Enough is enough : Cognitive antecedents of workaholism and its aftermath

Abstract

Workaholism is commonly conceptualized as a compulsive inner drive to work excessively hard. This study investigates to what extent rigid personal beliefs-i.e., performance-based self-esteem (self-esteem that is contingent upon good performance) and an enough continuation rule (continuing with work until one feels one has done enough)-contribute to exhaustion through workaholism. To examine these potential antecedents and consequences of workaholism, data of a two-wave longitudinal survey study with a six-month time interval was used (n = 191). Results of structural equation modeling provided support for our hypotheses. Taken together, our findings show that rigid personal beliefs at T1 predicted primarily working compulsively at T2, and working compulsively at T1 influenced exhaustion at T2. Moreover, reciprocal relationships were found between applying the enough continuation rule and working compulsively, and between working compulsively and exhaustion. These results suggest partial mediation from cognitive antecedents (personal beliefs) through workaholism to exhaustion. In practical terms, the results indicate that cognitive antecedents may provide a good starting point for interventions for preventing exhaustion and workaholism.