Although remote working can involve positive outcomes both for employees and organizations, in the case of the sudden and forced remote working situation that came into place during the COVID-19 crisis there have also been reports of negative aspects, one of which is technostress. In this context of crisis, leadership is crucial in sustainably managing and supporting employees, especially employees with workaholic tendencies who are more prone to developing negative work and health outcomes. However, while research on the role of the positive aspects of leadership during crises does exist, the negative aspects of leadership during the COVID-19 crisis have not yet been studied. The present study aimed to explore the role of authoritarian leadership in a sample of 339 administrative university employees who worked either completely from home or from home and the workplace. The study examined the moderating effect of a manager on this relationship and the connections between workaholism and technostress through conditional process analysis. Results pointed out that high authoritarian leadership had an enhancing effect, whereas low authoritarian leadership had a protective effect on the relationship between workaholism and technostress, only in the group of complete remote workers. Thus, authoritarian leadership should be avoided and training leaders to be aware of its effect appears to be essential. Limitations, future directions for the study, and practical implications are also discussed.

The current study aimed to test how workload, via workaholism, impacts job performance along with the complex interplay of perfectionistic concerns and work engagement in this mediated relationship. A two-wave, first and second stage dual-moderated mediation model was tested in an SEM framework. Results based on a sample of 208 workers revealed a complex and nuanced relationship among the studied constructs, such that the simple mediation model was not significant, but the indirect effect was negative, nonsignificant, or positive conditional on both moderators. The results offer interesting theoretical and practical implications for future studies to be conducted in this area of research. In particular, lower levels of perfectionistic concerns were associated with a positive relationship between workload and workaholism, and lower levels of work engagement were related to a negative link between workaholism and job performance. Findings suggest work engagement should be monitored and promoted by managers, especially when workload, and consequently, the possible risk of workaholism, cannot be avoided.

The current study aimed at examining a moderated mediation model based on the theoretical framework of organizational socialization. In particular, the mediating effect of organizational career growth (OCG) in the relationship between organizational socialization learning and work outcomes (job satisfaction and performance) was assessed through a multigroup approach on an overall sample of 474 Italian employees. Specifically, structural equation modeling through the bootstrap method was used to test the mediation hypotheses on three dichotomous moderating variables: gender (men/women), parenthood (parents/not parents), and tenure (newcomers/expert employees). Results showed a moderated mediation effect (total mediation) of OCG in the relationship between organizational socialization learning and performance and a mediation effect of OCG in the relationship between organizational socialization learning and job satisfaction. Results are discussed on the light of the original contribution provided, as well as limitations, suggestions for further research and practical implications.

Recent contributions have reported sleep disorders as one of the health impairment outcomes of workaholism. A possible factor affecting the sleep-wake cycle might be the intensive use of smartphones. The current study aimed to explore the role of intensive smartphone use in the relationship between workaholism and the sleep-wake cycle. Two serial multiple mediation models were tested on a sample of 418 employees, who filled self-report questionnaires measuring workaholism, use of smartphones, sleep quality and daytime sleepiness, using conditional process analysis for testing direct and indirect effects. Results supported our hypotheses regarding two serial multiple mediation models—that intensive smartphone use and poor sleep quality mediated the relationship between workaholism and daytime sleepiness, and that smartphone use and daytime sleepiness mediated the relationship between workaholism and poor quality of sleep. Although the use of a cross-sectional design and the snowball technique for collecting data can be considered as possible limitations, the current study is one of the first to document the potential detrimental role of the intensive smartphone use on the workaholism-sleep disorders relationship.