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Does one size fit all? The role of job characteristics in cultivating work passion across knowledge, blue-collar, nonprofit, and managerial work

February 2024
Human Resource Management 63(3)

February 2024
63(3)

DOI:10.1002/hrm.22210

Authors:

Alexander S McKay

Virginia Commonwealth University

D. Harold Doty

University of Texas at Tyler

Barbara Ross Wooldridge

Indiana University Bloomington

We integrate the job characteristics and dual work passion models to explore the indirect (via work meaningfulness) effects of job characteristics (i.e., job autonomy, task identity, skill variety, task significance, feedback from the job and feedback from others) on two types of work passion, harmonious passion (HP) and obsessive passion (OP). We first advance occupation-specific predictions for job characteristics-to-work passion relationships and then explore differences in those relationships between HP and OP across four occupational sectors: knowledge work (n = 201), blue-collar work (n = 148), nonprofit work (n = 141), and managerial work (n = 133). Our findings demonstrate that job characteristics are important drivers of work passion. However, our key discovery is that the motivational impact of the job characteristics is not universally applicable but rather depends on the specific occupational context and whether passion is harmonious or obsessive. We therefore conclude that when it comes to translating job characteristics into work passion, the one-size-fits-all approach is not appropriate.

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ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Does one size fit all? The role of job characteristics in

cultivating work passion across knowledge, blue-collar,

nonprofit, and managerial work

Marina N. Astakhova

| Alexander S. McKay

| D. Harold Doty

Barbara R. Wooldridge

University of Richmond, Richmond,

Virginia, USA

Virginia Commonwealth University,

Richmond, Virginia, USA

University of Texas at Tyler, Tyler,

Texas, USA

Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, USA

Correspondence

Marina N. Astakhova, University of Richmond,

Richmond, VA 23173, USA.

Email: mastakho@richmond.edu

Abstract

We integrate the job characteristics and dual work passion models to explore the

indirect (via work meaningfulness) effects of job characteristics (i.e., job autonomy,

task identity, skill variety, task significance, feedback from the job and feedback from

others) on two types of work passion, harmonious passion (HP) and obsessive pas-

sion (OP). We first advance occupation-specific predictions for job characteristics-

to-work passion relationships and then explore differences in those relationships

between HP and OP across four occupational sectors: knowledge work (n=201),

blue-collar work (n=148), nonprofit work (n=141), and managerial work (n=133).

Our findings demonstrate that job characteristics are important drivers of work pas-

sion. However, our key discovery is that the motivational impact of the job character-

istics is not universally applicable but rather depends on the specific occupational

context and whether passion is harmonious or obsessive. We therefore conclude that

when it comes to translating job characteristics into work passion, the one-size-fits-

all approach is not appropriate.

KEYWORDS

blue-collar work, harmonious passion, job characteristics, knowledge work, nonprofit work,

obsessive passion, managerial work, work meaningfulness

1|INTRODUCTION

Work passion—a type of work motivation that denotes a strong

liking of and identification with work (Vallerand &

Houlfort, 2003)—has become part of conventional career advice

for many. Expressions such as “Do what you love, and you'll

never work a day in your life”and “Do what you love and suc-

cess will follow”are overwhelmingly used as prescriptions for

career success. A growing body of academic research has now

delineated the broad scope of potential benefits associated with

work passion including increased job satisfaction, commitment,

and work performance (Astakhova et al., 2022; Ho & Astakhova,

2018; Pollack et al., 2020). As a result, both individuals and

organizations consider passion a virtue that should be developed

and maintained.

Despite the known benefits of work passion, our understanding

of how to cultivate it remains limited. Such knowledge is particularly

important given the existence of both harmonious passion (HP) and

obsessive passion (OP) (Vallerand et al., 2003). While both HP and OP

are associated with liking one's work, the two types of passion differ

with respect to how individuals internalize work into their identity

(Vallerand & Houlfort, 2003). Harmoniously passionate individuals

freely endorse their work, whereas their obsessively passionate coun-

terparts feel internally (e.g., self-esteem) or externally (e.g., reward)

pressured to work. Because of its consumptive nature and its associa-

tion with unfavorable consequences (Pollack et al., 2020), OP is often

DOI: 10.1002/hrm.22210

labeled as “unhealthy.”Identifying job characteristics that may

uniquely predict each type of passion can help organizations avoid the

trap of nurturing the wrong passion.

Limited research on the antecedents of work passion has primar-

ily focused on personality characteristics such as identity centrality

(Cardon et al., 2009), self-efficacy (Cardon & Kirk, 2015), and auton-

omy orientation (Liu & Fu, 2011). These studies emphasize that pas-

sion originates within the individual; one must be born with passion to

have it. More recent research, however, has provided preliminary evi-

dence that context may also influence passion development

(Astakhova & Ho, 2018; Ho & Astakhova, 2020). Advancing this

understanding can render work passion as malleable and provide prac-

tical guidance for both employees and organizations how to nurture

“good”and tame “bad”passion (Astakhova et al., 2022).

Job characteristics comprise one set of contextual predictors of

work passion that remain surprisingly under-researched, yet are par-

ticularly important to explore. First, work passion arises, in part, from

the nature of the work itself (Mustafa et al., 2020) and characteristics

of the job constitute a proximal motivational influence that an

employee experiences at work (Trépanier et al., 2014). Second,

because job characteristics play a pivotal role in shaping the process

of work identity formation (Hu et al., 2020), they can offer insight into

how individuals incorporate work into their identity. Job characteris-

tics can invoke employee appraisals of the job with respect to its

internal characteristics (e.g., the job is significant) or external benefits

(e.g., the job pays well) triggering either the autonomous or controlled

internalization of work and, in turn, HP or OP. Third, understanding

the significance of job characteristics for work outcomes across

diverse occupations (Karlita et al., 2020) offers a fruitful context for a

nuanced examination of cross-occupational differences in how job

characteristics influence work passion.

We explore this unmapped terrain by investigating the relation-

ship between the job characteristics identified in the job characteristic

model (JCM, Hackman & Oldham, 1975,1976,1980) and work pas-

sion. We expect the six job characteristics (job autonomy, skill variety,

task identity, task significance, feedback from the job, and feedback

from others) to enhance employee motivation (work passion) via the

perceived meaningfulness of work. While we draw heavily on

the logic of the JCM in our arguments, we deviate from the model in

one important way. The original JCM logic assumes that the model

will generalize across diverse work contexts (Hackman &

Oldham, 1975). However, subsequent empirical studies have failed to

support the model's generalizability and revealed significant

occupation-specific differences (e.g., Allan et al., 2016; De Boeck

et al., 2019). This evidence suggests that the JCM's conventional

“one-size-fits-all”approach explaining how to cultivate work passion

may not be appropriate and, instead, a more nuanced examination is

required.

We extend the JCM's scope by employing a nuanced occupation-

specific perspective to examine the indirect job characteristics-

to-passion links. Specifically, we compare and contrast unique ways of

developing passion from job characteristics across different occupa-

tions. We first offer formal hypotheses predicting that different job

characteristics will be conducive of work passion in different occupa-

tions. However, our initial predictions do not distinguish between HP

or OP because no current theory provides a consistent explanation

for differential effects of job characteristics on each passion type and

empirical studies investigating passion in work contexts beyond

knowledge work are uncommon (Astakhova et al., 2022). After initial

formal hypotheses, we therefore pose research questions exploring

potentially unique job characteristics associated with HP and OP

within each occupation. We test our predictions across four occupa-

tional sectors, knowledge work, blue-collar work, nonprofit work, and

managerial work, which broadly represent the most common, yet con-

trasting, occupational contexts (Fukushima et al., 2021; Hull &

Lio, 2006; Takei & Sakamoto, 2008).

This research contributes to both the work passion and JCM liter-

atures. In the work passion field, we shift the discourse from disposi-

tional to contextual influences on passion. We not only advance job

characteristics as theoretically relevant contextual antecedents of

work passion but also posit work meaningfulness as the mechanism

explaining how work passion emerges. Our study therefore extends

the nomological network of the passion construct and conceptualizes

passion as more malleable than previous work has suggested (Lavigne

et al., 2014; Vallerand & Houlfort, 2003). We also extend the JCM

(Hackman & Oldham, 1975,1976) by showing that it does not apply

universally as was previously assumed. Instead, a comparative cross-

occupational examination of how job characteristics cultivate work

motivation is more appropriate (e.g., Janssen, 2001). We demonstrate

that differences across occupational contexts result in different pat-

terns of relationships between job characteristics and work passion,

suggesting that “one size does not fit all”when it comes to cultivating

passion.

2|THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK AND

HYPOTHESES

2.1 |JCM: The traditional conceptualization

2.1.1 | Job characteristics

The JCM (Hackman & Oldham, 1975,1976,1980) specifies five

(or six when the two subtypes of feedback are considered separately)

core job characteristics that can significantly impact the psychological

state of employees and the quality of their work. Autonomy refers to

the amount of discretion and independence one has in carrying out

the job. Task identity is defined as the degree to which one's job

“requires completion of a ‘whole’and identifiable piece of work, that

is, doing a job from beginning to end with visible outcomes”

(Hackman & Oldham, 1976, p. 257). Skill variety is defined as the range

of different activities required by the job which involve the use of a

variety of the job incumbent's skills and abilities. Hackman and Old-

ham (1976) referred to task significance as “the degree to which the

job has a substantial impact on the lives of other people, whether in

the immediate organization or in the external environment”(p. 257).

2ASTAKHOVA ET AL.

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Feedback is understood as the degree to which the individual can

receive clear information regarding the effectiveness of their perfor-

mance. Feedback can originate from the job itself (feedback from the

job) when doing the job serves as a quality check for the individual or

from others (feedback from others) when managers or colleagues pro-

vide job-related feedback to the individual. At the most general level,

the JCM asserts that job characteristics influence critical psychological

states of an individual (e.g., work meaningfulness) which, in turn, result

in various positive work outcomes (e.g., motivation).

2.1.2 | Work meaningfulness

Work meaningfulness, defined as the level of significance the work

holds for the individual (Rosso et al., 2010), is a function of certain

features of the individual's job (Hackman & Oldham, 1976). Originally,

the JCM posited only three of five job characteristics, task identity,

skill variety, and task significance, as antecedents of work meaningful-

ness (Hackman & Oldham, 1975,1976). However, subsequent

research has found that all six job characteristics contribute to work

meaningfulness and identified the latter as the “most critical psycho-

logical state”that one's job invokes (Humphrey et al., 2007, p. 1341).

This assertion has been supported by extensive empirical evidence

(e.g., Allan et al., 2016; De Boeck et al., 2019; Wrzesniewski &

Dutton, 2001).

2.1.3 | Work outcomes: Work passion

The second part of the JCM predicts relationships between psycho-

logical states and work outcomes (Hackman & Oldham, 1975,1976),

among which the relationships between work meaningfulness and

work motivation have been described as particularly important

(Pratt & Ashforth, 2003). To the extent that individuals view their

work as worthwhile, their drive to work will increase (Hackman &

Oldham, 1976). In general, people's search for meaning is one of the

primary motivations in life (Pratt & Ashforth, 2003) so creating mean-

ingful work is a powerful lever for motivating employees to engage in

their work. Researchers implementing the JCM to motivate workers

have typically focused on intrinsic motivation as a desired motiva-

tional outcome (Lawler & Hall, 1970).

