You stay home, but we can't: Invisible ‘dirty’ work as calling amid COVID-19 pandemic

Research on calling has largely focused on its benefits for employees. This study contends that experiencing work as a moral duty based calling in invisible-dirty occupations can yield both favorable and unfavorable employee outcomes. Whether employees feel burdened or supported in their work and family roles depends on the demands and resources provided by the workplace. In a sample of 175 janitors at a large government hospital designated for treating COVID-19 patients in the national capital region of India, hypothesis testing results support that work calling is positively associated with both positive (job performance, subjective career success), and negative (work-family and family-work conflicts, burnout) outcomes. Further, job demands strengthen the relationship of work calling with work-family and family-work conflicts, and burnout, whereas, job resources augment the relationship between work calling and job performance, and subjective career success.