Workaholism and Subjective Well-being: Examining a Mediation Model

Jun Zhang; Chen Song; Yuxuan Lan

doi:doi:10.11648/j.jhrm.201200801.15

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Workaholism and Subjective Well-being: Examining a Mediation Model

Jun Zhang, Chen Song, Yuxuan Lan

Published in Journal of Human Resource Management (Volume 8, Issue 1)

Received: 19 December 2019 Accepted: 27 January 2020 Published: 10 February 2020

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Abstract

With the popularization of the new ways of working (such as flexible work schedule and telecommuting), boundary between family and work is becoming increasingly blurred. Consequently, public concern about overtime-work has been deepened by the emergence of “996” working schedule, which means employees are required to be indulged in work from 9am to 9pm weekly except Sunday. Both positive and negative outcomes may be caused by such work schedule. According to self-determination theory (SDT), an understanding of human motivation requires a full consideration of innate psychological needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness, hence the ‘workaholic’ behavioral pattern could be understood in terms of satisfying the needs for competence. The work motivation of ‘workaholic’ originates from inner motivation, workaholics devote themselves to work and enjoy working both energetically and strenuously. Enjoyment of work is expected to be positively related to high level of satisfying the needs of competence. Based on SDT, the data collected from 3513 employees during an online survey in two time points indicates that workaholism positively predicts personal well-being, which is mediated by the sense of competence. The direct effect of work enjoyment on personal well-being could be seen more evident than that of work drive. Finally, the theoretical and practical contributions of this study are as followings: (1) this study contributes to the existing empirical research of relationship between workaholism and well-being by comparing effects of well-being generated by drive of work and enjoyment of work, (2) this study extends the understanding of the relationship between workaholism and well-being by revealing the internal mechanism using self-determination theory, (3) the employees of the organization are supposed to be trained in order to enhance their competence and the leaders would be well advised to offer employees more positive feedback. Future studies should focus on the integration of main various theory models, examining the influence of various mediating and moderating variables, and exploring the relationship between workaholism and well-being at dimensional level.

Published in	Journal of Human Resource Management (Volume 8, Issue 1)
DOI	10.11648/j.jhrm.201200801.15
Page(s)	32-38
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Workaholism, Well-being, Competence, Work Drive, Enjoyment of Work

References

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APA Style

Jun Zhang, Chen Song, Yuxuan Lan. (2020). Workaholism and Subjective Well-being: Examining a Mediation Model. Journal of Human Resource Management, 8(1), 32-38. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jhrm.201200801.15

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ACS Style

Jun Zhang; Chen Song; Yuxuan Lan. Workaholism and Subjective Well-being: Examining a Mediation Model. J. Hum. Resour. Manag. 2020, 8(1), 32-38. doi: 10.11648/j.jhrm.201200801.15

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AMA Style

Jun Zhang, Chen Song, Yuxuan Lan. Workaholism and Subjective Well-being: Examining a Mediation Model. J Hum Resour Manag. 2020;8(1):32-38. doi: 10.11648/j.jhrm.201200801.15

