The role of purpose in life and social support in reducing the risk of workaholism among women in Poland

Abstract

Workaholism is related to experiencing high negative emotions, the inability to control them, and poor psychological well-being. One of the possible countermeasures against the risk of workaholism can be purpose in life. According to Frankl and Yalom, the feeling that life has a meaning or purpose prevents an individual from experiencing meaninglessness. Purpose in life is considered to be closely associated with mood and well-being and has been proven to act as a countermeasure against depression. participants and procedureThe goal of our study was to analyze the relation between workaholism, perception of purpose in life, and social support among women. Two hundred and sixty female professionals took part in the study. They occupied either specialist or managerial positions in their companies, which implies being highly committed to professional roles. Two sociodemographic variables were included in the analysis as significant moderators of the relation studied, namely family status: whether or not women had children, and marital status. We used the following analytical methods: Robinson's Work Addiction Risk Test (WART, adapted from English by K. Wojdylo), the Purpose-in-Life Test developed by Crumbaugh and Maholick, and Schwarzer's and Schulz's Berlin Social Support Scales. resultsStatistical analysis allowed us to test a model, which proved the existence of a significant relation between "social support" and "purpose in life" variables. The results also indicate a dependency between "purpose in life" and "workaholism" -higher scores in "purpose in life" correspond to lower results in "workaholism". Additionally, "purpose in life" can be considered a partial mediator between "social support" and "workaholism". conclusionsThe direct results prove that social programs aimed at reducing the risk of workaholism by strengthening social support networks can be both effective, e.g. for mothers who work professionally, and ineffective, e.g. for women who do not have children.key words social support; women; workaholism; purpose in life; compulsion to work

Do dimensions of transformational leadership have an effect on workaholism?

“…The results showed that perceived individualised support is negatively correlated to excessive work, compulsive work and general workaholism. The obtained results confirm and supplement the findings of Ojha et al (2018) and Peplińska et al (2015). Individualised support provided by the leader may influence the employees' work behaviour through various mechanisms.…”

“…314 BJM 14,2 3. Relationship between dimensions of the perceived transformational leadership style and workaholism According to Peplińska et al (2015), high performance expectations and individualised support applied by a transformational leader can be considered major factors that play a significant role in the development of workaholism. The study carried out by Johnstone and Johnston (2005) revealed that the employees who are exposed to the management that is characterised by high performance expectations and work pressure display higher levels of a drive (i.e.…”

“…As a result, the employees do not face any internal pressure and feel safe about their position in the company. Consequently, the risk of workaholism is decreased (Ojha et al, 2018;Peplińska et al, 2015).…”

A Review of Workaholism and Prospects

“…In addition, based on Bandura's social learning theory, individuals will be influenced by celebrities and some role models promoted by the media [28], if these socially influential celebrities or role models have workaholic behavior or tendencies, It can also lead to the possibility of individual workaholic behavior. The social support that employees receive also has an impact on workaholics, such as, Peplińska suggesting that social support can reduce women's workaholics [45]. Although the influence of social factors on workaholics cannot be ignored, some scholars have also discussed the influence of social factors on workaholics, but lack of in-depth empirical research, which is also a weak link that can be supplemented by future research.…”

Integrating national and international research, and exploring country-specific factors contributing to work addiction; Commentary to “Workaholism – psychological and social determinants of work addiction”

“…If only the last five years are considered, there are 25 papers from Polish authors, which is only exceeded by authors from the USA and Italy. Not all of these papers concern results of studies on work addiction; however, a significant portion of them are empirical papers in English from authors frequently publishing on work addiction in international and Polish high-quality journals, as well as in international books [4,5,6,7,8]. Furthermore, some Authors frequently publishing on work addiction mostly published in Polish, and these publications include original empirical studies [9,10,11,12].…”