Introduction
Employees who are living a calling often demonstrate heightened engagement and dedication, but this can also lead to overcommitment, with potential negative consequences for their well-being. Despite these risks, prior research on calling has primarily emphasized its positive side. Moreover, much of this literature has focused on individual factors, while the critical role of social context remains underexplored. To address these gaps, we examine supervisor appreciation as a contextual factor that may shape the consequences of living a calling and potentially contribute to undesirable outcomes.
Purpose
This study aims to investigate how supervisor appreciation may influence the relationship between living a calling and overcommitment, which in turn may impair employee well-being. Drawing upon self-verification theory, we propose that calling represents a central aspect of employees' identity. Accordingly, supervisor appreciation may service as a form of self-verification which may intensify the extent to which employees express their calling through heightened work investment. Thus, we argue that supervisor appreciation will strengthen the positive relationship between living a calling and overcommitment. Further, this strengthen effect may subsequently translate into excessive work involvement (i.e., presenteeism behavior) and impair employee health (i.e., emotional exhaustion)
Method
Two-wave time-lagged survey data were collected from 262 middle school teachers. Regression analyses were used to examine our hypotheses.
Results
The results revealed that living a calling positively related to overcommitment, particularly when teachers perceived high levels of supervisor appreciation. In turn, overcommitment was found to predict both presenteeism behaviors and emotional exhaustion.
Conclusions
Our findings enrich the research on calling by discovering that living a calling can impair employee well-being through increased overcommitment, particularly when supervisor appreciation is high. Practically, organizations should recognize that while supervisor appreciation generally supports employees, it may also exacerbate overcommitment among those who are living a calling, with important implications for well-being.