. 2025 Feb 25;14(1):220-245.

doi: 10.1556/2006.2025.00005. Print 2025 Mar 28.

The International Work Addiction Scale (IWAS): A screening tool for clinical and organizational applications validated in 85 cultures from six continents

Edyta Charzyńska¹, Aleksandra Buźniak², Stanisław K Czerwiński², Natalia Woropay-Hordziejewicz², Zuzanna Schneider³, Toivo Aavik⁴, Mladen Adamowic⁵, Byron G Adams^{6

7

8}, Sami M Al-Mahjoob⁹, Saad A S Almoshawah¹⁰, Jim Arrowsmith¹¹, Stephen Asatsa¹², Stéphanie Austin¹³, Shahnaz Aziz¹⁴, Arnold B Bakker^{15

16}, Cristian Balducci¹⁷, Eduardo Barros¹⁸, Sergiu Bălțătescu¹⁹, Dana Bdier^{20

21}, Nitesh Bhatia²², Snezana Bilic²³, Diana Boer²⁴, Avner Caspi²⁵, Trawin Chaleeraktrakoon²⁶, Connie I M Chan²⁷, Chung-Jen Chien²⁸, Hoon-Seok Choi²⁹, Rajneesh Choubisa³⁰, Marilyn Clark³¹, ĐorĐe Čekrlija^{32

33}, Zsolt Demetrovics^{34

35

36}, Eglantina Dervishi³⁷, Piyanjali de Zoysa³⁸, Alejandra Del Carmen Domínguez Espinosa³⁹, Sonya Dragova-Koleva⁴⁰, Vasiliki Efstathiou⁴¹, Maria Eugenia Fernandez^{42

43}, Claude Fernet¹³, Hesham F Gadelrab^{44

45}, Vladimer Gamsakhurdia⁴⁶, Ragna Benedikta Garðarsdóttir⁴⁷, Luis Eduardo Garrido⁴⁸, Nicolas Gillet^{49

50}, Sónia P Gonçalves^{51

52}, Mark D Griffiths⁵³, Naira Rafik Hakobyan⁵⁴, Fatimah Wati Halim⁵⁵, Michel Hansenne⁵⁶, Bashar Banwan Hasan⁵⁷, Mari Herttalampi⁵⁸, Clifford K Hlatywayo⁵⁹, Ivana Hromatko⁶⁰, Eric Raymond Igou⁶¹, Dzintra Iliško⁶², Ulker Isayeva⁶³, Hussein Nabil Ismail⁶⁴, Dorthe Høj Jensen⁶⁵, Paul Kakupa⁶⁶, Shanmukh Kamble⁶⁷, Ahmed Kerriche⁶⁸, Bettina Kubicek⁶⁹, Nuworza Kugbey⁷⁰, Bernadette Kun³⁴, J Hannah Lee⁷¹, Elena Lisá⁷², Yanina Lisun⁷³, María Laura Lupano Perugini^{74

75

76}, Francesco Marcatto⁷⁷, Biljana Maslovarić⁷⁸, Koorosh Massoudi⁷⁹, Tracy A McFarlane⁸⁰, Samson John Mgaiwa⁸¹, Seyyed Taha Moosavi Jahanabad⁸², Rodrigo Moreta-Herrera⁸³, Hang Thi Minh Nguyen⁸⁴, Yohsuke Ohtsubo⁸⁵, Tuğba Özsoy⁸⁶, Kjell Ivar Øvergård⁸⁷, Ståle Pallesen⁸⁸, Jane Parker¹¹, Nejc Plohl⁸⁹, Halley M Pontes⁹⁰, Rachael Potter⁹¹, Alan Roe⁹², Adil Samekin⁹³, Marion K Schulmeyer⁹⁴, Telman Z Seisembekov⁹⁵, María José Serrano-Fernández⁹⁶, Ghada Shahrour⁹⁷, Jelena Sladojević Matić⁹⁸, Rosita Sobhie⁹⁹, Paola Spagnoli¹⁰⁰, Joana Story¹⁰¹, Mark J M Sullman^{102

