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Workaholism: Definition, Measurement, and Preliminary Results
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1992
Year
Quality Of LifeHigh Work InvolvementWorker HealthHuman Resource ManagementWorkplace StudySocial WorkOrganizational BehaviorPsychologyWork AdjustmentWorker Well-beingWork EnthusiasmWork InvolvementWork AttitudeHealth SciencesMotivationApplied Social PsychologyPerformance StudiesWorkforce DevelopmentWork-related StressPreliminary ResultsBusinessOccupational TherapyOccupational Science
The study develops questionnaires to define and measure workaholism versus work enthusiasm, tests predictions about its correlates, and initiates investigations into its links with cardiac disorders and occupational performance. A mail survey battery of the newly developed scales was administered to 291 academic social workers (134 men, 157 women) nationwide. The scales exhibited sound psychometric properties; cluster analysis identified workaholic and work‑enthusiast groups, with workaholics scoring higher on perfectionism, non‑delegation, job stress, and health complaints.
Questionnaires were developed to assess the concept of workaholism, defined in terms of high scores on measures of work involvement and driveness and low scores on a measure of enjoyment of work, and to contrast this profile with work enthusiasm, defined as high work involvement and enjoyment and low driveness. Additional scales were devised to test several predictions about the correlates of workaholism. A test battery including these scales was given in a mail survey to a national sample of male (n = 134) and female (n = 157) social workers with academic positions. The psychometric properties of the scales are described. Cluster analyses for each sex revealed groups who corresponded to the workaholic and work enthusiast profiles as well as several other profiles. As predicted, workaholics were higher than work enthusiasts (among other groups) on measures of perfectionism, nondelegation of responsibility, and job stress. They were also higher on a measure of health complaints. Investigations are being initiated to determine the association of workaholism and other score profiles with objectively diagnosed cardiac disorders and with measures of occupational performance.