When work loses its meaning: Voice or exit? A longitudinal analysis with the 2013–2016 French Working Conditions surveys

Abstract

Although generating increasing debate in the media and in society, meaningful work has only recently become a legitimate research object in labour economics. The authors theoretically ground the concept of meaningful work by drawing on the theory of the psychodynamics of work. This leads to three dimensions of the meaning of work: social usefulness, ethical coherence and development capacity. Then, they propose an empirical measure of this concept using the French Working Conditions surveys. Exploiting the surveys’ longitudinal nature (2013–2016), they assess how workers react to meaningless work (exit or voice). Using instrumental variable techniques to alleviate endogeneity biases that may affect estimations, they conclude that meaningless work favours job quits and, to a lesser degree, unionization.