diverse lifestyle. I would not
want to be pigeonholed into doing one thing. I wouldn’t
want to only be teaching. I wouldn’t want to only be
playing music. I wouldn’t want to only be painting. I
love the fact that I can do all of those things, because I
think all of those things make each of the other things
that much richer.
This distinction between missed and additional callings
helps to explain the psychological experiences of indi-
viduals with unanswered callings. In the sections below,
we explain how individuals with missed and additional
callings tended to report different motivations for pur-
suing their unanswered callings, different experiences
of unpleasant psychological states as a result of pursu-
ing their unanswered callings, and different reactions to
these unpleasant psychological states.
The Pursuit of Missed vs. Additional Callings: The
Role of Regulatory Focus. Our participants described
different motivations for pursuing missed versus addi-
tional callings. Individuals with missed callings tended
to focus on the desire to make up for negative expe-
riences, and individuals with additional callings tended
to focus on the desire to expand positive experiences.
To gai n f urth e r insi g ht int o t he gen e sis of t h ese mo t i-
vations, we turned to regulatory focus theory (Brockner
and Higgins 2001), which is the core psychological the-
ory that explains how individuals’ motivations and emo-
tional experiences differ as a function of whether they
are focusing on avoiding negative outcomes or attaining
positive outcomes. According to regulatory focus the-
ory, when individuals experience a prevention-focused
state, they attend to avoiding negative outcomes, which
leads them to feel high-activation negative emotions
if they fail (e.g., agitation, anger, anxiety) and low-
activation positive emotions if they succeed (e.g., calm,
relief). On the other hand, when individuals experience
a promotion-focused state, they attend to attaining pos-
itive outcomes, which leads them to feel low-activation
negative emotions if they fail (e.g., dejection, disap-
pointment) and high-activation positive emotions if they
succeed (e.g., cheerfulness, pride). Thus, a prevention-
focused state heightens attention and sensitivity to
negative outcomes, whereas a promotion-focused state
heightens attention and sensitivity to positive outcomes
(Brockner and Higgins 2001).
Regulatory focus theory also suggests that nega-
tive experiences give rise to prevention-focused states,
whereas positive experiences give rise to promotion-
focused states (Brockner and Higgins 2001). Building
on this notion, we propose that individuals are motivated
to pursue missed callings when negative experiences
at work trigger prevention-focused psychological states,
whereas individuals are motivated to pursue additional
callings when positive experiences outside work trigger
promotion-focused psychological states. In this section,
we elaborate on this important distinction between the
motivations of participants with missed and additional
callings.
Participants with missed callings often articulated that
their desires to pursue their unanswered callings were
triggered by negative experiences at work. As they
reflected on their dissatisfaction with their current jobs,
they experienced a prevention-focused state (Brockner
and Higgins 2001) in which they sought to avoid and
reduce this dissatisfaction, which opened their minds to
the possibility of pursuing their missed callings to fill
the void left in their work experiences. For example,
Amy stated that she began thinking about pursuing her
missed calling for computer animation when she real-
ized that teaching was not “fun anymore, because we’re
just drilling the kids and just forcing them to learn and
I don’t think it’s the best for the kids, and also it’s def-
initely not best for the teachers. !!!it’s really hard!!! !
Would I go back to it? I probably wouldn’t have gone
into teaching !!! ! I would have gone into computers.”
Similarly, Cara also described being motivated to pur-
sue her missed calling for creative directing to avoid the
unpleasant experience of boredom in her job.
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Creative director is a dream job for me!!! ! When I stop
doing [creative work] and just focus on the day to day,
like emails !!!or customer complaints!!!I miss out on the
excitement !!!the job just becomes dry !!! ! So I try to
keep abreast of the new products that are coming out on
the market !!!and [ask] how can we use that and maybe
change what we’re doing or make ours even stronger !!! !
I think that’s the fun part of marketing.
These examples illustrate how participants with missed
callings typically described pursuing their callings as
a result of undesirable experiences at work that they
sought to prevent. This pattern is consistent with recent
social psychological research suggesting that when nega-
tive events trigger prevention-focused states, individuals
often cope by pursuing their passions, which helps to
ward off undesirable feelings (McGregor 2006). Thus,
we propose that prevention-focused states triggered by
negative events at work motivate individuals to pursue
missed callings.
Proposition 6. Individuals with missed callings are
more motivated to pursue these callings when negative
work experiences trigger prevention-focused states.
Participants with additional callings, on the other
hand, often described their desires to pursue their unan-
swered callings as triggered by positive experiences
outside work. As they reflected on the enjoyment and
meaning that exposure to this additional calling pro-
vided, they appeared to experience a promotion-focused
state in which they sought to approach additional call-
ings, which they expected to provide further enjoyment
and meaning through balancing their multiple callings.
For instance, Abe explained how pleasant experiences
with fine art and music in his leisure time motivate him
to pursue these additional callings through job crafting
and further leisure crafting.
As I paint !!!I begin to see things different !!!in ways that
maybe I didn’t see before. Same thing with music !!! !
