Alienation from Work: Marxist Ideologies and 21st Century Practice

This paper responds to calls for research that takes into consideration the broader

ideologies underpinning the employment relationship within capitalist societies by

building and testing a model of work alienation. We examine how three work-related

factors identified originally by Karl Marx act as precursors of alienation, that is, a

disconnection of oneself from work, that are experienced in the modern workplace,

namely the extent to which voice behaviours are enacted, whether an individual

perceives his or her skills to be used in the course of work, and a lack of perceived

meaningfulness of work. Further, we investigate whether alienation leads to emotional

exhaustion and stifles well-being. Data from 227 employees in a manufacturing

organisation in the UK support this model, in that a lack of voice, person–job fit and

meaningfulness lead to alienation at work, and emotional exhaustion and lower levels

of well-being are its consequences. The present study demonstrates that alienation

should be a focal point for human resource management scholars in the twenty-first

century.