Well-Being of Entrepreneurs: The Thin Line between Work Engagement and Workaholism

Abstract

Theoretically, working excessively hard should be related negatively with well-being; however, the empirical literature does not consistently indicate that entrepreneurs are lower in well-being than people working in other jobs. The present article introduces a study of 101 entrepreneurs differentiating between different types of working hard: Workaholism and work engagement. While workaholism implies a work obsession, work engagement implies working hard in a fulfilling and positive way. Results indicate that workaholism is negatively and work engagement is positively related with well-being. Moreover, the negative relationships of workaholism are minimized by detaching from work during off-work hours.