I have come to approach teaching the same way!!! !
In all three of those things, because they are creative
undertakings !!!each of those worlds work well with the
other worlds !!! ! Painting is a way of working out my
problems in two dimensions, teaching is a way of working
my problems out in three dimensions, and music is a way
of working out my problems in an ephemeral dimension.
Peggy provides another example; she described being
inspired to incorporate her unanswered calling for pedi-
atric psychology into her job by her positive experi-
ences of volunteering for an organization that helps ill
children: “When I first started volunteering there, we
got involved with a family where the child needed a
heart. We did a lot to help out !!! ! I’ve actually incor-
porated it into classes I’ve taught!!! ! My students had
to do work at the hospital with kids.” These exam-
ples illustrate how participants with additional callings
typically described how positive experiences outside of
work motivated them to pursue their additional call-
ings through job and leisure crafting. This pattern is
consistent with social psychological research on mood
maintenance, which suggests that when individuals have
a positive experience, they attempt to savor it and incor-
porate it into other domains of their lives to extend
its impact (Carlson et al. 1988). Thus, we propose that
promotion-focused states triggered by positive events
outside of work motivate individuals to pursue additional
callings.
Proposition 7. Individuals with additional callings
are more motivated to pursue these callings when posi-
tive experiences outside work trigger promotion-focused
states.
The Experience of Missed vs. Additional Callings:
Unpleasant Psychological States. Wrzesniewski and
Dutton (2001) argued that efforts to craft a job to match
one’s needs and preferences can lead to increased experi-
ences of meaning and the expression of valued identities.
Our findings suggest that job and leisure crafting to pur-
sue unanswered callings can indeed bring greater enjoy-
ment and meaning to one’s work experience, but along
with these pleasant states, the crafting techniques can
also be linked with unpleasant states of regret and stress.
This is often due to the crafting techniques having ironic
backfiring or boomerang effects (e.g., Wegner 1994).
Whereas the dominant view in existing research is that
callings are psychologically pleasant experiences (e.g.,
Hall and Chandler 2005, Heslin 2005, Wrzesniewski
et al. 1997), our research suggests that individuals may
experience mixed or ambivalent emotions (Fong 2006,
Pratt 2000) in pursuing their unanswered callings. In par-
ticular, enjoyment and meaning may be accompanied by
regret over forgone fulfillment of unanswered callings or
stress due to difficulty in carrying out crafting techniques.
To shed light on these experiences of regret and stress,
we focus on the differences between the unpleasant
states described by participants with missed and addi-
tional callings. We identified these differences by com-
paring the unpleasant states discussed by participants in
each group. We found that they tended to describe differ-
ent subtypes of regret and stress: those seeking to com-
pensate for missed callings tended to describe long-term
regret and frustration, whereas those seeking to supple-
ment their occupations with additional callings tended to
describe intermittent regret and overload (see Table 4).
We attribute these unpleasant states to four challenges
of pursuing unanswered callings, two of which have
been theorized as challenges in job crafting more gener-
ally: (1) individuals have a finite amount of time, energy,
and attention to devote to crafting; and (2) individu-
als often depend on others to enable or accommodate
their crafting efforts (Berg et al. 2010). The other two
are challenges specifically pertaining to pursuing unan-
swered callings: (3) some of the crafting techniques
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Table 4 Unpleasant Psychological States
Missed callings Additional callings
Regret over forgone
fulfillment of
unanswered calling(s)
Long-term regret: Ongoing adverse thoughts
about forgone fulfillment of a missed calling,
prompting contemplation about opportunities to
pursue the missed calling in the future.
Intermittent regret: Transient adverse thoughts
about forgone opportunity for a more ideal
balance of multiple callings, prompting justifi-
cations about why the current balance is better.
Illustration: “I do get some competition in
teaching. Like right now we’re working with
Smart Boards in the classroom, and in order to
use that I have to learn about it. So it’s
constantly something where you’re learning. So
there’s a little bit of competition that I like!!!but
there’s just not a lot of competition in teaching
overall !!! ! When I chose to be a teacher, there
didn’t seem to be as many options at that time.
I just kind of fell into it !!! ! I knew I was in that
career path. I have thought about sales as a
better fit all along and would have preferred
sales, but you can’t just stop. I had to kind of
finish so many years in teaching !!! ! But I don’t
have too much regret because I know I can
move on to a career in sales after teaching.”
(Sally)
Illustration: “[When] I see people who have taken
this thing and focused it and driven it to this
level of achievement that makes them stand
out, I think, ‘Wow! That’s amazing, that would
be very cool to do that.’ !!!And I get one of
those fleeting regrets, but it’s short-lived.
Because even if I had the voice, which I didn’t,
even if I’d had the actual raw musical talent,
the path you have to travel to get to there
would be rough!!! ! And I did consider music
as a kid, and decided I was too high strung to
do it, because I would sit and practice the
piano and just get too nervous and worked up
over not being able to be perfect. So we ruled
that out.” (Rick)
Mentioned by four of the nine participants with
missed callings
Mentioned by six of the 22 participants with
additional callings
Stress due to difficulty in
pursuing unanswered
calling(s)
Frustration: Feelings of aggravation as a result of
challenges or constraints in pursuing a missed
calling, making salient the specific obstacles
that limit an individual’s pursuit of the missed
calling.
