Volume 74, Issue 3 pp. 224-239
ARTICLE

The interplay between work engagement, workaholism, emotional exhaustion and job satisfaction in academics: A person-centred approach to the study of occupational well-being and its relations with job hindrances and job challenges in an Italian university

Gloria Guidetti

Gloria Guidetti

Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy

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Sara Viotti

Sara Viotti

Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy

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Daniela Converso

Daniela Converso

Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy

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First published: 17 December 2019
Citations: 20

Abstract

en

The aim of this study was to analyse the occupational well-being of academics by using a person-centred approach. Data was collected by an online self-report questionnaire involving the academic population of a large Italian university. Cluster analysis showed the presence of four significantly different clusters, that were labelled engaged-satisfied, engaged-workaholic, exhausted-workaholic and detached. Multivariate analysis of variances showed significant differences between clusters regarding well-being dimensions, and the perception of work demand on academics as sources of hindrance or challenge. The findings of this study suggested, for the first time, the existence of a well-being typology within the academic context, considering aspects, such as workaholism, that have been rarely taken into account. Moreover, it has been shown that the well-being profile can influence the way in which academics perceived academic work demands, highlighting the potentialities of analysing well-being profile in order to identify employees who are more or less at risk.

Astratto

it

Utilizzando l'approccio person-centred, il presente studio ha avuto l'obiettivo di individuare diversi profili di benessere occupazionale in un campione di professori universitari Italiani. In specifico, i risultati della cluster analysis hanno evidenziato la presenza di quattro profili definiti da differenti livelli di work engagement, esaurimento emotivo, workaholism e soddisfazione lavorativa. Le analisi hanno permesso inoltre di rilevare differenze significative fra i diversi profili per ciò che riguarda la percezione di alcune specifiche richieste lavorative del contesto accademico, distinguendo tra richieste percepite come ostacolanti (hindrance demands) e richieste percepite come sfidanti (challenge demands). Alla luce della tipologia emersa dai risultati, questo studio permette quindi di evidenziare come diversi aspetti del benessere occupazionale possano coesistere a livello intra-individuale, favorendo l'identificazione di profili maggiormente a rischio per la qualità della vita lavorativa in università.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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