Search results

The purpose of this paper is to examine heavy time investment in work from both dispositional and situational perspectives.

Data were collected twice, at the beginning and at the end of a 12-year period, from the same respondents of the Meaning of Work project in Israel.

The classification of respondents as heavy work investors (work more than 50 weekly hours) or as ordinary workers is stable over the years, which indirectly supports the dispositional perspective. The situational perspective is generally not supported. Remaining at the same workplace or changing workplaces and a stable or changing classification of a person as a heavy work investor or as an ordinary worker over the years are dependent on each other. However, no relation was found between change in financial needs and a person’s level of time investment in work. Only two out of 14 relevant life events relate positively and significantly to the level of time investment in work over the years: appointment to manage other workers and receiving greater work autonomy.

The effectiveness of policies designed to encourage working long hours on the one hand, or a work-life balance on the other, is questionable. However, a specific intervention which, based on the findings of this study, may encourage time investment in work is expanding the job vertically.

This is an exceptional longitudinal study examining stability (over time) and situational predictors of work hours among the same individuals.

The purpose of this paper is to explore well-being and health-related outcomes among all the four basic subtypes of heavy work investment (HWI), as well as a fifth distinct category of full-time workers (i.e. those who work from 35 to 43 weekly hours).

The 510 respondents chosen to be included in the Internet survey were mostly heavy work investors. Based on two dimensions of causal attributions (causal locus and controllability), an elimination mode was used to classify heavy work investors into four main subtypes. Those who reported high financial needs were classified as needy. From the remaining heavy work investors, those who reported high organizational demands were classified as organization-directed. Afterward, those who reported high drive to work were classified as workaholics. Finally, those who reported high passion for work were classified as work-devoted.

Among the five categories of classified respondents, the work-devoted and the needy emerged as the most distinct categories. The work-devoted had the best outcomes (stronger positive feelings, better current health condition, better body mass index (BMI) and adequate hours of sleep a night), whereas the needy had the worst outcomes (a higher level of stress, bodily pain, aches that interfere with regular activities and weariness throughout the day).

This study addressed both long hours and high effort invested in work, and both dispositional and situational heavy work investors. A possible implication of this study is that when job applicants have similar human capital profiles, organizations should consider recruitment of work-devoted individuals for demanding jobs.

This study aims to examine the two (and perhaps the most) important outcome variables of the interface between work and family, namely, overall job performance and parental functioning, in the context of performance appraisal.

Each of 844 respondents (managers or self-employed who supervise workers, half of them men) evaluated a briefly portrayed employed married parent on his/her job performance and parental functioning. Male and female respondents were randomly and equally allocated to one of 16 research conditions. They evaluated an employed married parent portrayed as a mother or a father, who increased or decreased his/her weekly workhours following the mother's return from maternity leave, invested relatively high or low effort in his/her work and exhibited relatively high or low work achievements.

Parents who invest a relatively high effort in their work were evaluated as having a higher level of job performance than those who invest a relatively low effort. Parents who exhibit relatively high work achievements were evaluated as having higher levels of job performance and parental functioning than those who exhibit relatively low work achievements. Parents who increased their weekly workhours following the mother's return from maternity leave were evaluated as having a lower level of parental functioning than those who decreased their weekly workhours.

This is a rare study implementing a factorial design with five independent variables (parent's time investment in work following the mother's return from maternity leave, his/her relative work effort, his/her relative work achievements, parent's gender and the evaluator’s gender) never manipulated simultaneously before.

To further explore the nature of non-monetary motivation for working, this study aims to present correlates of non-financial employment commitment (NFEC) and a cross-national comparison.

Data gathered from representative national samples of the adult population (i.e. employed and unemployed individuals) in 31 countries (n=43,440), among them Nordic (e.g. Sweden and Norway), Western-European (e.g. Spain and France), Anglo-Saxon (e.g. the USA and Britain), former Communist (e.g. Russia and Hungary), Asian (e.g. Japan and South Korea), Latin-American (Mexico and the Dominican Republic), and African (South Africa). The source of the data is the 2005 International Social Survey Programme module on work orientation.

NFEC proves positively correlated with intrinsic job characteristics, education level, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment. Administrators, managers, and professionals have higher NFEC than blue-collar workers, clerks, service workers, and sales workers. Respondents currently working for pay have higher NFEC than those currently not working for pay. Respondents trying to improve job skills during the previous 12 months have higher NFEC than those not trying to do so. NFEC is higher in member countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development than in non-member countries. NFEC is also higher in countries where self-expression values are important than in countries where survival values are important.

By assessing NFEC decision makers may be assisted in their selection and advancement decisions.

This study conducts the most comprehensive cross-national comparison of NFEC to date, and its findings have high external validity. It is unlikely that the findings are biased by social desirability.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the workaholism phenomenon.