Overload: Onerous stress as a result of trying to
find an ideal balance among multiple callings,
making salient the trade-offs necessary to
pursue multiple callings.
Illustration: “I enjoy technology and doing things
online, and learning more about that. It’s
frustrating, though, because while I may be
really excited about some things, not
everybody else is always really excited about
those same things. And so not everything that I
come across I’m able to take all the way
through !!! ! Making phone calls, setting up
appointments, setting up board meetings is not
really what I enjoy doing. So that stuff does get
slacked off on. It’s something that I’m trying to
balance, and understand that while I might not
like all the aspects of the way my job
description is written, I need to do those or
otherwise I can be great at everything else, but
I’m still not a very good employee. So that’s
difficult, balancing that.” (Wendy)
Illustration: “I work my [tail] off. No, I’m not
satisfied because !!!there are several things
involved. There is an issue of time. My salary is
less than $50,000 a year. Considerably less.
Now I brought into my department and into my
program—I can’t remember, but something
around $130,000—just last year in grants, and
you look at it, and you say, ‘Well, the
balance !!!there is no balance here.’ I’m not
being paid in time, and I’m not being paid in
money !!! ! But I’m glad I took [on the
administrative duties], because doing it
properly gives me some sort of personal
achievement. For someone like myself, such a
realization is a kind of fringe benefit of the job.
So even though it’s extra unpaid work, I’m glad
I have it.” (Carl)
Mentioned by five of the nine participants with
missed callings
Mentioned by seven of the 22 participants with
additional callings
involve only passive, brief, or limited exposure to unan-
swered callings; and (4) some unanswered callings are
more structurally difficult to incorporate into work and
leisure than others. In the following sections, we discuss
how these challenges help to explain the emergence of
the unpleasant states described by participants.
Regret over forgone fulfillment of unanswered call-
ing(s). Regret refers to feelings of sorrow and disappoint-
ment that are conjured up due to counterfactual thinking,
or thoughts about “what could have been” (e.g., Gilovich
and Medvec 1995, van Dijk and Zeelenberg 2005).
Participants often described experiencing regret when
job or leisure crafting techniques exposed them to desir-
able aspects of their unanswered callings that were previ-
ously somewhat “out of sight, out of mind” (e.g., Simons
and Chabris 1999) and therefore partially shielded from
being desired goals (Shah et al. 2002). We found
that participants with missed versus additional callings
described different experiences of regret over forgone
fulfillment of their unanswered callings. Participants
with missed callings often described experiencing long-
term regret when crafting did not provide them with
the level of fulfillment that they desired, leaving them
feeling sorrow about the forgone fulfillment. This is
illustrated by the experience of Sally, an elementary
school teacher who has a missed calling for a career in
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sales. To pursue her unanswered calling, she employs
the role reframing technique by establishing a connec-
tion between learning new technology for her classroom
and the competitive environment of sales. However, even
though the role reframing technique provides her with
some enjoyment and meaning, her crafting efforts fall
short of providing a desirable level of fulfillment because
her teaching role is not conducive to providing the level
of competition she desires, leading to some long-term
regret (see Table 4).
Similarly, Thelma utilizes the task emphasizing tech-
nique by trying to get to know her students on a per-
sonal level to pursue her missed calling to be a therapist.
Although this gives her some enjoyment, she nonetheless
describes experiencing long-term regret for not answer-
ing her calling.
My favorite part of my job is the one-on-one time with
students, which is what therapy is all about !!! ! It is sort
of difficult to know that there’s another occupation out
there that’s more suited for me. I feel kind of in a holding
pattern. I’ve been really limited in my choices because of
my husband’s school situation. It’d be nice to have more
freedom of choice.
Thelma’s and Sally’s situations illustrate how the craft-
ing techniques can give individuals some exposure to
their unanswered callings, but fall short of providing
them with ample opportunity to pursue their missed call-
ings, leading to long-term feelings of regret.
Whereas participants with missed callings tended to
describe experiencing regret over the long term, partici-
pants with additional callings tended to describe experi-
encing sporadic and short-lived episodes of regret, which
we labeled as intermittent regret. We found that intermit-
tent regret is likely to occur when a crafting technique
creates only passive, brief, or limited exposure to forgone
opportunities for fulfilling additional callings, conjuring
up counterfactual thoughts about what it might be like to
have a different balance among multiple callings. Rick
illustrates this in his remarks in Table 4; he describes
how he encounters intermittent regret while employing
the vicarious experiencing technique to pursue his addi-
tional calling for music. Although his vicarious experi-
ences are enjoyable and meaningful, he expresses that
being exposed to his unanswered calling sometimes pro-
duces temporary regrets about what it would be like if
he pursued a career in music further. Mary, who has an
unanswered calling for music, describes a strikingly sim-
ilar experience of intermittent regret.