While certainly important for enticing employees to work, intrin-

sic motivation represents only one type of motivation which might be

subject to job-related influences. A different type of motivation which

may provide a more comprehensive and nuanced perspective for

understanding the motivational influences of job characteristics is

work passion. Similar to intrinsic motivation, work passion entails indi-

viduals' love for work, but expands the intrinsic motivation construct

space to include the internalization of work into the self (Vallerand &

Houlfort, 2003). Studying work passion is particularly timely because

it reflects the ongoing change in the meaning of work in the contem-

porary workplace where work is becoming a more inseparable part of

the individual's identity (Morgan, 2022). Understanding how job

characteristics influence one's passion for work will equip organiza-

tions with practical tools to cultivate such passion.

The dualistic model of passion (Vallerand et al., 2003) which pro-

vides the conceptual underpinning for the passion construct identifies

two types of passion: harmonious and OP. Both HP and OP are asso-

ciated with liking one's work and investing considerable time and

energy into the job, but differ with respect to how work is integrated

into the self (Vallerand & Houlfort, 2003). Harmoniously passionate

individuals internalize work in an autonomous way because they enjoy

work for its inherent characteristics (i.e., work is interesting and/or

challenging). In contrast, obsessively passionate individuals experience

controlled internalization because of internal (e.g., self-esteem) or

external (e.g., pay, promotion) pressures to work. Unlike its harmoni-

ous counterpart, OP tends to produce negative work outcomes

(Pollack et al., 2020).

In line with the JCM, one would expect that the stronger the indi-

vidual's experience of work meaningfulness, the more passion the

individual will manifest and that this will hold true for both HP and

OP. Individuals who perceive their work as worthwhile will invest time

and energy into their work (Chaudhary & Akhouri, 2019) and feel

excited about working (Jordan et al., 2019). Experiencing work mean-

ingfulness also contributes to shaping individuals' work-related values

and identities (Rosso et al., 2010), likely turning work into an element

of the individual's self-identification. On the one hand, a source of

meaning can spur a sense of control and competence (Scott, 2022).

Thus, when individuals value the inherent qualities of their work, they

are likely to experience autonomous work motivation, such as HP. On

the other hand, meaningful pursuits at work can become a dominating

life-force so that an individuals' free time becomes filled with even

more work (Malinowska et al., 2018). Work may become so overpow-

ering that it takes control over the individual (Magrizos et al., 2023)

and nurtures their OP.

Integrating the above (traditional) arguments stemming from the

JCM, one should expect that each of the six job characteristics will be

associated with employee experiences of work meaningfulness,

which, in turn, will engender work passion. However, as discussed ear-

lier, the generalizability of the JCM may not hold and scrutinizing the

JCM through an occupational lens is warranted to capture potential

variability in the relationships between job characteristics and out-

comes based on specific occupational contexts.

2.2 |JCM: The occupation-specific

conceptualization

Despite the traditionally accepted view that the JCM generalizes

across jobs and occupations (Hackman & Oldham, 1975), empirical

evidence of such generalizability is, at best, mixed. For example, task

significance was identified as a key contributor to work meaningful-

ness among non-skilled workers (Allan et al., 2016) but had no signifi-

cant impact among professional workers and managers (De Boeck

et al., 2019). Other examples of such inconsistencies are not uncom-

mon (e.g., Martela & Riekki, 2018; Meng et al., 2020). Indeed, specific

ASTAKHOVA ET AL.3

job tasks and requirements in different occupations vary considerably

and, as a result, may uniquely influence perceived salience of certain

job characteristics and their importance for work outcomes (Karlita

et al., 2020). Further, different occupational settings are associated

with varying levels of work meaningfulness and can invoke different

motivational preferences (Smithers & Walker, 2000). These

complexities warrant a more fine-tuned investigation of the

occupation-specific role of job characteristics for work meaningful-

ness and, ultimately, work passion. Below, we provide detailed

descriptions of individual occupational sectors and make arguments

for the job characteristics that are likely to foster work passion

(in general) within each sector.

2.2.1 | JCM and knowledge work

Knowledge work typically requires higher educational or intellectual

levels and knowledge workers are increasingly viewed as key experts

in organizations because they create the innovations and strategies

that keep their firms competitive and the economy healthy

(Davenport, 2005). The primary conversion process in knowledge

work focuses on information processing, the materials in the conver-

sion process are intangible, and the core task is thinking (Fisher &

Fisher, 1998). Occupations such as financial and management consul-

tants, information technology analysts, project engineers, lawyers, and

accountants are a few examples of knowledge work

(Scarbrough, 1996).

We expect that job autonomy,task significance,feedback from the

job,and feedback from others will be essential for invoking work mean-

ingfulness and hence work passion for knowledge workers. Knowl-

edge work is notorious for work complexity and pressures from a

variety of sources and is traditionally associated with high levels of job

autonomy (Langfred & Rockmann, 2016). In fact, organizations often

unleash creativity and produce new knowledge by empowering

knowledge workers with broad autonomy (Wenjing et al., 2013). High

levels of autonomy enable workers to become “active crafters”of

their own work and their work identity (Wrzesniewski &

Dutton, 2001). This process increases the importance work holds for

the individual and creates a fertile environment for the individual to

internalize work into the self (Liu & Fu, 2011). Task significance will

also be an essential contributor to meaningful work and, ultimately,

work passion. Task significance acts as “a task attentional pull factor”

that draws the individual's attention to the inherent meaningfulness

of the work itself and its impact on the lives of others (Zhou

et al., 2017, p. 893). Significant knowledge production (e.g., teaching,

research and development) and innovative discoveries associated with

knowledge work amplify work meaningfulness and make it easy for

employees to enjoy and identify with their work. Finally, feedback from

the job associated with knowledge creation and innovation allows

individuals to assess the effectiveness of their performance and evalu-

ate whether the outcome of their creation is worthwhile. Because

knowledge work is complex and involves multiple steps performed via

teamwork and cooperation, feedback from others is also key for

developing work meaningfulness. In such collaborative processes,

receiving feedback is a way to reflect on the larger work context and

grasp the value of one's work through the eyes of others. Both feed-

back from the job and from others will then instill a sense of mastery

and identification with work (Collewaert et al., 2016) and thus engen-

der work passion.

Task identity and skill variety are unlikely to contribute to mean-

ingful work and, by extension, passion. Task identity may not always

be easily detectable because the complex nature of knowledge work

often requires multiple people to contribute to the final product.

Further, it is more common for knowledge workers to be experts in a

specific field (e.g., employment lawyer, bariatric surgeon, etc.) than

Jacks-of-all-trades. It is this narrow expertise rather than skill variety

that generates the greatest value and meaning.

Hypothesis 1. For knowledge workers, (a) job auton-

omy, (b) task significance, (c) feedback from the job, and

(d) feedback from others will positively and indirectly

(via work meaningfulness) influence work passion.

2.2.2 | JCM and blue-collar work

Blue-collar work often involves physical labor and tasks that are

repetitive and monotonous (Melamed et al., 1995). Traditionally, blue-

collar workers have performed manual, semiskilled, and skilled jobs

that did not require higher level educational degrees. As Humphrey

et al. (2007) noted, blue-collar work typically involves higher physical

demands coupled with generally lower job resources. Many blue-collar

occupations outside of the skilled trades are not linked to a general

scale of ascending career development and workers occupying these

positions often find themselves having jobs but not careers

(Thomas, 1989). Examples of blue-collar jobs include construction

workers, machine operators, janitors, auto mechanics, and truck

drivers.

We hypothesize that three job characteristics will be indirectly

(via work meaningfulness) associated with work passion among blue-

collar workers: task identity,skill variety, and feedback from the job.

Task identity is important for meaningfulness (and, ultimately, work

passion) because tasks such as cleaning floors, repairing appliances, or

delivering goods can typically be executed from beginning to end with

a visible outcome (Singh et al., 2016). Task identity would allow indi-

viduals to feel efficacious through completing a whole piece of work

(Oldham & Hackman, 2010), ultimately creating a sense of identifica-

tion with and liking of their work. Skill variety is also important

because more diverse skills help break the monotony of blue-collar

jobs by allowing involvement in diverse tasks. Additional training

required to remain current with contemporary developments in the

field may further expand the variety of a given job thereby broadening

the job incumbent's feelings of work meaningfulness and, ultimately,

creating more fertile ground for liking one's work and making it part

of the self. Further, feedback from the job is typically frequent and, in

most cases, instant and serves as a quality control check in blue-collar

4ASTAKHOVA ET AL.

work (Champoux, 1991). Being made continuously aware of how well

one's work is accomplished will likely feel rewarding and make the

employee feel more positive about work allowing work to become an

indispensable part of the self.

Job autonomy, task significance, and feedback from others will

not be important for blue-collar workers to perceive work as meaning-

ful and become passionate. Blue-collar work is rarely associated with

job autonomy. The transformation processes in the blue-collar context

often incorporate more routine technologies that rely on sequential

dependencies with codified processes and procedures (Perrow, 1986),

which leaves little flexibility for individual workers to modify how

their job is structured or the impact it will have. Further, while blue-

collar work is important, the specific tasks are not associated with

major discoveries or grand changes in the lives of others; they are

often perceived as mundane. Thus, task significance is not prominent

enough to engender work passion among blue-collar workers. Finally,

feedback from others is infrequent because blue-collar work is often

done in silos and/or without direct supervision.

Hypothesis 2. For blue-collar workers, (a) task identity,

(b) skill variety, and (c) feedback from the job will posi-

tively and indirectly (via work meaningfulness) influence

work passion.

2.2.3 | JCM and nonprofit work

The primary outcome for nonprofit occupations focuses on advancing

larger social goals including better communities, improved govern-

mental and social functioning, and improving the living conditions and

opportunities of individuals in general, and the less advantaged in par-

ticular. Thus, nonprofit workers are more likely to be focused on the

social good they do than on the economic value they create

(Andrade & Westover, 2020).

We posit that task significance,feedback from the job,andfeed-

back from others will be most salient for meaningful work and passion

among nonprofit workers. The humanistic focus associated with

much of the nonprofit context speaks to the very definition of task

significance—a substantial impact on the lives of other people

(Hackman & Oldham, 1975). To the extent that nonprofit workers

see themselves as fulfilling their “mission”of serving others

(Fernández-Mesa et al., 2020), greater task significance will likely

contribute to greater work meaningfulness, and will, in turn, engen-

der work passion. Further, workers in nonprofit jobs are highly sus-

ceptible to the impact of feedback from the job and will derive

meaning from their work because it often directly effects others'

lives by improving their mental, physical, spiritual, or economic well-

being (Grant, 2008). Feedback from others commonly occurs when

those who have received help or observed improvements for others

express gratitude to nonprofit workers. Receiving feedback from the

job or others is essential to assess the direction and progress of non-

profit work (Fernández-Mesa et al., 2020). In sum, both types of

feedback will communicate one's effectiveness in helping others

which will then deepen work meaningfulness and passion among

nonprofit workers.

In contrast, task autonomy, task identity and skill variety will not

provide fuel for passion. Much nonprofit work is accomplished

through team-based transformational processes that require interper-

sonal coordination. This work structure leaves little room for task

identify and task autonomy at work. In much nonprofit work, espe-

cially work focused on improving the lives of the underprivileged, job

variety is accomplished by helping different individuals with similar

problems rather than by performing tasks that require different

skill sets.

Hypothesis 3. For nonprofit workers, (a) task signifi-

cance, (b) feedback from the job, and (c) feedback from

others will positively and indirectly (via work meaning-

fulness) influence work passion.

2.2.4 | JCM and managerial work

Managerial work focuses primarily on guiding, coordinating, and con-

trolling the activities of others who are engaged in the primary

conversion or service delivery processes of the organization. The

nature of managerial work is often referred to as idiosyncratic

because it requires a wide range of specific skills and involves fre-

quent interruptions by employees or co-workers and on-the-spot

problem solving. As such, managerial work tends to be characterized

by complexity and information-processing requirements

(Ancona, 1990), high levels of job demands and responsibilities and

simultaneous high performance expectations from multiple stake-

holders including owners, customers, and employees (Janssen, 2001).

