IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v11y2019i2p446-d198160.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Unsustainable Working Conditions: The Association of Destructive Leadership, Use of Technology, and Workload with Workaholism and Exhaustion

Author

Listed:
  • Monica Molino

    (Psychology Department, University of Turin, Via Verdi 10, 10124 Turin, Italy)

  • Claudio G. Cortese

    (Psychology Department, University of Turin, Via Verdi 10, 10124 Turin, Italy)

  • Chiara Ghislieri

    (Psychology Department, University of Turin, Via Verdi 10, 10124 Turin, Italy)

Abstract

Job demands typical of the current working environments and negative leadership styles may be considered unsustainable factors able to decrease workers well-being. Moreover, contrary to the idea that workaholism is an innate individual characteristic, a recent perspective considers the working context able to foster its insurgence. In order to investigate unsustainable dynamics within organizations, this study aimed at examining whether (1) destructive leadership increases workload and supplemental work supported by technology, (2) the three job demands increases workaholism, and (3) workaholism mediates their relationship with exhaustion. A convenience sample of 432 workers filled in a self-report questionnaire. The structural equation model results showed a positive relationship between destructive leadership and workload, off-work hour Technology-Assisted Job Demand (off-TAJD), and workaholism. Moreover, both workload and off-TAJD partially mediated the relationship between destructive leadership and workaholism. Finally, workaholism was a mediator between the three demands and exhaustion. The study confirmed a positive association between job demands and workaholism, and, in turn, their association with exhaustion, highlighting in particular the role of two under-investigated determinants, namely destructive leadership and off-TAJD, as unsustainable working conditions. Despite limitations, above all the cross-sectional design, this study provided useful indications for research and practice.

