ITS ABOUT TIME - A STUDY OF HOURS WORKED AND WORK SPILLOVER AMONG LAWFIRM LAWYERS

This study set out to address two basic questions: why do law firm law yers work as much as they do and why do they feel that their work is i nvading their nonwork life? The results show that the factors related to the number of hours worked do not necessarily translate into feelin gs of work spillover and that the number of hours worked is not very i mportant in mediating effects on work spillover. Work motivation was p ositively associated with the number of hours worked, but unrelated to feelings of spillover. For women, having preschool children is also h ighly related to hours worked, but this is not important in understand ing work spillover. Conversely, factors that were found related to wor k spillover are not associated with the number of hours lawyers work ( e.g., promotional opportunity, social value of work and profit driven) . Work overload is the only common determinant. This pattern of findin gs suggests that the factors associated with hours worked may not nece ssarily produce feelings of work spillover and it is critical to disti nguish between the two variables in order to examine their different a ntecedents. (C) 1997 Academic Press.