Abstract
This chapter aims to clarify the differences between generations X and Y regarding workaholism and to compare the impact of workaholism on the task proficiency component of individual work performance in financial sector multinationals in Lithuania and German-speaking countries.
The work cultures often lionize hard work, so the impact of workaholism gets a high degree of attention. The discussion on the nature of workaholism, its causes and effects, its addiction like nature and typology is still being emphasized by both academia and practitioners. However, there is a lack of research on intergenerational differences in multinationals and their attitude towards workaholism.
The quantitative empirical research method was chosen. The questionnaire was formed using the validated workaholism questionnaire created by Spence and Robbins and the task proficiency questionnaire by Griffin et al. The workaholism type is defined by variations on employee work involvement, work enjoyment and feeling driven.
The data was collected from a self-reported on-line survey. 198 respondents from Lithuania-based and 99 respondents from Germany and Switzerland-based financial sector multinationals participated.
The research reveals differences between generations X and Y and between Lithuania and German-speaking financial sector multinationals. The findings show equal distribution of workaholics (70 %) and non-workaholics (30 %) in Lithuania and German-speaking countries. Regarding the intergenerational differences, the tendencies are the same. Both X and Y financial sector employees more often tend to be workaholics than non-workaholics. On the other hand, individual work performance differs by country (more highly evaluated by the Lithuanian sample), but not by generation or workaholism/non-workaholism attitudes. The findings suggest that high individual work performance is achieved by both generations X and Y as well as by workaholics and non-workaholics equally. However, individual work performance is positively related to work enjoyment.
The financial sector multinationals should focus on the dimension of work enjoyment instead of emphasizing intergenerational differences in the workplace.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Borman WC, Motowidlo SJ (1993) Expanding the criterion domain to include elements of contextual performance. In: Schmitt N, Borman WC (eds) Personnel selection. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, pp 71–98
Buelens M, Poelmans SAY (2004) Enriching the Spence and Robbins’ typology of workaholism: demographic, motivational and organizational correlates. J Organ Chang Manag 17(5):440–458
Burke RJ (1999) Workaholism in organizations: gender Differences. Sex Roles J 41(5/6):333–345
Burke RJ (2000) Workaholism and extra-work satisfactions. Int J Organ Anal 7(4):352–364
Burke RJ (2001) Workaholism in organizations: the role of organizational values. Pers Rev 33(6):637–645
Burke RJ, Burgess Z, Fallon B (2006) Workaholism among Australian female managers and professionals. Job behaviors, satisfactions and psychological health. Equal Oppor Int 25(3):200–213
Burke RJ, Koyuncu M, Fiksenbaum L (2008) Workaholism, work and extra-work satisfactions and psychological well-being among professors in Turkey. Cross Cult Manag Int J 15(4):353–366
Campbell JP (1983) Some possible implications of “modeling” for the conceptualization of measurement. In: Landy F, Zedeck S, Cleveland J (eds) Performance measurement and theory. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc., Hillsdale, NJ, pp 277–298
Campbell JP (1990) Modeling the performance prediction problem in industrial and organizational psychology. In: Dunnette MD, Hough LM (eds) Handbook of industrial and orgunizational psychology, vol 1(2). Consulting Psychologists Press, Palo Alto, CA, pp 687–732
Cantarow E (1979) Women workaholics. Mother Jones 6:56–58
Cennamo L, Gardner D (2008) Generational differences in work values, outcomes and person-organisation values fit. J Manag Psychol 23(8):891–906
Cherrington DJ (1980) The work ethic. American Management Association, New York
Clark MA, Michel JS, Zhdanova L, Pui SY, Baltes BB (2014) All work and no play? A meta-analytic examination of the correlates and outcomes of workaholism. J Manag
Crumpacker M, Crumpacker JD (2007) Succession planning and generational stereotypes: should HR consider age-based values and attitudes a relevant factor or a passing fad? Public Pers Manag 36(4):349–69
Dalal RS, Lam H, Weiss HM, Welch EL, Hulin CL (2009) A within-person approach to work behavior and performance: concurrent and legged citizenship-counterproductivity associations, and dynamic relationships with affect and overall job performance. Acad Manag J 52(5):1051–1066
Espinoza C, Ukleja M, Rusch C (2010) Managing the Millenials: discover the core competencies for managing today’s workforce. Wiley, Hoboken, NJ
Fisher CD, Schoenfeldt LF, Shaw JB (2006) Human resource management, 6th edn. Houghton Mifflin, Boston
Galperin B, Burke R (2006) Uncovering the relationship between workaholism and workplace destructive and constructive deviance: an exploratory study. Int J Hum Resour Manag 17:331–347
Göbel C, Zwick T (2011) Age and productivity: sector differences. De Economist 160:35–57
Gorgievski MJ, Moriano JA, Bakker AB (2014) Relating work engagement and workaholism to entrepreneurial performance. J Manag Psychol 29(2):106–121
Griffin MA, Neal A, Parker SK (2007) A new model of new work role performance: positive behaviour in uncertain and interdependent contexts. Acad Manag J 50(2):327–347
