Why people become zoo keepers

Improbable Research - “Call of the Wild: Zookeepers, Callings, and the Dual Edges of Meaningful Work,” J. Stuart Bunderson and Jefferey A. Thompson, to be published in Administrative Science Quarterly. The authors, at Washington University in St. Louis and Brigham Young University, explain:

“Our in-depth examination of work meaning within the zookeeping profession pointed to the centrality of the notion of work as a personal calling. The view of calling expressed by zookeepers, however, was closer in basic structure to the classical conceptualization of the Protestant reformers than it was to more recent formulations. We explore the implications of this neoclassical conceptualization of calling for the relationship between individuals and their work. We find that a neoclassical calling is both binding and ennobling, both a source of identification, meaning, and significance as well as a source of duty, sacrifice, and vigilance. Hypotheses suggested by this emergent theoretical model were supported in a sample of zookeepers from 157 different zoos.”
- See more at: http://www.improbable.com/#sthash.KUoIAswm.dpuf