행동중독 준거 기반 한국형 일중독 척도(Korean Work Addiction Scale: K-WAS)의 개발과 타당화 연구

Abstract

Conceptualizing work addiction as a form of behavioral addiction, this study attempts to develop and validate the Korean Work Addiction Scale or K-WAS based on Griffiths’ (2005) behavioral addiction criteria, i.e., salience, mood modification, tolerance, conflict, withdrawal, and relapse. The preliminary items for K-WAS were developed based on two main sources: (1) data from seven existing workaholism or work addiction scales (WorkBat, WorkBat-B&P, WorkBat-Han, WART, DUWAS, BWAS, and WAQ) and (2) data collected through in-depth interviews and open-ended surveys from Korean workers (employees and self-employed) on their experiences with and related to work addiction. An 18-item K-WAS was derived as a result and analyses showed that the proposed hierarchical secondary factor model with six sub-factors has a good fit. In addition, K-WAS was found to have low to moderate positive correlations with work engagement and burnout but weak or nonsignificant correlations with thriving at work, job satisfaction, subjective well-being, and positive affect, demonstrating convergent and discriminant validity. Based on a critical review of extensive workaholism and work addiction studies and scales, this study provides suggestions for developing work addiction items and discusses the usefulness of applying the behavioral addiction framework in work addiction studies—i.e., how it can help refine the work addiction concept and its subdimensions and integrate relevant research. Further implications and limitations of the study are also discussed.