103}, Liliya Sultanova¹⁰⁴, Ruimei Sun^{105

106}, Angela Oktavia Suryani¹⁰⁷, Steve Sussman¹⁰⁸, Mendiola Teng-Calleja¹⁰⁹, Julio Torales^{110

111}, Germano Vera Cruz¹¹², Anise M S Wu^{105

106}, Xue Yang¹¹³, Katerina Zabrodska^{114

115}, Arunas Ziedelis¹¹⁶, Paweł A Atroszko²

Affiliations

¹ 1Institute of Psychology, Institute of Pedagogy, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Silesia in Katowice, Katowice, Poland.
² 2Institute of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland.
³ 3Institute of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Silesia in Katowice, Katowice, Poland.
⁴ 4Institute of Psychology, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia.
⁵ 5Department of Human Resource Management & Employment Relations, King's Business School, King's College London, London, United Kingdom.
⁶ 6Department of Work and Organizational Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
⁷ 7Department of Industrial Psychology and People Management, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa.
⁸ 8Department of Work, Organization, and Society, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
⁹ 9Psychology Department, College of Arts, University of Bahrain, Sakhir, Bahrain.
¹⁰ 10Research Center, Medical Cities Program-MOI, Saudi Arabia.
¹¹ 11School of Management, College of Business, Massey University, Albany, New Zealand.
¹² 12The Catholic University of Eastern Africa, Nairobi, Kenya.
¹³ 13Department of Human Resources Management, Business School, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Québec, Canada.
¹⁴ 14Department of Psychology, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, USA.
¹⁵ 15Center of Excellence for Positive Organizational Psychology, Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
¹⁶ 16School of Management, Human Resource Management, University of Vaasa, Finland.
¹⁷ 17Department of Psychology, University of Chieti-Pescara "G. d'Annunzio", Chieti, Italy.
¹⁸ 18School of Business, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Santiago, Chile.
¹⁹ 19University of Oradea, Oradea, Romania.
²⁰ 20Psychology and Counseling Department, An-Najah National University, Nablus, Palestine.
²¹ 21University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy.
²² 22Department of Business Administration, School of Management Sciences, Central University of Jharkhand, Ranchi, India.
²³ 23Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, International Balkan University, Skopje, Republic of North Macedonia.
²⁴ 24Institute of Psychology, University of Koblenz, Koblenz, Germany.
²⁵ 25Department of Education and Psychology, The Open University of Israel, Ra'anana, Israel.
²⁶ 26Faculty of Liberal Arts, Department of Psychology, Thammasat University, Bangkok, Thailand.
²⁷ 27Department of Management and Marketing, University of Macau, Macao, China.
²⁸ 28College of Management, Yuan Ze University, Taiwan.
²⁹ 29Department of Psychology, Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
³⁰ 30Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Pilani, India.
³¹ 31Department of Psychology, Faculty for Social Wellbeing, University of Malta, Msida, Malta.
³² 32Department of Psychology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Banja Luka, Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
³³ 33Institute of Psychology, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany.
³⁴ 34Institute of Psychology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary.
³⁵ 35Centre of Excellence in Responsible Gaming, University of Gibraltar, Gibraltar, Gibraltar.
³⁶ 36Institute for Mental Health and Wellbeing, College of Education, Psychology and Social Work, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia.
³⁷ 37Pedagogy and Psychology Department, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Tirana, Tirana, Albania.
