Dimensions of Workaholism: a study of service sector

Abstract

Work serves multiple needs and can be considered healthy endeavor. However, in some cases, individuals may commit themselves too heavily to work to the detriment of not only to themselves but of others as well. Although many writers have contributed to the understanding of workaholism, yet in most cases the researchers have addressed this complex issue in a fragmented manner. Moreover, the research in this area of study indicates that the opinions, observations and conclusions about the workaholism are diverse and conflicting. Adding to it, the previous studies in this area of research have also specified that workaholism as a phenomenon has been hardly understood comprehensively in case of service sector in Indian context. With this backdrop, this study aims to investigate the psychometric properties of measure of DUWAS and employee well being scales and make an attempt to identify antecedents of the workaholic behavioral patterns both at aggregate and disaggregate level. The study also throws light on the personal and professional consequences resulting from workaholic behavior of employees at aggregate and disaggregates level. To commensurate with the objectives the empirical study of the phenomenon of workaholism has been carried out drawing a sample of employees from service sector organizations of Jammu region of J&K. The deliberation on the theoretical and policy implications ensuing from the findings of the study has been made with a view to facilitate the understanding and management of the workaholic behavior in service sector organizations. Key words: Workaholics, Working Compulsive, Working Excessively, Overwork, DUWAS, Well-Being, Service sector, Confirmatory Factor Analysis, Regression Analysis, Discriminant Analysis. Preface In the contemporary world, many people end up working or working hard even during weekends and their involvement in working activities reaches the point where they reduce their interactions with family members, friends or other peoples. This over-involvement in work named as workaholism has been identified as a serious age-killer whose long term effect may be far more severe. As in the preliminary stages of workaholism, the negative effects may not be visible and it may be seen as the positive symptom but slowly and steadily it may have cascading effect on the well being of an individual which may deteriorate his/her health, social and family relationships. The motivation behind the conduction of this study was that workaholism as a phenomenon has hardly been understood in its entirety and comprehensively especially in case of Indian context, though this term has received considerable acknowledgement from various researchers all over the world. With this backdrop, it was, therefore, imperative to conduct this study in Indian context.