Moving from the terminology debate to a transdisciplinary understanding of the problem

Work Addiction and Work Engagement: a Network Approach to Cross-Cultural Data

This study aimed to investigate direct relationships of work addiction symptoms with dimensions of work engagement. We used three samples in which work addiction was measured with the Bergen Work Addiction Scale and work engagement was measured with the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale. One sample comprised responses from working Norwegians (n1 = 776), and two samples comprised responses from working Poles (n2 = 719; n3 = 715). We jointly estimated three networks using the fused graphic lasso method. Additionally, we estimated the stability of each network, node centrality, and node predictability and quantitatively compared all networks. The results showed that absorption and mood modification could constitute a bridge between work addiction and work engagement. It suggests that further investigation of properties of absorption and mood modification might be crucial for answering the question of how engaged workers become addicted to work.

A Critical Analysis of the WAQ: The Development of a Korean Form

The current study aimed to develop a simplified version of the Korean Workaholism Scale (KOWS) by determining the reliability and validity of the Workaholism Analysis Questionnaire (WAQ) initially created by Aziz et al. The original scale of the WAQ was translated into Korean and then administered to 4,242 working people from a broad range of economic sectors. The nation-wide sample was a representative one from the 17th wave Korean Labor and Income Panel Study in 2014. The main body comprises two steps. First, through an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) as well as a reliability analysis, along with content validity examination among experts, thirteen items from the original WAQ were eliminated. The EFA yielded a four-factor solution with four items established in compulsive dependency (CD), four in illusion of control (IC), four in endurance of conflicts (EC), and four in withdrawal symptoms (WS). This process provided a succinct and convenient measure of workaholism, the KOWS with 16 items. The reliability coefficient (α) of the new scale was .90, and the split-half reliability coefficient was .72. Secondly, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was performed by way of structural equation modeling to validate the new construct. This KOWS showed adequate convergent validity (AVE > .5), construct reliability (CR > .7), as well as discriminant validity (AVE > ρ²). Between four subscales of the KOWS and affective commitment (AC) to organizations there proved meager correlation. In conclusion, the KOWS with 16-item psychometric properties is a valid and reliable tool to measure workaholism in South Korea.

Work Addiction, Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder, Burn-Out, and Global Burden of Disease: Implications from the ICD-11

Occupational stress and high workload are being increasingly recognized as significant contributors to the diseases and disorders constituting major components of the global burden of disease. A more detailed definition of burn-out was recently included by the World Health Organization (WHO) in the eleventh revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) which reflects a growing acknowledgment of the role of professional work in mental health. One of the symptoms of obsessive-compulsive personality disorder/anankastic personality disorder (OCPD/APD) is an undue preoccupation with productivity to the exclusion of pleasure and interpersonal relationships. This compulsive overworking is closely related to the concept of work addiction, and OCPD/APD was suggested to be its major risk factor. OCPD/APD is the most prevalent personality disorder and one that appears to produce the highest direct and indirect medical costs. At the same time, it is vastly understudied. In recent years, it has been repeatedly emphasized that it requires consistent conceptualization and clarification of its overlapping with similar conditions. Even though the limited existing studies suggest its strong relationship with burn-out and depression among employed individuals, there has been no systematic effort to investigate its role in the consequences of occupational stress and high workload. This paper identifies several substantial gaps in the current understanding of the relationships between work addiction, OCPD/APD, burn-out, and the global burden of disease within the context of the WHO's plan of developing evidence-based guidelines on mental wellbeing in the workplace.

Beyond the myths about work addiction: Toward a consensus on definition and trajectories for future studies on problematic overworking

In an unprecedented collaborative effort to integrate the existing knowledge on work addiction and delineate trajectories for future studies, several papers from work addiction researchers (including some of the most prolific experts in the field) have contributed to the debate on the misconceptions/myths about this problematic behavior. On the basis of the overview of the presented arguments, the most commonly proposed recommendations were that there should be: (a) a general definition of work addiction, (b) the need for more transdisciplinary and integrative approach to research, and (c) propositions regarding more high-quality research. These three aspects are summarized in the present paper. There is a general agreement among work addiction researchers that work addiction is a problematic behavior that merits more systematic studies, which require input and expertise from a wide range of fields due to its complex nature.