The Double-Edged Sword of a Calling: The Mediating Role of Harmonious and Obsessive Passions in the Relationship between a Calling, Workaholism, and Work Engagement

Jinsoo Choi, Surawut Permpongaree, Nanhee Kim, Yeeun Choi and Young Woo Sohn
Additional contact information
Jinsoo Choi: Psychology Department, Yonsei University, 50 Yonsei-ro, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul 06695, Korea
Surawut Permpongaree: Psychology Department, Yonsei University, 50 Yonsei-ro, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul 06695, Korea
Nanhee Kim: Psychology Department, Yonsei University, 50 Yonsei-ro, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul 06695, Korea
Yeeun Choi: Department of Psychology, University of Central Florida, 4111 Pictor Lane, Orlando, FL 32816, USA
Young Woo Sohn: Psychology Department, Yonsei University, 50 Yonsei-ro, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul 06695, Korea

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 18, 1-14

Abstract: Even though research on perceiving a calling has been growing, our understanding of its double-edged sword effects and psychological mechanisms remain unclear, especially in terms of work engagement and workaholism. Based on the heavy working investment (HWI) and dualistic model of passion (DMP) theories, we established a dual-path structural model to examine the effects of callings on work engagement and workaholism through two types of passion: harmonious (HP) and obsessive (OP) passions. Our results showed that the association between perceiving a calling and work engagement was partially mediated by HP, while the association between perceiving a calling and workaholism was fully mediated by OP. This study contributes to the literature in that it reveals how perceiving a calling has different effects on work engagement and workaholism through the HWI theoretical lens, as well as the mediating roles of HP and OP, based on the DMP theory. Our findings can be practically applied in organizations and counseling.

Keywords: calling; harmonious passion; obsessive passion; work engagement; workaholism (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 (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/18/6724/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/18/6724/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:18:p:6724-:d:413990

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().