³⁸ 38Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, Colombo, Sri Lanka.
³⁹ 39Psychology Department, Ibero-American University, Mexico City, Mexico.
⁴⁰ 40Department of Cognitive Science and Psychology, New Bulgarian University, Sofia, Bulgaria.
⁴¹ 41Department of Psychology, School of Philosophy, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece.
⁴² 42Department of Psychology, Universidad Católica del Uruguay (UCU), Montevideo, Uruguay.
⁴³ 43Department of Special Needs Education, Ghent University (UGENT), Ghent, Belgium.
⁴⁴ 44Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, Kuwait University, Kuwait City, Kuwait.
⁴⁵ 45Department of Psychology, Faculty of Education, Mansoura University, Mansoura, Egypt.
⁴⁶ 46Department of Psychology, Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, Tbilisi, Georgia.
⁴⁷ 47University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland.
⁴⁸ 48School of Psychology, Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
⁴⁹ 49QualiPsy UR 1901, Université de Tours, Tours, France.
⁵⁰ 50Institut Universitaire de France (IUF), Paris, France.
⁵¹ 51Instituto Superior de Ciências Sociais e Políticas, Universidade de Lisboa (ISCSP-ULisboa), Lisboa, Portugal.
⁵² 52Centro de Administração e Políticas Públicas (CAPP), Lisboa, Portugal.
⁵³ 53International Gaming Research Unit, Psychology Department, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, United Kingdom.
⁵⁴ 54International Scientific-Educational Center, the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia, Yerevan, Armenia.
⁵⁵ 55Research Centre for Psychology and Human Well-being, Faculty of Social Science and Humanities, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, Malaysia.
⁵⁶ 56Department of Psychology, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium.
⁵⁷ 57College of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, Wasit University, Al-Kut, Iraq.
⁵⁸ 58Department of Psychology, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland.
⁵⁹ 59University of Namibia, Windhoek, Namibia.
⁶⁰ 60Department of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia.
⁶¹ 61Department of Psychology, University of Limerick, Limerick, Republic of Ireland.
⁶² 62Daugavpils University, Daugavpils, Latvia.
⁶³ 63Psychology Department, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Khazar University, Baku, Azerbaijan.
⁶⁴ 64Adnan Kassar School of Business - AACSB Accredited, Department of Management Studies, Lebanese American University, Beirut, Lebanon.
⁶⁵ 65Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.
⁶⁶ 66School of Education, The University of Zambia, Lusaka, Zambia.
⁶⁷ 67Department of Psychology, Karnatak University Dharwad, Dharwad, India.
⁶⁸ 68Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Psychometrics and Psychological Studies Laboratory, University of Blida 2, El Affroun, Algeria.
⁶⁹ 69Department of Psychology, University of Graz, Graz, Austria.
⁷⁰ 70School of Natural and Environmental Sciences, University of Environment and Sustainable Development, Somanya, Ghana.
⁷¹ 71Department of Psychology, Indiana University Northwest, Gary, IN, United States.
⁷² 72Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences, Comenius University in Bratislava, Bratislava, Slovakia.
⁷³ 73Department of Journalism and Advertising, State University of Trade and Economics, Kyiv, Ukraine.
⁷⁴ 74National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina.
⁷⁵ 75Universidad de Palermo, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
⁷⁶ 76Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
⁷⁷ 77Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste, Trieste, Italy.
⁷⁸ 78Faculty of Philosophy Nikšić, University of Montenegro, Podgorica, Montenegro.
⁷⁹ 79Institute of Psychology of the University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
