Attachment to God, Vocational Calling, and Worker Contentment

Existing organizational research overlooks divine attachment as a “personal characteristic” relevant to work. We argue that secure attachment to God as an internal working model can function as a “secure base” from which individuals form meaningful attachments to their workplace and work position. W...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Review of religious research 2016-09, Vol.58 (3), p.343-364
Main Authors: Kent, Blake Victor, Bradshaw, Matt, Dougherty, Kevin D.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anthropology
Attachment
Attachment behavior
Attitudes
Clergy
Contentment
Job characteristics
Job satisfaction
Organizational commitment
Organizational research
Original Paper
Personality traits
Protestantism
Psychology of religion
Religion
Religious identity
Religious Studies
Secure attachment
Social research
Social Sciences
Sociology of Religion
Vocation
Work environment
Workplaces
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Summary:Existing organizational research overlooks divine attachment as a “personal characteristic” relevant to work. We argue that secure attachment to God as an internal working model can function as a “secure base” from which individuals form meaningful attachments to their workplace and work position. We further hypothesize that a sense of vocational calling (i.e., a belief that God calls individuals to particular work settings or jobs) will mediate the relationship between secure God attachment and positive work attitudes. We test these hypotheses by analyzing data from the Baylor Religion Survey 2010, a random sample of US adults. Findings demonstrate that secure attachment to God positively relates to affective organizational commitment and job satisfaction. As hypothesized, vocational calling also mediates a large proportion of these relationships. Implications of our findings are discussed in conclusion.
ISSN:0034-673X
2211-4866
DOI:10.1007/s13644-016-0250-9