Unravelling Work Drive: A Comparison between Workaholism and Overcommitment

Lorenzo Avanzi, Enrico Perinelli, Michela Vignoli, Nina M. Junker and Cristian Balducci
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Lorenzo Avanzi: Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science, University of Trento, 38068 Rovereto, Italy
Enrico Perinelli: Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science, University of Trento, 38068 Rovereto, Italy
Michela Vignoli: Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science, University of Trento, 38068 Rovereto, Italy
Nina M. Junker: Department of Social Psychology, Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, 60323 Frankfurt, Germany
Cristian Balducci: Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, 40127 Bologna, Italy

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 16, 1-14

Abstract: Workaholism and overcommitment are often used as interchangeable constructs describing an individual’s over-involvement toward their own job. Employees with high levels in both constructs are characterized by an excessive effort and attachment to their job, with the incapability to detach from it and negative consequences in terms of poor health and job burnout. However, few studies have simultaneously measured both constructs, and their relationships are still not clear. In this study, we try to disentangle workaholism and overcommitment by comparing them with theoretically related contextual and personal antecedents, as well as their health consequences. We conducted a nonprobability mixed mode research design on 133 employees from different organizations in Italy using both self- and other-reported measures. To test our hypothesis that workaholism and overcommitment are related yet different constructs, we used partial correlations and regression analyses. The results confirm that these two constructs are related to each other, but also outline that overcommitment (and not workaholism) is uniquely related to job burnout, so that overcommitment rather than workaholism could represent the true negative aspect of work drive. Additionally, workaholism is more related to conscientiousness than overcommitment, while overcommitment shows a stronger relationship with neuroticism than workaholism. The theoretical implications are discussed.

Keywords: workaholism; overcommitment; burnout; personality; other-report (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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