There are times where I will go to a concert and hear a
great musician doing something or even go to the theater
and see the people on stage in this play bringing all that
enjoyment to the public, and I will have pangs of regret
that, “I wonder if I had really pursued this !!! !” Just a
quick pang of regret, and then I’m done with it. Because
ultimately, I just don’t think I have the talent to really do
anything very important from the musical end, and I’m
happy that I still have it in my life for my own enjoyment.
These two examples illustrate how brief or limited expo-
sure to unanswered callings through crafting techniques
can lead individuals with additional callings to expe-
rience intermittent regret. However, individuals often
described preventing regret from extending long term by
justifying why their current situations are preferable to
their counterfactual visions of a different balance among
multiple callings.
Proposition 8. Pursuing unanswered callings through
job and leisure crafting techniques increases the like-
lihood of experiencing regret, such that (a) individuals
with missed callings are more likely to experience long-
term regret, whereas (b) individuals with additional call-
ings are more likely to experience intermittent regret.
Stress due to difficulty in pursuing unanswered call-
ing(s). Stress refers to adverse feelings, such as anxiety,
fear, irritation, pressure, and sadness, that are caused by
an imbalance between the individual’s motivations and
abilities and the environment’s requirements and sup-
ports (e.g., Ganster and Schaubroeck 1991). We found
that participants with both missed and additional call-
ings discussed experiencing stress in pursuit of their
unanswered callings, but they tended to describe dif-
ferent kinds of stress. Participants with missed callings
usually described frustration or feelings of aggravation
about being blocked or prevented from achieving a goal
(Carver and Scheier 1990) when they encountered obsta-
cles in their efforts to pursue missed callings, such as
“red tape” or resistance from others. Such obstacles led
to the frustrating realization that their formal job respon-
sibilities limited the amount of time, energy, and atten-
tion they could allocate to crafting techniques—and thus
to experiencing enjoyment and meaning with respect to
their unanswered callings. Wendy illustrates this frus-
tration in Table 4, and her nonprofit colleague Emma
describes a similar frustrating situation presented by the
challenge of convincing her supervisor to accommodate
her crafting.
I want to do more writing work, but I think a lot of what’s
difficult about my job is that I get a lot of things in the
communications department that is grunt work. I wish I
could take that out of my job description, but I can’t. I
don’t know really how to deal with that!!!so that’s caused
some job dissatisfaction. I think if my supervisor were
someone who was not sharp tongued, or if she was more
lax, I would feel better about saying that this is what I
would like my responsibilities to be like, or if I felt like
she supported me in shaping my job like that, then I could
do more of what I want to do and it would be better.
These examples illustrate how the demands and con-
straints of occupying a formal work role can frus-
trate individuals’ desires to pursue their missed callings
through job crafting, making salient to them the partic-
ular barriers that impede their crafting efforts.
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Whereas participants with missed callings usually
described stressful states of frustration, participants with
additional callings usually described stressful states of
overload. Overload is a form of stress that involves
the feeling of being overwhelmed by demands, require-
ments, or expectations (Rizzo et al. 1970). Since indi-
viduals who have the motivation to pursue additional
callings find themselves juggling multiple callings,
including their current occupations, they are especially
susceptible to overload. Experiences of overload often
make salient to participants the trade-offs that are neces-
sary to juggle multiple callings. Carl provides an exam-
ple of overload in Table 4. His efforts to pursue his
additional calling for academic consulting by taking on
administrative duties contributes to an onerous level of
stress, making salient the trade-off he faces between
the enjoyment and meaning that the extra tasks provide
him and the added stress of these responsibilities. Carl’s
struggle resembles Andy’s story, which began in our ear-
lier discussion of hobby participating. Andy reflected
on the stress involved in attempting to strike a balance
between his callings.
Teaching is very interesting and stimulating, but it has
its downsides like any other job. Sometimes you carry
things around with you; like I need to e-mail this stu-
dent, or I need to discipline this student !!! ! But it’s also
wonderful. So I never dread going to work!!! ! But the
anxiety I have, and the existential doubts I have, are more
just, sort of, being aware that my own aspirations are
never smooth, as smooth as I would want!!! ! Again, I
like teaching. I like having some contact with the wider
world. I think it does me good. And so even though it
takes up more of my writing time than I’d like, if some-
body said, “You don’t have to teach anymore,” I would
probably still do some in addition to just trying to write.
Together, Andy’s and Carl’s examples illustrate that
because time, energy, and attention are finite resources,
efforts to craft one’s job and leisure time in pursuit of
additional callings can lead to overload, making salient
to individuals the trade-offs involved in juggling their
multiple callings.
Proposition 9. Pursuing unanswered callings through
job and leisure crafting techniques increases the like-
lihood of experiencing stress, such that (a) individuals
with missed callings are more likely to experience frus-
tration, whereas (b) individuals with additional callings
are more likely to experience overload.
