Meaning of work in creative industries

Abstract

Studies concerning the worker in creative industries are still scarce in the management scientific literature. This study has attempted to reduce this gap, by investigating the meaning of work among professionals laboring in these industries. We have translated and adapted a Canadian questionnaire into Portuguese for measuring this construct. It was responded by 451 individuals from different domains of those industries in São Paulo State, Brazil. The data was analyzed with use of psychometric techniques and procedures for comparing and correlating means. The findings show that the most prominent factors associated to a meaningful work for these individuals are: the possibility of learning and developing through work, its social function, the opportunity of identification with and self-expression through work, autonomy, good interpersonal relationships, and the respect to ethical issues. The paper concludes with some implications from these findings to the creative industries and meaning of working literature.