UC study says to ‘shake it off’ when faced with workplace stigma
Lindner researchers analyze the psychological effects of working a ‘dirty’ job
Safety+Health magazine highlighted research by Lindner College of Business doctoral candidates and faculty titled, “Shake it off: The role of self-consciousness in dictating whether dirty work reduces satisfaction through emotional exhaustion.”
Scott Dust, PhD, professor in the management department at the University of Cincinnati Carl H. Lindner College of Business, worked with doctoral candidates Sodiq Babatunde and Ben Fagan to analyze the impact of stress and stigma on well-being in jobs society considers "dirty," such as jobs in sanitation or corrections.
“Although easier said than done, those that don’t have a tendency to care what people say or think about them are much more resilient in being able to ‘shake it off’ and maintain levels of satisfaction with their work regardless of whether others consider it ‘dirty,’” said Dust.
Using the study's data, the workplace safety-focused publication explained what the benefits of reducing emotional exhaustion could be for both employers and employees. It also suggested providing organizational support and other initiatives at a management level.
These interventions “will help their workers reduce the emotional exhaustion or help them interpret their role in a way that says, ‘I’m valuable. What I’m doing is worth it and contributing to society,’” said Fagan.
Safety+Health even linked to the Taylor Swift song that inspired the study’s title to drive the thesis of the findings home: When society gives you grief, just ‘shake it off’ to fight burnout.
Read the Safety+Health article.
Featured image at top of sanitation workers over an open manhole. Photo/iStock/Vladimir Zapletin
Related Stories
UC study says to ‘shake it off’ when faced with workplace stigma
October 16, 2025
Safety+Health magazine highlighted research by Lindner College of Business doctoral candidates and faculty. The workplace safety-focused publication used the study's data to explain the benefits of reducing emotional exhaustion could be for both employers and employees.
Job stigma bringing you down? New research says to ‘shake it off’
August 29, 2025
The stereotypical employee may be at a desk in front of a computer screen working a nine-to-five, but for many employees, the work day is filled with manual labor, hazardous environments and late-night shifts. Your local garbage collector, for example, is someone with a job that society might consider “dirty,” both literally and socially. For so-called “dirty jobs,” the environment may be stressful, the stigma can be hard to ignore, but the work needs to get done to keep society functioning. Scott Dust, PhD, professor in the management department at the University of Cincinnati Carl H. Lindner College of Business, worked with doctoral candidates Sodiq Babatunde and Ben Fagan to analyze the impact of stress and stigma on well-being in certain careers.
Op-Ed: Adopt a ‘both/and’ approach to create policies that sustain over time
July 14, 2022
Lindner College of Business Dean and Professor of Management Marianne Lewis, PhD, writes for MarketWatch: “We find ourselves, yet again, in a polarized political fight with the battlegrounds in Congress, in the boardrooms, on the streets, on social media and, for some of us, at our kitchen tables.”