Key word: workaholism, behavioral addiction, obsessive-compulsive personality
This article discusses the construct of workaholism by mapping the development of the concept and its key components from different perspectives. Workaholism appears like a multidimensional concept with cognitive, emotional, and behavioral consequences. In particular, work addiction involves preoccupation with work to the exclusion of other life domains, irrational self-oriented performance demands, negative emotions, excessive time spent on working, and negative social consequences. The operational definitions useful to conceptualize workaholism are also described.
Secondly, the important frameworks, explaining work addiction specificity, are presented, which are based on a systematic search of the literature. Specifically, workaholism is explained as a behavioral addiction, a learned behavior, the consequence of dispositional components and the outcome of social patterns.