⁸⁰ 80Department of Sociology, Psychology & Social Work, University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica.
⁸¹ 81Tanzania Institute of Education (TIE), Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
⁸² 82Faculty of Psychology and Education, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran.
⁸³ 83School of Psychology, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador, Quito, Ecuador.
⁸⁴ 84Faculty of Psychology, University of Social Sciences and Humanities (USSH), Vietnam National University, Hanoi (VNU Hanoi), Hanoi, Vietnam.
⁸⁵ 85Department of Social Psychology, Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
⁸⁶ 86Sakarya University of Applied Sciences, Geyve Vocational School, Turkey.
⁸⁷ 87Department of Health, Social and Welfare Studies, University of South-Eastern Norway, Campus Vestfold, Borre, Norway.
⁸⁸ 88Department of Psychosocial Science, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.
⁸⁹ 89Department of Psychology, Faculty of Arts, University of Maribor, Maribor, Slovenia.
⁹⁰ 90School of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London, London, United Kingdom.
⁹¹ 91Psychosocial Safety Climate Global Observatory, Centre for Workplace Excellence, Justice & Society, University of South Australia, South Australia, Adelaide, Australia.
⁹² 92Leeds University Business School, Leeds, United Kingdom.
⁹³ 93School of Liberal Arts, M. Narikbayev KAZGUU University, Astana, Kazakhstan.
⁹⁴ 94Universidad Privada de Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Santa Cruz, Bolivia.
⁹⁵ 95Department of Cardiology, Astana Medical University, Astana, Kazakhstan.
⁹⁶ 96Faculty of Education Sciences and Psychology, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona, Spain.
⁹⁷ 97Faculty of Nursing, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Irbid, Jordan.
⁹⁸ 98Faculty of Media and Communication, Singidunum University in Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia.
⁹⁹ 99Interfaculty for Graduate Studies and Research, Anton de Kom University of Suriname, Paramaribo, Suriname.
¹⁰⁰ 100Department of Psychology, University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, Caserta, Italy.
¹⁰¹ 101Sao Paulo School of Business Administration, FGV, São Paulo, Brazil.
¹⁰² 102Department of Life and Health Sciences, University of Nicosia, Nicosia, Cyprus.
¹⁰³ 103Department of Social Sciences, University of Nicosia, Nicosia, Cyprus.
¹⁰⁴ 104Faculty of Psychology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Branch in Tashkent, Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
¹⁰⁵ 105Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Macau, Macao, China.
¹⁰⁶ 106Center for Cognitive and Brain Sciences, University of Macau, Macao, China.
¹⁰⁷ 107Atma Jaya Catholic University of Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia.
¹⁰⁸ 108Departments of Population and Public Health Sciences, and Psychology, and School of Social Work, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
¹⁰⁹ 109Ateneo Center for Organization Research and Development, Department of Psychology, Ateneo de Manila University, Quezon City, Philippines.
¹¹⁰ 110Department of Medical Psychology, School of Medical Sciences, Universidad Nacional de Asunción, San Lorenzo, Paraguay.
¹¹¹ 111School of Health Sciences, Universidad Sudamericana, Pedro Juan Caballero, Paraguay.
¹¹² 112Department of Psychology, University of Picardie Jules Verne (Université de Picardie Jules Verne), Amiens, France.
¹¹³ 113Centre for Health Behaviours Research (CHBR), JC School of Public Health and Primary Care, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, NT, Hong Kong, China.
¹¹⁴ 114Institute of Psychology, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic.
¹¹⁵ 115Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic.
¹¹⁶ 116Institute of Psychology, Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania.

