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People experience well‐being at both global (life) and domain (e.g. careers) levels, and presumably people experience meaning on both levels as well. Two studies assessed whether finding meaning on one level “satisfies” people's search for meaning at the other level. Study 1 assessed this question by analysing survey responses from 231 undergraduate students, finding a significant interaction such that people seeking global‐level meaning in life reported greater well‐being and self‐efficacy in choosing a career if they experienced domain‐level meaning in their careers. Study 2 used both calling‐focused and traditional career workshops in an effort to experimentally induce a sense of domain‐level meaning in careers in a sample of 91 undergraduate students. There was a trend for people seeking global‐level meaning in life to report greater reductions in depressive symptoms and increased domain‐level meaning in their careers following the workshops. Together these studies suggest that people seeking global‐level meaning in life are, indeed, satisfied by experiencing meaning in their careers. We discuss these results in terms of how career and workplace interventions might be tailored according to how intently people are seeking meaning.
Steger et al. (Tue,) studied this question.