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Meaningfulness at work means experience of work as important, satisfying and valuable. It is a key factor in promoting individual growth, strengthening the belief in one's own abilities and supporting a sense of belonging and commitment to the organization. In this paper, we explore managers' perceptions of meaningful work in the future, focusing on managers' talk about meaningful work and its promotion in their organizations.

The data for the study consists of 25 stories of future working life collected from Finnish managers in spring 2022, using the empathy-based method.

From managers' stories of future working life, we identified two overarching perception categories of meaningful work: (1) Perceptions of contexts underlining the experience of meaningfulness: evolving technologies, developing expertise and demands and change in working life values and (2) Perceptions of management practices determining meaningful work: leader-centered, distant and technical management practice versus participatory and interactive management practice.

The research produces a new and detailed understanding of the ways in which managers talk about decreasing and increasing meaningfulness at work and management practices related to it. As the research is qualitative in nature and based on a small dataset, its results cannot be generalized. Instead, it strengthens and sharpens the previous understanding of meaningful work and the future of work.

In recent years, there has been a growing trend of individuals willingly opting for employment positions that do not fully use their education, skills and abilities, a phenomenon known as voluntary overqualification. This study aims to investigate the factors that influence and the formation mechanism of this emerging phenomenon. Drawing upon social cognition theory, this study explores the relationship between work values and voluntary overqualification while also examining the mediating role of the future work self and the moderating role of perceived marketability.

This study used a longitudinal approach, collecting data through questionnaires administered at multiple time points. The sample consisted of 607 employees from various departments of five Chinese companies. Regression analysis using the PROCESS macro in SPSS was used to test the research hypotheses.

The results indicate a positive relationship between employees’ work values and voluntary overqualification. Furthermore, this relationship is mediated by the future work self. Additionally, perceived marketability plays a moderating intermediary role in the whole model.

This study contributes to the overqualification literature by introducing a novel type of overqualification and unveiling the mechanism by which work values influence voluntary overqualification. The findings provide insights for understanding and managing employees who are voluntarily overqualified.

Compressing project timelines represents a prevalent temporal tactic aimed at accelerating the innovation process. However, empirical evidence on the impact of such time constraints on innovation remains inconclusive. This study aims to investigate the relationship between a prevalent organizational time mechanism—Performance Appraisal Interval (PAI)—and employee exploratory innovation behavior. Additionally, we explore the boundary conditions that may influence this relationship: the moderating effects of future work self salience and supervisory developmental feedback.

Using online survey data collected in two waves from 426 employees working in hi-tech companies in China, we tested all the hypotheses.

(1) PAI demonstrates an inverted U-shaped influence on employees exploratory innovation behavior; (2) Employees’ future work self salience serves as a moderator that enhances the positive nature of this inverted U-shaped relationship; (3) Supervisory developmental feedback amplifies the moderating role of future work self salience, and the synergistic effect of PAI, future work self salience, and supervisory developmental feedback significantly enhances exploratory innovation behavior.

By providing insights that are attuned to the temporal aspects of performance appraisal, this study aids organizations in making more informed, strategic decisions that enhance both the effectiveness of performance assessments and the cultivation of an environment that encourages exploratory innovation. Additionally, it is recommended that organizational leaders incorporate future-oriented interventions and developmental feedback into their management practices to further promote employees' engagement in exploratory innovation.

Drawing on the interactive theory of performance, this study introduces a novel perspective on how an organizational temporal mechanism influences exploratory innovation and advances our understanding of the non-linear link between time constraints and employees' innovative behaviors.

The purpose of this research is to examine the narratives of victims of abusive supervision. We explore the meaning or “lessons” victims derive from those experiences and how they shape the victims’ views of self, work and organization in relation to navigating their subsequent jobs.

We analyzed how appraisals of supervisory abuse transform victims’ narratives and their consequent work attitudes through sensemaking processes. Semi-structured interviews with the past victims of abusive supervision generated a four-stage model of how sensemaking shapes victims’ future work attitudes. Our interpretations were guided through narrative thematic analysis based on the constructionist approach.

