Integrating perspectives: proposal for the analysis of work as a multifaceted phenomenon

AbstractPurpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze the phenomenon of work fromeight different and subsidiaryperspectives: physiological, cultural, spiritual, ideological, economic, political, legal and psychosocial. Design/methodology/approach – This study is based on an exploratory quantitative survey with aprobability sample composed of 407 cases. The bibliographic review resulted from several readings about thephenomenon of work and the impacts arising from these different perspectives. Findings – The analysis of the data collected confirmed that the meaning and the sense of work aremultifaceted. The authors also found that work is an important source of reflection and learning in people’slife. The research instrument promoted thinking and analysis of the participants’ careers. The researchprocess resulted in mutual and interactive learning of investigators and investigation. Research limitations/implications – The data collection came from a single source: a writtenquestionnaire. This limits the scope of the data and raises interpretative discussion concerning the contents ofthe answers. For future reference, the authors suggest to complement it with different techniques of datacollection, associating qualitative and quantitative approaches. Practical implications – The main contributions of the paper are, on the one hand, the effort of synthetizingand recording eight different categories of analysis of the multiple and possible meanings of work, which wereelaborated using the available literature, and on the other hand, to understand and analyze those categoriesusing the perception of a numerically meaningful sample of the public, coming from different backgrounds. Social implications – The purpose of this paper is to propose a guideline for future studies so that theycould choose with increased awareness the initial perspectives at the basis of the analyses. This study couldencourage continuity and provide greater incentives on this increasingly relevant subject. Originality/value – After analyzing the data, it was acknowledged that work cannot be seen from a singleperspective, but it must be viewed in its multifaceted character and sense. The published material on themeanings of work usually focuses on specific professions and careers, the authors argue that this fact limitsthe scope of perspectives and interpretations of the phenomenon. Keywords Labour, Meaning of labour, Sense of labour, Labour perspectives, Labour trajectorie