Discussion
Theoretical Implications
Our propositions pave the way for future research to
build, test, and refine theory about the nature, pur-
suit, and experience of unanswered callings, as well as
about job crafting. In particular, our distinction between
missed and additional callings extends theoretical per-
spectives on callings in three key ways. First, the major-
ity of past research has defined a calling orientation as
an attitude or disposition that describes an individual’s
relation to the broad domain of work (e.g., Hall and
Chandler 2005, Wrzesniewski et al. 1997). In contrast,
our conceptualization ties an individual’s sense of calling
to one or more specific occupations. Second, our find-
ings suggest that individuals may have multiple occu-
pational callings, as many participants described feeling
called to more than one occupation. Third, the distinc-
tion between missed and additional callings accentuates
the value of an expanded conceptualization of callings
that includes multiple callings, each of which may be
answered or unanswered by one’s current occupation.
Regarding the experience of unanswered callings,
our propositions offer implications for emotion theo-
ries. Our findings invite consideration of the possibility
that the duration of regret that individuals feel depends
on whether they have missed or additional callings.
Although researchers have shown that the duration of
regret tends to last longer for inactions than actions
(Gilovich et al. 1998), they have paid little attention to
situational differences that influence temporal patterns
of regret. Our propositions suggest that individuals with
additional callings are less prone to long-term regret than
individuals with missed callings, whose dissatisfaction
with their current occupations makes it difficult to ward
off counterfactual thoughts and disappointments. Inter-
estingly, this pattern among participants with missed call-
ings to experience longer-term regret emerged in our
interviews for both actions (“I chose the wrong occupa-
tion”) and inactions (“I should have undertaken a differ-
ent occupation”). These findings imply that individuals
engaging in the process of pursuing additional callings
may be relatively buffered against longer-term regret,
whereas the process of pursuing missed callings may
involve greater susceptibility to longer-term regret.
Finally, our findings have two meaningful implica-
tions for theory and research on job crafting. First, we
extend the concept of job crafting outside the domain
of work to illustrate how individuals express initiative,
agency, and proactivity in shaping their leisure activities
to pursue their unanswered callings. Our findings high-
light that individuals are able to use crafting techniques
to pursue their occupational callings outside the work-
place, which expands the boundaries of when and how
an occupational calling can be fulfilled and accentuates
the important role that the work–leisure interface may
play in crafting research (cf. Wrzesniewski and Dutton
2001). Our propositions suggest that leisure crafting is
more likely to be undertaken to compensate for difficul-
ties in job crafting within strong situations. Second, we
answered calls to explore the dark sides of job craft-
ing (e.g., Grant and Ashford 2008) by illuminating how
the very crafting techniques that bring enjoyment and
Berg, Grant, and Johnson: Unanswered Occupational Callings
990 Organization Science 21(5), pp. 973–994, © 2010 INFORMS
meaning can also expose individuals to unpleasant states
of regret and stress. These findings uncover a double-
edged sword of pleasure and pain that may underlie the
experiences of having and pursuing unanswered callings:
such experiences appear to be, at best, mixed blessings.
Unanswered Questions on Unanswered Callings
Our study raises important questions about how individ-
uals come to experience themselves as having missed
versus additional callings. Although our data provide lim-
ited insight into this issue, we speculate here about sev-
eral possible explanations. First, our study hints that,
over time, the affective events that individuals experience
may influence whether individuals not only pursue—but
also experience—missed or additional callings. As neg-
ative affective events accumulate, individuals may be
more likely to make sense of their current occupations as
unfulfilling, and if they feel called to another occupation,
they will construe their callings as missed. As positive
affective events build up, individuals may tend to make
sense of their current occupations as fulfilling, leading to
the interpretation of other callings as additional. Further-
more, theories of self-regulation suggest that the behav-
ioral options chosen by individuals will depend on how
they interpret and attribute their unpleasant psychologi-
cal states of regret and stress at work (Martin et al. 1993,
Weiner 1986). For example, individuals with missed call-
ings may be inclined to attribute their unpleasant states
to general, stable features of their jobs and occupations,
resulting in the desire to find a new occupation, whereas
individuals with additional callings may be inclined to
attribute their unpleasant states to specific challenges of
using crafting techniques, resulting in the desire to try
new forms of crafting.
Second, missed and additional callings are social
constructions that are likely to be enabled and con-
strained by the organizational and occupational contexts
in which individuals make sense of their experiences
(Weick 1995). Organizational and occupational ideolo-
gies can provide rhetoric that legitimates the experience
of one’s current occupation as a calling or marginalizes
the experience of a calling as unprofessional or inappro-
priate in a work context. This theme is implicit in Amy’s
statement that “it helps the world become a better place,
but I encourage my children and friends not to go into
teaching,” where she explains that she feels that the phi-
losophy imposed by No Child Left Behind has created
such a dominant focus on rote memorization that she is
no longer able to experience or express a love of teach-
ing. She resolves the apparent cognitive dissonance that
ensues by concluding that teaching was not her calling,
and she has missed her calling for computer animation.
