The word “ calling ” comes from the west culture, originated from religion — means “ The call of God”, while with the development of the times, ha s experienced a changing process from the sacred to the secular, becomes a concept across subjects of religious studies , sociology & organizational behavior. Especially in Chinese culture, its connotation has many features of its own. In this paper, this paper first systematically sorted out the existing research on calling, examining its concept and definition, measurement methods, antecedent variables and outcome variables. Then it analyzed its current problems and indicated the direction for future research.
With the rapid development of social economy, life and working environment has made an enormous change, people work are not limited to survive, for every individual, there are new meanings for occupation. There are such a part of the people, they feel it’s their destiny to engage in the profession now, this kind of idea has made them put more energy in the work, more motivated, and fell more happiness. Both individuals and organizations have benefits from this positive concept, so the study of “calling” is born at the right moment. The paper present detailed connotation and origin of calling in Section 2 and describes 8 detailed measurement methods in Section 3. In Section 4, the paper mainly presents the influencing factors & influence effect of calling. In view of the above, the direction of the future research is pointed out in Section 5.
1) Western scholar’s definition of “calling”
From the evolution of the concept of calling, the word “calling” comes from the west culture, originated from religion―means “The call of God”, while with the development of the times, have experienced a changing process from the sacred to the secular, becomes a concept across subjects of religious studies, sociology & organizational behavior. There are three representative perspectives of “calling” in the western academic circles now.
The first perspective is the classical perspective. This perspective inherited the Judaism-Christian tradition which has strong religious color. The classical perspective emphasize personal duty and destiny, Davidson & Caddell define the calling as “Follow God’s will” in 1994 [
As people paying more attention to the meaning of the work and the autonomy in the process of career choice, the second perspective―modern perspective appears in the scene. Modern perspective emphasizes the inner drive of self-realization or happiness during career choice. Dobrow, Tosti-Khars, Hall & Chandler are there representative scholars. Dobrow & Tosti-Kharas define the “calling” as “A subjective and intrinsic mental structure, is a strong and meaningful passion individual experience in specific areas at work so that they put a lot of energy in the work, can’t even imagine themselves to do other work” (p.1003) [
Compared to the modern perspective, the third kind of view for “calling” neoclassical perspective focus on both the individual internal voice and the individual outside choice, and more in line with the original intention of “calling”. This perspective emphasizes on the importance of personal value realization, meanwhile emphasis on the importance of meeting the needs of society. The representative scholars have Dik, Duffy, Bunderson and Thompson. Dik & Duffy define the “calling” as “A detached mission from self and beyond themselves experience, its purpose is to reflect or obtain a sense of purpose or meaning of the way to practice a certain life role, and other oriented values and goals as the main motive” (p.427) [
From the point of view of the sense of calling, there are some differences among the three perspectives. The classical perspective believes that the sense of calling is only from god. The modern perspective believes that the sense of calling is from the individual himself. Neoclassical Perspective believes that the sense of calling includes both himself and the outside, that is, the function of the work is to realize individual self value, and fulfill the function to the public welfare and social contribution. From the point of view of dialectical materialism, the definition from the Neoclassical Perspective has the function of combine “personal importance” and “social importance”.
2) The definition of calling of Chinese scholars
In recent years, with the domestic scholars pay more attention to the occupation calling, different scholars have tried to define calling in Chinese culture, there have been some review and empirical research, while the related research is still less, the definition of calling is still not formed a unified opinion. The related researches can be observed in
Due to the calling is a new concept, and the connotation of calling has not formed a unified opinion yet. So the dimensions of calling (single or multi dimension) and point field (general field: the orientation of individual attention or
| Scholar | Definition |
|---|---|
| Zhao, H.X., Wu, X.M.(2013) | A psychological state in which a person experiences a sense of meaning, sense of responsibility and passion. The sense of meaning comes from the relationship between the work and the promotion of the social interests of others or higher level, as well as the realization of individual self-worth. Sense of responsibility is mainly manifested in the positive input to the work [ |
| Yu, C.J. (2014) | People experience the passion and strong power to a particular occupation area, hoping to engage in a particular occupation and a sense of meaning, sense of responsibility and passion in the realization of personal value [ |
Data sources: according to relevant literature.
