62. Workaholism

From a lay perspective, a workaholic is generally understood to be someone who is always working and who prioritizes work over all else. Amongst scholars, workaholism is widely conceptualized as a multidimensional construct, with core dimensions of working excessively and working compulsively. The first couple of decades of workaholism research were plagued with definitional disagreements, weak methodologies, and poor measurement. Since the 2000s, research has focused on clarifying the theoretical underpinnings and conceptualization of workaholism, improving its measurement, and understanding the nomological network of workaholism, with stronger methodologies. These studies have shown workaholism is a wide variety of negative individual, relationship, and work outcomes. Workaholism has also been differentiated from other forms of heavy work investment (e.g., work engagement). Recent research has integrated objective assessments of health outcomes of workaholism, with examining the day-to-day impacts of workaholism on workers, their families, and the organization.