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@article{10.11648/j.jhrm.201200801.15,
  author = {Jun Zhang and Chen Song and Yuxuan Lan},
  title = {Workaholism and Subjective Well-being: Examining a Mediation Model},
  journal = {Journal of Human Resource Management},
  volume = {8},
  number = {1},
  pages = {32-38},
  doi = {10.11648/j.jhrm.201200801.15},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jhrm.201200801.15},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.jhrm.201200801.15},
  abstract = {With the popularization of the new ways of working (such as flexible work schedule and telecommuting), boundary between family and work is becoming increasingly blurred. Consequently, public concern about overtime-work has been deepened by the emergence of “996” working schedule, which means employees are required to be indulged in work from 9am to 9pm weekly except Sunday. Both positive and negative outcomes may be caused by such work schedule. According to self-determination theory (SDT), an understanding of human motivation requires a full consideration of innate psychological needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness, hence the ‘workaholic’ behavioral pattern could be understood in terms of satisfying the needs for competence. The work motivation of ‘workaholic’ originates from inner motivation, workaholics devote themselves to work and enjoy working both energetically and strenuously. Enjoyment of work is expected to be positively related to high level of satisfying the needs of competence. Based on SDT, the data collected from 3513 employees during an online survey in two time points indicates that workaholism positively predicts personal well-being, which is mediated by the sense of competence. The direct effect of work enjoyment on personal well-being could be seen more evident than that of work drive. Finally, the theoretical and practical contributions of this study are as followings: (1) this study contributes to the existing empirical research of relationship between workaholism and well-being by comparing effects of well-being generated by drive of work and enjoyment of work, (2) this study extends the understanding of the relationship between workaholism and well-being by revealing the internal mechanism using self-determination theory, (3) the employees of the organization are supposed to be trained in order to enhance their competence and the leaders would be well advised to offer employees more positive feedback. Future studies should focus on the integration of main various theory models, examining the influence of various mediating and moderating variables, and exploring the relationship between workaholism and well-being at dimensional level.},
 year = {2020}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - Workaholism and Subjective Well-being: Examining a Mediation Model
AU  - Jun Zhang
AU  - Chen Song
AU  - Yuxuan Lan
Y1  - 2020/02/10
PY  - 2020
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jhrm.201200801.15
DO  - 10.11648/j.jhrm.201200801.15
T2  - Journal of Human Resource Management
JF  - Journal of Human Resource Management
JO  - Journal of Human Resource Management
SP  - 32
EP  - 38
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2331-0715
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jhrm.201200801.15
AB  - With the popularization of the new ways of working (such as flexible work schedule and telecommuting), boundary between family and work is becoming increasingly blurred. Consequently, public concern about overtime-work has been deepened by the emergence of “996” working schedule, which means employees are required to be indulged in work from 9am to 9pm weekly except Sunday. Both positive and negative outcomes may be caused by such work schedule. According to self-determination theory (SDT), an understanding of human motivation requires a full consideration of innate psychological needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness, hence the ‘workaholic’ behavioral pattern could be understood in terms of satisfying the needs for competence. The work motivation of ‘workaholic’ originates from inner motivation, workaholics devote themselves to work and enjoy working both energetically and strenuously. Enjoyment of work is expected to be positively related to high level of satisfying the needs of competence. Based on SDT, the data collected from 3513 employees during an online survey in two time points indicates that workaholism positively predicts personal well-being, which is mediated by the sense of competence. The direct effect of work enjoyment on personal well-being could be seen more evident than that of work drive. Finally, the theoretical and practical contributions of this study are as followings: (1) this study contributes to the existing empirical research of relationship between workaholism and well-being by comparing effects of well-being generated by drive of work and enjoyment of work, (2) this study extends the understanding of the relationship between workaholism and well-being by revealing the internal mechanism using self-determination theory, (3) the employees of the organization are supposed to be trained in order to enhance their competence and the leaders would be well advised to offer employees more positive feedback. Future studies should focus on the integration of main various theory models, examining the influence of various mediating and moderating variables, and exploring the relationship between workaholism and well-being at dimensional level.
VL  - 8
IS  - 1
ER  -

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Author Information

Jun Zhang

Department of Human Resource Management and Public Administration, Beijing Institute of Petrochemical Technology, Beijing, People’s Republic of China
Chen Song

Department of Human Resource Management and Public Administration, Beijing Institute of Petrochemical Technology, Beijing, People’s Republic of China
Yuxuan Lan

Department of Human Resource Management and Public Administration, Beijing Institute of Petrochemical Technology, Beijing, People’s Republic of China

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APA Style

Jun Zhang, Chen Song, Yuxuan Lan. (2020). Workaholism and Subjective Well-being: Examining a Mediation Model. Journal of Human Resource Management, 8(1), 32-38. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jhrm.201200801.15

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ACS Style

Jun Zhang; Chen Song; Yuxuan Lan. Workaholism and Subjective Well-being: Examining a Mediation Model. J. Hum. Resour. Manag. 2020, 8(1), 32-38. doi: 10.11648/j.jhrm.201200801.15

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AMA Style

Jun Zhang, Chen Song, Yuxuan Lan. Workaholism and Subjective Well-being: Examining a Mediation Model. J Hum Resour Manag. 2020;8(1):32-38. doi: 10.11648/j.jhrm.201200801.15