| Scholar | Measuring Tool | Dimension | Point Field |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wrzesniewski (1997) | Calling Orientation Scale [ | Single Dimension | General Field |
| Bunderson & Thompson (2009) | Neoclassical Calling Scale [ | Single Dimension | Specific Areas: Zoo Keeper |
| Dobrow & Tosti-Kharas (2011) | 12-Calling Scale [ | Single Dimension | Specific Areas |
| Dik, Sargent & Steger (2008) | Brief Calling Scale [ | Single Dimension | General Field |
| Dik, Eldridge, Steger & Dufffy (2012) | Calling and Vocation Questionnaire [ | 3 Dimension: Transcendent Summon, Purposeful Work & Prosocial Orientation | General Field |
| Hagmaier & Abele (2012) | Multidimensional Calling Measure [ | 3 Dimension: P-E-Fit, MCM-TGF & MCM-SMVB | General Field |
| Praskova, Creed &Hood (2015) | Career Calling Scale [ | 3 Dimension: Other-Oriented Meaning, Personal Meaning & Active Engagement | General Field |
| Zhang, C.Y. (2015) | Chinese Calling Scale [ | 3 Dimension: Guiding Force, Meaning and Value & Altruistic Contribution | General Field |
is engaged in specific occupation, such as “my future occupation to benefit others”; specific areas: the orientation specific occupation of the mission, such as “I am willing to become a teacher sacrifice everything”) big differences remain. According to the relevant literature review and collation, there are 8 types measurement tools have been developed as showed in
| Influencing Factors | Main Viewpoint | Representative Research |
|---|---|---|
| Group Category | Calling has a religious background, people with calling are likely to be religious [ | Religious Personage |
| College students also have a strong calling, which may be due to the modern understanding of the calling is rarely involved in the concept of religion, while as “it is intended to do a career” [ | College Group | |
| People of all ages, socioeconomic status, professional nature, and salary standards will view their work as calling [ | General Occupational Groups | |
| Individual Characteristics | Self is an important factor in the discovery of calling, only when people in accordance with their wishes to live truly, in order to clearly understand their own future, can clarify what is their own calling [ | Self-Clarity |
| Calling is positively correlated with Core Self-Evaluation [ | Core Self-Evaluation |
| Influencing Effects | Main Viewpoint |
|---|---|
| Work/Life Satisfaction | The correlation coefficient between calling and employee job satisfaction is 0.54 [ |
| Organizational Attachment | The stronger the calling, the higher the level of affective commitment, the lower the turnover intention [ |
| Job Involvement | There is a significant positive correlation between calling and employee job involvement [ |
| Job Performance | People who have a strong sense of Calling have stronger adaptability, willing to pay more efforts at work, which can achieve better performance [ |
| Mental Health | People who view work as the calling, the level of their mental health will be better, and less absenteeism [ |
| Career Development | Calling is related to career decision making and career clarity [ |
| Engagement | Calling is positively correlated with employee engagement [ |
| Happiness | Individuals with calling have a higher sense of happiness and a more positive attitude [ |
1) Study on Influencing Factors of Calling
The influencing factors of calling are related to the source of calling. The existing research on antecedent variables of calling is still less, and more focused on the calling group. It’s summarized in
2) Study on the Effect of Calling
Compared to the influencing factors of Calling, there are more researches on the impact effects. The research has been carried out by college students and employees. The results show that Calling can significantly affect the satisfaction of individual work and life, the degree of organizational attachment and job involvement. The detailed research is summarized in
1) The Connotation and Measurement of Calling has not formed a unified understanding yet.
Although the existing theories have defined the connotation of calling according to their own research, there is lack a consensus definition of calling yet. In future research, as to understand the true meaning of calling and its impact on individuals and organizations more accurately, we should extraction and verification the connotation of calling according to different cultural characteristics and differences subjects. Meanwhile, consider the influence of occupation, gender, age and region on the effectiveness of the tool more fully, develop new appropriate tools for the specific subjects.
2) There is a lack of a more perfect and widely accepted Calling Theoretical Model.
The existing research focuses on the influencing factors and the effects of calling, some scholars have also studied the influence mechanism, but overall, lack a more perfect and widely accepted theoretical model of calling. This is also a development direction of future research.
Wang, J.Y. and Dai, L.T. (2017) Calling: A Literature Review and Prospect. Journal of Human Resource and Sustainability Studies, 5, 94-100. https://doi.org/10.4236/jhrss.2017.51010