A Blessing and a Curse - Stress and Wellbeing in Meaningful Work

Sammanfattning: The purpose of this study is to create a better understanding of work-related stress and wellbeing amongst employees who do meaningful work in volunteer-based organizations. The research question chosen to explore this topic is "How do employees in girl’s support centers, who perceive their work as meaningful, experience stress and wellbeing in their jobs?". The data was collected using 16 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with employees at different girl’s support centers in Sweden. This thesis is based on constructionist ontology, interpretive epistemology and abductive reasoning. In terms of theoretical grounding, the concepts of stress, wellbeing and meaning at work are used as a basis for the analysis. The main literature drawn upon is Dupret and Pultz’s (2021) research on work in purpose-driven organizations, multiple scholar’s research on calling and identification as well as the autonomy paradox and related research. The key findings of this thesis relate to the ambiguous yet positive effects of meaningfulness on employee wellbeing. This thesis adds to previous research by showing how experiences of autonomy and meaningfulness interact and contribute to both stress and wellbeing simultaneously.