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@article{10.11648/j.jhrm.201200801.15,
  author = {Jun Zhang and Chen Song and Yuxuan Lan},
  title = {Workaholism and Subjective Well-being: Examining a Mediation Model},
  journal = {Journal of Human Resource Management},
  volume = {8},
  number = {1},
  pages = {32-38},
  doi = {10.11648/j.jhrm.201200801.15},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jhrm.201200801.15},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.jhrm.201200801.15},
  abstract = {With the popularization of the new ways of working (such as flexible work schedule and telecommuting), boundary between family and work is becoming increasingly blurred. Consequently, public concern about overtime-work has been deepened by the emergence of “996” working schedule, which means employees are required to be indulged in work from 9am to 9pm weekly except Sunday. Both positive and negative outcomes may be caused by such work schedule. According to self-determination theory (SDT), an understanding of human motivation requires a full consideration of innate psychological needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness, hence the ‘workaholic’ behavioral pattern could be understood in terms of satisfying the needs for competence. The work motivation of ‘workaholic’ originates from inner motivation, workaholics devote themselves to work and enjoy working both energetically and strenuously. Enjoyment of work is expected to be positively related to high level of satisfying the needs of competence. Based on SDT, the data collected from 3513 employees during an online survey in two time points indicates that workaholism positively predicts personal well-being, which is mediated by the sense of competence. The direct effect of work enjoyment on personal well-being could be seen more evident than that of work drive. Finally, the theoretical and practical contributions of this study are as followings: (1) this study contributes to the existing empirical research of relationship between workaholism and well-being by comparing effects of well-being generated by drive of work and enjoyment of work, (2) this study extends the understanding of the relationship between workaholism and well-being by revealing the internal mechanism using self-determination theory, (3) the employees of the organization are supposed to be trained in order to enhance their competence and the leaders would be well advised to offer employees more positive feedback. Future studies should focus on the integration of main various theory models, examining the influence of various mediating and moderating variables, and exploring the relationship between workaholism and well-being at dimensional level.},
 year = {2020}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - Workaholism and Subjective Well-being: Examining a Mediation Model
AU  - Jun Zhang
AU  - Chen Song
AU  - Yuxuan Lan
Y1  - 2020/02/10
PY  - 2020
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jhrm.201200801.15
DO  - 10.11648/j.jhrm.201200801.15
T2  - Journal of Human Resource Management
JF  - Journal of Human Resource Management
JO  - Journal of Human Resource Management
SP  - 32
EP  - 38
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2331-0715
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jhrm.201200801.15
AB  - With the popularization of the new ways of working (such as flexible work schedule and telecommuting), boundary between family and work is becoming increasingly blurred. Consequently, public concern about overtime-work has been deepened by the emergence of “996” working schedule, which means employees are required to be indulged in work from 9am to 9pm weekly except Sunday. Both positive and negative outcomes may be caused by such work schedule. According to self-determination theory (SDT), an understanding of human motivation requires a full consideration of innate psychological needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness, hence the ‘workaholic’ behavioral pattern could be understood in terms of satisfying the needs for competence. The work motivation of ‘workaholic’ originates from inner motivation, workaholics devote themselves to work and enjoy working both energetically and strenuously. Enjoyment of work is expected to be positively related to high level of satisfying the needs of competence. Based on SDT, the data collected from 3513 employees during an online survey in two time points indicates that workaholism positively predicts personal well-being, which is mediated by the sense of competence. The direct effect of work enjoyment on personal well-being could be seen more evident than that of work drive. Finally, the theoretical and practical contributions of this study are as followings: (1) this study contributes to the existing empirical research of relationship between workaholism and well-being by comparing effects of well-being generated by drive of work and enjoyment of work, (2) this study extends the understanding of the relationship between workaholism and well-being by revealing the internal mechanism using self-determination theory, (3) the employees of the organization are supposed to be trained in order to enhance their competence and the leaders would be well advised to offer employees more positive feedback. Future studies should focus on the integration of main various theory models, examining the influence of various mediating and moderating variables, and exploring the relationship between workaholism and well-being at dimensional level.
VL  - 8
IS  - 1
ER  -

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