Motivational background of work addiction: the role of perceived demanding organizational conditions

Abstract

PurposeIn the literature, work addiction is proposed to be considered a construct that requires an extensive approach for understanding it; consequently, it should be analyzed as the interaction between personal and situational factors. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to examine the mediating role work motivation plays in the relationship between perceived demanding organizational conditions and employee work addiction.Design/methodology/approachA cross-sectional study was conducted on a convenience sample of 669 workers from different organizations in Lithuania. Data were collected using online self-administered questionnaire. To test a mediation model, a structural equation modeling path analysis was performed.FindingsDemanding organizational conditions (i.e. work addiction of a manager, the workload, a work role conflict, a competitive organizational climate and the family-unsupportive organizational environment) were related to increased work addiction through higher extrinsic motivation. The mediator of intrinsic motivation yielded different results: the indirect relationship between demanding organizational conditions and work addiction was significant only at lower levels of intrinsic motivation. Even having controlled work motivation as a mediator, the proposed direct links remained significant in most cases.Originality/valueThe study gives a profound understanding of work addiction and explains the mechanism activated by an organization that is of great importance for its development and maintenance.

Workaholism and quality of work-life: a psychosocial pathway to brain-drain syndrome

“…The industry is so peculiar that none of the employees has an alternative work environment than resort to brain drain behaviour in other international countries where their competence and ability will be fully appreciated and rewarded with minimal stress and work pressure. This outcome is consistent with the study of Gubik and Vörös (2023) and Morkevičiūtė and Endriulaitienė (2023) whose discoveries had it that quest to be financially buoyant and attitude of growing career for employees in Europe has transformed them to workaholics and it is adversely influencing their QWL.…”

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

“…There are numerous potential explanations of the links between significant others and an individual in terms of work addiction. These include, for instance, external benefits provided by addicted authoritative others for hard work of an individual (Morkevičiūtė & Endriulaitienė, 2022b, 2023a), a narrow understanding of a person's worth when addicted significant others evaluate an individual on account of his/her performance and achievements (Robinson, 2014), over‐responsibility assigned to an individual by addicted significant others (Robinson, 1998, 2014) or even sleep patterns, since poor sleep quality of addicted significant people may control their stress levels, and, ultimately, shape the behavior of those around them (Atroszko & Atroszko, 2020). The following paragraphs introduce the explanatory mechanisms that were most widely discussed in the scientific literature on this field.…”

Why Do You Work as a Teacher? Associations Between Teachers’ Work Motivation, Teaching Quality, and Well-being

“…Thus, it is not surprising that scholars have documented that intrinsic and identified motivation are negatively correlated with job burnout and that introjected and external regulation, as well as amotivation, are positively associated with burnout (Fernet et al, 2008). Previous studies have shown that workload among workers from different organizations in Lithuania was positively related to extrinsic work motivation and did not relate to intrinsic work motivation (Morkevičiūtė & Endriulaitienė, 2023).…”

“…This results in six types of motivation aligned along the self-determination continuum. First, intrinsic motivation refers to performing an activity because it is inherently enjoyable, challenging, and interesting (Morkevičiūtė & Endriulaitienė, 2023). Intrinsically motivated teachers work voluntarily without expecting any rewards.…”

“…Investigation of these constructs and the associations between them is important because higher teaching quality, well-being, and motivation at work are more likely to bring greater gains in children's learning. Previous Lithuanian studies applying the SDT-based motivational framework have investigated employees from different types of organizations (not necessarily teachers), often combining the six types of work motivation into fewer scales, or mostly focusing on the antecedents of work motivation (e.g., organizational conditions and leadership; Endriulaitienė & Morkevičiūtė 2020; Morkevičiūtė & Endriulaitienė, 2023). Thus, we found it novel and important to focus on the specificity of teachers' work in Lithuania and to provide preliminary results on how all six types of work motivation relate to teachers' quality and well-being in the school context.…”