Burnout and poor perceived health in flexible working time in Japanese employees: the role of self-endangering behavior in relation to workaholism, work engagement, and job stressors.

The study aim was to examine whether flexible working time was associated with burnout and poor perceived health in relation to the work-related psychological/behavioral factors of self-endangering work behavior (SEWB), workaholism, work engagement, and job stressors. We analyzed data obtained from an Internet survey of 600 full-time Japanese employees. We also proposed a causal model using path analysis to investigate the overall relationships of burnout and perceived health to psychological/behavioral factors. The results indicated that flexible working time was associated with adverse work-related consequences and factors such as increased burnout, working hours, SEWB, workaholism, and job demands, and with positive factors such as improvement of work engagement. The path analysis suggested that burnout was caused by workaholism both directly and via SEWB, and by low job decision latitude, and was reduced by work engagement. Similarly, it was observed that poor health was caused by workaholism via SEWB, and reduced by work engagement. Thus, SEWB is driven by workaholism and plays a key role in the adverse health consequences of flexible working time. For workers to benefit from flexible working time, it is important to improve workaholism, SEWB, and low job decision latitude, and to develop work engagement in the workplace.

Development of the Japanese Version of the Self-Endangering Work Behavior (J-SEWB) Scale.

Objective: The concept of self-endangering work behavior (SEWB) was recently proposed to describe problematic behaviors to cope with heavy workloads and self-management. Although SEWB may enable workers to achieve immediate goals, it risks health and long-term work capacity. In this study, we developed a Japanese version of the SEWB (J-SEWB) scale, which was originally in German, and verified its validity and reliability. Materials: The original SEWB scale consisted of 21 items, constituting five subscales: "Intensification of working hours," "Prolongation/extension of working hours," "Refraining from recovery/leisure activities," "Working despite illness," and "Use of stimulating substances." We translated the scale into Japanese, then checked the wording using back-translation. Methods: The J-SEWB scale and questions for working conditions and sociodemographic variables was administered via an online survey with 600 participants registered with an internet survey company in Japan. Cronbach's α coefficients were calculated for each subscale to assess internal consistency. Construct validity was examined using principal factor analysis with equamax rotation. An analysis of variance evaluated the relationships of J-SEWB scores with working conditions and sociodemographic variables. Results: Cronbach's α coefficients ranged from 0.846 to 0.964 for five subscales, and 0.957 for all 21 items (total J-SEWB score) in 600 participants. The factor analysis identified five factors, classifying 21 items into corresponding subscales. Total J-SEWB scores were significantly higher for flexible work as well as longer working hours. Conclusions: The J-SEWB scale appears to be an effective tool for assessing SEWB in Japanese employees, with satisfactory reliability and construct validity.