The significance of donkey droppings

How materiality mediates meaningful experiences

Datos Bibliográficos

ID12721234
AutoresJelle Wiering (0000-0001-6082-3680, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, autor de correspondencia), Jelle Oscar Wiering (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)
Año2026
Páginas1-18
Fecha de publicación2026-03-27
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaCulture and Organization (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1475-9551 • E-ISSN: 1477-2760
EditorialTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/14759551.2026.2650380
OpenAlexW7141257960
IdiomaEN
Referencias citadas68

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