Workaholism in Sport: A Mediated Model of Work-Family Conflict and Burnout

Although workaholism can impact employees negatively, regardless of family situations, work-family conflict likely plays an important role in the relationship between workaholism and negative outcomes, such as burnout. The authors used structural modeling to examine the relationship among workaholism, employee burnout, and the work-family interface within the context of intercollegiate athletics. They tested the model across a large, diverse sample of athletic department employees (N = 4,453). The results indicated a significant, positive relationship between workaholism and burnout, as well as a significant, positive relationship between workaholism and burnout partially mediated by work-family conflict. These findings suggest the importance of considering both the work and nonwork lives of sport employees in both theory and practice; models of workaholism must factor in nonwork commitments, and organizations need to be cognizant of differences in the causes of and consequences between work engagement and workaholism.