Although managerial work may certainly be nuanced across different

industries and organizational units, managerial activities and duties

tend to be similar across occupational contexts (Takei &

Sakamoto, 2008).

We argue that, for managerial workers, the essential job charac-

teristics for meaningful work and, ultimately, passion are job auton-

omy,skill variety,task significance,feedback from the job, and feedback

from others. Managerial work is accompanied by autonomy and flexibil-

ity when carrying out tasks because managers are viewed as capable

and authoritative figures in the workplace (Golden & Fromen, 2011).

Job autonomy would allow more latitude in decision-making for man-

agers and empower them, which is essential for viewing work as

meaningful and developing work passion. Skill variety is crucial for

managers because managerial work is complex, diverse, and requires

problem-solving, strategic thinking, conflict resolution, team building

skills, and so on (Mintzberg, 1973). Skill variety may enhance the man-

ager's confidence in what they can accomplish at work, thereby

enhancing perceived value of their contributions and subsequent

motivation toward work. Managers are also involved in important

organization-level strategic decisions and critical employment deci-

sions associated with hiring, promotion, and termination. Thus, we

posit task significance as a characteristic that creates meaningful work

ASTAKHOVA ET AL.5

and engenders passion. Finally, managers will draw work meaningful-

ness and passion from feedback from the job and feedback from others.

Managers are part of an important feedback loop in organizations. On

the one hand, when managers recognize positive outcomes from their

decisions (feedback from the job) they will perceive their work as

meaningful, enjoy it, and identify with it more. On the other hand,

exchanging feedback with their subordinates and receiving feedback

on their own performance as part of performance management pro-

cesses will heighten the perceived importance of managerial work and

will nurture work passion.

Task identity is less likely to shape the manager's experience of

meaningful work and, by extension, passion. Task identity prompts

individuals to learn, understand, and be familiar with all specific tasks

and their connections, and consequently to form integrated knowl-

edge of the job (Jiang et al., 2020). Such nitty-gritty task completion

details do not fall within the realm of managerial responsibilities.

Instead, managers guide employees through specific projects, provide

resources, and monitor progress through completion, whereas

employees (and not managers) are the ones who would perform the

actual work on projects and are therefore likely to be identified with

unique and discrete pieces of it.

Hypothesis 4. For managerial workers, (a) task auton-

omy, (b) skill variety, (c) task significance, (d) feedback

from the job, and (e) feedback from others will positively

and indirectly (via work meaningfulness) influence work

passion.

Finally, we explore whether the above-proposed relationships

will hold for both HP and OP across occupational contexts. In

the absence of previous theoretical development or strong

empirical results many possible and sometimes contradictory pre-

dictions are plausible. For example, task identity, which allows

individuals to feel accomplished by completing a whole and iden-

tifiable piece of work (Oldham & Hackman, 2010), may create a

high growth potential environment (Sigmundsson et al., 2021)

that can engender only HP. At the same time, one might argue

that task identity will also enhance OP because it presents a

guaranteed opportunity to showcase one's skills and quality of

work and get rewarded. Similar counterarguments can be posited

for task significance and it relationships with HP and OP. One

may expect that task significance, which is benevolent in nature

and motivates the individual to go beyond their self-interest

(Grant, 2008), will generate HP (and not OP) which is known to

be prosocially responsive (Astakhova, 2015). However, task sig-

nificance may also motivate OP because making an impact on

others enhances one's social image (Liao et al., 2022). Given the

relative lack of theoretical or empirical guidance, we offer pose a

research question probing for potential differences in the JCM's

predictions pertaining to HP versus OP in each occupational sec-

tor. This presentation strategy allows us flexibility to discover

new or unexpected findings specific to each passion type across

different contexts.

Research Question: How will the indirect job

characteristics-to-work passion relationships proposed

for (1) knowledge workers, (2) blue-collar workers,

(3) nonprofit workers, and (4) managerial workers be

different for harmonious versus obsessive work

passion?

3|METHODS

We test the relationships proposed in this study using employee

samples collected from four occupational sectors, knowledge work,

blue-collar work, nonprofit work and managerial work, which present

contrasting profiles of job characteristics and motivating factors. The

knowledge and blue-collar occupational contexts have long provided

a point of comparison (Fukushima et al., 2021; Locke, 1973) because

the two sectors contrast along a number of characteristics including

educational requirements, the prevalence of manual labor, the extent

of autonomy and power in decision-making, and position in the orga-

nizational hierarchy (Bouville et al., 2018). We include the nonprofit

sector because it is characterized by unique differences in the organi-

zational focus and, in turn, may profoundly influence employee moti-

vation. Finally, we included individuals occupying managerial roles in

both for-profit and not-for-profit organizations into a single fourth

sample because managerial tasks and duties tend to be similar across

occupational contexts (Takei & Sakamoto, 2008). To reflect that, the

most recent 2018 Standard Occupational Classification System (U.S.

Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2023) lists management occupations as a

separate occupational group which includes managerial jobs from

across diverse occupations.

3.1 |Procedure and samples

We recruited study participants by asking students enrolled in an

online MBA program at a southern U.S. university to provide a list of

four people who would be interested in participating in an online sur-

vey. Each set of recommended individuals was to include: (1) a knowl-

edge worker who is in a non-management position and is employed in

a for-profit organization; (2) a blue-collar worker who is in a non-

management position and is employed in a for-profit organization;

(3) a white-collar worker who is in a non-management position and is

employed in a nonprofit organization (this category also explicitly

excluded for-profit knowledge and blue-collar workers to avoid any

overlap between jobs across the other two categories); and (4) a per-

son who occupies a managerial position in any organization or indus-

try. Students were provided with a detailed description of each

occupational context accompanied by a list of job examples.

The first author contacted the potential respondents identified by

the students with a request to participate in the study. Prospective

participants were provided with the qualifications for the study, a

description of each of the occupational contexts, and specific job

examples. Those who agreed to participate were also asked to name

6ASTAKHOVA ET AL.

their job which we used to filter out survey entries that did not meet

criteria for a specific sample. Survey data were collected at two times

to reduce common method variance. At Time 1, participants

responded to the measures of job characteristics, work meaningful-

ness, and demographic questions. At Time 2, 2 weeks later, they

answered questions about their work passion.

We designed the content and order of the survey questions to

avoid contamination across samples. We first asked respondents

to report whether they were employed in a for-profit or nonprofit

organization which allowed us to isolate nonprofit workers from

knowledge and blue-collar workers. While we acknowledge that jobs

within the nonprofit sector may vary in the level of manual labor

involved, it is fair to say that individuals employed in nonprofit jobs

are much more homogeneous in their work motivation which is to do

good or to help others (Hull & Lio, 2006). This focus on altruism,

which is a distinctive feature of the nonprofit sector, influenced our

decision to include all non-managerial nonprofit workers in a single

sample. Next, respondents were asked about their position level (non-

management, low-level, mid-level or upper-level management). We

used this question to filter out a managerial sample that included indi-

viduals from both nonprofit (52) and for-profit (81) sectors. As the

essence of managerial activities and duties are similar regardless of

the profit seeking status of the organization or occupational context

(Takei & Sakamoto, 2008), combining managers from the for profit

and not-for-profit sectors is justifiable and did not result in a concep-

tual overlap.

In contrast to the not-for-profit sector, what constitutes work

meaningfulness and contributes to work motivation among employees

in the for-profit sector is more diverse. To better capture differences

in their work motivation, we requested non-manager respondents

from the for-profit sector to classify themselves into one of two occu-

pational sectors, either knowledge work or blue-collar work, based on

the provided detailed descriptions of each occupational context

accompanied by job examples. Finally, we reviewed the job titles

reported by respondents in all four samples to validate their consis-

tency with the selected occupational sector and removed

14 responses that appeared to report inconsistent pairings of job title

with occupational context (e.g., knowledge work and locksmith).

Of 325 emails that were initially sent to recruit knowledge

workers, 299 and 234 completed the first and second surveys, respec-

tively. Thirty-three surveys were deleted during data cleaning because

some participants failed to provide a matching code and some listed

jobs that did not belong to the knowledge sector. The final sample

included 201 workers which resulted in a 62% response rate. Repre-

sentative jobs included university professor, statistician, computer

programmer, accountant, financial analyst, human resource

(HR) specialist, engineer, and lawyer.

Of 290 emails that were initially sent to recruit blue-collar

workers, 235 and 166 completed the first and second surveys,

respectively. Eighteen surveys were deleted during data cleaning

because some participants failed to provide a matching code or

had incomplete data. The final sample included 148 workers

resulting in a 51% response rate. The job examples included truck

driver, machine operator, electrician, construction worker, pipe fit-

ter, and janitor.

Of 340 emails that were initially sent to recruit nonprofit workers,

301 and 164 completed the first and second surveys, respectively.

Twenty-three surveys were deleted during data cleaning because

some participants failed to provide a matching code, had incomplete

data, or listed jobs that belonged to the knowledge worker category.

The final sample included 141 knowledge workers, resulting in a 41%

response rate. Example jobs included philanthropy officer, benefactor

relations specialist, childcare worker, pastor, and social worker.

Of 290 emails that were initially sent to recruit people employed

in managerial positions, 163 and 142 completed the first and second

surveys, respectively. Nine surveys were deleted during data cleaning

because some participants failed to provide a matching code or com-

pleted the survey twice. The final sample included 133 respondents

employed in managerial positions which resulted in a 46% response

rate. Job examples included Chief Financial Officer, Chief Technical

Officer, business owner, supervisor, team leader, chief accountant, HR

director, departmental chair, volunteer coordinator, and construction

project manager.

The demographics for each sample are summarized in Table 1

(see the Online Supplement).

4|MEASURES

Job characteristics were assessed with the questionnaire adapted

from the Job Diagnostic Survey developed by Hackman and Oldham

(1974). The questionnaire consisted of 18 items measuring skill vari-

ety (three items), task identity (three items), task significance (three

items), autonomy (three items), and feedback (three items for feed-

back from the job and three items for feedback from others).

Responses were provided on a 7-point scale with “very inaccurate”

and “very accurate”anchors. The sample items are: “My job permits

me to decide on my own how to go about doing my work”(job auton-

omy), “The job requires me to do many different things at work,using a

variety of my skills and talents”(skill variety), “My job involves doing

a whole and identifiable piece of work”(task identity), “The results of my

job are likely to significantly affect the lives or well-being of other people”

(task significance), “Just doing the work required by the job provides

many chances for me to figure out how well I am doing”(feedback from

the job) and “My managers and co-workers let me know how well I am

doing in my job”(feedback from others).

Work meaningfulness was measured by the 3-item work mean-

ingfulness factor from Spreitzer's (1995) empowerment measure.

Responses were assessed on the 5-point agreement scale. The sample

item includes “The work I do is meaningful to me.”

Finally, we measured work passion with the 12-item passion scale

(6 items each for HP and OP) developed by Marsh et al. (2013). The

7-point agreement scale was used to record responses. The sample

items include “My work is in harmony with the other activities in my life”

and “I have almost an obsessive feeling for my work,”for HP and OP,

respectively.

ASTAKHOVA ET AL.7

We also controlled for the employee's gender, age, work experi-

ence, and organizational tenure. Given that experiences of work

meaningfulness manifest as subjective appraisals differing between

male versus female workers (Lopez & Ramos, 2017), we controlled for

employee gender. We controlled for age because meta-analytic

results indicate that work passion and its relationships with other cor-

relates can be stronger for older individuals (Curran et al., 2015).

