South Africa finds itself in the midst of an educational crisis (Motshekga, 2011). The educational crisis is particularly disconcerting given the mammoth challenges of dealing with the legacies of substandard and unequal education practices left by apartheid (Lumadi, 2008). Quality education entails the enrichment of cognitive skills and the younger generation must be trained, through their schooling, to positively contribute to society in the future (Lolwana, 2007). The role of the South African Department of Education in addressing these challenges is brought into sharp focus under the auspices of transformational strategies and policies of improving the delivery of quality education to all learners (Department of Basic Education, 2012; Hammett, 2008; Lolwana, 2007; Rademeyer, 2013).

Envisaged transformation towards quality education depends primarily on teachers being in the classrooms, every day, doing what they are supposed to be doing – teaching the learners (Jansen, 2007). To ensure that this is taking place, the underlying individual attitudes, beliefs and social structures that unconsciously drive the observable behaviours must be examined, understood and explained in order for them to be changed. True transformation necessitates changing the underlying motivation or attitude, not merely rearranging the existing observable behaviour (Berliner, 2002). Consequently, improving the work attitude of teachers is now being aimed at (Department of Basic Education, 2012).

In the opinion of Wrzesniewski, McCauley, Rozin and Schwartz (1997), a sense of calling relates to a person's motivation to perform their duties, especially in social occupations such as teaching. However, researchers report incongruent definitions of what does or does not constitute a sense of calling (Hirschi, 2011). Historically, the origin of a sense of calling lies within the religious framework where the individual is said to receive a ‘transcendent summons, experienced as originating beyond the self, to approach a particular life role’ (in this case work) (Dik & Duffy, 2009, p. 427; Elangovan, Pinder & McLean, 2010). As research on this concept continued, the definition was altered to include any ‘honest’ line of work as long as the individual was still motivated to serve the greater purpose and common good (Hunter, Dik & Banning, 2010). This change in the definition was motivated from psychologists’ notion to regard religious discussions with clients as inappropriate and therefore a sense of calling had to be conceptualised as a more modern and secular idea (Bergin & Jensen, 1990).

The modern definition of calling includes a sense of purpose, direction, the desire to be helpful and personal fulfilment (Dik, Duffy & Eldridge, 2009; Elangovan et al., 2010; Hall & Chandler, 2005; Steger, Pickering, Shin & Dik, 2010; Wrzesniewski et al., 1997), which became known as the secular view of a sense of calling and it recognises people's desire to contribute to the greater good (Dik & Duffy, 2009; Steger & Dik, 2010). Personal fulfilment and serving the greater good are viewed as important factors of a person's work experience, regardless of the individual's religious views (Hall & Chandler, 2005).

For the purpose of this study sense of calling will be conceptualised as search and presence of calling (Duffy & Sedlacek, 2007). The teachers who report a presence of a calling have a good sense of their interests and abilities, they are more likely to be mature in their career development process and they are more comfortable in making career decisions. Conversely, teachers that report a search for calling tend to be slightly more indecisive and slightly more likely to lack a clear career development process; these individuals are less comfortable in making career decisions and are markedly less clear about their interests and abilities (Duffy & Sedlacek, 2007). However, Dik, Eldridge, Steger and Duffy (2012) suggest that a sense of calling must be comprehended to be a process in which the individual experiences, maintains and seeks their callings on a continuous basis.

Research studies explore and propose some benefits to experiencing one's work as a calling, which include high levels of life satisfaction, zest and an overall feeling of contributing to the greater good and low levels of absenteeism (Wrzesniewski et al., 1997). It is therefore argued that work becomes socially valuable to the individual who experiences work as a calling: work becomes an end in itself, inseparable from the person's life (Duffy, Dik & Steger, 2011; Treadgold, 1999; Wrzesniewski et al., 1997). Renewed interest in the once valued notion of experiencing work as a calling was caused by people testifying to having a more positive work attitude when work is approached as a calling (Duffy et al., 2011; Elangovan et al., 2010; Hall & Chandler, 2005; Steger et al., 2010).

An attitude is a tendency of an individual to react to a certain object, be it a person, idea or situation (Chambers & Forlin, 2010; Nel et al., 2011). This reaction can either be positive or negative and is based upon previous, personal experiences (TIP: Concepts, 2010). Therefore an attitude can change as the experience of the individual changes (Nel et al., 2011) or it can be adjusted as implicit learning takes place (Zimbardo & Leippe, 1991).

South African teachers are more than ever displaying a negative attitude towards the teaching profession (Eloff & Kgwete, 2007) as is evident in their own and publicly expressed opinions that they are ill prepared to meet the needs of the diverse learners in the classrooms (Lumadi, 2008). Teachers are also overwhelmed with and by constant changes in the education system, placing additional demands on the already negative teachers. They had to adapt to the outcomes-based curriculum and, shortly afterwards, the newly announced national Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) (Department of Basic Education, 2012; Talmor, Reiter & Feigin, 2005). Due to the government's transformation strategy, teachers find themselves inundated by an excessive workload which includes classroom activities, extramural activities as well as administrative functions, all of which is exacerbated by teachers’ lack in capacity to work with, understand and interpret the curriculum (Lolwana, 2007).

