ABSTRACT

The proportion of workers putting long hours into work is on the increase, which paves the way for workaholism, a syndrome that combines long hours and obsessive thoughts about work and is known to harm employee health. This study explores the role of the context in the emergence of workaholism and job strain, a stance that has rarely been taken in the field. We specifically examined the combined effects of leader-member exchange (LMX) and psychological climate for overwork on employee workaholism and job strain. Drawing upon social exchange and situational strength theories, we posited that when overwork is perceived to be valued in the organization, LMX may foster subordinate workaholism and indirectly lead to increased job strain. Through a three-wave study and the use of structural equations modelling analyses with full information maximum likelihood estimation on a diversified sample of employees (N = 449), we found LMX to be positively related (vs. unrelated) to subsequent workaholism when psychological climate for overwork was high (vs. low). Additionally, change in workaholism mediated the interactive effect of LMX and psychological climate for overwork on change in subordinate job strain. We discuss the implications of these findings for research on LMX and workaholism.

摘要

员工长时间工作的比例正在增加，这为工作狂症铺平了道路，这是一种结合了长时间工作和对工作的强迫性想法的综合症，众所周知，它会损害员工的健康。这项研究探讨了环境在工作狂和工作压力的出现中的作用，这是该领域很少采取的立场。我们专门研究了领导-成员交换 (LMX) 和过度工作的心理气候对员工工作狂和工作压力的综合影响。借鉴社会交换和情境力量理论，我们假设当过度工作被认为在组织中受到重视时，LMX 可能会培养下属工作狂并间接导致工作压力增加。N = 449），我们发现当过度工作的心理氛围高（相对于低）时，LMX 与随后的工作狂呈正相关（相对于无关）。此外，工作狂的变化介导了 LMX 和过度工作的心理气候对下属工作压力变化的交互作用。我们讨论了这些发现对 LMX 和工作狂研究的影响。