Is working hard good or bad for employee well-being? The distinctiveness of work engagement and workaholism

Introduction: Working conditions have rapidly been changing. These changes call for a better understanding of how employees work (i.e., work attitudes) as well as where they work (i.e., job characteristics). In recent researches on occupational health psychology, two different work attitudes, work engagement (i.e., working hard with intrinsic motivation) and workaholism (i.e., working hard with obsessive inner drive), have been intensively investigated. However, some conceptual confusion exists about the nature of these two overlapping concepts. Hence, the empirical distinctiveness between work engagement and workaholism is particularly important.    

Objectives: The presentation focuses on work engagement and workaholism and demonstrates the empirical distinctiveness between them in terms of  their relationships with well-being such as health, life satisfaction, job performance, and  family functioning.    

Methods: Three empirical studies are used for demonstrating the distinctiveness between work engagement and workaholism.  Study 1, a cross-sectional questionnaire survey, was conducted among 776 Japanese employees of a construction machinery company. Study 2, a longitudinal internet survey, was conducted among 1968 Japanese employees from heterogeneous occupations with an interval of six months. Study 3, a cross-sectional questionnaire survey, was conducted among 1988 dual-earner parents (i.e., 994 couples) with pre-school children.    

Results: Work engagement is associated with one''s own better psychological and physical health, job and family satisfaction, and job performance. In addition, work engagement is associated with one''s partner''s better engagement among dual-earner couples. In contrast, workaholism is associated with one''s own poor psychological and physical health, job and family satisfaction, work-family balance and job performance. In addition, workaholism is associated with one''s partner''s poor work-family balance.    

Conclusion: Work engagement and workaholism are two different kinds of concepts. Work engagement and workaholism are positively and negatively related to one''s own and one''s partner''s well-being, respectively.