Called to stay? The moderating roles of feedback from others and role clarity in the relationship between experiencing a calling and organizational embeddedness

Abstract

Purpose

Organizational embeddedness of employees who are experiencing their work as a calling is of high relevance. Understanding what promotes staying in organizations can provide benefits for individuals with a calling while at the same time helping organizations to retain those valuable employees. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate how and when experiencing work as a calling relates to organizational embeddedness (OE). Based on assumptions from the theory of work adjustment (TWA), the authors hypothesized a conditional effects model with feedback from others and role clarity as moderating variables.

Design/methodology/approach

For this longitudinal study, the authors collected data at two measurement time points (N = 553). To tests the hypotheses, the authors performed hierarchical regression analysis. Additionally, the authors conducted simple slope tests to calculate the effects of calling on OE, depending on the different levels of the moderators.

Findings

The results indicated that higher levels of experiencing a calling are associated with higher levels of OE 18 months later while controlling for the initial levels of OE. Additionally, the moderation analysis revealed that feedback from others and role clarity strengthened the relationship between experiencing a calling and OE. Interestingly, for individuals with low feedback from others and low role clarity, experiencing a calling was not related to OE.

Originality/value

Addressing recent research calls that highlight more research on boundary conditions and diverse theoretical perspectives, this study contributes to the literature on calling and organizational retention and provides a more individual and career-related view of potential predictors of OE.

Citation

Muehlhausen, J., Spurk, D., Hirschi, A. and Sandmeier, A. (2023), "Called to stay? The moderating roles of feedback from others and role clarity in the relationship between experiencing a calling and organizational embeddedness", Career Development International, Vol. 28 No. 2, pp. 160-179. https://doi.org/10.1108/CDI-06-2022-0167