Four investigations of arising phenomena in contemporary work settings: the cases of mindfulness practices and crowdworking online platforms

  • New arising phenomena in the occupational realm strongly shape contemporary work settings. These developments heavily affect how individuals work within and beyond organizational boundaries. Two phenomena associated with the changing nature of work have been especially prevalent in work settings and intensively discussed in public debates. First, organizations started to introduce mindfulness practices to their workforce. Rooted in spirituality and formerly used in clinical therapy, mindfulness is applied as a human resource development practice to train employees and managers to cope with the increased work intensification. Second, digitization and the importance of individualization opened up the path for work settings beyond organizational boundaries on crowdworking online platforms. On these online platforms, workers process tasks independently and remotely. Research just started to address the implications and meaning of mindfulness practices in organizations and the rise of crowdworking platforms. Several questions remainNew arising phenomena in the occupational realm strongly shape contemporary work settings. These developments heavily affect how individuals work within and beyond organizational boundaries. Two phenomena associated with the changing nature of work have been especially prevalent in work settings and intensively discussed in public debates. First, organizations started to introduce mindfulness practices to their workforce. Rooted in spirituality and formerly used in clinical therapy, mindfulness is applied as a human resource development practice to train employees and managers to cope with the increased work intensification. Second, digitization and the importance of individualization opened up the path for work settings beyond organizational boundaries on crowdworking online platforms. On these online platforms, workers process tasks independently and remotely. Research just started to address the implications and meaning of mindfulness practices in organizations and the rise of crowdworking platforms. Several questions remain unanswered. This dissertation addresses unanswered but pressing questions related to these two phenomena shaping contemporary work settings. Structured in four essays the first two essays address the application and meaning of mindfulness practices. The first essay analyzes the meaning and interpretations of these new practices within organizations. The second essay takes contextual factors of the organizational environment into account and investigates their relevance for the successful implementation of mindfulness practices. The second two essays are dedicated to work attitudes and behavior on crowdworking online platform. Essay three captures individuals’ motivation for working on such platforms and their effects for workers’ work performance. The last essay deals with the role of professional crowdworking online communities in the work experience and asses the effects of social support in these communities on occupational identification, work meaningfulness and finally on work engagement. Each essay in this dissertation generates new insights on arising phenomena in contemporary work settings. They address several timely yet unanswered research questions for these rising phenomena and thereby offer a deeper and more nuanced understanding of the role mindfulness practices and crowdworking online platforms play in the context of the future of work.show moreshow less

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Author:Andreas Ihl
URN:urn:nbn:de:bvb:739-opus4-8696
Advisor:Marina Fiedler, Rodrigo Isidor
Document Type:Doctoral Thesis
Language:English
Year of Completion:2020
Date of Publication (online):2021/01/21
Date of first Publication:2021/01/21
Publishing Institution:Universität Passau
Granting Institution:Universität Passau, Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät
Date of final exam:2020/11/11
Release Date:2021/01/21
Tag:Arising phenomena; Crowdworking online platforms; Future of work; Mindfulness practices; Work settings
GND Keyword:Organisation; Organisationsverhalten; Arbeitsbeziehungen; Crowdworking; Digitalisierung; Achtsamkeit
Page Number:148 Seiten
Institutes:Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät
Dewey Decimal Classification:3 Sozialwissenschaften / 33 Wirtschaft / 330 Wirtschaft
open_access (DINI-Set):open_access
Licence (German):License LogoCreative Commons - CC BY - Namensnennung 4.0 International