PMID: 39998574
PMCID: PMC11974427
DOI: 10.1556/2006.2025.00005

The International Work Addiction Scale (IWAS): A screening tool for clinical and organizational applications validated in 85 cultures from six continents

Edyta Charzyńska et al. J Behav Addict. 2025.

. 2025 Feb 25;14(1):220-245.

doi: 10.1556/2006.2025.00005. Print 2025 Mar 28.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ 1Institute of Psychology, Institute of Pedagogy, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Silesia in Katowice, Katowice, Poland.
² 2Institute of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland.
³ 3Institute of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Silesia in Katowice, Katowice, Poland.
⁴ 4Institute of Psychology, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia.
⁵ 5Department of Human Resource Management & Employment Relations, King's Business School, King's College London, London, United Kingdom.
⁶ 6Department of Work and Organizational Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
⁷ 7Department of Industrial Psychology and People Management, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa.
⁸ 8Department of Work, Organization, and Society, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
⁹ 9Psychology Department, College of Arts, University of Bahrain, Sakhir, Bahrain.
¹⁰ 10Research Center, Medical Cities Program-MOI, Saudi Arabia.
¹¹ 11School of Management, College of Business, Massey University, Albany, New Zealand.
¹² 12The Catholic University of Eastern Africa, Nairobi, Kenya.
¹³ 13Department of Human Resources Management, Business School, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Québec, Canada.
¹⁴ 14Department of Psychology, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, USA.
¹⁵ 15Center of Excellence for Positive Organizational Psychology, Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
¹⁶ 16School of Management, Human Resource Management, University of Vaasa, Finland.
¹⁷ 17Department of Psychology, University of Chieti-Pescara "G. d'Annunzio", Chieti, Italy.
¹⁸ 18School of Business, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Santiago, Chile.
¹⁹ 19University of Oradea, Oradea, Romania.
²⁰ 20Psychology and Counseling Department, An-Najah National University, Nablus, Palestine.
²¹ 21University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy.
²² 22Department of Business Administration, School of Management Sciences, Central University of Jharkhand, Ranchi, India.
²³ 23Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, International Balkan University, Skopje, Republic of North Macedonia.
²⁴ 24Institute of Psychology, University of Koblenz, Koblenz, Germany.
²⁵ 25Department of Education and Psychology, The Open University of Israel, Ra'anana, Israel.
²⁶ 26Faculty of Liberal Arts, Department of Psychology, Thammasat University, Bangkok, Thailand.
²⁷ 27Department of Management and Marketing, University of Macau, Macao, China.
²⁸ 28College of Management, Yuan Ze University, Taiwan.
²⁹ 29Department of Psychology, Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
³⁰ 30Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Pilani, India.
³¹ 31Department of Psychology, Faculty for Social Wellbeing, University of Malta, Msida, Malta.
³² 32Department of Psychology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Banja Luka, Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
³³ 33Institute of Psychology, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany.
³⁴ 34Institute of Psychology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary.
³⁵ 35Centre of Excellence in Responsible Gaming, University of Gibraltar, Gibraltar, Gibraltar.
³⁶ 36Institute for Mental Health and Wellbeing, College of Education, Psychology and Social Work, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia.
³⁷ 37Pedagogy and Psychology Department, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Tirana, Tirana, Albania.
³⁸ 38Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, Colombo, Sri Lanka.
³⁹ 39Psychology Department, Ibero-American University, Mexico City, Mexico.
⁴⁰ 40Department of Cognitive Science and Psychology, New Bulgarian University, Sofia, Bulgaria.
⁴¹ 41Department of Psychology, School of Philosophy, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece.
⁴² 42Department of Psychology, Universidad Católica del Uruguay (UCU), Montevideo, Uruguay.
⁴³ 43Department of Special Needs Education, Ghent University (UGENT), Ghent, Belgium.
⁴⁴ 44Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, Kuwait University, Kuwait City, Kuwait.
⁴⁵ 45Department of Psychology, Faculty of Education, Mansoura University, Mansoura, Egypt.
⁴⁶ 46Department of Psychology, Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, Tbilisi, Georgia.
⁴⁷ 47University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland.
⁴⁸ 48School of Psychology, Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
⁴⁹ 49QualiPsy UR 1901, Université de Tours, Tours, France.
⁵⁰ 50Institut Universitaire de France (IUF), Paris, France.
⁵¹ 51Instituto Superior de Ciências Sociais e Políticas, Universidade de Lisboa (ISCSP-ULisboa), Lisboa, Portugal.
⁵² 52Centro de Administração e Políticas Públicas (CAPP), Lisboa, Portugal.
⁵³ 53International Gaming Research Unit, Psychology Department, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, United Kingdom.
⁵⁴ 54International Scientific-Educational Center, the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia, Yerevan, Armenia.
⁵⁵ 55Research Centre for Psychology and Human Well-being, Faculty of Social Science and Humanities, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, Malaysia.
⁵⁶ 56Department of Psychology, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium.
⁵⁷ 57College of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, Wasit University, Al-Kut, Iraq.