Suggested Citation

  • Monica Molino & Claudio G. Cortese & Chiara Ghislieri, 2019. "Unsustainable Working Conditions: The Association of Destructive Leadership, Use of Technology, and Workload with Workaholism and Exhaustion," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-14, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:2:p:446-:d:198160
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/2/446/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/2/446/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Annamaria Di Fabio & José María Peiró & Isabel Rodríguez & Malgorzata Wanda Kozusznik, 2018. "The Valencia Eustress-Distress Appraisal Scale (VEDAS): Validation of the Italian Version," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-17, October.
    2. Louis Fry & Melanie Cohen, 2009. "Spiritual Leadership as a Paradigm for Organizational Transformation and Recovery from Extended Work Hours Cultures," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 84(2), pages 265-278, January.
    3. Brown, Michael E. & Trevino, Linda K. & Harrison, David A., 2005. "Ethical leadership: A social learning perspective for construct development and testing," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 97(2), pages 117-134, July.
    4. Annamaria Di Fabio & José María Peiró, 2018. "Human Capital Sustainability Leadership to Promote Sustainable Development and Healthy Organizations: A New Scale," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-11, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Martina Blašková & Justyna Majchrzak-Lepczyk & Dominika Hriníková & Rudolf Blaško, 2019. "Sustainable Academic Motivation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(21), pages 1-24, October.
    2. Hyosun Kim & Yunlu Chen & Hyewon Kong, 2019. "Abusive Supervision and Organizational Citizenship Behavior: The Mediating Role of Networking Behavior," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-18, December.
    3. Antonino Callea & Dalila De Rosa & Giovanni Ferri & Francesca Lipari & Marco Costanzi, 2019. "Are More Intelligent People Happier? Emotional Intelligence as Mediator between Need for Relatedness, Happiness and Flourishing," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-12, February.
    4. Yasuhiro Kotera & Robert Maxwell-Jones & Ann-Marie Edwards & Natalie Knutton, 2021. "Burnout in Professional Psychotherapists: Relationships with Self-Compassion, Work–Life Balance, and Telepressure," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(10), pages 1-12, May.
    5. Valentina Dolce & Emilie Vayre & Monica Molino & Chiara Ghislieri, 2020. "Far Away, So Close? The Role of Destructive Leadership in the Job Demands–Resources and Recovery Model in Emergency Telework," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 9(11), pages 1-22, October.
    6. Daniel, Carole & Gentina, Elodie & Mesmer-Magnus, Jessica, 2022. "Mindfulness buffers the deleterious effects of workaholism for work-family conflict," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 306(C).
    7. Octavian Dospinescu & Nicoleta Dospinescu, 2020. "Workaholism in IT: An Analysis of the Influence Factors," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-12, November.
    8. Monica Molino & Emanuela Ingusci & Fulvio Signore & Amelia Manuti & Maria Luisa Giancaspro & Vincenzo Russo & Margherita Zito & Claudio G. Cortese, 2020. "Wellbeing Costs of Technology Use during Covid-19 Remote Working: An Investigation Using the Italian Translation of the Technostress Creators Scale," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(15), pages 1-20, July.
    9. Emanuela Ingusci & Fulvio Signore & Claudio Giovanni Cortese & Monica Molino & Paola Pasca & Enrico Ciavolino, 2023. "Development and validation of the Remote Working Benefits & Disadvantages scale," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 57(2), pages 1159-1183, April.
    10. Rosy Musumeci & Chiara Ghislieri, 2020. "Some Voices from Italian Youth on Well-Being: How to Cope with Job Insecurity?," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 9(4), pages 1-19, April.
    11. Morkevičiūtė Modesta & Endriulaitienė Auksė, 2021. "A Systematic Review of the Factors Determining Workaholism: The Role of an Organisation," Management of Organizations: Systematic Research, Sciendo, vol. 85(1), pages 33-46, June.
    12. Modesta Morkevičiūtė & Auksė Endriulaitienė, 2023. "The Role of an Individual and a Situation in Explaining Work Addiction: Disclosing Complex Relations," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(5), pages 1-22, March.
    13. Ma. Janice J. Gumasing & Emil Renfred A. Rendon & Josephine D. German, 2023. "Sustainable Ergonomic Workplace: Fostering Job Satisfaction and Productivity among Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) Workers," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(18), pages 1-28, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Annamaria Di Fabio & Donald H. Saklofske, 2019. "Positive Relational Management for Sustainable Development: Beyond Personality Traits—The Contribution of Emotional Intelligence," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-9, January.
    2. Helena Liu & Christopher Baker, 2016. "Ordinary Aristocrats: The Discursive Construction of Philanthropists as Ethical Leaders," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 133(2), pages 261-277, January.
    3. Ana M. Tur-Porcar & Noemí Cuartero-Monteagudo & Julio Fernández-Garrido, 2019. "Learning Environments in Health and Medical Studies: The Mediating Role of Emotional Intelligence," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(15), pages 1-10, July.
    4. Christopher Mabey & Mervyn Conroy & Karen Blakeley & Sara Marco, 2017. "Having Burned the Straw Man of Christian Spiritual Leadership, what can We Learn from Jesus About Leading Ethically?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 145(4), pages 757-769, November.
    5. Marianna Giunchi & Anne-Marie Vonthron & Chiara Ghislieri, 2019. "Perceived Job Insecurity and Sustainable Wellbeing: Do Coping Strategies Help?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-18, February.
    6. An-Chih Wang & Jack Ting-Ju Chiang & Wan-Ju Chou & Bor-Shiuan Cheng, 2017. "One definition, different manifestations: Investigating ethical leadership in the Chinese context," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 34(3), pages 505-535, September.
    7. Chikelu Okey Felix & Rosita Bint Arshad, 2015. "Examining Moral Reasoning and Transactional Leadership behaviour in the Nigerian Public Sector," Journal of Economics and Behavioral Studies, AMH International, vol. 7(3), pages 110-118.
    8. Sherry E. Moss & Meng Song & Sean T. Hannah & Zhen Wang & John J. Sumanth, 2020. "The Duty to Improve Oneself: How Duty Orientation Mediates the Relationship Between Ethical Leadership and Followers’ Feedback-Seeking and Feedback-Avoiding Behavior," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 165(4), pages 615-631, September.
    9. Hao Zhou & Xinyi Sheng & Yulin He & Xiaoye Qian, 2020. "Ethical Leadership as the Reliever of Frontline Service Employees’ Emotional Exhaustion: A Moderated Mediation Model," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(3), pages 1-13, February.
    10. Omar S. Itani & Fernando Jaramillo & Larry Chonko, 2019. "Achieving Top Performance While Building Collegiality in Sales: It All Starts with Ethics," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 156(2), pages 417-438, May.
    11. Thuy-Van Tran & Sinikka Lepistö & Janne Järvinen, 2021. "The relationship between subjectivity in managerial performance evaluation and the three dimensions of justice perception," Journal of Management Control: Zeitschrift für Planung und Unternehmenssteuerung, Springer, vol. 32(3), pages 369-399, September.
    12. S. Hansen & Bradley Alge & Michael Brown & Christine Jackson & Benjamin Dunford, 2013. "Ethical Leadership: Assessing the Value of a Multifoci Social Exchange Perspective," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 115(3), pages 435-449, July.
    13. Luigi Corvo & Lavinia Pastore & Arianna Manti & Daniel Iannaci, 2021. "Mapping Social Impact Assessment Models: A Literature Overview for a Future Research Agenda," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-16, April.
    14. Yidong Tu & Xinxin Lu & Yue Yu, 2017. "Supervisors’ Ethical Leadership and Employee Job Satisfaction: A Social Cognitive Perspective," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 18(1), pages 229-245, February.
    15. Nir Halevy & Sora Jun & Eileen Y. Chou, 2020. "Intergroup Conflict is Our Business: CEOs’ Ethical Intergroup Leadership Fuels Stakeholder Support for Corporate Intergroup Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 162(1), pages 229-246, February.
    16. Dirk Dierendonck & Kathleen Patterson, 2015. "Compassionate Love as a Cornerstone of Servant Leadership: An Integration of Previous Theorizing and Research," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 128(1), pages 119-131, April.
    17. Giles Hirst & Fred Walumbwa & Samuel Aryee & Ivan Butarbutar & Chin Jeffery Hui Chen, 2016. "A Multi-level Investigation of Authentic Leadership as an Antecedent of Helping Behavior," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 139(3), pages 485-499, December.
    18. Tu Yidong & Lu Xinxin, 2013. "How Ethical Leadership Influence Employees’ Innovative Work Behavior: A Perspective of Intrinsic Motivation," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 116(2), pages 441-455, August.
    19. Tran Quang Bao Phuc & Khalida Parveen & Duyen Thi Truc Tran & Dao Thi Anh Nguyen, 2021. "The linkage between ethical leadership and lecturer job satisfaction at a private higher education institution in Vietnam," Journal of Social Sciences Advancement, Science Impact Publishers, vol. 2(2), pages 39-50.
    20. Lara Scicluna & Sharon Seychell & Jonathan Spiteri & Simon Grima, 2019. "The Maltese Financial Services Industry’s Perception on the Regulators: An Empirical Analysis," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(1), pages 16-51.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:2:p:446-:d:198160. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.