Finally, we controlled for respondents' work experience and organiza-

tional tenure because the benefits of having more of those tend to

lead to more interesting jobs, higher salaries, and more desirable work

environments (Ng & Feldman, 2009), potentially affecting work mean-

ingfulness and passion.

Cronbach's alphas for the study constructs across the three sam-

ples are presented in Table 2(see the Online Supplement).

5|ANALYSES AND RESULTS

Table 2(see the Online Supplement) presents the means, standard

deviations, and intercorrelations among the constructs in each of the

four samples. The mean comparison analyses revealed several inter-

esting observations (see the online appendix, Appendix A,athttps://

osf.io/ukj6p/). In brief, blue-collar work exemplified the highest con-

trast to other occupational sectors because blue-collar workers scored

the lowest on all six job characteristics, work meaningfulness, HP, and

OP. Nonprofit workers scored highest on work meaningfulness

and OP across all four samples. Knowledge and nonprofit workers

reported most contrasting differences on the study constructs,

whereas the scores for knowledge and managerial workers were

mostly similar. Overall, the pattern of results across these simple

descriptive statistics suggests that there may be important differences

in the relationships among the current set of variables across the

occupational contexts.

5.1 |Confirmatory factor analyses

We used MPlus v8.10 to first conduct a confirmatory factor analysis

in each sample to test the discriminant validity of the 9-factor mea-

surement model that included the six job characteristics, work mean-

ingfulness, HP, and OP. Due to the small sample size, we parceled the

items of the scale containing more than five items (i.e., HP and OP) to

reduce the bias of parameter estimations (Bagozzi &

Heatherton, 1994). Following prior practice (Mayer et al., 2012;

Schaubroeck et al., 2012), we randomly assigned two items per parcel,

resulting in three parcels each for the HP and OP scales (Parcel 1:

items 1 and 5; Parcel 2: items 3 and 4; Parcel 3: items 2 and 6). The

data adequately fit the nine-factor model in the knowledge worker

sample (χ

2288

=357.60, p< 0.001, RMSEA =0.04, CFI =0.98,

TLI =0.98), blue-collar worker sample (χ

2288

=373.65, p< 0.001,

RMSEA =0.05, CFI =0.97, TLI =0.97), nonprofit worker sample

(χ

2288

=449.11, p< 0.001, RMSEA =0.06, CFI =0.95, TLI =0.94),

TABLE 1 Sample demographics: Knowledge workers, blue-collar workers, nonprofit workers, and managerial workers.

Demographics Knowledge workers Blue-collar workers Nonprofit workers Managerial workers

Sex (females) 87 (43.3%) 45 (30.4%) 110 (78%) 44 (33.1%)

Age M =37.75

(SD =12.41)

M=36.28

(SD =12.72)

M=41.60

(SD =11.66)

M=40.27

(SD =11.15)

Work experience M =14.62

(SD =11.11)

M=13.55

(SD =10.37)

M=18.56

(SD =11.75)

M=17.80

(SD =11.58)

Organizational tenure M =5.82

(SD =7.62)

M=5.88

(SD =6.00)

M=7.93

(SD =7.24)

M=9.01

(SD =8.83)

Ethnicity

White 134 (66.7%) 47 (31.8%) 103 (73%) 96 (72.2%)

African American 19 (9.5%) 27 (18.2%) 13 (9.2%) 12 (9%)

Latino(a) 23 (11.4%) 58 (39.2%) 9 (6.4%) 13 (9.8%)

Asian 18 (9%) 11 (7.4%) 14 (9.9%) 6 (4.5%)

Native American 2 (1%) (0.7%) - 4 (3%)

Other 5 (2.5%) 4 (2.7%) 2 (1.4%) 2 (1.5%)

Education

PhD degree 63 (31.3%) - 10 (7.1%) 31 (23.3%)

Master's degree 99 (49.3%) 11 (7.4%) 68 (48.2%) 54 (40.6%)

Bachelor's degree 14 (7%) 46 (31.1%) 50 (35.5%) 21 (15.8%)

Incomplete bachelor's degree or 2-year college

education

25 (12.5%) 75 (50.7%) 13 (9.2%) 27 (20.3%)

Note: The sample sizes are n=201, n=148, n=141, and n=133 for the knowledge, blue-collar, nonprofit, and managerial occupational sectors,

respectively.

8ASTAKHOVA ET AL.

TABLE 2 Means, standard deviations, correlations, and Cronbach's alphas for the study constructs across knowledge, blue-collar, nonprofit, and managerial work.

Construct Mean SD 1 2 3 4 56789

Job autonomy 4.92/4.24/5.16/5.05 1.20/1.67/1.12/1.13 0.90/0.92/

0.95/0.92

0.15/0.38 0.04/0.33 0.01/0.38 0.03/0.31 0.02/0.28 0.10/0.58 0.09/0.39 0.14/0.27

Task identity 5.04/3.38/4.54/4.92 1.62/1.33/2.02/1.68 0.21/0.27 0.86/0.96/

0.95/0.79

0.00/0.06 0.10/0.23 0.23/0.27 0.12/0.22 0.14/0.41 0.16/0.46 0.20/0.29

Skill variety 5.07/3.55/5.71/5.45 1.51/1.82/1.76/1.58 0.16/0.22 0.13/0.53 0.81/0.87/0.70/0.76 0.23/0.35 0.05/0.15 0.19/0.15 0.23/0.34 0.10/0.21 0.15/0.25

Task significance 5.25/4.92/5.76/5.41 1.40/1.61/1.81/1.33 0.13/0.23 0.04/0.25 0.34/0.40 0.88/0.88/

0.92/0.78

0.31/0.25 0.30/0.27 0.53/0.54 0.42/0.32 0.38/0.36

Feedback from

the job

5.14/3.44/5.26/5.07 1.48/1.39/1.13/1.15 0.29/0.18 0.27/0.42 0.00/0.38 0.17/0.32 0.89/0.91/

0.87/0.83

0.20/0.25 0.43/0.44 0.43/0.25 0.21/0.15

Feedback from others 4.45/2.72/4.67/4.43 1.55/1.78/1.33/1.24 0.21/0.12 0.14/0.25 0.02/0.26 0.01/0.24 0.24/0.18 0.70/0.89/

0.85/0.81

0.41/0.42 0.42/0.22 0.37/0.25

Work meaningfulness 3.96/3.53/4.40/4.12 1.32/1.63/1.13/1.16 0.35/0.24 0.20/0.53 0.19/0.54 0.24/0.35 0.40/0.43 0.30/0.28 0.91/0.87/

0.95/0.94

0.57/0.51 0.46/0.51

HP 5.25/4.32/5.59/5.36 1.39/1.38/1.47/1.16 0.46/0.15 0.21/0.57 0.09/0.50 0.20/0.24 0.59/0.44 0.38/0.26 0.59/0.63 0.89/0.95/

0.90/0.90

0.22/0.28

OP 3.16/2.51/4.09/3.48 0.90/1.18/0.73/0.69 0.10/0.08 0.01/0.14 0.14/0.12 0.00/0.17 0.18/0.04 0.16/0.24 0.28/0.27 0.14/0.17 0.92/0.92/

0.96/0.91

Note: The sample sizes are n=201, n=148, n=141, and n=133 for the knowledge, blue-collar, nonprofit, and managerial occupational sectors, respectively. Cronbach's alphas are reported on the diagonal ordered as the knowledge/blue-

collar/nonprofit/managerial samples. The correlations below the diagonal are for the knowledge and blue-collar sectors and are separated by “/.”The correlations for the nonprofit and managerial sectors are reported above the diagonal. The

means and standard deviations are separated by “/”and are for the constructs in the knowledge, blue-collar, nonprofit, and managerial sectors, respectively. In the knowledge sector, correlations exceeding 0.19 are significant at p< 0.01 and

correlations exceeding 0.14 are significant at p< 0.05. In the blue-collar sector, correlations exceeding 0.21 are significant at p< 0.01 and correlations exceeding 0.17 are significant at p< 0.05. In the nonprofit sector, correlations exceeding

0.22 are significant at p< 0.01 and correlations exceeding 0.19 are significant at p< 0.05. In the managerial sector, correlations exceeding 0.22 are significant at p< 0.01 and correlations exceeding 0.21 are significant at p< 0.05. Cronbach's

alphas are listed on the diagonal and are for the constructs in the knowledge, blue-collar, and nonprofit sectors, respectively. The values in italics are scale reliabilities (Ceonbach's alphas).

Abbreviations: HP, harmonious passion; OP, obsessive passion.

ASTAKHOVA ET AL.9

and managerial sample (χ

2288

=496.45, p< 0.001, RMSEA =0.07,

CFI =0.91, TLI =0.89).

Based on the conceptual similarities between some constructs we

also tested four alternative models in which we combined the items

for HP and OP (Alternative model 1) and HP and work meaningfulness

(Alternative model 2). We further combined the items for task iden-

tity, task variety and task significance as the three JCs were originally

associated with experienced meaning within the JCM on the job

(Hackman & Oldham, 1975,1976) (Alternative model 3) as well as the

items for the two feedback types, feedback from the job and others

(Alternative model 4). The theorized 9-factor measurement model

returned better fit than any of the alternative models (detailed results

can be found in the online appendix, Appendix B,athttps://osf.io/

ukj6p/).

5.2 |Measurement invariance testing

We performed a series of model comparisons to evaluate the mea-

surement invariance of the nine latent constructs used in the study.

The results showed that all of the measures meet the criteria for con-

figural invariance (χ

21,152

=1676.81, p< 0.001, RMSEA =0.05,

CFI =0.96, TLI =0.95), providing initial evidence that the factor

structure of the constructs across the four groups were equivalent.

We also tested for metric equivalence to ensure that item loadings

were equivalent across groups. The preliminary results of this test

demonstrated that the criteria of metric invariance were met

(χ

21,206

=1804.61, p< 0.001, RMSEA =0.06, CFI =0.95,

TLI =0.94). The difference of fit indices between the configural and

metric invariance models (ΔCFI =0.006, ΔTLI =-0.005, and

ΔRMSEA =0.002) shows measurement invariance according to Chen

(2007)(jΔCFIj/jΔTLIj≤0.010 or jΔRMESAj≤0.015). Based on these

criteria, we accepted the metric invariance model of our measures

(Chen, 2007; Widaman et al., 2010). Finally, the scalar invariance was

also satisfactory (χ

21,260

=1976.64, p< 0.001, RMSEA =0.06,

CFI =0.94, TLI =0.93), suggesting invariance in the intercepts across

the groups. The differences in the three fit indicators (ΔCFI =0.009,

ΔTLI =-0.008, and ΔRMSEA =0.004) provided additional evidence

of measurement invariance across the four groups. In summary, the

results across a series of measurement invariance tests indicate that

our cross-group hypothesis testing approach is appropriate.

5.3 |Study results by occupation: An overview

We conducted our formal hypothesis testing using multigroup path

analysis in MPlus v8.10. We used bootstrapping to test the signifi-

cance of the indirect effects because of its advantages when dealing

with the violation of normal distribution assumptions (Shrout &

Bolger, 2002). We bootstrapped 10,000 samples to obtain bias-

corrected confidence intervals (Edwards & Lambert, 2007). Despite

the original JCM conceptualizing the relationships between job char-

acteristics and outcomes as fully mediated by psychological states

(Hackman & Oldham, 1976), subsequent research employing the JCM

has also identified cases where the psychological states partially medi-

ate the job characteristics-to-work outcomes relationships (see Fried &

Ferris's, 1987 meta-analysis for more detail). These mediating effects

result in a statistically significant increase in the variance of the out-

come variables after including direct links between job characteristics

and outcomes (Wall et al., 1978). Given this prior evidence, we test

the hypothesized indirect relationships after accounting for direct

links between job characteristics and each type of work passion.

