Who wants to work less? Significance of socio-economic status and work conditions for work commitment among Swedish lottery winners

Abstract

Manual workers and workers who experience their jobs as ‘bad’ are presumed to have a more instrumental attitude toward work than those with high job satisfaction. This study examines whether demonstrated differences in Swedish lottery winners’ work patterns – where blue-collar winners are more apt than white-collar winners to scale back their time spent on paid work – can be explained by a difference in work conditions for these socio-economic groups. Starting from such expectations, this article examines the impact of work conditions on winners’ decisions to leave their jobs, take periods of leave, or reduce their working hours. Negative job perceptions accompanying physical strain, poor possibilities for further training, ‘bad’ colleagues and lack of influence over one’s working hours were found to be central in the decision to spend less time at work. The effect of socio-economic status on the option of working shorter hours, however, was still significant even when controlling for job characteristics.