Abstract
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Individuals spend much of their time engaged in work, so the need to find and experience
meaning in work is of great significance. ‘Meaning in work’ generally refers to the amount of
significance employees perceive in their work. Providing employees with meaning in their
work has inspired numerous researchers to study the role of personal meaningful work and its
related outcomes. Despite this high level of interest, the theoretical views and methodological
approaches used to explore this concept still require refinement and development. Without a
comprehensive review of these views and approaches, the concept of meaningful work will
remain an ill-defined notion. This study aims to address this gap with a review of the
theoretical and empirical research on meaningful work. It examines the underlying features
that constitute the meaningful work concept and offers guidance for future research by
presenting the current state of knowledge about meaningful work. The paper includes a
discussion on the concepts of ‘meaning’ and ‘work’, and its importance and the sources for
conceptual confusion, and a synthesis of the common features that form the idea of
meaningful work.