Tables 3–6(see the Online Supplement) detail those results for each

occupational group. Additionally, to address each part of our Research

Question corresponding to each of the four occupational sectors, we

detail how the proposed indirect job characteristics-to-work passion

links would be different for HP versus OP within each sector.

5.4 |Knowledge work

Hypothesis 1stated that, for knowledge workers, four job characteris-

tics (job autonomy, task significance, feedback from the job and feed-

back from others) would create meaningful work experiences, which

would, in turn, nurture passion for work. We found support for the

predictive validity of job autonomy, feedback from the job, and feed-

back from others across both types of passion but not for task signifi-

cance (see Table 3in the Online Supplement). These results provide

partial support for Hypothesis 1.

We also explored whether the above relationships would be

different for HP versus OP, thereby addressing the first part

(i.e., for knowledge work) of the Research Question. Surprisingly,

we observed no such differences. The three job characteristics

had significant indirect relationships with both HP (job autonomy:

B=0.06 [0.010; 0.125], feedback from the job: B=0.09 [0.028;

0.184], and feedback from others: B=0.07 [0.026; 0.122]) and

OP (job autonomy: B=0.05 [0.005; 0.137], feedback from the

job: B=0.08 [0.020; 0.183], and feedback from others: B=0.06

[0.015; 0.132]).

5.5 |Blue-collar work

Hypothesis 2stated that task identity, skill variety and feedback from

the job would fuel work passion via the creation of meaningful work

experiences for blue-collar workers. The results fully supported our

predictions (see Table 4in the Online Supplement).

In response to the second part of the Research Question, we

found that in the blue-collar sector the above job characteristics were

associated only with HP: task identity: B=0.13 [0.019; 309], skill

variety: B=0.18 [0.057; 0.363], and feedback from the job: B=0.11

[0.012; 0.254]. The respective indirect links with OP were not signifi-

cant: task identity: B=0.05 [0.005; 0.176], skill variety: B=0.07

[0.012; 0.213], and feedback from the job: B=0.04 [0.006;

0.163]. In fact, none of the six job characteristics was related to OP

for blue-collar workers.

10 ASTAKHOVA ET AL.

5.6 |Nonprofit work

Hypothesis 3posited that task significance, feedback from the job,

and feedback from others would indirectly (via work meaningfulness)

influence work passion for nonprofit workers. The results supported

all three proposed relationships (Table 5in the Online Supplement).

Guided by the third part of our Research Question, we explored

whether the above links would manifest differently for either passion

type. Interestingly, we found that all three job characteristics were

predictive of both HP (task significance: B=0.11 [0.035; 0.238],

feedback from the job: B=0.10 [0.024; 0.244], and feedback from

others: B=0.05 [0.014; 0.137]) and OP (task significance: B=0.15

[0.024; 0.380], feedback from the job: B=0.14 [0.025; 0.339], and

feedback from others: B=0.08 [013; 0.202]).

5.7 |Managerial work

Hypothesis 4predicted that five job characteristics (job autonomy,

skill variety, task significance, feedback from the job, and feedback

from others) would contribute to meaningful work and, by extension,

work passion, among managers. We found support for four out of five

relationships. Only skill variety failed to predict work passion (see

Table 6in the Online Supplement).

We also revealed unique relationships between job characteristics

and each of the two passion types, as posed in the fourth part of our

Research Question. Specifically, job autonomy (B=0.07 [0.004;

0.176]) was found to be the only job characteristic that indirectly

translated into HP. The four other job characteristics were conducive

of OP (job autonomy: B=0.11 [0.021; 0.284], task significance:

B=0.15 [0.033; 0.404], feedback from the job: B=0.10 [0.012;

0.265], and feedback from others: B=0.06 [0.007; 0.171]).

Table 7(see the Online Supplement) provides a comparative sum-

mary of the hypothesized versus supported relationships for all four

occupational groups. Overall, the results reveal important differences

in (a) how the job characteristics-to-work passion relationships vary

across occupations and (b) how job characteristics are uniquely related

to each passion type.

5.8 |Post hoc observations

While we did not make explicit predictions about whether full or par-

tial mediation would characterize indirect relationships between job

TABLE 3 Hypotheses testing results for knowledge work.

Variable

Direct relationships

DV =work meaningfulness DV =HP DV =OP

BSE pBSE pB SE p

Sex 0.17 0.12 0.16 0.06 0.12 0.61 0.13 0.20 0.53

Age 0.01 0.01 0.11 0.00 0.01 0.79 0.01 0.02 0.41

Work experience 0.00 0.00 0.69 0.01 0.01 0.31 0.01 0.02 0.65

Organizational tenure 0.02 0.01 0.05 0.02 0.01 0.03 0.02 0.02 0.21

Job autonomy 0.12 0.06 0.03 0.20 0.07 0.01 0.05 0.09 0.58

Task identity 0.03 0.05 0.52 0.03 0.06 0.65 0.13 0.09 0.14

Skill variety 0.09 0.06 0.10 0.04 0.06 0.57 0.18 0.10 0.08

Task significance 0.07 0.06 0.25 0.04 0.06 0.50 0.16 0.10 0.10

Feedback from the job 0.19 0.06 0.00 0.35 0.09 0.00 0.11 0.11 0.32

Feedback from others 0.14 0.04 0.00 0.11 0.05 0.01 0.15 0.08 0.05

Work meaningfulness - - - 0.46 0.11 0.00 0.42 0.16 0.01

Indirect relationships (via work meaningfulness)

DV =HP DV =OP

Est. SE 95% CI LL 95% CI UL Est. SE 95% CI LL 95% CI UL

Job autonomy 0.06 0.03 0.010 0.125 0.05 0.03 0.005 0.137

Task identity 0.02 0.03 0.029 0.007 0.01 0.02 0.028 0.073

Skill variety 0.04 0.03 0.003 0.107 0.04 0.03 0.003 0.119

Task significance 0.03 0.03 0.014 0.098 0.03 0.03 0.011 0.112

Feedback from the job 0.09 0.04 0.028 0.184 0.08 0.04 0.020 0.183

Feedback from others 0.07 0.02 0.026 0.122 0.06 0.03 0.015 0.132

Note: Statistically significant relationships are in bold; marginally significant relationships are italicized.

Abbreviations: CI, confidence interval; DV, dependent variable; Est., estimate; HP, harmonious passion; LL, lower level; OP, obsessive passion; SE, standard

error; UL, upper level.

ASTAKHOVA ET AL.11

characteristics and work passion, we nevertheless reviewed the

results to better understand prevailing patterns. In general, full medi-

ation was more characteristic of the job characteristics-to-work pas-

sion relationships (20 cases of full vs. 5 cases of partial mediation).

We also found that work meaningfulness more frequently manifests

as a partial mediator for HP (four cases) than for OP (one case). Fur-

ther, the cases of partial mediation were most prevalent in the

knowledge sector and were associated with HP. Thus, job autonomy,

feedback from the job and feedback from others were both directly

and indirectly related to HP (see Table 3in the Online Supplement).

Another case of partial mediation was found between feedback from

others and HP in the nonprofit work sample (see Table 5in the

Online Supplement). The only case of partial mediation involving OP

was found for managerial workers, for whom task significance was

both directly and indirectly (B=0.37, SE =0.18, p< 0.05) linked to

OP. For blue-collar workers, no cases of partial mediation were iden-

tified. The discovery of several statistically significant direct links

between job characteristics and work passion, which were not con-

ventionally tested in prior JCM-based studies, should encourage

future researchers to include such links in testing the JCM to capture

additional important variance (Fried & Ferris, 1987). Even more

importantly, these findings have important practical implications as

discussed below.

6|DISCUSSION

Being passionate for one's work has been widely promulgated as a

source of inspiration at work and a panacea for one's career success

(Indeed Editorial Team, 2022), Yet we know little about what awakens

work passion. Can certain characteristics of our jobs nurture our pas-

sion and, if so, how? Guided by the JCM (Hackman & Oldham, 1974),

this study attempted to address this question by investigating

whether the six job characteristics engender work passion by creating

meaningful work. However, unlike the traditional conceptualization of

the JCM which assumes its generalizability across work contexts

(Hackman & Oldham, 1974,1975), we used an occupation-specific

lens (Karlita et al., 2020) to propose and test occupation-specific job

characteristics-to-work passion relationships. Our results have sup-

ported the key premise of the JCM that job characteristics are essen-

tial motivational drivers at work (Hackman & Oldham, 1975) and can

inspire both HP and OP. Additionally, the novel contribution from our

TABLE 4 Hypotheses testing results for blue-collar work.

Variable

Direct relationships

DV =work meaningfulness DV =HP DV =OP

BSE pBSE pB SE p

Sex 0.12 0.14 0.40 0.04 0.23 0.85 0.33 0.23 0.14

Age 0.01 0.01 0.43 0.01 0.01 0.63 0.03 0.01 0.01

Work experience 0.02 0.02 0.20 0.01 0.02 0.56 0.01 0.02 0.65

Organizational tenure 0.04 0.02 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.49 0.04 0.03 0.13

Job autonomy 0.04 0.05 0.43 0.07 0.06 0.27 0.06 0.06 0.35

Task identity 0.18 0.07 0.01 0.22 0.12 0.05 0.03 0.09 0.73

Skill variety 0.24 0.08 0.00 0.16 0.14 0.27 0.04 0.13 0.73

Task significance 0.06 0.07 0.43 0.09 0.08 0.27 0.05 0.07 0.52

Feedback from the job 0.15 0.08 0.04 0.13 0.09 0.12 0.12 0.08 0.12

Feedback from others 0.03 0.07 0.69 0.08 0.10 0.41 0.12 0.08 0.13

Work meaningfulness - - - 0.72 0.20 0.00 0.28 0.20 0.15

Indirect relationships (via work meaningfulness)

DV =HP DV =OP

Est. SE 95% CI LL 95% CI UL Est. SE 95% CI LL 95% CI UL

Job autonomy 0.03 0.04 0.044 0.122 0.01 0.02 0.013 0.079

Task identity 0.13 0.07 0.019 0.309 0.05 0.04 0.005 0.176

Skill variety 0.18 0.08 0.057 0.363 0.07 0.06 0.012 0.213

Task significance 0.04 0.06 0.047 0.178 0.02 0.03 0.014 0.105

Feedback from the job 0.11 0.06 0.012 0.254 0.04 0.04 0.006 0.163

Feedback from others 0.02 0.05 0.086 0.127 0.01 0.02 0.032 0.070

Note: Statistically significant relationships are in bold; marginally significant relationships are italicized.

Abbreviations: CI, confidence interval; DV, dependent variable; Est., estimate; HP, harmonious passion; LL, lower level; OP, obsessive passion; SE, standard

error; UL, upper level.

12 ASTAKHOVA ET AL.

study pertains to the discovery of occupation-specific motivational

influences of job characteristics. Below we elaborate on the three key

takeaways from this research.

First, our findings indicate that the indirect (via work meaningful-

ness) relationships between job characteristics and work passion are

not uniform but instead vary based on both occupation and the type

of passion involved. For knowledge workers, job autonomy, feedback

from the job, and feedback from others are the job characteristics that

can stimulate work passion. For blue-collar workers, the passion-

inducing job characteristics are task identity, skill variety, and feed-

back from the job. For nonprofit workers, such job characteristics

include task significance, feedback from the job, and feedback from

others. Finally, managerial workers source their work passion from job

autonomy, task significance, feedback from the job, and feedback

from others. The occupation-specific nature of the above relation-

ships highlights the limitations of the conventional one-size-fits-all

approach when applying the JCM.

