Workaholism and Burnout in Australian Church Workers
Workaholism considered as work addiction and its relationship to burnout is examined in a sample of 461 ministers and other workers in Australian churches, who completed the Dutch Work Addiction Scale alongside the Scale of Emotional Exhaustion in Ministry and the Satisfaction in Ministry Scale. Thi...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Brill
2015
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| In: |
Research in the social scientific study of religion
Year: 2015, Volume: 26, Pages: 250-265 |
| Further subjects: | B
Religious sociology
B Social sciences B Religionspsycholigie B Religionswissenschaften B Religion & Gesellschaft B Vergleichende Religionswissenschaft & Religionswissenschaft |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Workaholism considered as work addiction and its relationship to burnout is examined in a sample of 461 ministers and other workers in Australian churches, who completed the Dutch Work Addiction Scale alongside the Scale of Emotional Exhaustion in Ministry and the Satisfaction in Ministry Scale. This group has received little attention in workaholism studies though their work context contains factors which could cause them to have greater risks and not to place limits on their work. Results showed that overwork and poor boundaries are the norm, but suggested an incidence of workaholism towards the lower end of the spectrum with professions in the health, social work and education sectors. Current questions on working excessively may not be adequate to assess these sectors. Working excessively was not related to the negative aspects of burnout (emotional exhaustion and depersonalization) and was positively related to the positive aspects (personal achievement and satisfaction with ministry), suggesting that, for church workers, working excessively is not in itself a threat to their wellbeing. Working compulsively, the other component of workaholism, was associated with higher emotional exhaustion and depersonalization, and lower personal achievement and satisfaction with ministry. Therefore it is the working compulsively component of workaholism that appears to lead to outcomes of lower wellbeing in church workers. Feeling guilty when not working and pushing oneself to work hard even when it is not enjoyable are compulsive work dynamics that could risk burnout by ignoring the warning signs of fatigue when they appear. |
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| Contains: | Enthalten in: Research in the social scientific study of religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/9789004299436_017 |