Labor of love, or love of labor? Psychological capital's mitigating role in the relationship between workaholism and work stress.

BACKGROUND: Workaholism is conceptualized as a compulsive need to work incessantly, and it is related to numerous detrimental organizational and individual consequences. For that reason, it is imperative that researchers uncover possible variables that can alleviate its potentially harmful effects. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to examine the relationship between workaholism, psychological capital (PsyCap), physical health, and work stress. The potential mitigating role that PsyCap could play between workaholism and physical health, as well as work stress, was also examined. METHODS: Data on workaholism, PsyCap, physical health, and work stress were collected from 343 full-time faculty and staff from a large Southeastern university. RESULTS: Results showed workaholism negatively related to physical health and positively related to work stress. Additionally, PsyCap had a positive relationship with physical health and a negative relationship with work stress. Moreover, PsyCap moderated the relationship between workaholism and work stress, such that as PsyCap increased, the relationship between workaholism and work stress weakened. CONCLUSIONS: PsyCap may be a fairly simple and cost-effective intervention for organizations to implement, as it can be learned through short training sessions. By incorporating PsyCap, organizations may be able to help mitigate levels of stress in their employees, specifically among those who suffer from workaholism.

Take a break! Leisure participation moderates the workaholism-work stress relationship.

Our primary aim was to gain a better understanding of how leisure activities (i.e., physical activity, mindfulness, and vacation) may beneficially relate to workaholism and work stress. Secondary aims included exploring motivations for participating in the three types of leisure activities. The job demands-resources theory; conservation of resources theory; and detachment-recovery, autonomy, mastery, meaning, and affiliation model provided context for hypothesized relationships among the variables. Full-time employees in the United States (N = 367) were recruited via Amazon's Mechanical Turk community, and they completed an online survey. Leisure participation significantly moderated the relationship between workaholism and work stress (weakening it). The majority of motivations for mindfulness and vacation were related to mental/emotional health, with a more even split between mental/emotional health and physical health/appearance motivations for physical activities. Several policy and practice-based recommendations for prioritizing leisure engagement are provided.

Effects of fish oils on ex vivo B-cell responses of obese subjects upon BCR/TLR stimulation: a pilot study.

The long-chain n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFAs) eicosapentaenoic (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) in fish oil have immunomodulatory properties. B cells are a poorly studied target of EPA/DHA in humans. Therefore, in this pilot study, we tested how n-3 LC-PUFAs influence B-cell responses of obese humans. Obese men and women were assigned to consume four 1-g capsules per day of olive oil (OO, n=12), fish oil (FO, n=12) concentrate or high-DHA-FO concentrate (n=10) for 12 weeks in a parallel design. Relative to baseline, FO (n=9) lowered the percentage of circulating memory and plasma B cells, whereas the other supplements had no effect. There were no postintervention differences between the three supplements. Next, ex vivo B-cell cytokines were assayed after stimulation of Toll-like receptors (TLRs) and/or the B-cell receptor (BCR) to determine if the effects of n-3 LC-PUFAs were pathway-dependent. B-cell IL-10 and TNFα secretion was respectively increased with high DHA-FO (n=10), relative to baseline, with respective TLR9 and TLR9+BCR stimulation. OO (n=12) and FO (n=12) had no influence on B-cell cytokines compared to baseline, and there were no differences in postintervention cytokine levels between treatment groups. Finally, ex vivo antibody levels were assayed with FO (n=7) after TLR9+BCR stimulation. Compared to baseline, FO lowered IgM but not IgG levels accompanied by select modifications to the plasma lipidome. Altogether, the results suggest that n-3 LC-PUFAs could modulate B-cell activity in humans, which will require further testing in a larger cohort.

Workaholism and work-life imbalance: does cultural origin influence the relationship?

