The interactive effect of leader-member exchange and psychological climate for overwork on subordinate workaholism and job strain

The proportion of workers putting long hours into work is on the increase, which paves the way for workaholism, a syndrome that combines long hours and obsessive thoughts about work and is known to harm employee health. This study explores the role of the context in the emergence of workaholism and job strain, a stance that has rarely been taken in the field. We specifically examined the combined effects of leader-member exchange (LMX) and psychological climate for overwork on employee workaholism and job strain. Drawing upon social exchange and situational strength theories, we posited that when overwork is perceived to be valued in the organization, LMX may foster subordinate workaholism and indirectly lead to increased job strain. Through a three-wave study and the use of structural equations modelling analyses with full information maximum likelihood estimation on a diversified sample of employees (N = 449), we found LMX to be positively related (vs. unrelated) to subsequent workaholism when psychological climate for overwork was high (vs. low). Additionally, change in workaholism mediated the interactive effect of LMX and psychological climate for overwork on change in subordinate job strain. We discuss the implications of these findings for research on LMX and workaholism.