Do workaholism and work stress affect meaningful work?: a study on healthcare workers in Turkiye

Purpose This study aims to determine the relationships among workaholism, work stress and meaningful work among healthcare workers. Another objective of the study is to examine whether work stress mediates the relationship between workaholism and meaningful work. Design/methodology/approach A cross-sectional study of 741 healthcare workers used face-to-face questionnaires. The scales used in the study were determined to be highly valid and reliable and the developed measurement model was validated. A mediation model was examined using structural equation modelling (SEM) via IBM statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) analysis of moment structures (AMOS) 23.0 software. Findings There was a positive correlation between workaholism and work stress and a negative correlation between meaningful work and workaholism and work stress. Moreover, work stress served as a mediator in the relationship between workaholism and meaningful work. These patterns suggest that high levels of workaholism and stress are linked to a diminished perception of work meaningfulness in the healthcare context. Practical implications Healthcare organisations should strive to create and maintain the perception of meaningful work. For this purpose, healthcare organisations that care about employee well-being may need to reconsider their work design by taking into account the job characteristics model for the meaningfulness of work. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study provides incremental empirical evidence on the mediating effect of stress in the correlation between workaholism and meaningful work, thereby extending the existing literature on the dark side of meaningful work.