Exploring New Frontiers to Generate an Integrated Definition of Workaholism

Abstract

Workaholism is generally understood to involve an unwillingness to disengage from work. Workaholics' most notable characteristics are ten dencies to: a work with a passion that is obvious to the outside observer b think about work four times more frequently, compared to nonworkaholics, after most other people have mentally`switched off' c focus their conversation on work, even in social situations d strive for tangible achievements in the workplace e work slightly more hours than others.McMillan et a!., 2004In general, contemporary data indicate that workaholism represents a value system about the importance of working and achieving that certainly does not meet the scientific criteria for addiction, as it is associated with a similar quality of health and relationships to that of the rest of the adult population, and generally does not worsen over time McMilIan and O'Driscoll, 2004. Interestingly, while the majority of workaholics appear to derive high enjoyment from their work and their leisure, it is their reluctance to utilize psychological`off-buttons' that potentially makes them a challeng ing group for management professionals Machlowitz, 1980, In order to address some of these issues, this chapter comprises four maj or sections: a philosophical and epistemological frameworks under pinning current research, b a review of contemporary definitions, c illus trative data from an inductive/qualitatitive study, and d conclusions and a preliminary conceptual model based on an integration of the deductive and inductive data. Given that the extant body of knowledge is largely based in positivist research designs, the alternate framework for generating 89 90Definition and consequences of worka/w/isin a definition of workaholism is based on triangulated data sources from workers, their colleagues and their partners. The initial section therefore provides an overview of the philosophical and epistemological frameworks of current research, which generates a précis of the range of design para meters available to researchers. This will provide a succinct orientation for researchers who want to enter, review, or change their research approach in the workaholism domain. PHILOSOPHICAL AND EPISTEMOLOGICAL FRAMEWORKSWorkaholism research is conducted predominantly from within a social science paradigm. Social scientists formally define a theory as a system of logical statements that explain the relationship between two or more phe nomena Berg, 1995. For example, workaholism researchers have investi gated relationships between workaholism and constructs such as hours worked, health, relationships and work attitudes. Theory is used to a develop explanations about reality, b provide a means to classify and organize events, and c predict future occurrences of events Berg, 1995. However, whether research designs start or end with theory is a point of ongoing debate among researchers in many of the social sciences. Thus, it is potentially possible to explore workaholism either by espousing a theory and then investigating its ...

Beyond workaholism: Towards a general model of heavy work investment

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A heavy work investment typology: a biopsychosocial framework

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Gaining the insight of workaholism, its nature and its outcome: A literature review

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