In recent years, workaholism has become prevalent throughout organizations and has captured the attention of organizational leaders as well as the academic and scientific communities. Most research in this area has focused on the negative consequences of workaholism, specifically work-life imbalance. One area of research that has largely been ignored is the potential influence of demographic variables on the relationship between workaholism and work-life imbalance. Therefore, the current study focused on how cultural origin might influence the intensity of this relationship. Based on relative deprivation theory and previous empirical work, it was expected that cultural origin would moderate the relationship between workaholism and work-life imbalance. Specifically, it was predicted that Caucasian participants would score higher on levels of workaholism than Black participants, and that the relationship between workaholism and work-life imbalance would be stronger for Caucasians than for Blacks. The results revealed that high levels of workaholism were significantly correlated with high levels of work-life imbalance. However, results also indicated that cultural origin did not moderate the relationship between workaholism and work-life imbalance, and there was no significant mean difference between Caucasian and Black participants on our measure of workaholism. These findings are important in that it is essential for employers to be aware of workaholic tendencies so they can better handle the negative consequences that result for the organization, and to also help promote the well-being of their employees. En los últimos años la adicción al trabajo se ha vuelto muy popular en las organizaciones y ha capturado la atención tanto de líderes organizacionales, así como de las comunidades científicas y académicas. La mayoría de investigaciones en esta área se han focalizado en las consequencias negativas de la adicción al trabajo (workoholismo), específicamente en el desequilibrio entre trabajo-vida. Una área de investigación que ha sido ignorada por mucho tiempo es la influencia potencial de las variables demográficas sobre la relación entre adicción al trabajo y el desequilibrio trabajo-vida. Por este motivo es que el presente estudio se focalizó en como el origen cultural puede influenciar la intensidad de esta relación. Tomando como base la teoría de la deprivación relativa y estudios empíricos previos, se esperó que el origen cultural moderaría la relación entre adicción al trabajo y desequilibrio trabajo-vida. Específicamente se pudo predecir que los participantes caucásicos mostraron más elevados puntajes en los niveles de adicción al trabajo que los participantes negros, y que la relación entre adicción al trabajo y desequilibrio trabajo-vida era más intensa entre los caucásicos que entre los negros. Los resultados revelaron que elevados niveles de adicción al trabajo correlacionaron significativamente con altos niveles de desequilibrio trabajo-vida. Sin embargo los resultados también revelaron que el origen cultural no moderaba la relación entre adicción al trabajo y desequilibrio trabajo-vida, y que además no había una diferencia significativa de medias entre los participantes caucásicos y negros respecto de nuestras mediciones de adicción al trabajo. Estos resultados son importantes en la medida en que es esencial para los empleadores el ser conscientes respecto de las tendencias de adicción al trabajo, lo que les permitirá manejar con mayor efectividad las consequencias negativas para la empresa resultantes de estas tendencias, y por otro lado apoyar a sus empleados en la promoción de su bienestar. Au cours des dernières années, le travaillolisme (workaholism) a pris de l'ampleur dans les organisations et a capté l'attention à la fois des dirigeants d'organisations et des communautés académique et scientifique. La majorité de la recherche dans ce domaine fut orientée sur les conséquences négatives du travaillolisme et, plus spécifiquement, sur le conflit travail-vie. Un champ de recherche qui a été largement ignoré est l'influence potentielle des variables démographiques sur la relation entre le travaillolisme et le conflit travail-vie. La présente étude visait à comprendre comment l'origine culturelle peut influencer l'intensité de cette relation. Se basant sur la théorie de la privation relative et sur les travaux empiriques antérieurs, il était attendu que l'origine culturelle allait jouer un rôle modérateur dans la relation entre le travaillolisme et le conflit travail-vie. Plus spécifiquement, il était prédit que les participants caucasiens allaient obtenir des scores plus élevés de travaillolisme comparativement aux participants noirs, et que la relation entre le travaillolisme et le conflit travail-vie allait être plus forte pour les caucasiens que pour les noirs. Les résultats ont révélé que des niveaux élevés de travaillolisme étaient significativement corrélés avec des niveaux élevés de conflit travail-vie. Cependant, les résultats ont aussi indiqué que l'origine culturelle ne modère pas la relation entre le travaillolisme et le conflit travail-vie. De plus, il n'y avait pas de différence significative entre les participants caucasiens et les participants noirs sur notre mesure de travaillolisme. Ces résultats sont importants puisqu'il est essentiel pour les employeurs d'être à l'affût des tendances travaillolistes pour qu'ils puissent mieux en gérer les conséquences négatives pour l'organisation, ainsi que pour aider à promouvoir le bien-être de leurs employés. diferenciaban en algunos aspectos.

A cluster analysis investigation of workaholism as a syndrome.

Workaholism has been conceptualized as a syndrome although there have been few tests that explicitly consider its syndrome status. The authors analyzed a three-dimensional scale of workaholism developed by Spence and Robbins (1992) using cluster analysis. The authors identified three clusters of individuals, one of which corresponded to Spence and Robbins's profile of the workaholic (high work involvement, high drive to work, low work enjoyment). Consistent with previously conjectured relations with workaholism, individuals in the workaholic cluster were more likely to label themselves as workaholics, more likely to have acquaintances label them as workaholics, and more likely to have lower life satisfaction and higher work-life imbalance. The importance of considering workaholism as a syndrome and the implications for effective interventions are discussed.