The interplay between work engagement, workaholism, emotional exhaustion and job satisfaction in academics: A person-centred approach to the study of occupational well-being and its relations with job hindrances and job challenges in an Italian university

The aim of this study was to analyse the occupational well-being of academics by using a person-centred approach. Data was collected by an online self-report questionnaire involving the academic population of a large Italian university. Cluster analysis showed the presence of four significantly different clusters, that were labelled engaged-satisfied, engaged-workaholic, exhausted-workaholic and detached. Multivariate analysis of variances showed significant differences between clusters regarding well-being dimensions, and the perception of work demand on academics as sources of hindrance or challenge. The findings of this study suggested, for the first time, the existence of a well-being typology within the academic context, considering aspects, such as workaholism, that have been rarely taken into account. Moreover, it has been shown that the well-being profile can influence the way in which academics perceived academic work demands, highlighting the potentialities of analysing well-being profile in order to identify employees who are more or less at risk.