Research on the Sense of Psychological ‘Ibasho’ in the Professional Lives of Corporate Employees

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to examine the concepts that construct a sence of psychological ‘ibasho’ in the professional lives of corporate employees and the occupational factors that influence this sence of psychological ‘ibasho’. A preliminary investigation was conducted by using semi-structured interviews with 15 corporate employees; thereafter, a web-based questionnaire survey was administered to corporate employees (N = 521). The results of analysis indicated the following: 1) Three factors for a sence of psychological ‘ibasho’ appeared: a sense of role, a sense of relief and a sense of authenticity. 2) Six occupational factors were found: ‘valuation of work’, ‘sense that the job is worth doing’, ‘expectation for growth’, ‘adaptability to the workplace’, ‘personal support in the workplace’ and ‘human relationships in the workplace’. Of these six factors, ‘adaptability to the workplace’ had the largest impact on the sence of psychological ‘ibasho’. 3) There was no significant difference in the scores that indicated having a sence of psychological ‘ibasho’ by the gender or the type of employment, but the scores of people in their 50s were significantly higher than those in their 20s.