⁵⁸ 58Department of Psychology, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland.
⁵⁹ 59University of Namibia, Windhoek, Namibia.
⁶⁰ 60Department of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia.
⁶¹ 61Department of Psychology, University of Limerick, Limerick, Republic of Ireland.
⁶² 62Daugavpils University, Daugavpils, Latvia.
⁶³ 63Psychology Department, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Khazar University, Baku, Azerbaijan.
⁶⁴ 64Adnan Kassar School of Business - AACSB Accredited, Department of Management Studies, Lebanese American University, Beirut, Lebanon.
⁶⁵ 65Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.
⁶⁶ 66School of Education, The University of Zambia, Lusaka, Zambia.
⁶⁷ 67Department of Psychology, Karnatak University Dharwad, Dharwad, India.
⁶⁸ 68Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Psychometrics and Psychological Studies Laboratory, University of Blida 2, El Affroun, Algeria.
⁶⁹ 69Department of Psychology, University of Graz, Graz, Austria.
⁷⁰ 70School of Natural and Environmental Sciences, University of Environment and Sustainable Development, Somanya, Ghana.
⁷¹ 71Department of Psychology, Indiana University Northwest, Gary, IN, United States.
⁷² 72Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences, Comenius University in Bratislava, Bratislava, Slovakia.
⁷³ 73Department of Journalism and Advertising, State University of Trade and Economics, Kyiv, Ukraine.
⁷⁴ 74National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina.
⁷⁵ 75Universidad de Palermo, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
⁷⁶ 76Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
⁷⁷ 77Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste, Trieste, Italy.
⁷⁸ 78Faculty of Philosophy Nikšić, University of Montenegro, Podgorica, Montenegro.
⁷⁹ 79Institute of Psychology of the University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
⁸⁰ 80Department of Sociology, Psychology & Social Work, University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica.
⁸¹ 81Tanzania Institute of Education (TIE), Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
⁸² 82Faculty of Psychology and Education, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran.
⁸³ 83School of Psychology, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador, Quito, Ecuador.
⁸⁴ 84Faculty of Psychology, University of Social Sciences and Humanities (USSH), Vietnam National University, Hanoi (VNU Hanoi), Hanoi, Vietnam.
⁸⁵ 85Department of Social Psychology, Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
⁸⁶ 86Sakarya University of Applied Sciences, Geyve Vocational School, Turkey.
⁸⁷ 87Department of Health, Social and Welfare Studies, University of South-Eastern Norway, Campus Vestfold, Borre, Norway.
⁸⁸ 88Department of Psychosocial Science, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.
⁸⁹ 89Department of Psychology, Faculty of Arts, University of Maribor, Maribor, Slovenia.
⁹⁰ 90School of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London, London, United Kingdom.
⁹¹ 91Psychosocial Safety Climate Global Observatory, Centre for Workplace Excellence, Justice & Society, University of South Australia, South Australia, Adelaide, Australia.
⁹² 92Leeds University Business School, Leeds, United Kingdom.
⁹³ 93School of Liberal Arts, M. Narikbayev KAZGUU University, Astana, Kazakhstan.
⁹⁴ 94Universidad Privada de Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Santa Cruz, Bolivia.
⁹⁵ 95Department of Cardiology, Astana Medical University, Astana, Kazakhstan.
⁹⁶ 96Faculty of Education Sciences and Psychology, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona, Spain.
⁹⁷ 97Faculty of Nursing, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Irbid, Jordan.
⁹⁸ 98Faculty of Media and Communication, Singidunum University in Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia.
⁹⁹ 99Interfaculty for Graduate Studies and Research, Anton de Kom University of Suriname, Paramaribo, Suriname.
¹⁰⁰ 100Department of Psychology, University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, Caserta, Italy.
¹⁰¹ 101Sao Paulo School of Business Administration, FGV, São Paulo, Brazil.
¹⁰² 102Department of Life and Health Sciences, University of Nicosia, Nicosia, Cyprus.
¹⁰³ 103Department of Social Sciences, University of Nicosia, Nicosia, Cyprus.
¹⁰⁴ 104Faculty of Psychology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Branch in Tashkent, Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
¹⁰⁵ 105Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Macau, Macao, China.
¹⁰⁶ 106Center for Cognitive and Brain Sciences, University of Macau, Macao, China.
¹⁰⁷ 107Atma Jaya Catholic University of Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia.
¹⁰⁸ 108Departments of Population and Public Health Sciences, and Psychology, and School of Social Work, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
¹⁰⁹ 109Ateneo Center for Organization Research and Development, Department of Psychology, Ateneo de Manila University, Quezon City, Philippines.
¹¹⁰ 110Department of Medical Psychology, School of Medical Sciences, Universidad Nacional de Asunción, San Lorenzo, Paraguay.
¹¹¹ 111School of Health Sciences, Universidad Sudamericana, Pedro Juan Caballero, Paraguay.
¹¹² 112Department of Psychology, University of Picardie Jules Verne (Université de Picardie Jules Verne), Amiens, France.
¹¹³ 113Centre for Health Behaviours Research (CHBR), JC School of Public Health and Primary Care, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, NT, Hong Kong, China.
¹¹⁴ 114Institute of Psychology, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic.
¹¹⁵ 115Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic.
¹¹⁶ 116Institute of Psychology, Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania.

