When business is personal: a mixed methods examination of workaholism in family business leaders

Abstract

ABSTRACT Family business leaders are heavily devoted to their business, but to what degree does this manifest as workaholism? To examine this question, a mixed methods approach was used which included online survey of 265 family business leaders recruited from a family business center, followed by focus group interviews of a subsample of 36 of these family business leaders. Results of the quantitative survey shows a positive relationship between workaholism and work interference with family but not family interference with work. Workaholism was positively related to greater use of technology after work hours. We also examined whether results differed based on whether the family business leader was an owner (vs. non-owner) and a family member (vs. non-family member). Leaders who were owners and family members both reported significantly higher workaholism than non-owners/non-family members. Results from the focus groups further revealed leaders showed distinct patterns in the types of after-work activities, types of conflicts, as well as reasons for their heavy work investment based on leaders’ level of workaholism. Overall, this study demonstrates the important role of workaholism in work-family dynamics for family business leaders, as well as the unique struggles of family business leaders who are owners and family members.