The differences in job characteristics relating to each passion type

across occupations are also noteworthy. First, the results for knowl-

edge work and nonprofit work are similar in that both types of passion

can develop from the same job characteristics in these two

occupational sectors (although the set of those characteristics is

sector-specific). For knowledge workers, the job characteristics entic-

ing both HP and OP included job autonomy, feedback from the job,

and feedback from others. For nonprofit workers, those job character-

istics were task significance, feedback from the job, and feedback

from others. At the same time, unique predictors for each passion

type were found in the blue-collar and managerial work samples. For

blue-collar workers, task identity, skill variety, and feedback from the

job were indirectly associated with HP, but no individual job charac-

teristic was predictive of OP. For managerial workers job autonomy

was the antecedent of both HP and OP but task significance, feed-

back from the job, and feedback from others were conducive only of

OP. The presence of unique relationships associated with the two

passion constructs provides additional support for their conceptual

distinctiveness and helps enrich their individual nomological networks

(Astakhova et al., 2022).

Our second notable finding pertains to the identification of two

job characteristics that exhibit high generalizability in predicting work

passion across various occupational groups.

Specifically, feedback from the job and feedback from others

showed the most consistency in the relationships with work passion

TABLE 5 Hypotheses testing results for nonprofit work.

Variable

Direct relationships

DV =work meaningfulness DV =HP DV =OP

BSE pBSE pB SE p

Sex 0.18 0.11 0.09 0.19 0.18 0.28 0.31 0.30 0.31

Age 0.01 0.01 0.28 0.01 0.01 0.38 0.01 0.02 0.67

Work experience 0.00 0.00 0.19 0.02 0.01 0.14 0.00 0.02 0.99

Organizational tenure 0.02 0.01 0.64 0.00 0.01 0.90 0.02 0.02 0.49

Job autonomy 0.04 0.03 0.21 0.06 0.04 0.15 0.11 0.11 0.31

Task identity 0.02 0.03 0.59 0.00 0.05 0.98 0.14 0.09 0.14

Skill variety 0.06 0.07 0.42 0.15 0.11 0.18 0.06 0.19 0.75

Task significance 0.22 0.07 0.00 0.17 0.10 0.08 0.29 0.16 0.08

Feedback from the job 0.20 0.07 0.00 0.21 0.11 0.06 0.09 0.18 0.62

Feedback from others 0.11 0.04 0.01 0.19 0.08 0.01 0.22 0.12 0.07

Work meaningfulness - - - 0.49 0.17 0.00 0.68 0.31 0.03

Indirect relationships (via work meaningfulness)

DV =HP DV =OP

Est. SE 95% CI LL 95% CI UL Est. SE 95% CI LL 95% CI UL

Job autonomy 0.02 0.02 0.005 0.066 0.03 0.03 0.006 0.104

Task identity 0.01 0.02 0.044 0.020 0.01 0.02 0.071 0.026

Skill variety 0.03 0.04 0.033 0.134 0.04 0.05 0.045 0.180

Task significance 0.11 0.05 0.035 0.238 0.15 0.09 0.024 0.380

Feedback from the job 0.10 0.06 0.024 0.244 0.14 0.08 0.025 0.339

Feedback from others 0.05 0.03 0.014 0.137 0.08 0.05 0.013 0.202

Note: Statistically significant relationships are in bold.

Abbreviations: CI, confidence interval; DV, dependent variable; Est., estimate; HP, harmonious passion; LL, lower level; OP, obsessive passion; SE, standard

error; UL, upper level.

ASTAKHOVA ET AL.13

across the four samples. The indirect link between feedback from the job

and HP held across all occupational sectors except for managerial work.

Feedback from the job was associated with OP for all occupational

groups except for blue-collar employees. The prevalence of feedback

from the job is not surprising because it can be obtained from virtually

any job through the results of a worker's performance (Morgeson &

TABLE 6 Hypotheses testing results for managerial work.

Variable

Direct relationships

DV =work meaningfulness DV =HP DV =OP

BSE pBSE pB SE p

Sex 0.16 0.09 0.08 0.03 0.18 0.85 0.17 0.24 0.49

Age 0.02 0.01 0.00 0.03 0.02 0.10 0.06 0.02 0.00

Work experience 0.02 0.01 0.00 0.01 0.02 0.78 0.02 0.02 0.35

Organizational tenure 0.01 0.01 0.25 0.01 0.01 0.71 0.06 0.02 0.00

Job autonomy 0.14 0.05 0.00 0.05 0.12 0.65 0.06 0.12 0.65

Task identity 0.06 0.06 0.26 0.34 0.13 0.01 0.17 0.17 0.29

Skill variety 0.05 0.07 0.50 0.02 0.13 0.87 0.26 0.19 0.17

Task significance 0.18 0.08 0.02 0.02 0.14 0.90 0.37 0.18 0.04

Feedback from the job 0.12 0.06 0.05 0.01 0.11 0.95 0.18 0.15 0.23

Feedback from others 0.08 0.04 0.05 0.01 0.07 0.94 0.04 0.09 0.68

Work meaningfulness - - - 0.51 0.27 0.06 0.81 0.36 0.02

Indirect relationships (via work meaningfulness)

DV =HP DV =OP

Est. SE 95% CI LL 95% CI UL Est. SE 95% CI LL 95% CI UL

Job autonomy 0.07 0.04 0.004 0.176 0.11 0.07 0.021 0.284

Task identity 0.03 0.04 0.012 0.151 0.05 0.05 0.020 0.197

Skill variety 0.03 0.04 0.038 0.137 0.04 0.06 0.069 0.189

Task significance 0.09 0.08 0.001 0.305 0.15 0.09 0.033 0.404

Feedback from the job 0.06 0.05 0.000 0.198 0.10 0.06 0.012 0.265

Feedback from others 0.04 0.03 0.001 0.131 0.06 0.04 0.007 0.171

Note: Statistically significant relationships are in bold; marginally significant relationships are italicized.

Abbreviations: CI, confidence interval; DV, dependent variable; Est., estimate; HP, harmonious passion; LL, lower level; OP, obsessive passion; SE, standard

error; UL, upper level.

TABLE 7 Summary of hypothesized versus supported indirect (via work meaningfulness) relationships between the job characteristics and HP

and OP.

Independent

variables

Knowledge work Blue-collar work Nonprofit work Managerial work

Hypothesized Supported Hypothesized Supported Hypothesized Supported Hypothesized Supported

Job autonomy ++(for HP &

OP)

++(for HP

and OP)

Task identity ++(for HP)

Skill variety ++(for HP) +ns

Task

significance

+ns ++(for HP

and OP)

++(for OP)

Feedback from

the job

++(for HP

and OP)

++(for HP) ++(for HP

and OP)

++(for OP)

Feedback from

others

++(for HP

and OP)

++(for HP

and OP)

++(for OP)

Note:+denotes positive and statistically significant relationships at p< 0.05; ns denotes statistically nonsignificant relationships. In the column

“Supported,”the information provided outside of the parentheses corresponds to hypothesized relationships, whereas the information in the parentheses

conveys additional findings in support of research questions.

Abbreviations: HP, harmonious passion; OP, obsessive passion.

14 ASTAKHOVA ET AL.

Humphrey, 2006) and constitutes a key of one's job meaning regardless

of the job. Feedback from the job tends to be relatively instant, fre-

quent, and objective. It serves as a reliable self-check for whether one's

work is interesting and worthwhile (Champoux, 1991). This combina-

tion provides fertile ground for work passion to develop. Noteworthy,

feedback from the job emerged as a double-edge sword because it was

found to associate with both HP and OP for knowledge and nonprofit

workers, thereby implying that while instant feedback from the job can

be invigorating, it also has the potential to transform into a pathway for

perpetual unhealthy engagement with work.

Feedback from others was also predictive of work passion in three

of four samples (except for blue-collar work) and appeared as a

double-edge sword. Feedback from others is known to support

employee development and rapid innovation, and can manifest in the

format of review-based performance management or informal peri-

odic feedback systems that enable frequent and continuous employee

evaluation (Rivera et al., 2021). While such feedback is essential for

task mastery (Collewaert et al., 2016), it is also tightly intertwined

with the individual's self-esteem (Kuhnen & Tymula, 2012). This tight

coupling can result in employee motivation becoming contingent on

feedback. Interestingly, for blue-collar workers, feedback from others

is not a prerequisite for cultivating either type of work passion. In the

blue-collar context it is likely that feedback from the job takes prece-

dence because it provides clear and immediate quality control infor-

mation the worker needs (Champoux, 1991).

Our final key takeaway is that in order for job characteristics to

foster work passion (and OP, in particular) they must initially evoke a

sense of work meaningfulness. HP is unique in that regard, as it can

potentially directly develop from a limited number of job characteristics

(i.e., job autonomy, feedback from the job, and feedback from others).

mostly in the knowledge work context. The prevalence of such findings

for knowledge workers aligns with conventional views of knowledge

work as inherently fulfilling (Collewaert et al., 2016). More broadly, evi-

dence of direct paths to HP suggests “easier”and more straightforward

ways to develop HP at work. In contrast, to awaken OP, a job charac-

teristic must first invoke a sense of work meaningfulness. However,

one “shortcut”to OP exists that involves task significance in the mana-

gerial work context. When managers view their jobs as critically impor-

tant they are subject to grow obsessive about their work.

7|IMPLICATIONS FOR RESEARCH AND

PRACTICE

7.1 |Theoretical implications

The main contribution of our study to the HRM and work passion liter-

atures is related to the integration of the two theoretical frameworks:

the JCM (Hackman & Oldham, 1975,1976) and the dualistic model of

passion (Vallerand et al., 2003). We related and bridged these previ-

ously unlinked theories to demonstrate that work passion can be indi-

rectly (via work meaningfulness) enhanced by the worker's perceptions

of job characteristics. On the one hand, the JCM model allowed us to

unveil situational predictors of passion, thereby going above and

beyond personality predictors that have dominated the passion litera-

ture to date (Cardon & Kirk, 2015;Liu&Fu,2011). On the other hand,

by demonstrating that job characteristics can shape the individual's

identity-based motivation, our research extends the applicability of the

JCM beyond traditionally studied attitudinal and behavioral outcomes,

such as job satisfaction, organizational commitment, or performance

(Hackman & Oldham, 1975,1976). To that extent, we showed that job

characteristics are powerful motivators that can turn work into an

inseparable part of the individual's identity. We extend the passion lit-

erature by shifting the discourse from dispositional to contextual influ-

ences on passion. By proposing the mediating role of work

meaningfulness, we go beyond the investigations of direct relationships

between a few job characteristics and work passion that have been

conducted (Chen et al., 2020;Gao&Jiang,2019;Trépanier

et al., 2014) and advance the theoretically relevant mechanism translat-

ing job characteristics into work passion. On a broader level, the under-

lying complexity of work passion formation that our study unveiled

calls for future integrations of HRM and organizational behavior theo-

ries to better understand other complex organizational phenomena.

Next, our finding that job characteristics cultivate work passion in

unique ways across different occupational contexts extends the JCM

by questioning its long-accepted claim of generalizability across jobs

and occupations (Hackman & Oldham, 1975,1976). While our find-

ings support that job characteristics are critical motivators at work, we

also emphasize that their motivating influences are occupation-

specific. More broadly, this points to context serving as a critical con-

tingency for the JCM and should encourage future researchers to

examine other contextual factors such as position level, leadership

style, job complexity, or interdependence (Golden & Gajendran, 2019)

that might amplify or suppress the effects of job characteristics on

various work outcomes.