Victims’ lessons learned are predominantly framed by their retrospective post-event appraisal of abuse (based on its severity) once individuals are no longer subject to abusive supervision. With greater distance from the abuse, victims can process the abuse and better understand the motivation of the abuser, enabling the process of causal attributions. These attributions further shape victims’ narratives and future work attitudes through a complex interplay of retrospective and prospective sensemaking mechanisms. The victims broadly reported proactive (with higher self-awareness and endurance) and reactive (self-protection, and emotional scars) lessons. A four-stage model was proposed based on our findings.

Abusive supervision remains a persistent issue experienced by many individuals at some point in their working life. However, little is known about how victims make sense of the event post-abuse and how this sense-making guides their future work behaviors. Understanding this phenomenon provides insight into how employees navigate through adversity and construct a more positive future. The contribution of this narrative inquiry is threefold. First, it explores how individual appraisals of supervisory abuse frame their (1) mechanisms of narrative construction; and (2) future work attitudes. Second, our findings demonstrate how narrative construction is a fluid process often informed by the process of retrospective and prospective sensemaking. Finally, our research suggests two broader categories of lessons that victims internalize and carry forward to their subsequent jobs.

In recent years, democracies across Europe have been challenged in ways this paper has not witnessed on such a scale for generations. It is therefore unsurprising that innovations within democracy are emerging, particularly in terms of participatory and deliberative practices. Focusing specifically on local democracy and decision-making, this paper aims to examine ways of democratising future studies as a means of enhancing citizen participation in democracy.

The paper draws upon the growing body of work under the umbrella term of “participatory futures” as a way of contextualising and critiquing the “real-world” application and empirical testing of methods within this field by local municipalities.

It identifies the importance of supporting the development of futures literacy in citizens, public administration officials and political and strategic leaders. The paper demonstrates how broadening the application of existing foresight techniques through their confluence with participatory action research (PAR) principles can create spaces that reignite people’s social imagination. This in turn enables citizens and those working in local municipalities to engage in dialogue about the future.

The paper examines the results of a PAR study, in which innovative participatory future methods were tested as tools for enhancing citizen involvement in local decision-making. Through this, it outlines how foresight practices can be democratised, supporting local democracy to thrive, and identifies future research and practice directions within the field.

This interview study examines Hungarian journalists' and copywriters' expectations of generative AI’s impact on their professions and factors influencing these views during a period of hype.

While acknowledging the specialized knowledge of journalists and copywriters relative to the general public, the study employs the sociology of expectations framework to interpret their anticipations not as objective forecasts of the future, but rather as phenomena shaped by diverse influences. The research comprises 30 semi-structured interviews conducted in spring 2023 to explore these expectations and their contributing factors.

Results reveal ChatGPT’s media coverage as pivotal, encouraging the professionals interviewed to experiment with AI, reassess their roles, and cause a shift in their job expectations. At the same time, this shift was limited. Skepticism about hyperbolic media formulations, their own experiences with ChatGPT and projecting its constraints into the future, contextual factors, and optimism bias contributed to moderating their expectations. They perceived AI as an enhancer of efficiency and quality, not as a radical disruptor. Copywriters were more open to integrating AI in their work, than journalists.

The results underscore the importance of further research to explore subjective experiences associated with technological change, particularly considering their complex social, psychological, and cultural influences.

The study uniquely contributes to the sociology of expectations by highlighting how a complex interplay of factors can shape professionals' anticipation of the impact of AI on their careers, including optimism bias and media hype.

This study explored one form of remote working – work from home – to understand the impact of work disruptions on workers and human resource management (HRM) practice and therefore how to adapt to future crises. Specifically, the purpose is to understand the impact of events on employees when they are forced to move back and forth (yo-yoing) between work from home and a central office, using the case of Perth, Western Australia (WA).

Thirty-nine interviews with leaders, managers and co-workers working in private and public organisations suggest that forced changes to work arrangements affect job content and demands, well-being and potentially career trajectories.

