Understanding the Psychosocial Mechanisms of Karoshi

As often documented by international media, Japan is characterised by an extreme overwork culture. The term karoshi - death from overwork - emerged in Japan in the early 1980s, and has since been an ongoing occupational threat for the Japanese working society. The notion is used to describe deaths due to cerebrovascular/heart diseases, or suicide due to mental disorders stemming from heavy psychological burden caused by an overload of work (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Japan, 2022a). The adapted term karo-jisatsu is used to refer to suicide from overwork. Despite the fact that karoshi persists to this day, little research has been done to identify the psychosocial mechanisms behind this social phenomenon. Consequently, research is urgently needed to better understand this occupational threat and raise awareness about the risks associated with excessive work habits. In this cross-sectional study, we investigated the relations between key factors that are theoretically related to the phenomenon of karoshi: overwork climate, workaholism, perceived exploitation and turnover intentions. In addition, we hypothesised and tested these relationships while considering the moderating effects of collectivism and career calling (N = 80 Japanese workers). Our results indicate that overwork endorsement is highly associated with workaholism and perceived exploitation, suggesting that interventions to prevent excessive work habits should be aimed at the organisational level. Furthermore, we observed that workaholics with high levels of collectivism and career calling tend to experience lower levels of perceived exploitation. This finding may shed light on why some employees push themselves to the point of exhaustion, or worse death. Overall, our research provides deeper insights into this occupational issue, serving as a foundation for further empirical research into the underlying psychosocial causes of karoshi.