Workaholism was defined as the individual's steady and considerable allocation of time to work, which is not derived from external necessities. Subsequently, it was measured as time invested in paid work, controlling for the financial needs for such an investment. Workaholism is examined from a cross‐national perspective through representative samples of the labor force in Belgium, Israel, Japan, The Netherlands, and the USA

The Japanese worked more hours per week than all other nationalities. The following findings have remained stable across nations: respondents with a high level of work centrality worked more hours per week than did those with a low level of work centrality. Men worked more hours per week than women. Married women worked fewer hours per week than unmarried women, while married men worked more hours per week than unmarried men. Private‐sector employees worked more hours per week than public‐sector employees.

The cross‐national comparisons are based on aggregated self‐reported data obtained from individuals. However, the present study makes three major contributions: applying a non‐biased definition of workaholism, indicating that the existing conceptualizations of workaholism as an attitude have underestimated the importance of sex‐roles in shaping work patterns and behaviors, and findings of similarities as well as of differences across nations on the phenomenon of workaholism.

Developing awareness of cultural variations concerning workaholism.

This is perhaps the only empirical study so far making a cross‐national comparison of workaholism, which also has high external validity.

To produce a collection of papers about workaholism which demonstrate real rigour both methodologically and conceptually – something which the guest editors feel has been somewhat lacking in the subject's history.

Introduces the topic, providing some background and discussion of the main concepts. Briefly introduces the papers and their main findings

The contributions illustrate the development of workaholism research

Contextualizes the issue and extends the overall knowledge in the topic.

Following Snir and Zohar workaholism was defined as the individual's steady and considerable allocation of time to work‐related activities and thoughts, which does not derive from external necessities. It was measured as time invested in work, with consideration of the financial needs for this investment. The effects of attitudinal and demographic variables on workaholism were examined through a representative sample of the Israeli labor force (n=942). Using independent‐samples t tests, the following findings were revealed: respondents with a high level of occupational satisfaction worked more hours per week than those with a low level of occupational satisfaction. The same can be stated of self‐employed versus salaried workers. On the other hand, people with a high level of family centrality worked few hours per week than those with a low level of family centrality. The same was revealed with people who defined an activity as work if “you do it at a certain time,” compared with those who did not define it thus. No significant difference in weekly work hours was found between respondents with a high level of leisure centrality and those with a low level of leisure centrality. A one‐way ANOVA revealed a significant effect for religiosity: secular people worked more hours per week than non‐secular people (religious and those with a loose contact with religion).

The purpose of this paper is to apply a biopsychosocial model to develop an integrated typology of heavy work investment (HWI) behaviors.

The paper follows an inductive approach to theory building in which we review relevant constructs, categorize those constructs, and outline the relationships among them.

The paper provides a theoretically grounded typology of HWI that distinguishes three general types of HWI (workaholic HWI, situational HWI, and pseudo HWI) and nine corresponding HWI manifestations. It is suggested that various forms of HWI differ in nature according to the joint interplay of varying strengths of biological, psychological, and social influences. The paper also demonstrates how the typology can be applied to predict unique individual and organizational outcomes associated with each HWI sub-type.

The paper offers a unified strong foundation for developing HWI measures. It offers a direction for future research that will examine antecedents and outcomes of the nine sub-types. It provokes the examination of the “stability” of each HWI manifestation over time by including a temporal component into the biopsychosocial framework.

This research will help practitioners differentiate among HWI manifestations to effectively sustain positive outcomes and proactively evade negative outcomes associated with HWI.

To date, various manifestations of HWI and workaholism have been discussed in the literature with little unification across studies. In this paper, the authors respond to the call for a theoretically grounded approach that will provide unifying explanations to why and how HWI manifests.

The present research aimed to conceptually position passion for work as a predictor of HWI, as well as to assess the short and long-term influence of passion for work on workers' satisfaction, depression and turnover intentions. In addition, the paper tests whether the effects of passion for work were independent from those of work motivation.

Hypotheses were tested in two field studies in work settings. The first study (n=2,393) was cross-sectional while the second study (n=335) used a prospective design.

Harmonious passion was positively related to positive individual outcomes – higher work satisfaction, lower depression – and organizational outcomes – lower turnover intentions. Negative consequences – depression and turnover intentions – were positively related to obsessive passion. Furthermore, passion for work was found to be a distinct concept from work motivation as the above findings held even when controlling for work motivation.

Applications are limited to teachers. Only self-reported measures were used.

The present research contributes significantly to the organizational and passion literature by showing that HWI may lead to either positive or negative outcomes depending on HWI's underlying motivational force, namely harmonious or obsessive passion. In addition, the present findings yield the first empirical evidence that passion and motivation are distinct but related concepts. In sum, findings from both studies provide valuable insights into the dynamics of passionate workers who are heavily invested in their work.