Moderating role of perceived work addiction of managers in the relationship between employees' perfectionism and work addiction: a trait activation theory perspective

Abstract

PurposeEarlier authors suggested that a combination of different factors leads to the development of work addiction, hereby indicating that no single perspective is enough to fully understand this phenomenon. Hence, the aim of this study was to examine the moderating role of perceived work addiction of managers in the relationship between employees' perfectionism and work addiction.Design/methodology/approachThe present cross-sectional study was conducted on a convenience sample of 964 workers from different organizations in Lithuania. Data were collected by means of online self-administered questionnaires. To test the moderating effect, a covariance-based structural equation modeling (CB-SEM) path analysis was performed.FindingsAt the level of bivariate correlations, both self-oriented and socially prescribed perfectionism showed positive links with employees' work addiction. However, in structural equation models only self-oriented perfectionism was related to higher levels of work addiction. Further, although the results of the study did not confirm the assumption about the moderating effect of perceived work addiction of managers on the relationship between employees' self-oriented perfectionism and work addiction, the results showed that a positive relationship between employees' socially prescribed perfectionism and work addiction was strongest when a manager was perceived to be highly addicted to work.Originality/valueThe study enriched understanding of the roots of work addiction by employing trait activation theory (Tett and Burnett, 2003) and explaining how both dispositional and contextual factors interacted in predicting this phenomenon.

Explaining work addiction through perceived behaviors of significant others in a family and organization: Gender differences

“…While most of the previous studies focused on the consequences of work addiction for an individual itself, we shed light on the role of addicted people in explaining work addiction of others. Moreover, although several studies (e.g., Morkevičiūtė & Endriulaitienė, 2022a, 2022b; Chamberlin & Zhang, 2009; Kravina et al ., 2014) investigated the importance of managers' or parents' addictive behaviors for the employees' well‐being, attitudes and behaviors at work, no research comparing the role of both parents' and managers' work addiction within the context of employee work addiction has been carried out yet.…”

“…A prominent perspective on work addiction – socio‐cultural perspective – suggested that work addiction is a product of social and cultural experiences that individuals go through a lifespan (Ng, Sorensen & Feldman, 2007). Work‐related behavior of significant/authoritative others in the family and in the workplace can be attributed to those socio‐cultural factors which are most frequently held responsible for working behaviors of employees (Morkevičiūtė & Endriulaitienė, 2022a; Kim et al ., 2020; Kravina et al ., 2014; Robinson, 2000).…”

“…First, this study is the first to examine the role of all main significant others (i.e., both parents and managers) in relation to employees' work addiction. Although some previous studies (e.g., Morkevi ci utė & Endriulaitienė, 2022a, 2022bChamberlin & Zhang, 2009;Kravina et al, 2014) investigated how work addiction of employees was related to work-related behaviors of significant others, studies that compared the role of the authoritative people from different environments (i.e., both a family and organization) are not available. Second, the assumption that the relationship between parents, managers and employees in terms of work addiction might differ depending on gender of an employee, has never been tested before.…”

“…In the latter group of precursors, working habits of significant/authoritative others in a family and in the workplace are of particular importance. Research (e.g., Morkevičiūtė & Endriulaitienė, 2022a; Kim, Kang, Choi & Sohn, 2020; Kravina, Falco, De Carlo, Andreassen & Pallesen, 2014; Robinson, 2000) indicates that seeing excessively working parents or supervisors can be related to the possibility of an individual behaving in a similar way.…”

The Big Three Perfectionism Scale–Short Form: An item response theory analysis of Italian workers

“…Moreover, other-oriented perfectionism in leaders was found to be associated with monitoring behaviors and highlighted as a barrier to building trusting relationships (Otto et al, 2021). Other results investigated the effects of the interaction between managers' perfectionism and employees' perfectionism on work addiction, revealing that employees' socially prescribed perfectionism and work addiction was strongest when a manager was perceived to be addicted to work (Morkevičiûtė and Endriulaitienė, 2022).…”