Emergence of calling in the domain of creative work, and the role of context: The stories of manga artists

Despite growing attention to calling and its benefits for workers and organizations, little is known regarding how calling emerges in the domain of creative work as a distinct type of nonstandard work, and how context shapes its emergence. To address this knowledge void, we offer a unique qualitative study of the career journey of Japanese manga artists who draw manga and view creative work as their calling. We show that manga artists' calling emerges through the gradual enactment of their existential passion for drawing manga, beginning in their formative years, and is intertwined with and mutually reinforced by multi-layered validation—e.g., social circle, professional, and continuous validation. In their career journey, we demonstrate that context operates dually, both constraining and enabling the emergence of calling. Based on these insights, we theorize a model and show manga artists' transition from a metaphorical ‘shell’—symbolizing an initial solitary existence—toward breaking free as their existential passion is enacted and their professional calling emerges. We finally contribute to the literature on calling by offering insights into creative work and foregrounding the crucial role of context in shaping the emerge of calling. • We theorize a model indicating the emergence of the calling of manga artists as workers in nonstandard work arrangements. • Our model shows passion to be a catalyst for the emergence of a calling associated with creative work. • We introduce enactment of passion and multi-layered validation that underpin the emergence of calling. • We offer unique insights on the significance of context, showing that it can significantly limit and enable the emergence of calling.