The Relationship Between Faculty Members’ Passion for Work and Well-Being

Abstract

The present study considered the dualistic nature of passion to examine whether passion toward work predicted hedonic (life satisfaction and subjective happiness) and eudaimonic (sense of purpose) well-being. Faculty members (N = 177) completed questionnaires assessing harmonious and obsessive passions for work, life satisfaction, subjective happiness, and three constructs related to sense of purpose in life: awakening to purpose, awareness of purpose, and altruistic purpose. Structural equation modeling was used to explore the extent to which passion toward work explained variance in both hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. Findings indicated that in contrast to obsessive passion, harmonious work passion emerged as a positive predictor of life satisfaction and subjective happiness. Findings also showed that harmonious and obsessive passion toward work positively predicted awareness of life purpose and altruistic purpose. However, awakening to purpose was predicted by obsessive work passion only. Overall, findings highlighted that harmonious passion for work may play a salient role in individuals’ well-being and that faculty with obsessive work passion may feel compelled to search for one’s life purpose.