The significance of donkey droppings

How materiality mediates meaningful experiences

Bibliographic Data

ID12721234
AuthorsJelle Wiering (0000-0001-6082-3680, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, corresponding author), Jelle Oscar Wiering (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)
Year2026
Pages1-18
Publication date2026-03-27
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueCulture and Organization (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1475-9551 • E-ISSN: 1477-2760
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/14759551.2026.2650380
OpenAlexW7141257960
LanguageEN
References cited68

This article examines how meaningful experiences of work are shaped through materiality by bringing meaningful work and dirty work scholarship into dialogue. Focusing on meaningful experiences, it introduces the concept of events of significance: occurrences in which the meaningfulness of work is negotiated as it unfolds. Analyzing two such events at a Dutch donkey sanctuary, the article shows that materiality is integral to how meaningfulness is experienced through work. Drawing on these findings, I suggest that materiality mediates meaningful experience through a two-stage reciprocal process. First, material conditions make alignments or misalignments between values and practice perceptible. Second, these alignments or misalignments elicit affective responses that, in turn, shape participants’ engagement with the material conditions themselves. The article extends meaningful work research by clarifying how material conditions participate in both the enactment and erosion of meaningfulness and contributes to dirty work scholarship by foregrounding heterogeneous lived experiences beyond stigma coping.

Donkey · Materiality (auditing · Narrative · Qualitative research · Culinary Culture and Tourism · Human-Animal Interaction Studies · Wine Industry and Tourism