Career Calling and Task Performance: The Moderating Role of Job Demand

Abstract

The Work as a Calling Theory (WCT) predicts that career calling fosters job performance. A quantitative summary of previous work supports this prediction and shows that the relation between calling and job performance is moderate in size ( ρ = .29, K = 11, N = 2286) . Yet, the environmental conditions that modulate this relation are completely unknown. According to an interactionist perspective, we argue that calling may predict performance only when job demand is low. Results of a multisource study on salesmen and managers dyads ( N= 965) partially supported this prediction. We observed that highly demanding work environments, characterized by pressure to perform, high workload, and unachievable deadlines, suppress the positive relation between calling and self-reported performance. Job demand directly impairs performance and suppresses the positive effect of career calling. Theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed.

Psychometric Properties and Measurement Invariance of a Short Form of the Unified Multidimensional Calling Scale (UMCS)

“…This study provides a short version of the UMCS (Vianello et al, 2018(Vianello et al, , 2022 in Italian and English. Two samples were used to develop the short form of the UMCS and evaluate its factor structure, internal consistency, concurrent validity, and measurement invariance.…”

“…The UMCS-28 contains six more items compared to the original UMCS. It has previously been used with Italian salesmen, and Cronbach’s α was .96 (Vianello et al, 2022). We estimated a second-order confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) on the 28 items, which showed good fit: χ 2 (343) = 1,094.82, CFI = .95, RMSEA = .05, 90% CI [.048, .055], SRMR = .04.…”

Is Calling Conceptualized Equivalently across Cultures? A Comparative Study across Six Countries

“…"What I study is part of who I am"). In this study, we used the 28-item version of the UMCS (Gerdel et al, 2022;Vianello et al, 2022), which is an improved version derived from the UMCS-22 (Vianello et al, 2018) that shows higher internal consistency and an improved factor structure over the UMCS-22. Supplemental information and detailed results supporting the psychometric properties of the UMCS-28 and its improvements over the 22-item version are available at the following link: https://osf.io/7ftx6/?view_only=975506f3d9194c3c99d1fbfc9b4cb5fe.…”

“…Prior research indicates that calling is associated with many beneficial outcomes, such as higher work engagement, well-being, satisfaction, employability, organizational commitment, organizational citizenship behavior, and job performance (e.g. Cardador et al, 2011;Dobrow et al, 2019;Hirschi, 2012;Lysova et al, 2018;Vianello et al, 2022;Xie et al, 2017). In the Western context, research reflects the influence of the Protestant Reformation on Western societies' worldviews.…”

“…Also, there is initial evidence that individuals with high calling react differently to the environment. For instance, Vianello et al (2022) observed that the relation between calling and job performance is suppressed by high job demands. Called employees perform better than non-called employees only when managers' pressure to perform is low-tomoderate.…”