The occupation-specific findings are also valuable for passion

research. To date, the most prevalent sources of data in published

passion studies have included knowledge workers or managerial

workers (Ho & Astakhova, 2020) or, at best, mixed samples (Burke

et al., 2015). As a result, no convincing evidence regarding whether

work passion manifests beyond stereotypical jobs where passion is

perceived to be an important attribute for employees to possess

(Rao & Tobias Neely, 2019). We, however, found the emergence of

work passion among blue-collar and nonprofit workers as well and

explored potential difference in fostering passion across different

occupations. Overall, the pattern of relationships between job charac-

teristics and work passion was most similar among knowledge and

nonprofit workers. The two occupational contexts that demonstrated

most differences were blue-collar and managerial work, where unique

job characteristics were associated with each passion type. Further,

by showing that certain job characteristics (e.g., task identity, skill vari-

ety, and feedback from the job) trigger work meaningfulness, and, ulti-

mately, HP among blue-collar workers, the present study addresses

the seemingly unexplainable paradox regarding why work passion

emerges in industries where it is least expected (Li et al., 2017). Over-

all, we conclude that passion can be developed among employees in

various occupational contexts so long as the focal jobs possess the

characteristics which can invoke meaningful work.

ASTAKHOVA ET AL.15

Our study has also extended the JCM model by expanding its

outcomes to include controlled motivation in the form of OP. The tra-

ditional JCM literature solely focuses on creating favorable conditions

that ignite intrinsic motivation (Hackman & Oldham, 1975,1976). We,

however, discovered that several job characteristics (e.g., feedback

from the job or others) can also stimulate OP which is a form of con-

trolled motivation. Even more interesting is the finding that four job

characteristics, job autonomy, task significance, feedback from the

job, and feedback from others, can be double-edged swords in that

they may relate to both HP and OP. This finding should encourage

future research to expand the scope of work-related outcomes within

the JCM.

7.2 |Implications for practice

Our study also has important practical implications for managers and

HR professionals. Broadly, our research offers reassurance that “[p]

eople are not born with passions”(Murnieks & Cardon, 2019, p. 91).

This insight alleviates the pressure in organizations to exclusively rely

on the selection process for attracting passionate employees. Instead,

organizations can foster healthy and tame unhealthy employee pas-

sion “in house.”Specifically, HR managers can help employees rede-

sign their jobs to cultivate work passion. Because job characteristics

can more readily be adjusted via job crafting (Demerouti &

Bakker, 2014), the worker (the organization) who engages in job craft-

ing will likely feel more empowered to influence their own (their

employees') work passion. Job crafting interventions (van Wingerden

et al., 2017) can be effective in motivating participants to engage in

job crafting behaviors aiming to make one's job more meaningful and,

by extension, develop passion for it. For example, by providing oppor-

tunities for a new plumber to frequently learn new plumbing tasks

and master them (i.e., enhancing skill variety and task identity), the

organization would make it possible for the plumber to form inte-

grated knowledge of the job and complete it from beginning to end.

This will help the plumber experience the meaningfulness of their

work which will ultimately translate into HP.

One should also keep in mind that the one-size-fits-all approach

does not apply when it comes to developing work passion from job

characteristics and the occupational sector is an important contin-

gency. For example, as more job autonomy, job feedback, and feed-

back from others is expected to increase work passion among

knowledge workers, such job characteristics (and related job func-

tions) should be clearly reflected in a job analysis and should become

an indispensably part of one's job in the knowledge sector. On-

boarding programs for new hires should communicate the emphasis

on the essential job characteristics so that organizations can plant the

seeds of healthy HP as early as possible. In general, knowledge of

the most (least) effective strategies to nurture work passion across

different occupations will help organizations be strategic in their

actions, thereby improving efficiency and reducing unnecessary costs.

Our findings also indicate that caution should be used when it

comes to advancing certain job characteristics because while condu-

cive of HP, they may also nurture unhealthy OP. One such double-

edged characteristic is feedback from others. While engendering HP

among knowledge and nonprofit workers, it can also promote OP

among the same two groups of workers as well as managers. Reducing

feedback from others may not be an option because it is essential for

improving employee performance (Lam et al., 2017). To avoid nega-

tive consequences, however, managers and HR managers should

monitor how their feedback impacts workers' motivation,

should emphasize the importance of intrinsic characteristics of the

job, and intervene whenever signs of OP are observed. Further, feed-

back should extend to include employees' well-being and how they

can best balance work and non-work responsibilities. Importantly, our

findings that job characteristics only indirectly predict OP, suggests

that the path leading to OP is more complex which affords more time

and opportunity for preemptive measures that circumvent OP when

the latter's signs are observed. Last but not least, managers and HR

professionals should promote the organizational environment that can

positively influence perceived job characteristics and, ultimately, nur-

ture HP and tame OP. This can be achieved by ensuring that the orga-

nizational reward system reinforces fairness and equality and

organizational rewards encourage mutual helping behaviors among

employees (Richbell & Wood, 2018).

7.3 |Limitations and future research directions

The use of self-report measures and a cross-sectional design impose

several known limitations on our study. While the use of self-report

data is sometimes problematic it is likely that self-reports are the most

appropriate data source given the nature of the constructs incorpo-

rated in the current work (Doty & Astakhova, 2020). Individuals will

likely provide the most accurate reflections about what their work

means to them and how passionate they are about their work. In

regard to job characteristics, research has demonstrated that

self-reports tend to converge with objective measures of job charac-

teristics (Schuller et al., 2014). Further, we time-separated our data

collection to reduce potential common method variance. Despite such

precautions, we encourage future researchers to replicate our findings

with alternate data collection strategies.

The cross-sectional design also limits our ability to make causal

predictions with certainty. One might argue for reverse causality

because when the individual is passionate about their job, they may

experience greater meaningfulness and, consequently, report higher

scores on job characteristics. However, the directionality of these

relationships has traditionally been conceptualized as presented in this

study. Specifically, work meaningfulness and work motivation are typ-

ically posited as a positive function of the employee's perceptions of

job characteristics (e.g., Hackman & Oldham, 1975) and not vice versa.

Additionally, prior research testing the relationships between job

autonomy (Chen et al., 2020; Gao & Jiang, 2019), job resources

(Trépanier et al., 2014), and job demands conceptualized those con-

structs as antecedents of work passion. Such studies provide addi-

tional support for the directionality of the relationships proposed in

our research model. Nevertheless, we encourage future researchers

to retest our model using a longitudinal design or, at a minimum,

16 ASTAKHOVA ET AL.

control for work meaningfulness measured at Time 1 and job charac-

teristics measured at Time 2.

Future researchers should explore boundary conditions that may

potentially alter the discovered mediating links. For example, high-

quality mentoring may strengthen the effect of job characteristics on

positive outcomes (Jiang et al., 2020). Additionally, employees are

often viewed as active shapers of their work environment through

crafting various characteristics of their jobs (Wrzesniewski &

Dutton, 2001). Thus, job crafting can become a valuable tool to shape

one's job experiences so work becomes more worthwhile and passion

for work is more likely to develop. The personality literature provides

yet another set of potential boundary variables. It is plausible that

employee personality factors, such as conscientiousness, agreeable-

ness, and neuroticism (Breu & Yasseri, 2023) may influence work pas-

sion in ways that enhance or suppress the influence of job

characteristics. At a minimum, future researchers should control for

employee personality traits to test whether job characteristics predict

work passion above and beyond employee personality.

The last limitation pertains to the number and types of occupa-

tional groups included in the study. Although we include a diverse set

of occupational groups, those groups are not exhaustive. More nuanced

comparisons could be made by including each of the 23 occupational

groups listed in the 2018 Standard Occupational Classification System

(U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2023). Such nuanced comparisons may

have important practical value when work passion needs to be nurtured

in a particular occupational context. Including a broader set of occupa-

tions may reduce potential bias associated with some of them. For

example, our nonprofit occupational group was predominantly female

(78%). This reflects the nature of the nonprofit sector in general

because women are overrepresented in this occupational context and

constitute 70–75% of all nonprofit employees (American Association of

University Women, 2023). Although the means for some of the key

constructs such as work meaningfulness and work passion appear to be

highest in the nonprofit sample, we cannot conclude with certainty

whether this difference is due to the nature of nonprofit work or the

overrepresentation of females. We acknowledge this as a limitation and

encourage future researchers to comparatively test our model using

male versus female subsamples collected from a broader spectrum of

nonprofit jobs. Given the novelty of our research, however, we trust

our comparisons across the four diverse occupational groups serve the

important purpose of demonstrating that the one-size-fits-all approach

is not appropriate when nurturing passion across occupations.

8|CONCLUSION

The current study proposed and tested the occupation-specific indirect

(via work meaningfulness) relationships between job characteristics and

work passion. The study extends the work passion literature by focus-

ing on contextual antecedents of passion, thereby suggesting that work

passion can be nurtured by context and one does not have to be born

with passion to have it. We also extend the JCM both by applying the

occupation-specific lens to tests its contentions and by introducing a

new motivational outcome—work passion—which can be either positive

(HP) or negative (OP). On a broader scale, these results suggest the

convergence of two previously unrelated areas of research, the JCM

and work passion. Our nuanced findings can serve as a roadmap for

managers and HR professionals in four occupational sectors intending

to cultivate healthy and tame unhealthy employee passion.

FUNDING INFORMATION

This work received no funding from public, commercial, or nonprofit

organizations.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST STATEMENT

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the

corresponding author upon reasonable request.

ORCID

Marina N. Astakhova https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4405-3919

Alexander S. McKay https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7410-2366

D. Harold Doty https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2260-2945

Barbara R. Wooldridge https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0852-1903

ENDNOTE

Given significant intercorrelations among job characteristic in each of the

four sectors (Table 2, the Online Supplement), we complemented our

path analysis with a relative weight analysis (Tonidandel &

LeBreton, 2011) to examine whether all predictors account for nontrivial

variance in the outcomes (work meaningfulness, HP and OP) and to iden-

tify predictors that are most (least) important for the outcomes in each

occupational sector. The results largely align with our earlier predictions

regarding the unique salience of job characteristics depending on the

occupational context. The detailed results and explanations are provided

in the online appendix (Appendix C,athttps://osf.io/ukj6p/).

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AUTHOR BIOGRAPHIES

Marina N. Astakhova is an associate professor of management at

the Robins School of Business, University of Richmond. She

received her PhD degree from Kent State University. Her current

research interests revolve around work passion and person-

environment fit and their relationships with individual and organi-

zational outcomes. She published in journals, such as Journal of

Management Studies,Journal of Organizational Behavior,Journal of

Business and Psychology, among others.

Alexander S. McKay is an assistant professor in the Department

of Management and Entrepreneurship at Virginia Commonwealth

University. He earned his PhD degree in Industrial-Organizational

Psychology from Pennsylvania State University. His research uses

innovative analytical approaches to study daily experiences, inter-

personal relationships, and creativity at work. His research has

been published in Personnel Psychology;Journal of Management

Studies;Journal of Product Innovation Management;Psychology of

Aesthetics,Creativity,and the Arts;and Journal of Creative Behavior

and featured in media outlets such as Bloomberg, Bloomberg Tri-

ple Take television program, CO—by US Chamber of Commerce,

and the With Good Reason radio program.

