The beauty versus the beast: On the motives of engaged and workaholic employees

This chapter explores the motivational differences between two forms of heavy work investment: workaholism and work engagement, respectively. Theory and research on these two forms of heavy work investment is discussed from two perspectives: a personality trait perspective, in which the motivational bases for heavy work investment is sought in stable individual differences in personality, and a work-psychological perspective, in which the motivation for heavy work investment is examined as a function of differences in work characteristics. It can be concluded from this chapter hat the motivational bases for work engagement (“beauty”) and workaholism (“the beast”) differs (read more).