Negative (Workaholic) Emotions and Emotional Exhaustion: Might Job Autonomy Have Played a Strategic Role in Workers with Responsibility during the Covid-19 Crisis Lockdown?

Decision-making autonomy may have played a crucial role in protecting, or on the contrary, intensifying the onset of negative psychological outcomes for workers with roles with responsibilities during the lockdown due to the Covid-19 crisis. The present study analyzed the emotional dimension of workaholism in relation to emotional exhaustion, considering decision-making autonomy as a moderator of this relationship, in a sample of 101 managers and freelancers in the middle of the lockdown in Italy (early April 2020). Results showed that the relationship between negative (workaholic) emotions and emotional exhaustion was moderated by decision-making autonomy and this moderation differed for managers and freelancers. In particular, the results showed that in the target of managers high levels of negative emotional experiences related to workaholism and low decision-making autonomy are associated with higher levels emotional exhaustion, while high levels of emotional experiences linked to workaholism and high decision-making autonomy produced significantly lower levels of emotional exhaustion. On the contrary, low levels of job autonomy were associated to higher level of emotional exhaustion when negative (workaholic) emotions were low for the freelancers. Limitations are related to the limited sample and the cross-sectional nature of the study. Practical implications lie in considering decision-making autonomy as a double-edged sword, such that when low it could be a risk for managers and when high it could be a risk for freelancers.