Workaholism and Work Engagement: How Are They Similar? How Are They Different? A Meta-Analysis of Their Relation

Abstract

Workaholism and work engagement can be depicted, respectively, as the pathological and the healthy form of heavy work investment. The former has been described as an addiction to work, yielded by the combination of excessive working hours and compulsive working style, whilst the latter has recently been introduced in workplace health literature as a pleasant mental state consisting of vigor, dedication, and absorption. In spite of their different definitions and outcomes on individual and organizational life, workaholism and work engagement are not clearly and adequately distinguished by scholars and researchers, since these two constructs seem to show some overlapping features. The aim of this investigation was to meta-analyze available studies on the relation among subdimensions of workaholism and work engagement, as they emerged from a systematic review. Thirty-two studies were eligible for the analyses. Associations emerged between Working Excessively and Absorption (g = .35), between Working Compulsively and Absorption (g = .28), and between Working Excessively and Dedication (g = .14). Moreover, results were not influenced by publication bias and showed that nationality was a significant moderator Overall, these findings suggest that further research is necessary to deepen our knowledge of workaholism, work engagement, and their relation, in order to disentangle commonalities and differences between them.