PMID: 39998574
PMCID: PMC11974427
DOI: 10.1556/2006.2025.00005

Abstract

Background and aims: Despite the last decade's significant development in the scientific study of work addiction/workaholism, this area of research is still facing a fundamental challenge, namely the need for a valid and reliable measurement tool that shows cross-cultural invariance and, as such, allows for worldwide studies on this phenomenon.

Methods: An initial 16-item questionnaire, developed within an addiction framework, was administered alongside job stress, job satisfaction, and self-esteem measures in a total sample of 31,352 employees from six continents and 85 cultures (63.5% females, mean age of 39.24 years).

Results: Based on theoretical premises and psychometric testing, the International Work Addiction Scale (IWAS) was developed as a short measure representing essential features of work addiction. The seven-item version (IWAS-7), covering all seven components of work addiction, showed partial scalar invariance across 81 cultures, while the five-item version (IWAS-5) showed it across all 85 cultures. Higher levels of work addiction on both versions were associated with higher job stress, lower job satisfaction, and lower self-esteem across cultures. The optimal cut-offs for the IWAS-7 (24 points) and IWAS-5 (18 points) were established with an overall accuracy of 96% for both versions.

Discussion and conclusions: The IWAS is a valid, reliable, and short screening scale that can be used in different cultures and languages, providing comparative and generalizable results. The scale can be used globally in clinical and organizational settings, with the IWAS-5 being recommended for most practical and clinical situations. This is the first study to provide data supporting the hypothesis that work addiction is a universal phenomenon worldwide.

Keywords: Bergen Work Addiction Scale; compulsive overworking; cross-cultural; validation study; work addiction; workaholism.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest: ZD is the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Behavioral Addictions. AMSW, BKun, MDG, and SP are members of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Behavioral Addictions. The other authors declare no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.

Figures

**Fig. 1.**
LPA of the IWAS-7 (Fig. 1a) and IWAS-5 (Fig. 1b) Items *Note.* For the IWAS-7, the consecutive items assess the following components of work addiction: salience, tolerance, mood modification, relapse, withdrawal, conflict, and problems. For the IWAS-5, the consecutive items assess salience, mood modification, relapse, conflict, and problems.

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References

1. Acosta-Prado, J. C., Tafur-Mendoza, A. A., Zárate-Torres, R. A., & Ramírez-Ospina, D. E. (2021). Psychometric properties of heavy work investment measures: A systematic review. Sustainability, 13(22), 12539. 10.3390/su132212539. - DOI
1. Alberg, A. J., Park, J. W., Hager, B. W., Brock, M. V., & Diener‐West, M. (2004). The use of “overall accuracy” to evaluate the validity of screening or diagnostic tests. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 19(5 Pt 1), 460–465. 10.1111/j.1525-1497.2004.30091.x. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
1. Andersen, F. B., Djugum, M. E. T., Sjåstad, V., & Pallesen, S. (2023). The prevalence of workaholism: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Frontiers in Psychology, 14, 1252373. 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1252373. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
1. Andreassen, C. S. (2014). Workaholism: An overview and current status of the research. Journal of Behavioral Addictions, 3(1), 1–11. 10.1556/JBA.2.2013.017. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
1. Andreassen, C. S., Griffiths, M. D., Hetland, J., & Pallesen, S. (2012). Development of a work addiction scale. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 53(3), 265–272. 10.1111/j.1467-9450.2012.00947.x. - DOI - PubMed

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The International Work Addiction Scale (IWAS): A screening tool for clinical and organizational applications validated in 85 cultures from six continents

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The International Work Addiction Scale (IWAS): A screening tool for clinical and organizational applications validated in 85 cultures from six continents

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