The authors critically applied and developed the tenets of event system theory (EST) (novelty, disruption and criticality) by analysing an ongoing or “long” event rather than a discrete or time-limited one. The study found that the work-from-home experience influenced the individual perception of whether remote working would suit employees in the future, potentially influencing career paths. In addition, the selection of locations to live, preferred properties (e.g. home office space) and access to services (e.g. broadband infrastructure) has also become dominant features of work decisions.

While the study generated rich data, it is not without limitations. The participants were from one Australian state which may not reflect the COVID-19 experiences of other jurisdictions. In addition, the participants were mostly female so this may offer a different perspective than a more gender-balanced sample. The study was limited to the perspectives of employees and middle managers.

The authors note three areas of implications for practitioners. First, the findings suggest that strong organisational and HRM support assists employees to cope well with change. Second, the importance of technological and social preparedness in improving employee experiences highlights the role of HRM in job design. Third, it is key that salient events are recognised as potential determinants of career pathways.

The evidence from this research broadens the application of EST showing that forced flexibility has an influence on work arrangements by influencing a series of changes in features of work and experiences of employees. As such, this impacts employee's well-being and potentially future career decisions.

The current digital work environment promoting a “constant-on” culture is a hotbed for cyber incivility. Thus, there is a pressing need to understand its mechanisms. This study aims to shed light on the triggers, sources and impact of rude behaviours in cyberspace. The authors also present the boundary conditions that exacerbate or alleviate the effects of such negative experiences.

Through a systematic literature review based on predefined search protocols, the authors synthesised the current knowledge on cyber incivility and identified 21 peer-reviewed research articles.

The findings reveal the different sources of cyber incivility, its personal, relational and organisational antecedents and consequences, and its personal and situational boundary conditions that curb or enhance the negative impact.

The authors unravel the main future research avenues based on the review findings by systemising knowledge on cyber incivility. Managerial efforts in the form of interventions and mitigation are also discussed to help combat this grieving issue in the workplace.

This paper presents the first systematic review of the cyber incivility literature and identifies new avenues for future research. Scholars can expand upon the findings of this study to fill gaps and move the incivility in cyberspace forward. It also offers practical insights on mitigating the advancement of such behaviours in organisations.

This paper sets out why reskilling is an essential element of an effective talent strategy and outlines the key steps to successful reskilling.

A qualitative review of methodologies and practices for reskilling is presented in this paper.

Reskilling is an essential organisational practice allowing employers to respond effectively to turbulent business conditions. Organisations need to engage in three priority actions: strategic workforce planning, adopting flexible work design practices and developing targeted upskilling and reskilling programmes.

This is a synthesis of a variety of ideas about how to approach reskilling and reflects practices adopted by organisations.

With the increasing global popularity of the gig economy encompassing freelancers, online platform workers, self-employed, on-call workers and other temporary contractual workers, this study aims to review research focusing on the gig economy to explore the nuances of working in various alternative work arrangements. We aim to enhance the understanding of existing literature and highlight underexplored areas for future research.

A systematic literature review of 258 studies based on gig economy and gig work was conducted. It follows systematic search criteria and SPAR-4-SLR protocols. The analysis uses different gig worker profiles given by Watson et al. (2021) to categorize studies, followed by thematic analysis to identify patterns in the literature.

Our analysis of studies on gig economy shows that the majority of existing literature is based on gig service providers. Within this literature subset, major areas of study are work conditions, financial conditions, emergence and role of collectives, the impact of algorithmic management and the impact of rise of the gig economy on entrepreneurship. There is little research focusing on gig goods providers, gig data providers, agency gig workers and traditional gig worker profiles. More focus is also needed on emerging markets and markets transitioning to the gig economy.

Differing from reviews that have attempted to define gig work and workers, we focus on literature on the lived experiences of gig workers. By reviewing studies on different gig worker profiles, we are able to highlight future research directions for pointed sample sets and comparative underexplored areas.