Employee work passion: A theoretical review

Abstract

Passion for work is defined as a strong inclination toward a work that one loves, find important, that is self defining, and individuals invest significant amount of time and energy. It is conceptualized as a persistent state of desire based on cognitive and affective evaluations of one’s job. According to dualistic model there are two types of passion, harmonious and obsessive passion. Work passion is a concept relatively new and has started to receive increasing attention from management scholars in the last decade. As a result this paper aims to review the definition of passion for work, identifying the main factors predictors and outcomes of passion for work. The reviewed show that the two types of passion leads to very different outcomes. There is very little research has addressed to the issues about the factors that leads to the development of a harmonious passion (Forest et al., 2012). For that reason, at the end of this study it is suggested how to improve harmonious passion in organizations based on the growth and use of personal signature of strengths that match with an attractive job design with greater autonomy, building a culture of belongingness and development and finally creating a meaningful work, this will improve employee well-being and organizational performance.