What kind of passion do your employees have?

Every business wants workers who passionately love their work. And for good reason: Employees who feel inspired are more productive, and passion can provide the energy necessary to fuel engagement, amid obstacles and setbacks.

But while passion seems clearly desirable, recent psychological research suggests that not all forms of passion are adaptive. In fact, some can be downright detrimental.

According to Robert J. Vallerand’s Dualistic Model of Passion, there are two main types of passion: harmonious and obsessive. People with harmonious passion engage in their work because it brings them intrinsic joy.

They have a sense of control over their work, and at the same time, they know when to disengage and are better at turning off the work switch when they wish to enjoy other activities or when further engagement becomes too risky.

As a result, their work doesn’t conflict with the other areas of their lives. When they are at the opera, for instance, or spending time with their children, they aren’t constantly thinking of work, and they don’t report feeling guilty that they aren’t working.

Questionnaire items measuring harmonious passion include:
“This activity reflects the qualities I like about myself,” “This activity is in harmony with the other activities in my life” and “For me it is a passion that I still manage to control.”

Obsessive passion is a different story. Like people who feel harmonious passion, those with obsessive passion perceive their work as representing a passion for them, and they view their work as highly valued. A major difference is that they have an uncontrollable urge to engage in their work.

As a result, they report feeling more conflict between their passion and the other activities in their life.

Questionnaire items measuring obsessive passion include: “The urge is so strong, I can’t help myself from doing this activity,” “I am emotionally dependent on this activity’’ and “My mood depends on me being able to do this activity.”

These two forms of passion are associated with very different outcomes. Harmonious passion is associated with higher levels of physical health, psychological well-being, self-esteem, positive emotions, creativity, concentration, flow, work satisfaction and congruence with other parts of one’s life. These effects spill over into those other areas too. Because people with harmonious passion can actively disengage from work and experience other parts of their lives, they report general positive affect over time.

In contrast, those with obsessive passion display higher levels of negative affect over time and display more maladaptive behaviors. They can hardly ever stop thinking about their work, and they get quite frustrated when they are prevented from working.
They also persist when it’s risky to do so (just like a pathological gambler). One reason for this behavior is that their work forms a very large part of their self-concept.

As a result, a person with obsessive passion displays more self-protective behaviour, such as aggression, especially when he feels like his identity is threatened.

People with obsessive passion also have a more negative image of themselves, being quicker to pair the word ‘’unpleasant’’ with “self” than those who show lower levels of obsessive passion. This suggests that their persistence comes not from a place of intrinsic joy, but from an unstable ego.

These differences have implications for work burnout. A recent study investigated burnout, as measured by emotional exhaustion, in two samples of nurses, across two different countries, over a six-month period.

Among the participants, obsessive passion increased the chances of burnout while harmonious passion helped protect against burnout. The researchers identified some key factors that explain this relationship.