Third, individual differences and experiences may also
play a role in shaping how individuals construct their
unanswered callings as missed versus additional. From
a life history standpoint, individuals’ past experiences in
occupations may influence how they perceive their cur-
rent occupation. For example, employees early in their
careers may be less likely to view their current occupa-
tion as a calling due to seeing their work as a means to
explore and advance to a different job, compared with
employees later in their careers, who may be more likely
to evaluate their work in terms of opportunities to make
a difference (Grant and Wade-Benzoni 2009). Conse-
quently, employees early in their careers may lack mean-
ing in their current occupations and therefore construe
unanswered callings as missed, whereas employees later
in their careers may experience meaning in their cur-
rent occupations and thus construe unanswered callings
as additional. Beyond life history, from a personality
standpoint, extensive research has shown that biological
propensities toward extraversion increase the sensitivity
of the behavioral activation system to rewards, leading
extraverts to experience more frequent and intense posi-
tive emotions than introverts, whereas biological propen-
sities toward neuroticism increase the sensitivity of the
behavioral inhibition system to punishment cues, lead-
ing neurotic individuals to experience more frequent and
intense negative emotions than emotionally stable indi-
viduals (e.g., McCrae and Costa 2003). As a result,
extraverts may be more likely than introverts to inter-
pret their current occupations as callings, and thus to
experience additional callings, whereas neurotic individ-
uals may be more likely than emotionally stable indi-
viduals to view their current occupations in a negative
light, and thus to experience missed callings. On a related
note, individuals high in openness to experience may be
more prone to identifying additional callings, because
they tend to be more interested in and engaged with a
diverse range of activities (McCrae and Costa 2003). We
hope that future research will investigate these ideas in
further depth.
Limitations and Future Directions
Our study is subject to several important limitations
that may be resolved in future research. First, the craft-
ing techniques and psychological states identified in our
study do not necessarily represent an exhaustive set,
and other samples may identify different sets of tech-
niques, states, and other factors that may be relevant to
the socially embedded phenomenon of having and pur-
suing unanswered callings in different settings. Future
qualitative research could elaborate our findings and
explore additional factors, such as the ways in which
organizational cultures, social structures, and interper-
sonal interactions impact the process of pursuing unan-
swered callings. Furthermore, because the interview data
and numerical ratings were collected at one point in time,
our study was based on a single snapshot of participants’
thoughts and feelings, which may leave obscure impor-
tant factors involved in how this complex, dynamic, and
longitudinal process unfolds over time. For instance, the
Berg, Grant, and Johnson: Unanswered Occupational Callings
Organization Science 21(5), pp. 973–994, © 2010 INFORMS 991
length of time that people experience having unanswered
callings may strengthen or weaken their motivations to
craft, or the benefits of enjoyment and meaning may be
more or less difficult to experience as a calling goes unan-
swered over time. Second, our approach to determining
which occupations participants viewed as unanswered
callings was useful for building theory, but yielded a sam-
ple featuring wide variance with respect to the strength
of unanswered callings, ranging from those who feel a
powerful and urgent sense of calling to those for whom
a sense of calling is present but relatively less intense.
Future longitudinal research could address this issue by
using methods that permit a more fine-grained analysis
of the strength of participants’ unanswered callings.
Third, we hope to see future research use purposeful
sampling to investigate the extent to which formally pre-
scribed levels of autonomy and power shape the craft-
ing techniques, as well as the different types of unan-
swered callings, crafting techniques, and psychological
states that emerge in different situations, occupations,
and organizational cultures. Because of the limited size
of our sample, we could identify only a subset of
the possible patterns with respect to the prevalence of
missed versus additional callings and job crafting tech-
niques among the six occupational groups in our study.
Our findings do provide evidence that the strength of the
situation employees face is inversely related to the num-
ber of job crafting techniques they are likely to enact
(i.e., the stronger the situation, the fewer the job craft-
ing techniques). Also, our sample of educators appears
to provide “extreme cases” of having additional callings.
To target extreme cases of missed callings, for example,
researchers might study restaurant servers in Hollywood
or New York City, many of whom may have unsuc-
cessfully tried for an extended period of time to answer
their callings for acting. Anesthesiologists may also be
relevant, because many of them report that they ini-
tially hoped to be surgeons but selected anesthesiology
for the fixed hours and less stressful lifestyle (Dorsey
et al. 2003).
Finally, our study is circumscribed by the Western
culture in which it was conducted. The Protestant work
ethic and its emphasis on heeding an occupational call-
ing are powerful cultural values in the United States
(Bellah et al. 1985) and similar Western cultures. How-
ever, the general notions of occupational callings and
the intrinsic nobility or virtue of work are not univer-
sal across cultures. Our research methods and findings
assume that people are motivated to fulfill callings, but
this may not be the case for all Americans or for indi-
viduals in other cultural contexts. Future research should
address whether unanswered callings are a relevant phe-
nomenon in other national and regional cultures, and if
so, explore the impact of cultural values and norms on
how individuals respond to unanswered callings.
