![[Translate to English:] Gruppenfoto Sinnposium](/fileadmin/_processed_/8/5/csm_Gruppenfoto_Sinnposium_94ca24b30a.webp)
From August 9, 26, to August 11, 26, the first AlpenSINNposium took place in beautiful Saulgrub—a collaborative research workshop aimed at developing research ideas on the interplay between the experience of meaning, experiences of crisis, civic engagement, and the assumption of responsibility. The central question was under what conditions engagement becomes a source of meaning and, conversely, to what extent meaning can motivate engagement. Additionally, participants discussed when people transform personal or societal experiences of crisis and injustice into constructive responsibility.
In attendance was the entire team from the Chair of Social and Organizational Psychology at the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, as well as six external guests who contributed perspectives from various academic disciplines, institutions, and professional practice. In addition to KU Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, the University of Applied Sciences Würzburg-Schweinfurt, the University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland, the Catholic Foundation University of Munich, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, and the management consulting firm Roland Berger were also represented.
Our guests provided valuable input during three thematic discussion sessions:
- Individual Motivational Perspectives on Engagement: Prof. Dr. Isabel Strubel and Dr. Stefan Güntert opened the discussion with insights on intrinsic motivation, values, emotions, and self-efficacy.
- Organizational and Group Perspectives on Engagement: Dr. Susanne Freund and Prof. Dr. Egon Endres contributed perspectives on leadership, organizational culture, job characteristics, and social integration.
- Meaning and constructive versus risky engagement: Prof. em. Dr. Theo Wehner and Prof. em. Dr. Manfred Gerwing discussed socially beneficial versus socially harmful engagement, moral hardening, and the fundamental search for meaning.
The fact that this was a genuine research workshop was evident in the intensive working sessions: Together, participants questioned existing assumptions and developed concrete lines of research and publication. It quickly became clear just how difficult it is to even become aware of and reach consensus on what we actually mean by “meaning”: What distinguishes “meaningful,” “significant,” and “meaning-generating”? What does it mean to create meaning, discover meaning, find meaning, or offer meaning?
We explored precisely these subtle distinctions—and even though, by nature, a final consensus remained elusive, this very fact opened up exciting perspectives for our future research journey: including an understanding of tipping points between constructive and risky engagement, the role of leaders as “boundary crossers,” linguistic analyses of metaphors surrounding the experience of meaning, and methodological approaches based on qualitative case studies.
With this in mind, we’re taking plenty of fresh ideas back with us to our research—and we’re already looking forward to the second AlpenSINNposium in 2027!
