Ikigai Assessment in a Western Work Context
Résumé
The measurement of well-being is widely studied in the literature but may still benefit from a multicultural viewpoint. We present a new approach by measuring the ikigai of individuals. Ikigai is part of the Japanese philosophy of life purpose and well-being. Japanese research offers the Ikigai-9 scale (Imai, 2012) based on a three-dimensional model measuring: optimistic and positive emotions towards life, active and positive attitudes towards one's future, and acknowledgment of the meaning of one's existence. This scale has been translated and tested in the UK (Fido et al., 2019). This study did not confirm the three-dimensional model, results showing a single-factor solution. This research demands further studies on importing ikigai into Western cultures. We are also interested in investigating ikigai in the workplace, whereas it was mainly studied in personal contexts. Examining ikigai in professional contexts could be a valuable contribution to both theoretical and applied research on well-being at work.