Guion RM (1998) Assessment, measurement, and prediction for personnel selection. Lawrence Erlbaum, Mahwah, NJ
Gursoy D, Maier TA, Chi CG (2008) Generational differences:an examination of work values and generational gaps in the hospitality workforce. Int J Hosp Manag 27:448–458
Harpaz I, Snir R (2003) Workaholism: its definition and nature. Hum Relat 56:291–320
Killinger B (1991) Workaholics: the respectable addicts. Simon and Schuster, New York
Koopmans L, Bernaards C, Hildebrandt V, Buuren S, Beek AJ, Vet HCW (2012) Development of an individual work performance questionnaire. Int J Product Perform Manag 62(1):6–28
Kupperschmidt B (2000) Multigeneration employees: strategies for effective management. Health Care Manag 19:65–76
Laird MD, Harvey P, Lancaster J (2015) Accountability, entitlement, tenure, and satisfaction in Generation Y. J Manag Psychol 30(1):87–100
Levy DV (2015) Effects of workaholism on satisfaction among US managerial and professional women. Gend Manag Int J 30(8):635–651
Liotta ACB (2012) Unlocking generational codes: understanding what makes the generations tick and what ticks them off. Aviva Publishing, Lake Placid
Machlowitz M (1980) Workaholics: living with them, working with them. Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA
McMillan LHW, O’Driscoll MP, Burke RJ (2003) Workaholism: a review of theory, research, and future directions. In: Cooper CL, Robertson IT (eds) International review of industrial and organizational psychology, vol 18. Wiley, New York, pp 167–189
Motowidlo SJ, Borman WC, Schmit MJ (1997) A theory of individual differences in task and contextual performance. Hum Perform 10(2):71–83
Naughton TJ (1987) A conceptual view of workaholism and implications for career counseling and research. Career Dev Q 35:180–187
Neil S (2010) Leveraging generational work styles to meet business objectives. Inf Manag J 28–33, January/February, 2010
Oates W (1971) Confessions of a workaholic: the facts about work addiction. World Publishing, New York
Osif BA (2008) Workaholism. Libr Adm Manag J 22(3):155–164
Patel AS, Bowler MC, Bowler JL, Methe SA (2012) A meta-analysis of workaholism. Int J Bus Manag 7(11):2–17
Porter G (1996) Organizational impact of workaholism. Suggestions for researching the negative outcomes of excessive work. J Occup Health Psychol 1:70–84
Reuters (2013) German banking intern died of natural causes after working 72 hours straight: coroner. Retrieved from http://nydn.us/17PuITF. Accessed on 24 Jan 2016
Robinson BE (1999) The work addiction risk test: development of a tentative measure of workaholism. Percept Mot Skills 88:199–210
Robinson BE (2000) Workaholism: bridging the gap between workplace, sociocultural, and family research. J Employ Couns 37(1):31–48
Robinson BE (2007) Chained to the desk, 2nd edn. New York University Press, New York
Rotundo M, Sackett PR (2002) The relative importance of task, citizenship, and counterproductive performance to global ratings of job performance: a policy-capturing approach. J Appl Psychol 87(1):66–80. doi:10.1037/0021-9010.87.1.66
Sayers R (2007) The right staff from X to Y. Libr Manag 28(8/9):474–487
Schaufeli WB, Shimazu A, Taris TW (2009) Being driven to work excessively hard: the evaluation of a two-factor measure of workaholism in the Netherlands and Japan. Cross Cult Res 43(4):320–348
Schoch T (2012) Turning a ship around with four-generation crew. Inf Manag J, July/August 2012
Scott KS, Moore KS, Miceli MP (1997) An exploration of the meaning and consequences of workaholism. Hum Relat 50(3):287–314
Smola KW, Sutton CD (2002) Generational differences: revisiting generational work values for the new millennium. J Organ Behav 32(4):363–382
Snir R, Harpaz I, Burke R (2006) Workaholism in organizations: new research directions. Career Dev Int 11(5):369–373
Spence JT, Robbins AS (1992) Workaholism: definition, measurement, and preliminary results. J Pers Assess 58(1):160–78
Spruell G (1987) Work fever. Train Dev J 41:41–45
Taris TW, Schaufeli WB, Verhoeven LC (2005) Workaholism in the Netherlands: measurement and implications for job strain and work–nonwork conflict. Appl Psychol Int Rev 54(1):37–60
Vaitkevičius R, Saudargienė A (2006) Statistika su SPSS psichologiniuose tyrimuose. Vytauto Didžiojo universiteto leidykla, Kaunas
Viswesvaran C (2011) Assessment of individual job performance: a review of the past century and a look ahead. Handbook of industrial. Work Organ Psychol 1:110–126
Weingarten RM (2009) Four generations, one workplace: a Gen X-Y staff nurse’s view of team building in the emergency department. J Emerg Nurs 35:27–30
Westerman JW, Yamamura JH (2007) Generational preferences for work environment fit: effects on employee outcomes. Career Dev Int 12(2):150
Zopiatis A, Kapardis MK, Varnavas A (2012) Y-ers, X-ers and Boomers: investigating the multigeneralional (mis)perceptions in the hospitality workplace. Tour Hosp Res 12(2):101–121
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Alonderienė, R., Fuchs, J., Pilkaitė, M., Pilkienė, M. (2017). Workaholism and Individual Work Performance in Lithuanian and German Financial Sector Multinational Corporations: Differences Between Generations X and Y. In: Rozkwitalska, M., Sułkowski, Ł., Magala, S. (eds) Intercultural Interactions in the Multicultural Workplace. Contributions to Management Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39771-9_14
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39771-9_14
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-39770-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-39771-9
eBook Packages: Business and ManagementBusiness and Management (R0)