Workaholism and occupational health: A translational review

Abstract

The purpose of this article was to provide a detailed review of workaholism, a topic within the realm of Occupational Health Psychology. Workaholism has become a commonplace term used in the popular culture to depict individuals who are addicted to work. It is typically characterized as an addiction and defined as the compulsive tendency to work excessively hard. Given the deleterious effects of workaholism, this article provides a review of what we know about this phenomenon, as well as how we can combat it. First, an overview of workaholism is presented, including definitions and measures, followed by a discussion on antecedents (personality factors and work environment) and correlates in the organizational, individual, and family domains. Next, a section on combatting levels of workaholism is summarized. Finally, avenues for future research on this topic are discussed. Essentially, this review article will add to the existing literature on Industrial/Organizational Psychology and health issues associated with organizational behavior, as well as serve as a resource for both researchers and practitioners who strive to enhance the well-being of their employees. K E Y W O R D S occupational health, organizational behavior, workaholism

To detach or not to detach? The role of psychological detachment on the relationship between heavy work investment and well-being: A latent profile analysis

“…However, it is important to distinguish between a workaholic and an engaged approach to work to protect and foster employees' well-being (e.g., Kim, 2019;van Wijhe et al, 2011). Disentangling the relationship between HWI and unfavorable health-related outcomes would allow organizations to assess the severity of such behaviors and, to encourage employees to have a healthy balance between work, home, and leisure activities (Aziz & Moyer, 2018;Nerstad et al, 2019). Our findings indicate that employees might be highly workaholic and highly engaged at the same time, which requires special attention from organizations.…”

Live to Work or Work to Live? An Age-Moderated Mediation Model on the Simultaneous Mechanisms Prompted by Workaholism Among Healthcare Professionals

“…It is plausible that workaholics may be motivated to work based on internal “should” (an inner driver), rather than based on an intrinsic motivation to work (Spence and Robbins, 1992), so that they may not experience true satisfaction in their work (see also Ryan and Deci, 2000; Graves et al, 2012). In other words, it seems that workaholics do not receive more rewards for their efforts (Burke, 2001; Shimazu and Schaufeli, 2009; Aziz and Moyer, 2018).…”

Workaholism and organizational citizenship behaviors: exploring gender role beliefs

“…These include: the Workaholism Battery (Spence and Robbins, 1992), the Work Addiction Risk Test (Robinson, 1999), the Dutch Workaholism Scale (Schaufeli et al, 2009) and the Workaholism Analysis Questionnaire (Aziz et al, 2013). Thus, it is imperative to utilize a measure that aligns with one's definition; doing so yields more reliable findings (Aziz and Moyer, 2018).…”