The importance of the teachers’ work attitude is reiterated in order to ensure successful transformation and the delivery of quality education to learners as teachers still remain the curriculum agents in the classroom (Carl, 2002; Department of Basic Education and Higher Education and Training, 2011; Jerlinder, Danermark & Gill, 2010; Kuyini & Desai, 2007; Nel et al., 2011). Teachers’ work attitude will either foster optimal teaching and learning or hinder growth of learners (Carl, 2002) as the teachers’ intentions and behaviour in the classroom are directly influenced by their work attitude (Chambers & Forlin, 2010; Nel et al., 2011).

Recent studies propose that work attitude not simply relates to, but also significantly predicts, work satisfaction (Dik & Duffy, 2009; Dik et al., 2009; Steger & Dik, 2010). Hall and Chandler (2005) further argue that the personal experience of work satisfaction and meaningful work influences people's work attitude. As a result of this interaction between work satisfaction and work attitude, contemporary researchers are of the opinion that if teachers experience meaningful work, their attitude towards teaching will be more positive (European Agency for Development in Special Needs Education, 2010; Hall & Chandler, 2005). Therefore, a positive teacher work attitude may be beneficial for positively impacting the teacher's ability to create a classroom atmosphere that will be conducive to quality education (Andrews, 2002; Cook, 2002; Meijer, Soriano & Watkins, 2006; Pearson, 2007; Reinke & Moseley, 2002; Silverman, 2007).

It can be argued that quality education can only be achieved once positive, high-performance, quality teachers are employed. McKinsey and Company (2007) also points out in his report that one must get ‘the right people to become teachers to ensure excellent instruction’ (p. 37) thereby ensuring quality education and transformation. The inability to adequately address a negative teacher attitude seriously hampers progress towards quality education (Atkinson, 2004; Forlin, Loreman, Sharma & Earle, 2009).

This study conceptualises work attitude in terms of (1) work challenge and work enjoyment (Amabile, Hill, Hennessey & Tighe, 1994), which is an indication of the individual's self-perception and motivation for choice of work, and (2) career decidedness (Jones, 1989), which indicates the degree to which the individual feels certain about their career choice.

Research focusing on teachers and their work attitude indicates that teachers are more positive towards their profession if (1) they feel supported by management and parents in facing daily challenges, (2) the school atmosphere and learner behaviour are pleasant and (3) a career development process is in place that will result in desirable career outcomes such as job security, satisfaction and commitment (Müller, Alliata & Benninghoff, 2009). It is also believed by researchers that a positive work attitude will increase the delivery of quality education. In addition, if teachers perceive that what they are doing is meaningful, they will consistently try to change for the better (positively).

Meaningful work is viewed as a major part of life (Dik & Duffy, 2009; Rosso, Dekas & Wrzesniewski, 2010) and is experienced as both significant and positive (meaningfulness) and has a eudemonic (growth and purpose oriented) focus (Rosso et al., 2010). For purposes of this study, meaningful work is conceptualised as consisting of (1) positive meaning in work, which captures the sense that people judge their work to matter and be meaningful, (2) meaning-making through work, which is inclusive of self-directed actions in seeking meaningful work and facilitating personal growth, and (3) greater good motivations, which entails the desire to make a positive impact on the greater good (Dik & Duffy, 2009; Rosso et al., 2010).

In line with the view that people wish to experience meaningful work, Isaksen (2000) adds that meaningful work results in less boredom and a less negative work attitude and that finding meaningful work is as important to the individual as job security and a salary (O’ Brien, 1992). This highlights the importance of understanding meaningful work because people's work attitude depends on the meaning they derive from their work (Steger, Dik & Duffy, 2012; Wrzesniewski et al., 1997).

Wrzesniewski et al. (1997) are of opinion that teachers are more likely to experience their work as a sense of calling. However, little research has been done worldwide, and especially in the South African context, to investigate this perception. Furthermore, worldwide transformation and change in education is placing increased demands on teachers, which could potentially have a negative impact on their work attitude. As noted, this includes reducing their experience of work as a challenge and reducing their work enjoyment and career decisiveness. Moreover, little research has explored the interrelationship amongst experiencing work as a sense of calling, work attitude and meaningful work. Accordingly, the purpose of this study is to explore the interrelationship amongst these constructs in South African teachers by testing meaningful work as a mediator of the relationship between a sense of calling and work attitude (see Figure 1).

