Meaningful work and artistic interventions in organizations: conceptual development and empirical exploration

Abstract

This article explores whether artistic interventions in organizations offer employees the possibility of fulfilling the human need to give meaning to work. It draws on several distinct bodies of theories relating to the non-instrumental management of work to identify dimensions of meaningful work, and builds on previous empirical research to specify analytical categories. The qualitative data consists of responses from 67 employees who experienced artistic interventions. The analysis shows that artistic interventions can enable employees to experience meaningful work. It enriches theory-building by offering an expanded integrated framework to conceptualize meaningful work with several categories that had not yet been identified in the literature. The implications for management in taking the learning forward in the organization are discussed, and suggestions for future research to address the study's limitations are identified.