A Qualitative Study on the Consequences of Intensive Working

• Date: 01 June 2017
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/hrdq.21284
• Published date: 01 June 2017

HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT QUARTERLY, vol. 28, no. 2, Summer 2017 © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) • DOI: 10.1002/hrdq.21284 227

QUALITATIVE STUDY

A Qualitative Study on the

Consequences of Intensive

Working

Melrona Kirrane , Marianne Breen , Cliodhna O ’ Connor

The nomological network of intensive working, or ‘workaholism’, is unclear.

Taking a theoretically driven social constructivist approach, anchored in the

field of human resource development ( HRD ), this study sought to explore

how male intensive workers understand the consequences of their work

patterns with respect to the experience of satisfaction and dissatisfaction

in the work and nonwork domains. Deploying an interpretivist paradigm,

data from 30 interviews were analyzed. These comprised 10 people who

construed themselves as intensive workers, a coworker of each intensive

worker, and 10 moderate workers. Each interview was analyzed using

discourse analysis techniques. Intensive workers readily described the

satisfaction they experienced from their work. Coworkers corroborated

these accounts. Many experiences of dissatisfaction among intensive

workers were readily offset against gains from intrinsic pleasure in the

work or else rationalized. Data from coworkers suggested that intensive

workers were both inspirational and troubling colleagues who unwittingly

impaired their own career progress. Comparative data from moderate

workers further illuminated the consequences of intensive work patterns.

This study contributes to theories of intensive work by highlighting the

variegated nature of the consequences of intensive working. Understanding

how these work patterns are justified and maintained is a critical starting

point to support HRD professionals in addressing the consequences that

ensue. Such insights have implications for the design and development of

organizational policies and procedures that have repercussions for workers’

lives.

Key Words: dissatisfaction , intensive working , qualitative analysis ,

satisfaction , social construction

228 Kirrane, Breen, O’Connor

HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT QUARTERLY • DOI: 10.1002/hrdq

Introduction

The major purpose of HRD is to improve workplace learning and organiza-

tional performance (Holton, 2002 ; Mankin, 2009 ; Swanson & Holton, 2009 ;

Werner, 2014 ). Effectively managing the organization ’ s talent base has been

identified as a fundamental feature of this objective and, as such, is deserving

of serious research attention (Sheehan & Anderson, 2015 ). Learning about

patterns of work behavior, their effect on employee performance, and devising

effective responses by HRD professionals to such matters is a critical feature

of this endeavor.

Intensive working is largely regarded as having negative consequences

for individuals, organizations, and society. It is often described and explained

using a variety of terms, including workaholism (Libano, Llorens, Salanova, &

Schaufeli, 2010 ), work addiction (Sussman, 2012 ), excessive work (Andreassen,

2014 ), heavy work investment (Snir & Harpaz, 2012 ), craving (Wojdylo, Bau-

mann, Buczny, Owens, & Kuhl, 2013 ), and work passion (Houlfort, Philippe,

Vallerand, & Ménard, 2013 ). Research suggests that approximately 10% of the

general U.S. population engage in these lifestyles (Sussman, Lisha, & Griffiths,

2011 ), with other international studies reporting higher incidences (Andreas-

sen, Griffiths, Hetland, & Pallesen, 2012 ). Most public and academic discus-

sions of these types of work practices regard them as dangerous phenomena

(Robinson, 2013 ), thus requiring attention from researchers and HRD profes-

sionals alike.

A number of starting points for understanding this behavioral patter n

have been advanced in the literature, including addiction (M. A. Clark,

Michel, Zhdanova, Pui, & Baltes, 2014 ; Matuska, 2010 ; Porter, 1996 ;

Robinson & Kelley, 1998 ), disposition (Burke, Matthiesen, & Pallesen, 2006 ;

L. A. Clark, Livesley, Schroeder, & Irish, 1996 ; McMillan, O ’ Driscoll, & Burke,

2003 ), and learned behavior (Cohen, 1995 ). However, the nomological net-

work remains unclear (Snir & Harpaz, 2012 ), as too much of the prevailing

research lacks the strong theoretical guidance required to move the field for-

ward decisively (Giannini & Scabia, 2014 ; Sussman, 2012 ). This backdrop

suggests that a theory-driven approach using an innovative methodology to

understand this phenomenon now has some merit.

We take a social constructionist approach in our investigation (Russell,

2012 ; Weick, 1979 ), using the theoretical starting points advanced by Ng,

Sorensen, and Feldman ( 2007 ) and Snir and Harpaz, (

2012 ) to analyze the

consequences of intensive working. In advancing in this manner, we move

away from using the poorly defined term workaholism in favor of the more

expansive term intensive working and take an ontological perspective (Morgan

& Smircich, 1980 ) to explore how those who work intensively construe the

consequences of this working pattern. We synchronize these accounts with

coworkers’ perceptions of intensive workers and additionally incorporate work

pattern narratives into our analyses from those who do not work intensively, to

A qualitative study on the consequences of intensive working 229

HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT QUARTERLY • DOI: 10.1002/hrdq

whom we refer as moderate workers. In pursuing this approach, we respond

to the calls of Andreassen Hetland, and Pallesen ( 2013 ); Mazzetti, Schaufeli,

and Guglielmi ( 2016 ) and Snir and Harpaz ( 2012 ), who encourage researchers

in this field to collect collateral responses to allow for data triangulation (Seale,

1999 ), and Sussman ( 2012 ), who advocates for more real-world studies to

complement existing knowledge within the field.

Following Machlowitz ( 1980 ), we adopt a qualitative approach in our

study as a route to uncovering experienced consequences of intensive work

practices. In taking this approach, our study illuminates the variegated nature

of the effects of intensive working patterns, thus contributing to the theoreti-

cal debate. We find that intensive workers reported profound enjoyment of

their work, deriving particular satisfaction from working hard and achiev-

ing objectives. Intensive workers also reported strong dissatisfaction with the

requirement to work cooperatively with others, in stark contrast to moderate

workers who described this as one of the most attractive features of their

work. Coworkers endorsed the limitations of intensive workers in coopera-

tive work, which they positioned as self-imposed obstacles to their career

success. Some frustration with imbalance between work and life domains was

evident among intensive workers, and innovative strategies to manage these

issues appeared in their data. Moreover, intensive workers invoked complex,

self-serving portrayals that minimized the negative effects of their working

patterns while coworkers articulated compassion for family members affected.

Set against the more benign descriptions of work and nonwork satisfaction

from moderate workers, our study provides a rich understanding of the mani-

fold repercussions of intensive work patterns, which can be used to inform

workplace practices and appropriate HRD policy and procedure. Together,

our findings contribute to the theoretical debate regarding the consequences

of intensive working and have implications for HRD practitioners in a number

of domains, including employee development, workflow management, and

teamwork.

Literature Review

Clarifying the conceptual landscape of intensive working is an appropriate

starting point for exploring how intensive workers interpret their work prac-

tices. In this section, we begin by reviewing empirical findings on the con-

sequences of intensive working and then proceed to examine the theoretical

background of research in this field.

The Consequences of Intensive Working

Intensive working was first described by Oates ( 1968 ) to describe a compul-

sion to work incessantly. He used the term workaholism as a play on alcoholism

to describe such behavior. This term was taken up within the literature and is

now commonly used, albeit not exclusively, to describe intensive temporal and