How People Make Work Meaningful: Finding Meaning in Abstract Value Fields

Abstract

In contemporary work cultures, particularly within high-growth and creative industries, the pursuit of meaningful work is often bound up with productivity, performance ideals, and market-based definitions of value. This thesis explores how professionals in abstract value fields find and cultivate meaning in their work, shifting attention from organisational outcomes to the lived experiences and inner perspectives of individual employees. The literature review traced frameworks of meaning in life and work, identifying four recurring pillars: value of work outcomes, fulfilling subjective experiences, organisational support, and strong interpersonal relationships. These were distilled into two key dimensions: individual agency and orientation toward others. Together, they informed a conceptual framework based on a calling orientation toward work. Using an interpretivist and inductive methodology, the study draws on ethnographic interviews with professionals in fashion, consulting, software, and advertising. Participants were selected through purposeful and heterogeneous sampling to reflect a diverse range of perspectives within industries characterised by abstract value production. The interviews encouraged reflective storytelling, revealing how participants relate to success, creativity, and purpose. Our findings show that meaning is not a fixed feature of job roles or organisational missions, but something individuals actively construct. While participants rejected the idea of work as a grand calling, many still enacted calling-like behaviours in small and context-specific ways through care, routine, and personal contribution. Relationships with close colleagues were a central source of meaning, considerably more influential than affiliation with a company or profession. Others found meaning through play, challenge, and the joy of making, even when their work lacked broader significance. These insights suggest that meaning at work can be light, relational, and internally crafted. The thesis contributes to debates in organisational studies, workplace wellbeing, and existential inquiry by foregrounding the quiet and subjective ways individuals make sense of their work in the face of increasing abstraction.