Workaholism Components in Relation to Life and Work Values

Diana Malinowska,Aleksandra Tokarz

doi:10.1007/s11469-019-00089-y

Diana Malinowska, Aleksandra Tokarz

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-019-00089-y

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Abstract

Two studies were conducted to examine the association of two workaholism components (drive to work and work enjoyment) with life and work values. Study 1 examined whether life values that are lower on the ideal value hierarchy predict the drive to work; and whether life values that are higher on the hierarchy predict work enjoyment. Study 2 tested the hypotheses that extrinsic work values predict the drive to work, whereas intrinsic work values predict work enjoyment. The results of study 1 showed that moral values, which represent higher order life values, were negatively correlated with the drive to work and positively correlated with work enjoyment. Work enjoyment was also negatively associated with vital values, which have a low position on the ideal life values hierarchy. Hypotheses about the relationships between the two workaholism components and life and work values were not fully confirmed.

Highlights

Two studies were conducted to examine the association of two workaholism components with life and work values
Multiple regression analyses on SPSS were conducted in which each of the life values was regressed on drive to work and work enjoyment to test the hypotheses about life values as potential predictors of the two components of workaholism
Work enjoyment was positively related to moral values (β = .31, p = .04) and negatively related to vital values (β = − .27, p = .03)

Summary

Introduction

Two studies were conducted to examine the association of two workaholism components (drive to work and work enjoyment) with life and work values. Work enjoyment was negatively associated with vital values, which have a low position on the ideal life values hierarchy. According to Spence and Robbins, a workaholic is a person who possesses three main characteristics: (1) a sense of compulsion to work arising from internal pressure, (2) high commitment to work, and (3) low work enjoyment. They distinguished an enthusiastic workaholic type, which is characterised by high levels of drive to work and work involvement, and a high level of work enjoyment. The three identified dimensions of workaholism are labelled the ‘workaholic triad’ and an instrument created to measure them (Workaholism Battery, WorkBAT) is used in many studies of this phenomenon (Snir and Harpaz 2012)

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