As illustrated in Figure 1, teachers’ experience of a sense of calling has an indirect effect on work attitude through meaningful work. The empirical model of Steger et al. (2010) was adapted and applied in this study to investigate teachers’ work attitude. For the purpose of this study, the mediation or indirect effect hypothesis posits how, or by what means, the independent variable (experiencing a sense of calling) affects the dependent variable (work attitude) through the potential intervening or mediating variable or mediator (meaningful work). This is a simple mediation model that explores how the causal effect that experiencing a sense of calling has on work attitude can be apportioned into the indirect effect that a sense of calling has on work attitude through meaningful work, and the direct effect that a sense of calling has on work attitude.

Based on the discussion above, the following research questions were formulated:

Hence, it was hypothesised that (1) there is a significant positive relationship between experiencing a sense of calling and a positive work attitude amongst teachers and (2) the relationship between experiencing a sense of calling and work attitude amongst teachers is mediated by meaningful work, that is, sense of calling has an indirect effect on work attitude through meaningful work.

The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between experiencing a sense of calling and work attitude of teachers in South Africa, and also to investigate if meaningful work served as a mediator in the relationship between a sense of calling and work attitude.

The results indicated that two distinct types of calling experiences could be identified, namely search for calling and presence of calling. The existence of these types are consistent with previous research, which established that having a sense of calling in one's career can be a static orientation, presence of calling (Duffy & Sedlacek, 2007; Wrzesniewski et al., 1997), or it can be a process in which the teacher constantly experiences, maintains and seeks a calling, thus search for calling (Dik et al., 2012).

The results further indicated that there is a statistically and practically significant relationship between experiencing a sense of calling and work attitude amongst teachers. This opens up the influential question of whether the well-researched and documented positive effects of experiencing a sense of calling are manifested by teachers in South Africa (Dik et al., 2009; Elangovan et al., 2010; Hall & Chandler, 2005; Müller et al., 2009; Steger et al., 2010). If these effects were at all true of the South African teachers, the reported absenteeism levels would have been much lower compared to other vocations (Wrzesniewski et al., 1997) and positive work attitude would have been evident in classrooms at all times (Duffy et al., 2011; Elangovan et al., 2010; Hall & Chandler, 2005; Steger et al., 2010). In South Africa, the opposite behaviour is manifest: absenteeism levels are high and teachers find it difficult to display a positive work attitude in classrooms.

Furthermore, the results indicated that meaningful work serves as a mediator of the relationship between experiencing a sense of calling and work attitude amongst South African teachers. This implies that work attitude of teachers is indirectly influenced by experiencing a sense of calling (both search of and presence of) through meaningful work. This search for and presence of calling does not directly influence work attitude, but when a teacher experiences meaningful work, having a sense of calling could increase work attitude. The relationships between search for calling and presence of calling and meaningful work needs to be clarified. The negative beta between search for calling and meaningful work suggests that as meaningful work increases, decreases in search for calling are needed to impact work attitude. In contrast, the positive beta between presence of calling and meaningful work suggests that as meaningful work increases, increases in presence of calling is needed to impact work attitude. Meaning in work can therefore be seen as a mechanism of action for how experiencing a sense of calling impacts work attitude.

The study specifically points out that meaningful work entails the understanding of work as being significant, serving the greater good and with the objective of personal growth (Dobrow, 2004; Rosso et al., 2010; Steger et al., 2012). In practice, this leads to teachers objectively judging their work as meaningful and impacting on the greater good of humankind. Teachers who experience increased levels of work attitude will be able to change their behaviour in classrooms (Berliner, 2002), resulting in learners changing their behaviour too, aiding in the creation of a conducive learning environment. This could empower teachers to deliver quality education to all learners and be the change agents towards educational transformation (Department of Basic Education and Higher Education and Training, 2011; Jerlinder et al., 2010; Nel et al., 2011). Teachers who successfully gain self-perception as to who they are, their motivations towards work challenges and their choice of career are more likely to display a positive work attitude (Dik et al., 2012; Elangovan et al., 2010; Hall & Chandler, 2005; Müller et al., 2009; Steger et al., 2010; Wrzesniewski et al., 1997).

Limitations of the present study include that data were retrieved from a cross-sectional research design that utilised a structured questionnaire. Hence, no causal inferences could be made. The results of this study are very sample dependent in terms of the actual nature of the data and do not reflect pre-imposed patterns; hence the importance to replicate this study with other, larger samples to support generalisability of the results. The study was conducted amongst teachers; thus the results obtained from this study may only be used in the educational context. Moreover, the questionnaires were only available in English and this may have affected the results, as some respondents’ first language may not be English. This may result in respondents not fully comprehending the questions; translation of the questionnaires could have helped in obtaining more reliable results.

Through this study distinctive insights were provided into the relationship between experiencing a calling, work attitude and meaningful work. However, more in-depth, longitudinal and qualitative research is needed to fully comprehend the interaction amongst these constructs. To increase the likelihood of teachers actively engaging in the delivery of quality education, interventions should be developed based on empirical results. Therefore, the measures used in future research could be refined even more.