What motivates someone to stay in or leave a stigmatized industry? During the turbulence of the COVID-19 pandemic, many workers left ‘stigmatized’ industries, yet, curiously, many endured in them, or even returned despite varied challenges. Drawing upon concepts of the ‘passion principle’ and ‘stigma’, this article develops a relational view of the passion principle, proposing that passion can enable workers in stigmatized industries to defy stigma and reframe the meaning behind negative social evaluations of their industry. We draw upon insights from an empirical qualitative study which examined decisions of workers and business owners to stay in or leave the Australian hospitality industry during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our theoretical contribution lies in explaining ‘passion’ for work in terms of social support and relationality, departing from extant explanations of passion via self-fulfilment. In addition to contributing to scholarship on the meaning of work, we also contribute to literature on responses to stigmatization of work by proposing that passion enables workers in stigmatized industries to defy stigma and reframe the meaning behind negative social evaluations of their industry.
