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“Can One Put Faith and Work in the Same Sentence?” Faith Development and Vocation of a Female Leader in the Engineering Profession

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Abstract

Faith has been pointed out as a possible resource in strengthening individuals’ health and well-being at work. The aim of this article is to gain in-depth knowledge of the faith development and vocation of a selected female leader in a male-dominated work context. The article contributes to research on faith development in women leaders, based on Fowler’s faith development theory. This is a single case study grounded in a qualitative research design. In-depth qualitative data were gathered through observation and interviews over 18 months. Findings showed the development of faith across a women leader’s life span and highlight that faith and vocation are important resources that provide strength, meaningfulness and a vision.

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Notes

  1. FDT has been criticised extensively, however, the critique will not be discussed in this article. For further discourses please see Coyle (2011) and Streib (2005).

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Acknowledgements

We would like to express our sincere thanks to M for her interest in the research, her cooperation, and the highly important insights she provided.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Management, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa

    Claude-Hélène Mayer

  2. Institut für Therapeutische Kommunikation und Sprachgebrauch, Europa Universität Viadrina, Frankfurt (Oder), Germany

    Claude-Hélène Mayer

  3. Department of Industrial and Organisational Psychology, University of South Africa, 3-111 AJH van der Walt Building, PO Box 392, Pretoria, 0003, Gauteng, South Africa

    Rian Viviers

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  1. Claude-Hélène Mayer
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Correspondence to Claude-Hélène Mayer.

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Both authors have been fully involved in the research and in writing the article. The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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All procedures performed in this study involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from the individual participant included in the study.

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Mayer, CH., Viviers, R. “Can One Put Faith and Work in the Same Sentence?” Faith Development and Vocation of a Female Leader in the Engineering Profession. J Relig Health 57, 821–835 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-017-0404-2

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