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Dive into the research topics where Itzhak Harpaz is active.

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Featured researches published by Itzhak Harpaz.


Human Relations | 2003

Workaholism: Its Definition and Nature

Itzhak Harpaz; Raphael Snir

The term ‘workaholism’ is widely used, but there is little consensus about its meaning, beyond that of its core element: a substantial investment in work. Following Snir and Zohar, workaholism was first defined in the present study as the individual’s steady and considerable allocation of time to work-related activities and thoughts, which does not derive from external necessities. Subsequently, it was measured as time invested in work, while controlling the financial needs for this investment. The relation between workaholism and possible attitudinal (meaning of work indices), demographic (gender, marital status), and situational (occupation type, employment sector) variables was examined through two representative samples of the Israeli labor force. The following predictor variables were significantly related to workaholism: work centrality, economic orientation, occupation type, employment sector and gender. From those variables, gender was found to be the strongest predictor - that is, men, in comparison with women, have a higher likelihood of being workaholics. Moreover, married women worked fewer hours per week than unmarried women, while married men worked more hours per week than unmarried men. The theoretical contribution of the above findings, and of the other study’s findings, to the understanding of workaholism is discussed.


Human Relations | 2002

The Structure of the Meaning of Work: A Relative Stability Amidst Change

Itzhak Harpaz; Xuanning Fu

The theoretical and empirical literature assumes stability of important attitudes and values. Accordingly, this study examined the hypothesis that the structure of the meaning of work will remain stable over time. This hypothesis was tested on two independent samples of the Israeli labour force. The first (n = 407) was a group of individuals who were interviewed twice, once in 1981 and again in 1993. The second was a new representative sample (n = 942) of the labour force, assembled in 1993, to serve as a comparison with the first sample. The findings generally support the hypothesis regarding the stability over time of the structure of the meaning of work concept.


Journal of Leisure Research | 2002

Work-Leisure Relations: Leisure Orientation and the Meaning of Work

Raphael Snir; Itzhak Harpaz

The relationship between work and leisure, with regard to various aspects of work and its meaning, was examined in two groups of people: leisure-oriented and work-oriented. Leisure-to-work spillover characterized the relations between leisure orientation and the following variables: absolute work centrality, interpersonal contacts, intrinsic orientation, obligation norm, and weekly work hours. Compensation for work by leisure characterized the relation between job satisfaction and leisure orientation. The segmentation between leisure and work hypotheses, regarding economic orientation and entitlement norm, were supported.


Work Study | 2002

Advantages and disadvantages of telecommuting for the individual, organization and society

Itzhak Harpaz

The phenomenon of telecommuting has implications for individuals and organizations, and society generally. Examines the advantages and disadvantages of telecommuting to the parties involved and affected by it. Key advantages to individuals are increased autonomy and flexibility; to organizations, increased human resource capacity and savings in direct expenses; and to society, a reduction in environmental damage, solutions for special‐needs populations, and savings in infrastructure and energy. Advantages are weighed against disadvantages: to individuals, possible sense of isolation, lack of separation between work and home; to organizations, costs involved in transition to new work methods, training, and damage to commitment and identification with the organization; finally, society is faced with a danger of creating detached individuals. Discusses implications of the suitability of individuals to telecommuting.


Journal of Organizational Change Management | 2004

Attitudinal and Demographic Antecedents of Workaholism

Raphael Snir; Itzhak Harpaz

Following Snir and Zohar workaholism was defined as the individuals 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 Journal of Psychology | 2004

Work centrality and post-award work behavior of lottery winners

Richard D. Arvey; Itzhak Harpaz; Hui Liao

Individuals who had won the lottery responded to a survey concerning whether they had continued to work after winning. They were also asked to indicate how important work was in their life using items and scales commonly used to measure work centrality. The authors predicted that whether lottery winners would continue to work would be related to their level of work centrality as well as to the amount of their winnings. Individuals who won large amounts in the lottery would be less likely to quit work if they had relatively greater degrees of work centrality. After controlling for a number of variables (i.e., age, gender, education, occupation, and job satisfaction), results indicated that work centrality and the amount won were significantly related to whether individuals continued to work and, as predicted, the interaction between the two was also significantly related to work continuance.


European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology | 2002

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

Itzhak Harpaz

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.


Journal of World Business | 2002

A cross-cultural longitudinal analysis of the meaning of work and the socialization process of career starters

Itzhak Harpaz; Benson Honig; Pol Coetsier

This research examines the cultural variations in the socialization process of youth, from seven different countries during their transition into the world of work. It represents one of the very few longitudinal studies among young career starters and their work values. We study the extent to which work centrality is trans-national or culturally/nationally specific. The most significant increase in work centrality was found to occur during the second year of employment. At the national level, cultural differences were identified using Hofstedes (1980) measures. Countries low in uncertainty avoidance were shown to have increased work centrality, while those high in masculinity-femininity appeared weakly influential.


Human Resource Development International | 2010

Improving employees' work centrality improves organizational performance: work events and work centrality relationships

Moshe Sharabi; Itzhak Harpaz

High work centrality is related to positive performance and behaviour of employees. This unique paper discusses a longitudinal study, comparing change in work centrality among individuals who experienced meaningful work events to individuals who did not experience these events, over the course of twelve years. The findings indicate that not experiencing expressive work events (which leads to an improvement in autonomy, interest, variety, and responsibility) reduces work centrality, whereas work events such as promotion, advancement (including to a managerial position) and qualifications, are effected by high work centrality. Work events, such as improvement in pay, working conditions, and interpersonal relations at work, had no effect on those who experienced them and those who did not. The theoretical and practical implications for Human Resources Development (HRD) are discussed.


Journal of Human Values | 2007

Changes in Work Centrality and Other Life Areas in Israel: A Longitudinal Study

Moshe Sharabi; Itzhak Harpaz

This unique longitudinal study examines the state of work centrality and other life areas (family, leisure, community and religion) in Israel among the same individuals (n=407) over a 12-year period. A new representative sample (serving as a control group) of the Israeli labour force in 1992–93 (n=942) assists us in exploring whether the changes occurred by cohort, life course or period effect. The restudied sample maturation led to a decrease in the importance of leisure, while the importance of work, family, community and religion remained stable. The increase of work centrality between the 1980s and the 1990s was found to be influenced by period effect; there was no evidence of a life course or cohort effect on work centrality, while life course effect was found on the importance of community. In contrast to findings from other countries showing that young people attributed relatively high importance to leisure and relatively less importance to work, cohort effect regarding the latter was not observed in Israel. There, young people in the 1990s tended to view work and leisure as important as their predecessors did in the 1980s. Compared with research findings from the United States, Germany and Japan, work centrality in Israel was higher and more stable.

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Liat Eldor

University of Pennsylvania

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Tali Seger

Ruppin Academic Center

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