Conclusion
The deep sense of personal fulfillment that Western cul-
ture encourages individuals to expect from the domain of
work often runs counter to the structures and practices
that work organizations deem practical for achieving
their goals, generating challenges for the individuals
who are driven by cultural norms and values to pur-
sue their callings but have limited opportunity to do so
within the Western employment system. This misalign-
ment has potentially significant implications for man-
agers and employees more generally. For practicality
and efficiency reasons, managers typically seek to design
standardized “one-size-fits-all” jobs (Ilgen and Hollen-
beck 1991, Mohrman and Cohen 1995), which may leave
untapped opportunities to better align employees’ jobs
with their individual motives and strengths. The job
crafting techniques that participants used to pursue their
unanswered callings represent bottom-up ways in which
employees can customize more fitting job designs for
themselves. Many instances of these techniques appear
to be beneficial to both the individual and the organiza-
tion (e.g., Wendy taking initiative to learn more about the
software that her organization uses or Paul training new
employees). Thus, managers might fruitfully explore the
potential benefits of providing employees with autonomy
and support to engage in forms of job crafting that are
beneficial to the organization, which may foster increased
enjoyment and meaning while also serving organizational
performance objectives. Managers may also be able to
assist employees in crafting their leisure time to pursue
their unanswered callings. In recent years, for example,
a number of companies have formed strategic alliances
with nonprofit organizations that facilitate volunteer work
on the part of interested employees; such volunteer pro-
grams could provide employees with beneficial connec-
tions to their unanswered callings. In conclusion, our
research suggests that despite the challenges involved
in pursuing unanswered callings, individuals can and do
exercise agency to do so. As Gary explains,
When I think about what it would’ve been like if I pur-
sued a career in music, it reinforces that I’m in the right
place, in the right career, but a career that allows me to
pursue my other passion at the appropriate level. I listen
to music regularly. I get to be an entertainer in the class-
room. I play the piano when I’m at home. I have a guitar
in my office, which I strum on every once in a while, and
when little opportunities come along to form a band, I’ll
do that. But my career and my life is being a professor.
Acknowledgments
The authors thank Martha Feldman, four anonymous review-
ers, Jane Dutton, Stuart Bunderson, Andy Molinsky, Rick
Price, Kathryn Dekas, Melissa Kamin, and members of the
Impact Lab for valuable feedback on earlier drafts. They are
also grateful to the University of Michigan Organizational
Studies Program and Ross School of Business for financial
support. This paper is based on the first author’s undergraduate
honors thesis.
Berg, Grant, and Johnson: Unanswered Occupational Callings
992 Organization Science 21(5), pp. 973–994, © 2010 INFORMS
Appendix
Table A.1 Stages of Interview Protocol
Stage 1: Reveal present feelings about work
What is a typical day like in your job?
On a scale from 1–7, one being not at all similar to you and seven being very much similar to you, how similar are the people
in the following paragraphs (adapted from Wrzesniewski et al. 1997) to you? Why did you choose this rating?
"[Calling Orientation]: For Category A people, work is one of the most important parts of life. They are very pleased that they are in
their line of work. Because what they do for a living is a vital part of who they are, it is one of the first things they tell people about
themselves. They tend to take their work home with them and on vacations, too. The majority of their friends are from their places of
employment, and they belong to several organizations and clubs relating to their work. They feel good about their work because they love
it, and because they think it makes the world a better place. They would encourage their friends and children to enter their line of work.
Category A people would be pretty upset if they were forced to stop working, and they are not particularly looking forward to retirement.
"[Job Orientation]: Category B people work primarily enough to earn enough money to support their lives outside of their jobs. If they
were financially secure, they would no longer continue with their current line of work, but would really rather do something else instead.
To these people, their jobs are basically a necessity of life, a lot like breathing or sleeping. They often wish the time would pass more
quickly at work. They greatly anticipate weekends and vacations. If these people lived their lives over again, they probably would not go
into the same line of work. They would not encourage their friends and children to enter their line of work. Category B people are very
eager to retire.
"[Career Orientation]: Category C people basically enjoy their work, but do not expect to be in their current jobs five years from now.
Instead, they plan to move on to better, higher-level jobs. They have several goals for their futures pertaining to the positions they would
eventually like to hold. Sometimes their work seems a waste of time, but they know that they must do sufficiently well in their current
positions in order to move on. Category C people can’t wait to get a promotion. For them, a promotion means recognition of their good
work, and is a sign of their success in competition with coworkers.
Stage 2: Outline career path and identify unanswered callings
Please tell me the story of how you came to be a teacher, with particular attention on any key milestones, events, or
decisions along your career path.
"Did you actively pursue any other occupations before teaching? Beginning with the earliest:
!Why did you pursue this occupation? How did you feel about this occupation? How interested are you in this
occupation now?
!Imagine you were currently working in this occupation. Using the same 1–7 scale, how similar would Category A
people be to you? Why did you choose this rating?
"Are there any other occupations you have considered pursuing? Beginning with the earliest:
!When did you become interested in this occupation? Why were you interested in this occupation? How strongly do
you feel toward this occupation now? What made you decide against pursuing this occupation?
