Introduction. Grounded in Trait Activation Theory (Tett & Burnett, 2003), work behavior can be understood as the joint outcome of personality traits and organizational factors. From this perspective, it may be assumed that in environments characterized by overwork climates and heavy workloads, individuals high in narcissism are more likely to develop work addiction. Yet, the proposed moderating effects have largely been overlooked and warrant further investigation.
Purpose. The present study aimed to examine whether overwork climate and workload moderate the relationship between different types of employee narcissism and work addiction.
Method. The study was conducted with a sample of 1,001 employees from Lithuanian organizations. Data were collected using a cross-sectional self-report survey design. Work addiction was measured with the Bergen Work Addiction Scale (BWAS; Andreassen et al., 2012). Grandiose narcissism was assessed using the 16-item Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI-16; Ames et al., 2006), while vulnerable narcissism was measured with the 10-item Hypersensitive Narcissism Scale (HSNS; Hendin & Cheek, 1997). Overwork climate was captured with the 8-item scale developed by Mazzetti et al. (2014), and workload was measured with the 5-item Quantitative Workload Inventory (QWI; Spector & Jex, 1998).
Results. Findings provided partial support for the hypothesized moderation effects. Specifically, the positive association between vulnerable narcissism and work addiction was amplified under conditions of higher workload. However, the moderating effect of overwork climate was not significant for this relationship. Similarly, neither overwork climate nor workload moderated the relationship between grandiose narcissism and work addiction.
Conclusions. This study advances scholarly understanding of work addiction by highlighting its potential to emerge from the complex interplay between personality traits and organizational factors. However, the absence of several anticipated effects highlights the need for further research to replicate and extend these findings.