Abstract
This study analyzed the differences between workaholism and work engagement in relation to their influence on work–life interference. Workaholism is an addiction to work, characterized by obsessive attitude towards job, whereas work engagement concerns a positive pattern of thoughts and feelings about one’s job; these two constructs thus represent pathological and healthy forms of heavy work investment, respectively. As a consequence, it was expected that workaholism and work engagement would have different effects on perceived interference between work and life domains. We assessed levels of workaholism, work engagement, work-to-life interference, and life-to-work interference in a sample of 212 Italian workers. Results from structural equation modeling showed an inverse symmetry involving patterns and magnitudes of the relations observed: work engagement was more negatively related to life-to-work interference than work-to-life interference, whereas workaholism was more positively related to work-to-life interference than life-to-work interference. Implications about findings of the study are discussed.
Highlights
This study analyzed the differences between workaholism and work engagement in relation to their influence on work–life interference
Among all the possible outcomes to consider in order to study these associations, we chose work–life interference because workaholism and work engagement both point to an intense working style (Bakker, Shimazu, et al, 2013; Schaufeli, Taris, & Bakker, 2006), so levels of conflict perceived by individuals between work and nonwork domains can represent a sign of imbalance in one’s life (Aziz & Cunningham, 2008), allowing to identify potential cases of pathological investment in work, namely workaholism
Our first point of attention was the relation between workaholism and work–life interference, for which findings confirmed a positive correlation, when observed either from work domain to personal life domain or from personal life domain to work domain
Summary
This study analyzed the differences between workaholism and work engagement in relation to their influence on work–life interference. It was expected that workaholism and work engagement would have different effects on perceived interference between work and life domains. Workaholism and work engagement are studied in literature as two different ways of involvement in work activity, with distinctive outcomes affecting in turn life roles and well-being, in both work and nonwork domains of life (Shimazu & Schaufeli, 2009). According to Spence and Robbins (1992), workaholism is characterized by the dimensions of work involvement, drive, and low enjoyment which lead workaholics to feel they cannot stop their job activities, experiencing a deep sense of pressure, distress, and guilt when not working. Work addiction has been described as resulting from the dimensions of working excessively and working compulsively (Schaufeli, Taris, & Bakker, 2006, 2008), with the former indicating workaholics’ long working hours and the latter underlining the internal feeling of obligation towards work
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