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. 2018 Nov 30;14(4):863-879.
doi: 10.5964/ejop.v14i4.1626. eCollection 2018 Nov.

Differential Effects of Workaholism and Work Engagement on the Interference Between Life and Work Domains

Giovanni Di Stefano  1 , Maria Gaudiino  1
Affiliations

Differential Effects of Workaholism and Work Engagement on the Interference Between Life and Work Domains

Giovanni Di Stefano et al. Eur J Psychol. .

Abstract

This study analyzed the differences between workaholism and work engagement in relation to their influence on work-life interference. Workaholism is an addiction to work, characterized by obsessive attitude towards job, whereas work engagement concerns a positive pattern of thoughts and feelings about one's job; these two constructs thus represent pathological and healthy forms of heavy work investment, respectively. As a consequence, it was expected that workaholism and work engagement would have different effects on perceived interference between work and life domains. We assessed levels of workaholism, work engagement, work-to-life interference, and life-to-work interference in a sample of 212 Italian workers. Results from structural equation modeling showed an inverse symmetry involving patterns and magnitudes of the relations observed: work engagement was more negatively related to life-to-work interference than work-to-life interference, whereas workaholism was more positively related to work-to-life interference than life-to-work interference. Implications about findings of the study are discussed.

Keywords: life-to-work conflict; work engagement; work-to-life conflict; workaholism; work–life interference.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Theoretical model of the study.
Note. WIPL = Work Interference to Personal Life; PLIW = Personal Life Interference to Work.
Figure 2
Figure 2. The relations between work engagement, workaholism, work-to-life conflict and life-to-work conflict.
Note. WIPL = Work Interference to Personal Life; PLIW = Personal Life Interference to Work; DE = Dedication; AB = Absorption; VI = Vigor; WE = Working Excessively; WC = Working Compulsively. For parsimony, latent variable errors are omitted. *p < .01. **p < .001.
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