The Bright and Dark Side of Playful Work Design: Navigating Work Engagement and Workaholism

Abstract Play often equates to positive experiences, but could there also be drawbacks? To answer this question, we built on the energy management perspective of play to investigate the direct, configurational, and multiplicative effects of playful work design (consisting of designing fun and designing competition) on work engagement and workaholism. We proposed that playful work design represents an effective energy management strategy for work engagement, but may also increase workaholism when designing competition overshadows designing fun. We tested our hypotheses and replicated our findings in two heterogeneous samples. Specifically, we conducted a cross-sectional (Study 1; N = 1262) and daily diary study (Study 2; N = 742 individuals, n = 2774 days). As hypothesized, designing fun and designing competition promote work engagement, while designing fun decreases workaholism, and designing competition increases it. We also found support for the configurational hypotheses. Namely, work engagement is especially high when employees enact playful work design congruently, and workaholism decreases when employees design fun more often than they design competition. Taken together, these findings underscore the paradoxical nature of playful work design: the same strategies that energize employees can also either fuel or prevent maladaptive overinvestment, depending on how they are orchestrated. The findings have important implications for research and practice.