Happiness in hard work: an exploratory study of happiness at work as experienced by selected workaholic employees in professional services, information & communication, and financial industries.

Abstract

This study explores the concept of happiness at work as experienced by workaholic employees from three key industries—professional consulting, information and communication, and financial and insurance activities. Using the ABC model of workaholism and Affective Events Theory, this study explores workaholic employees’ lived experiences of happiness. A mixed methods design was implemented, with a sequential strategy involving two phases. A preliminary phase used a survey to select workaholic employees from the key industries. The first phase involved a survey to determine the level happiness at work among the workaholic employees. The second phase involved using a phenomenological strategy to explore the workaholic employees’ concepts of happiness at work and their specific and over-all experiences of work-related happiness. Several intrinsic and extrinsic sources of happiness for the selected workaholic employees were identified, and the influence of transient happiness on person-level happiness was observed. Data reveal that the strongest link between workaholism and happiness at work is the achievement-oriented workaholic behavior pattern; implications on human resource management in organizations are discussed.