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Effects of workaholism on satisfaction among US managerial and professional women

Daniele V Levy (Department of Business Psychology, Palo Alto University, Palo Alto, CA, USA)

Gender in Management

ISSN: 1754-2413

Article publication date: 3 November 2015

886

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate relationships between workaholism and satisfaction outcomes with job, career and life overall among managerial and professional women and explore the moderating role of social support in these associations.

Design/methodology/approach

Self-report measures collected online from 350 alumnae from top-ranked business schools currently in the US labor force were analyzed through hierarchical multiple regression analyses.

Findings

Workaholism components explained significant amounts of variance in job, career and life satisfaction. Specifically, lower levels of work enjoyment were consistently associated with detrimental outcomes and high drive impacted both job and life satisfaction negatively. Social support moderated the relationship between job satisfaction and workaholism through work enjoyment, with women with greater social support demonstrating higher job satisfaction at equivalent work enjoyment levels versus those with low social support.

Research limitations/implications

This paper shares methodological weaknesses involving the nature of the sample and self-report methods of measurement common to workaholism research.

Practical implications

In the context of today’s competitive workplaces, results provide a cautionary message of the harmful effects of workaholic dispositions for a certain segment of professional women. It emphasizes the importance of work enjoyment and positive intrinsic motivation, while suggesting that job designs that reflect the work involvement predispositions of each woman can be beneficial.

Originality/value

This paper extends the understanding of workaholism correlates to female MBA graduates from top management schools in the USA and investigates, for the first time, the role of social support in those relationships.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

This research was supported in part by the Center for Neuroscience in Women’s Health at Stanford University School of Medicine. The author thanks Alinne Barrera for her support in the preparation of this article.

Citation

Levy, D.V. (2015), "Effects of workaholism on satisfaction among US managerial and professional women", Gender in Management, Vol. 30 No. 8, pp. 635-651. https://doi.org/10.1108/GM-08-2014-0076

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2015, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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