Living to work: The role of occupational calling in response to challenge and hindrance stressors

The present study examined how occupational calling affects the relationships between challenge and hindrance stressors, work motivation, and mental health symptoms. Individuals experience the presence of calling as a result of a transcendent summons (i.e. feeling called to a particular line of work), being engaged in purposeful work, or having a prosocial orientation to work as giving back to others. Employees with a higher calling orientation were expected to experience enhanced reactions to both challenge and hindrance stressors. A prospective design was utilised, as the three subscales of calling and challenge and hindrance stressors were assessed at Time 1 and engagement and mental health symptoms were assessed three months later at Time 2. Results indicated that the relationships between hindrance stressors and mental health symptoms were magnified when participants reported higher levels of all three subscales of occupational calling, whereas calling did not influence the relationship between challenge stressors and the outcomes. The present study builds on recent research showing that although calling is related to numerous positive outcomes, negative effects may also occur. The results of the present study hold potential for interventions to minimize the negative outcomes that can result from possessing an occupational calling.