Name: Cooper Drose

School of Psychology – Ph.D. Dissertation Defense Meeting

Date: Tuesday, March 24, 2026

Time:  1:00 pm – 3:00 pm

Location:  Virtual

Teams Link: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/25544217282131p=J9CHImdhG7mQzQTB9V 

Meeting ID: 255 442 172 821 31
Passcode: pa9dQ9qT

Dissertation Chair/Advisor: 

Scott Moffat, Ph.D. (Georgia Institute of Technology)

Dissertation Committee Members: 

Keaton Fletcher, Ph.D. (Colorado State University)

Chris Wiese, Ph.D. (Georgia Institute of Technology)

Thackery Brown, Ph.D. (Georgia Institute of Technology)
Katie Badura, Ph.D. (Georgia Institute of Technology)

Title: Follower Perceptions of Leader Workaholism Predicting Emotional Exhaustion Through Job Demands and Resources: The Role of Leader-Member Exchange (LMX)

Abstract: Despite a wealth of research investigating the impacts of workaholism on the self, little has examined its influence on others within the workplace. Within the leadership literature, despite the known negative behavioral tendencies and consequences of workaholism, those who score highly on workaholism tend to experience significantly greater career prospects and are more often in managerial positions (Clark et al., 2016). Given the prevalence of workaholic individuals in leadership roles, this dissertation examined the impact of having a leader high in workaholism on the follower. Drawing upon Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) theory (Demerouti et al., 2001), I proposed multiple models to assess the influence of a leader’s level of workaholism on follower well-being outcomes. In addition, I drew on Leader-Member Exchange theory (Dansereau, et al., 1975), and tested competing yet complementary models for whether this variable serves as a mediator or a boundary condition for the proposed effects. Data for this study were collected using a 10-day experience sampling methodology (ESM; N = 118). Multilevel structural equation modeling was used to test the proposed relationships, with results indicating that a leader’s level of workaholism did not significantly impact follower’s perceived demands, resources, or emotional exhaustion. Importantly, this study replicated established relationships within JD-R theory. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed, along with limitations and directions for future research.