Abstract:

Dirty work refers to occupations or job tasks that are physically, socially or morally tainted, and thus are perceived by its practitioners as disgusting and degrading. Workers engaged in such occupations or work tasks face dual pressures stemming from their internal experiences of dirtiness (experienced work dirtiness) and external perceptions of dirtiness (occupational stigma perception). In practice, they are confronted with multiple threats, including low wages, limited career advancement opportunities, and social exclusion. In response to these challenges, scholars in the field of dirty work have emphasized the importance of constructing meaning of work as a psychological buffer. Work meaningfulness, as a result of meaning construction, is broadly defined as an individual’s overall perception and understanding of the value, purpose, and significance of their work.

The positive sense of meaning experienced by individuals engaged in dirty work has consistently attracted scholarly attention. Existing research has primarily explored, from an individual or in-group perspective, how dirty work practitioners’ work-group culture or occupational ideology, as well as their normalization strategies, influence the construction of the meaning of work. However, limited attention has been paid to the relational and symbiotic dimensions of meaning construction. Moreover, how the boundary conditions of social support that contributes to these processes remain largely under-explored.

Accordingly, the present study adopts a social support perspective and draws upon the four-quadrant framework of meaning-making, which is characterized by the axes of “agency - communion” and “self - other”, to propose a conceptual model that delineates both individual and interpersonal mechanisms through which dirty work practitioners construct the meaning of their work. Based on this framework, we aim to systematically examine how perceived work dirtiness and perceived occupational stigma affect dirty work practitioners’ sense of meaning and the process of constructing positive meaning from their work. We further investigate the individual and interpersonal mechanisms underlying this relationship. Specifically, our study explores the moderating effects of instrumental support from in-group others (e.g., supervisors and coworkers), and expressive evaluations or support from both in-group and out-group others (e.g., supervisors, coworkers, beneficiaries and clients). Theoretically, the findings are intended to contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of how practitioners engaged in dirty work derive meaning from their work. In practical terms, the present study is likely to offer insights into how organizations can foster employees’ sense of meaningfulness at work by managing individual and interpersonal factors.

Key words: dirty work, occupational stigma, work meaningfulness, “agency-communion” and “self-other” framework, social support