D. Harold Doty received a PhD degree in management from The

University of Texas at Austin and is currently a professor of man-

agement at The University of Texas at Tyler. His research inter-

ests include strategic management, leadership, organization

theory, human capital theory, and strategic human resource man-

agement. With co-authors, he has been awarded the 1993 Acad-

emy of Management Journal Best Article Award, the 1997

Scholarly Achievement Award by the Human Resources division

of the Academy of Management, and the 2014 Richard

A. Swanson Research Excellence Award for the best article in

Human Resource Development Quarterly by the Academy of

Human Resource Development.

Barbara R. Wooldridge is a clinical professor of marketing at the

Kelley School of Business, Indiana University. She earned a doc-

torate in business administration from Louisiana State University.

She has published in such journals as the Journal of Business

Research,Journal of Marketing Channels,The Journal of Consumer

Marketing,Marketing Education Review, and The Cornell Quarterly.

She was named a 2013 University of Texas System Regents' Out-

standing Teacher.

SUPPORTING INFORMATION

Additional supporting information can be found online in the Support-

ing Information section at the end of this article.

How to cite this article: Astakhova, M. N., McKay, A. S., Doty,

D. H., & Wooldridge, B. R. (2024). Does one size fit all? The

role of job characteristics in cultivating work passion across

knowledge, blue-collar, nonprofit, and managerial work.

Human Resource Management,1–20. https://doi.org/10.1002/

hrm.22210

20 ASTAKHOVA ET AL.

ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any citations for this publication.

Objective and Subjective Work Monotony: Effects on Job Satisfaction, Psychological Distress, and Absenteeism in Blue-Collar Workers

Article

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Feb 1995

The relation of objective work conditions (work underload, repetitive or varied work) and subjective monotony to job satisfaction, psychological distress, and sickness absence was examined in 1,278 male and female workers. Subjective monotony was moderately related to the objective work conditions. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that the effects on all outcomes were partially mediated by subjective monotony and were also directly related to repetitive work and work underload. Job satisfaction and psychological distress were mainly related to subjective monotony, whereas sickness absence was equally related to the work conditions and subjective monotony. The highest impact was observed for short-cycle repetitive work. Testing sex interactions revealed that sickness absence was related to the work conditions in women but not in men. The findings highlight the significance of noting the actual work conditions in predicting employee outcomes.

Feeling Good, Doing Good, and Getting Ahead: A Meta-Analytic Investigation of the Outcomes of Prosocial Motivation at Work

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Mar 2022

In recent years, a rapidly growing literature has shed light on important costs and benefits of prosocial motivation in the workplace. However, researchers have studied prosocial motivation using various labels, conceptualizations, and operationalizations, leaving this body of knowledge fragmented. In this study, we contribute to the literature by providing an integrated framework that organizes extant constructs and measures of prosocial motives along two dimensions: level of autonomy (discretionary/obligatory) and level of generality (global/contextual/positional). Drawing upon this framework, we conducted a meta-analysis with 252 samples and 666 effect sizes to examine the effects of prosocial motivation on workplace outcomes. Moderator analyses were performed to resolve inconsistencies in the empirical literature and understand the context under which prosocial motivation had the strongest or weakest effect. We found that prosocial motivation, in general, was beneficial for employee well-being (𝜌̅ = .23), prosocial behavior (𝜌̅ = .35), job performance (𝜌̅ = .20), and career success (𝜌̅ = .06). The direction and magnitude of these effects depended on the autonomy, generality, and measurement of prosocial motivation, the nature of the outcome (i.e., type of prosocial behavior, subjectivity of performance measures, and forms of career success), as well as the cultural context. Importantly, prosocial motivation had incremental validity above and beyond general cognitive ability and Big Five personality traits for predicting all four outcomes. We discuss the theoretical, methodological, and practical implications from these findings and offer a guiding framework for future research efforts.

What drives passion? An empirical examination on the impact of personality trait interactions and job environments on work passion

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Jan 2022
CURR PSYCHOL

Passionate employees are essential for organisational success as they foster higher performance and exhibit lower turnover or absenteeism. While a large body of research has investigated the consequences of passion, we know only little about its antecedents. Integrating trait interaction theory with trait activation theory, this paper examines how personality traits, i.e. conscientiousness, agreeableness, and neuroticism impact passion at work across different job situations. Passion has been conceptualized as a two-dimensional construct, consisting of harmonious work passion (HWP) and obsessive work passion (OWP). Our study is based on a sample of N = 824 participants from the myPersonality project. We find a positive relationship between neuroticism and OWP in enterprising environments. Further, we find a three-way interaction between conscientiousness, agreeableness, and enterprising environment in predicting OWP. Our findings imply that the impact of personality configurations on different forms of passion is contingent on the job environment. Moreover, in line with self-regulation theory, the results reveal agreeableness as a “cool influencer” and neuroticism as a “hot influencer” of the relationship between conscientiousness and work passion. We derive practical implications for organisations on how to foster work passion, particularly HWP, in organisations.

Exposure to prolonged sedentary behavior on weekdays rather than weekends in white‐collar workers in comparison with blue‐collar workers

Article

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Jul 2021
J OCCUP HEALTH

Objectives Objectively measured sedentary behavior (SB) on weekdays and weekends has been mainly assessed in white-collar workers, while data in blue-collar workers are sparse. Therefore, this study presented the difference in accelerometer-measured SB levels between weekdays and weekends, stratified by white- and blue-collar occupations. Methods This study was a sub-analysis of accelerometer data from 73 workers (31 blue-collar and 42 white-collar) at a Japanese manufacturing plant. SB was defined as ≤1.5 metabolic equivalents estimated using an accelerometer, and compared between weekdays and weekends by using mixed models adjusted for confounders. The proportion of workers who sat for ≤8 h/day on weekdays and weekends were compared using McNemar's test. Results In white-collar workers, SB time on weekdays was significantly longer than that on weekends (598 vs 479 min/day, P < .001). In blue-collar workers, there was no significant difference in SB time between weekdays and weekends (462 vs 485 min/day, P = .43). The proportion of workers who achieved the recommended SB levels (≤8 h) was only 4.8% for white-collar workers on weekdays and 54.8% on weekends (P = .04), while that of blue-collar workers was 45.2% and 58.1% respectively (P > .99). Conclusions White-collar workers were exposed to significantly longer SB time on weekdays than on weekends, which was not the case in blue-collar workers. It may be rather challenging for white-collar workers to limit their SB time to the level recommended by the latest guidelines for better health, especially on weekdays.

Passion, grit and mindset: Exploring gender differences

Article

Full-text available

Dec 2021
NEW IDEAS PSYCHOL

The main aim of the study was to explore the gender differences in passion, grit and mindset in a large sample. The sample consisted of 917 participants in the age range 14-77. The eight item Passion Scale was used to assess passion, and the GritS scale was used to assess grit. Mindset was measured with the Theories of Intelligence Scale (TIS). The scale has 8-items. The results show significant difference between female and male in the passion factor only, in favor of males. The difference was significant in 6 of 8 questions. In addition, we computed a score, PGM total score, from the averages of z-scores for the three factors, passion score total, grit score total and growth mindset score total. Here it was a significant difference between the genders in favor of the males. The results are discussed in relation to more active dopamine system in males.

Are Traditional Performance Reviews Outdated? An Empirical Analysis on Continuous, Real-Time Feedback in the Workplace

Article

Full-text available

Jan 2021

In order to deliver real-time feedback to support employee development and rapid innovation, many companies are replacing formal review-based performance management with systems that enable frequent and continuous employee evaluation. Real-time feedback applications enable supervisors and employees to give, seek, and receive competency-based feedback using their computers, smartphones, or other devices. In this study, we examine the role of one such real-time feedback application to understand its effects on employee performance appraisals. First, we seek better understanding of how workplace relationships affect employee feedback across managers, colleagues, and direct reports and find that feedback tends to be more critical when given by managers. What is even more important from an industry perspective is the role of preferential treatment and retaliation. Managers can be more transactional, but colleagues are not. We also highlight a series of gender observations: men rate women higher than men, and women rate men and women similar to how men rate men. We conclude by finding that positive real-time feedback has a stronger effect on an employee’s future ratings than negative feedback. Our findings have direct implications for the design and implementation of performance management systems and highlight how companies can use information systems to create an innovative human resource operation that delivers flexibility and agility.

The Effect of Job Characteristics and Work Life Balance on Performance through Job Satisfaction as Interverning Variables (Studies on Female Partners on Gojek Services in Mataram City)

Article

Full-text available

Dec 2020

This study examined the influence of job characteristics and work life balance on job satisfaction and performance of female partners in Gojek Service in Mataram City. Specifically the purpose of this study was to determine the significance of the influence of job characteristics, work life balance, and job satisfaction on the performance of female partners, to know the significance of job characteristics and work life balance on job satisfaction, and to know the mediating role of variable job satisfaction in female partners in Gojek Service in Mataram City. The study population was 46 female partners in Gojek Service in Mataram City. This study uses structural equation model analysis (SEM analysis) with smartPLS applications. The results showed that job characteristics and job satisfaction had a significant positive effect on the performance of female partners, while work life balance did not significantly affect performance. Job characteristics and work life balance have a significant positive effect on job satisfaction. For the influence of mediation on job satisfaction, there is a full mediating role in the influence of work life balance on female partners performance, while the influence of job characteristics on the performance of female partners is found to have a partial mediation effect.

The Diminishing Effect of Transformational Leadership on the Relationship Between Task Characteristics, Perceived Meaningfulness, and Work Engagement

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Full-text available

Nov 2020

The topic of employee work engagement in the public sector has attracted broad attention because it is critical to the efficiency and effectiveness of public services. Based on the Job Characteristics Model (JCM) and the Integrative Theory of Employee Engagement (ITEE), the present research adopts a multilevel design to examine a moderated mediation model in which task characteristics (i.e., task autonomy and task significance as level-1 predictors) and social context (i.e., transformational leadership as a level-2 moderator) jointly impact employee work engagement via individual perception of meaningfulness in work. A total of 349 grassroots police officers from 35 police substations were invited to anonymously complete a survey via mobile app. After performing the cross-sectional analysis, the results indicated that in contrast to task significance, the conditional effect of task autonomy on work engagement via perceived meaningfulness was more positive at a lower level of transformational leadership. Implications, limitations, and future research directions are discussed.

Passion for work passion research: Taming breadth and promoting depth

Article

Nov 2022

Despite growing interest among researchers and practitioners in the topic of work passion, multiple conceptualizations of this construct exist, and research within each conceptualization has advanced along independent streams with little integration or cross‐fertilization. In this editorial, we provide a brief overview of the literature on work passion (including employee passion and entrepreneurial passion), describe five extant conceptualizations, and present criticisms and opportunities for future research. We discuss the six papers in this special issue on work passion research and strongly encourage additional research that tames breadth and promotes depth in the study of passion at work.

The dark side of meaningful work‐from‐home: A nonlinear approach

Article

Jun 2022

Changes in the technological environment of work already in motion over the last few years, but accelerated by the COVID‐19 pandemic, place individuals' search for meaningfulness in their work under a new light. In this context, we draw on enrichment theory and the ego‐depletion perspective and challenge the prevailing notion that meaningfulness is always positive and hypothesize that, under certain conditions, there can be such a thing as “too much meaningfulness.” A two‐wave study of 243 full‐time employees working from home during the COVID‐19 pandemic in the United States offers support for a nonlinear effect of meaningfulness of work for workaholics, such that it has a positive effect on individuals up to a certain point, but a negative effect if there are excessive amounts of meaningfulness. We discuss these findings in light of the debate around the moral duty of managers and firms to offer meaningful jobs to employees and offer practical suggestions for firms.

Does one size fit all? The role of job characteristics in cultivating work passion across knowledge, blue-collar, nonprofit, and managerial work

Abstract

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