{"id":8197,"date":"2025-12-19T11:30:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T11:30:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.aom.org\/?p=8197"},"modified":"2025-12-19T16:30:53","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T16:30:53","slug":"santa-gives-fellow-gig-workers-the-gift-of-finding-a-calling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/santa-gives-fellow-gig-workers-the-gift-of-finding-a-calling\/","title":{"rendered":"Santa Gives Fellow Gig Workers the Gift of Finding a Calling"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Eileen Smith<\/a><\/p>\n

When work is defined as a calling, such as a religious ministry, art, acting, or medicine, it\u2019s typically thought of as an all-consuming passion.<\/p>\n

But work that has meaning doesn\u2019t have to be a full-time career. Just ask professional Santas, whose sleighs pull up at shopping malls, social centers, and public spaces on Black Friday and return to the North Pole on Christmas Eve.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re not just representing yourself. You\u2019re representing a cultural icon that embodies love, hope, and joy,\u201d said Academy of Management Scholar Christina Hymer<\/a> of the University of Tennessee\u2019s Haslam College of Business. \u201cIncreasingly, people are looking for meaning within their work.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, meaningful work can exist in places and occupations that you might not initially expect.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hymer and co-authors Bethany S. Cockburn<\/a> of Northern Illinois University and Borbala “Bori” Csillag<\/a> of Oregon State University studied Santas to gain insights into role prototypes and worker callings. They discovered Black, LGBTQ+, and female Santas, which Hymer said offers proof that individuals don\u2019t have to meet a prototype to fulfill their callings.<\/p>\n

Santas and other dedicated gig workers often tailor their callings to fit into other aspects of their lives that also are meaningful. There are roughly 8,000 professional Santas across the United States ho-ho-hoing, asking children what they want for Christmas, and encouraging them to be nice, not naughty. That number doesn\u2019t include the people dressing up as Santa in other countries around the world. Many of them feel fulfilled by the work.<\/p>\n

Said one Santa Claus: \u201cIf you robbed a bank, Santa would come see you in prison. He wouldn\u2019t bring you a present, because it\u2019s naughty to rob a bank, but he wouldn\u2019t be judgmental about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like poets who struggle to make ends meet, Santas often make financial sacrifices while following their calling. Hymer noted that some Santas spend more on their red suits and fur-trimmed caps than they earn asking good girls and boys what gifts they want to find in their stocking and under the tree.<\/p>\n

As one Santa said, \u201cIt\u2019s not about the money. It\u2019s about making people believe.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Eileen Smith When work is defined as a calling, such as a religious ministry, art, acting, or medicine, it\u2019s typically thought of as an all-consuming passion. But work that has meaning doesn\u2019t have to be a full-time career. Just ask professional Santas, whose sleighs pull up at shopping malls, social centers, and public spaces […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":8198,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,60,29,44],"tags":[],"sp_smart_badges":[],"ppma_author":[1052],"class_list":["post-8197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-careers","category-diversity","category-emotions","category-motivation"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSanta Gives Fellow Gig Workers the Gift of Finding a Calling - Academy of Management Today<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"For professional Santas, whose sleighs pull up at shopping malls on Black Friday and return to the North Pole on Christmas Eve, their work is a calling.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/santa-gives-fellow-gig-workers-the-gift-of-finding-a-calling\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Eileen Smith\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/santa-gives-fellow-gig-workers-the-gift-of-finding-a-calling\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/santa-gives-fellow-gig-workers-the-gift-of-finding-a-calling\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Eileen Smith\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1d41ecc41d8a4e601bdda359e98e83ce\"},\"headline\":\"Santa Gives Fellow Gig Workers the Gift of Finding a Calling\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-19T11:30:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-19T16:30:53+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/santa-gives-fellow-gig-workers-the-gift-of-finding-a-calling\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":372,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/santa-gives-fellow-gig-workers-the-gift-of-finding-a-calling\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/Santa-by-Xavier-Turpain-from-Pixabay.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"CAREERS\",\"DIVERSITY\",\"EMOTIONS\",\"MOTIVATION\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/santa-gives-fellow-gig-workers-the-gift-of-finding-a-calling\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/santa-gives-fellow-gig-workers-the-gift-of-finding-a-calling\\\/\",\"name\":\"Santa Gives Fellow Gig Workers the Gift of Finding a Calling - 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