Meaningfulness in Motion

Liyanage, Chaturi and Iszatt-White, Marian and Kempster, Stephen (2025) Meaningfulness in Motion. PhD thesis, Lancaster University.

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Abstract

Despite the growing popularity of the concept of meaningful work (MW), much of the literature has focused on the sources, dimensions, antecedents and/or outcomes of MW while the processual dynamics through which work becomes meaningful have been underexplored. The absence of processual perspectives on MW has limited the theoretical development of the construct and has impeded an understanding of how meaningfulness is experienced and constructed in everyday work lives. Drawing from process theory, the research addresses this gap by exploring how individuals’ constructions of meaningfulness emerge and evolve in work experiences. By employing narrative-based methods with thirty Sri Lankan employees from diverse occupations, my research found that the process of meaningfulness construction was shaped by two interrelated processes: “temporal flow” and “relational flow”. Temporal flow refers to the interconnectivity of the past, present and future, while relational flow reflects the dynamic nature of relational interactions and disruptions through which meaningfulness is constructed and reconstructed in a work episode. Such findings are theoretically significant as they demonstrate that MW is not fixed, predetermined or an inherent feature in one’s work, but an active, ongoing and dynamic construction shaped by temporal and relational processes. This study, therefore, contributes to the literature by offering one of the few process theoretical accounts of how work experiences are rendered meaningful.