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Moral perception--individuals' perception of what is right and wrong--shapes many important work outcomes. This symposium extends moral perception research by introducing recent scholarly works on the antecedents and consequences of moral perception in organizations. Specifically, this symposium asks two questions: How is the moral perception of work itself shaped and changing? What are the antecedents and consequences of moral perception and behavior at work? Using multilevel data in diverse settings, five presenters seek to answer these questions. Three presenters tackle the first question by showing (a) how employees collectively contest and deviate from a culturally upheld and valued way of relating to work, (b) how employees' positive valuation of intrinsic motivation affects their decisions to help their teammates, and (c) how the (mis)match between leaders' and followers' work orientations affects team performance. The other two presenters address the second question and investigate (a) the motivational consequence of misalignment between employees' ethical considerations and the law, and (b) the effect of observers' status and status consistency on their moral decision to stand up to abusive supervision. The discussion at the end of the symposium highlights opportunities for future research and seeks to stimulate conversations among the audience. Collective Contestation of a Work Ethos in the Financial Independence, Retire Early (FIRE) Movement Author: Laura Sonday; Kenan-Flagler Business School, U. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Discerning Saints: Moralization of Intrinsic Motivation and Selective Prosociality at Work Author: Mijeong Kwon; U. of Colorado, Denver Author: Jon Michael Jachimowicz; Harvard Business School Author: Julia Lee Cunningham; U. of Michigan When and Why Legal Constraints Impede the Motivational Benefits of Ethical Considerations Author: Timothy Kundro; U. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Author: Natalie Lynn Croitoru; Kenan-Flagler Business School, U. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Author: Beth Anne Helgason; London Business School Work Orientations in Teams: How Meaning of Work Matters for Team Performance Author: Winnie Jiang; INSEAD Author: Tianyu He; National U. of Singapore When and Why High Status Team Members Stand Up to Observed Abusive Supervision Author: Oguz Gencay; U. of Maryland R.H. Smith School of Business Author: Rellie Rachel Derfler; U. of Maryland Author: Gamze Arman; UWE Bristol [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At any moment, organizations may face a range of crises, from global pandemics and economic depressions to business catastrophes -- all of which can strain operational processes and performance (Wright et al., 2020; Williams et al., 2017). Research suggests that crises can also engender positive organizational growth, learning, and identity (Fink et al., 1971), which may trickle down to the group and individual levels. However, the dynamics underpinning the interplay of organizational-, group-, and individual-level shifts in meaning of work amidst "a backdrop of change and 'outside' elements" (Cheney & Thompkins, 1987: 5) remain largely underexplored. Research that addresses meaning of work in times of crisis and change not only helps to close this gap, but also enables scholars to understand when and why thriving (vs. decline) amidst crisis occurs. This symposium brings together five field-based investigations to focus on the interplay of individual, group, and organizational dynamics around the meaning of work in the context of crisis. First, Jiang and Cho quantitatively examine the macro effects of a societal level crisis and how a societal crisis can trigger a personal one in terms of individuals' meaning of work; in particular, they uncover that one's meaning of work can be temporarily unsettled by an external, societal-level crisis. Second, Gorges explores people's experiences of downshifting--defined as a voluntary long-term change to spend less time on work and more time on leisure--following a large global crisis, namely, the COVID-19 pandemic. Third, Eun examines how callings are expressed in crises, such as the COVID-19 crisis, illuminating not only the prevailing prosocial nature of callings, but also revealing work orientations as an important input to crisis behaviors. Fourth, Sala considers the effects of occupational level threats and how they affect individuals' sense of self and meaning. Finally, Rocheville and colleagues unpack the effects of individual-level crises in illuminating how workers in chronic pain create and/or sustain a positive meaning of work. Sally Maitlis, a distinguished scholar of how people make sense of challenges and trauma at work in meaningful ways, will serve as the discussant to highlight both theoretical and practical implications as well as future research directions. Crisis within a Crisis: The Destabilizing Effect of Societal Crises on Individual Work Orientation Author: Winnie Jiang; INSEAD Author: Yuna Cho; HKU Business School, The U. of Hong Kong Downshifting: A Voluntary Career Shift to Reduce Work Hours Author: Megan Gorges; Harvard Business School Putting Callings to the Test: Prosocial Behaviors in a Crisis Associated with Calling Orientations Author: Eunice Eun; Yale School of Management Out of Service? Individual Experiences of an Occupational Identity Existential Threat Author: Gabriel Robert Sala; Northeastern U. Chronic Pain as a Crisis: The Role of Work-Body Ideologies in Sustaining Positive Meaning of Work Author: Kimberly Rocheville; Creighton U. Author: Elana Feldman; UMass Lowell Author: Beth Schinoff; Boston College Author: Njoke Thomas; Boston College [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The trend of increasingly boundaryless careers means that individuals' work lives are characterized by greater mobility across more jobs and organizations than ever before. This heightened intra-and inter-organizational mobility has important implications for both organizations and individuals. The papers we have brought together in this symposium address important questions regarding the implications boundaryless careers have for both individuals and organizations. These papers offer novel insights into how inter-and intra-organizational competition for human capital ultimately influences employee mobility within and between organizations, as well as how mobile employees experience their transitions between jobs and organizations as a function of their cumulative experiences and the organizational and job contexts they are entering. * Tit for Tat? Predicting Retributive Hiring in Diversified Firms * Presenter: Huimiao Zheng; U. of Cincinnati * Presenter: Rhett Andrew Brymer; U. of Cincinnati * Advance 'Em to Attract 'Em: An argument against internal talent hoarding * Presenter: JR Keller; Cornell U. * Presenter: Kathryn Dlugos; Penn State U. * Beyond Boundaryless: Toward a friction-based model of career transitions * Presenter: Gina Dokko; U. of California, Davis * Presenter: Winnie Jiang; INSEAD * In defense of job hopping?Overcoming the portability of performance paradox through greater mobility * Presenter: Rebecca Rheinhardt Kehoe; Cornell U. * Presenter: Frederick Scott Bentley; U. of Delaware [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The meaning of work has enjoyed a surge of research interest in recent years (e.g., Rosso, Dekas, & Wrzesniewski, 2010), reflected in studies that largely focus on individuals' experiences of and relations with their work in general. While most research on the meaning of work focuses on perceptions of meaning in stable employment, whether and how these perceptions are influenced under particularly challenging circumstances remain underexplored. In this symposium, four papers, three qualitative and one quantitative, examine the meaning of work in difficult contexts. The papers range from considerations of the changing meaning of work in disappearing occupations to how work meanings influence outcomes during periods of unemployment. The first paper focuses on a disappearing occupation, and considers meaning as experienced by subway drivers in Paris who were forced to change professions due to train automation. The second paper considers teachers' professional identities and work meanings during a radical organizational change. The third paper examines the experiences of work meaning of police officers who face unexpected challenges due to the controversial nature of their jobs. The fourth and final paper introduces how congruence in couples' understanding of the meaning of their individual jobs influences their subsequent work experiences during challenging employment transitions. Taken together, these papers suggest different sources of shocks to individuals' conceptualizations of the meaning of work and encourage discussion of how both transitions and changes in context challenge and extend what scholars know about the meaning of work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]