"Expressing a wish to continue or stop working as related to the meaning of work"

by Harpaz, Itzhak (2002)

Abstract

Non-financial reasons for continuing employment were determined by posing the ?lottery question?, which asked individuals: ?If there were no financial reasons to carry on working, would you stop or continue working?? Approximately 90% of two representative samples of the Israeli labour force indicated that they would continue working. Significant predictors of an inclination to stop working in 1981 were a strong instrumental orientation, low work centrality, organizational obligation, intrinsic orientation, and being a female. In 1993, significant predictors of discontinuing work included low work centrality, low occupational satisfaction, high instrumental orientation, and strong interpersonal relations. These findings are examined in light of recent changes observed in Israeli society, as well as implications to work and employment.

Key Passage

Kaplan (1985) reports that in his study of 576 lottery winners in the USA, only 11% of them ceased working. Similarly, in a recent study, Arvey, Harpaz, and Hui (2001) disclosed that more than 86% of an American sample that won an average of US$3.39 million (sd US$5.08 million) in the lottery, continued working. Hence, these findings are supportive evidence that the hypothetical ‘lottery question’ may in fact be regarded as an accurate indicative of actual behavioural intention in the work place” (p 179-80)

Links to Reference

• https://doi.org/10.1080/13594320244000111
• http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13594320244000111
• https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13594320244000111
• https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Itzhak-Harpaz/publication/228925998_Expressing_a_wish_to_continue_or_stop_working_as_related_to_the_meaning_of_work/links/5628ccab08ae518e347c654e/Expressing-a-wish-to-continue-or-stop-working-as-related-to-the-meaning-of-work.pdf

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