Workaholic and work engaged employees: Dead ringers or worlds apart?

Abstract

Building on Deci and Ryan's Self-Determination Theory and Meijman and Mulder's Effort-Recovery Model, the present study examined the nature, antecedents, and consequences of working hard (i.e., workaholism and work engagement) in a Dutch convenience sample of 1,246 employees. A confirmatory factor analysis showed that workaholism and work engagement were two largely independent concepts. Crossing these two concepts yielded four types of workers: workaholic employees, engaged employees, engaged workaholics, and nonworkaholic/nonengaged employees. MANOVA and subsequent ANOVAs were used to compare these four groups regarding their motivation, working hours, and levels of burnout. As expected, study results revealed that workaholic employees were driven by controlled motivation, whereas engaged employees were driven by autonomous motivation. Engaged workaholics were driven by both controlled and autonomous motivation. In addition, the results revealed that engaged workaholics spent most time on working. Unlike workaholic employees, engaged workaholics did not experience the highest levels of burnout, suggesting that high engagement may buffer the adverse consequences of workaholism. The present study emphasizes the importance of differentiating among at least three categories of employees who work hard: workaholic employees, engaged employees, and-for the first time-engaged workaholics.

Perfectionism and workaholism in employees: The role of work motivation

“…In addition, they corroborate previous findings that showed integrated, identified, introjected, and external regulation in work motivation to be positively related to workaholism (van Beek et al, 2011).…”

“…In this, intrinsic-extrinsic motivation may play an important role, as findings from a recent study investigating work motivation and workaholism show (van Beek, Taris, & Schaufeli, 2011). The study investigated intrinsicextrinsic work motivation (Gagné & Deci, 2005) following Ryan and Deci's (2000) selfdetermination theory (SDT).…”

Compulsive Internet use and workaholism: An exploratory two-wave longitudinal study

“…Schaufeli et al, 2009). Research into workaholism has steadily increased, and the negative consequences on employee wellbeing have been widely reported (e.g., Andreassen, Griffiths, Hetland & Pallesen, 2012;Andreassen, Ursin, & Eriksen, 2007;Burke, 2001;Griffiths & Karanika-Murray, 2012;van Beek, Taris & Schaufeli, 2011).…”

Does Culture Matter in Economic Behavior?

“…They recommended that in order to differentiate workaholics from other hardworking employees workaholism should be measured not only as working excessively but also working compulsively (Van Beek, Taris & Schaufeli, 2011). Robinson (1998) states that work addiction is a learned addictive response to a dysfunctional family of origin and when that child becomes an adult workaholic the family lives according to rules dictated by the career and work habits of the workaholic.…”