!Imagine you were currently working in this occupation. Using the same 1–7 scale, how similar would Category A
people be to you? Why did you choose this rating?
Stage 3: Examine process of responding to unanswered calling(s)
Please tell me about the difficult decisions you faced on your career path. Beginning with the earliest:
"How did you handle this difficult decision?
"What are some of the strategies you used to handle this difficult decision?
"What do you do now to deal with this difficult decision?
Have you actively incorporated any aspects of [unanswered calling] into your job? If so, how?
"Which of these aspects are required by your job and which ones are not?
"How do you feel about these aspects?
Have you actively incorporated any aspects of [unanswered calling] into your life outside of work? If so, how?
"How do you feel about these aspects?
Stage 4: Determine psychological states
How do you feel about the balance between your current job and [unanswered calling]?
Looking back, how do you feel about your career path?
Do you ever think about what it would have been like if you pursued a different occupation?
How does your career path affect your life now?
What are your plans for the future regarding your career?
Berg, Grant, and Johnson: Unanswered Occupational Callings
Organization Science 21(5), pp. 973–994, © 2010 INFORMS 993
Endnote
1In some instances, enjoyment and meaning can be difficult
to distinguish, because they are often inextricably intertwined
(King et al. 2006, Ryan and Deci 2001). Accordingly, the par-
ticipants in this study often described psychological states that
we coded as representing both enjoyment and meaning.
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... However, not all workers engage in job crafting to the same extent. This variation is influenced by factors, such as rank [10], degree of autonomy [10], and the resources available to workers [86]. These findings suggest that job crafting may be especially relevant to creative workers with greater skill and autonomy. ...
... However, not all workers engage in job crafting to the same extent. This variation is influenced by factors, such as rank [10], degree of autonomy [10], and the resources available to workers [86]. These findings suggest that job crafting may be especially relevant to creative workers with greater skill and autonomy. ...
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Generative AI (GAI) technologies are disrupting professional writing, challenging traditional practices. Recent studies explore GAI adoption experiences of creative practitioners, but we know little about how these experiences evolve into established practices and how GAI resistance alters these practices. To address this gap, we conducted 25 semi-structured interviews with writing professionals who adopted and/or resisted GAI. Using the theoretical lens of Job Crafting, we identify four strategies professionals employ to reshape their roles. Writing professionals employed GAI resisting strategies to maximize human potential, reinforce professional identity, carve out a professional niche, and preserve credibility within their networks. In contrast, GAI-enabled strategies allowed writers who embraced GAI to enhance desirable workflows, minimize mundane tasks, and engage in new AI-managerial labor. These strategies amplified their collaborations with GAI while reducing their reliance on other people. We conclude by discussing implications of GAI practices on writers' identity and practices as well as crafting theory.
... Career calling refers to the intense passion that an individual has for a specific occupation, which is generally in line with their life goal, has internal significance and value, and is the primary pathway to realise self-lived meaning, helping others or contributing to society [10,11]. Individuals with a career calling can experience their life value and meaning in their career, which leads to more positive views on their career and the production of positive work motivation and initiative [12]. ...
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Background Career calling, professional identity and the need for achievement are believed to affect the students’ learning engagement and effect. However, their regulatory relationship with medical students remains unclear. Methods Our study surveyed 1250 medical students through a questionnaire, and the correlation of the study variables was analysed. Harman’s Single-Factor test was performed on the data to rule out significant common method biases. The mediation effect was determined using the percentile Bootstrap method with deviation correction. Results Career calling was positively correlated with professional identity (r = 0.51, p < 0.001) and positively correlated with the need for achievement (r = 0.49, p < 0.001). Learning engagement was positively correlated with professional identity (r = 0.56, p < 0.001) and positively correlated with the need for achievement (r = 0.55, p < 0.001). Professional identity was positively correlated with the need for achievement (r = 0.51, p < 0.001). In addition, professional identity plays a mediating role in the relationship between career calling and learning engagement (β = 0.36, p < 0.001). Additionally, the need for achievement influences how career calling affects learning engagement through professional identity (β = -0.06, p < 0.001). Conclusions Career calling, professional identity and the need for achievement were positively associated with learning engagement in medical students. Professional identity and the need for achievement act as intermediaries between career calling and learning engagement. This study found that strengthening the professional guidance of medical students and enhancing their sense of professional mission could promote their acceptance and identification of their major, enhance their professional identity, create a positive professional atmosphere, and improve learning engagement.
... The concept of leisure crafting originated from job crafting (Berg et al., 2010). This involves work activities, whereas leisure crafting involves leisure activities. ...
... Stressor, as an environmental stimulus, is a destructive factor that is detested by individuals throughout the entire model (Cao & Sun, 2018). Berg et al. (2010) concluded that stress is a negative emotion that arises when there is a disbalance between an individual's motivation and ability or environmental demands and environmental support. Strain refers to the detrimental effects of environmental stimuli on attention, physiology, and psychology, among other aspects, and it affects the outcomes resulting from the stressor (Koeske & Koeske, 1993). ...
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