Abstract: While there has been renewed interest in the trend toward longer working hours, neither economic nor sociological explanations have been able to fully account for the rapid increase in work hours observed among managers today. This study presents a multi- level framework for understanding under which conditions managers are most likely to increase their work hours. Individual-level factors (for example, performance appraisal criteria and time and place of hours worked), organizational-level factors (for example, norms, leadership and culture) and economic factors (for example, declining profitability and threat of layoffs) are all considered. The study concludes with potential extensions of the theoretical model presented here and other directions for future research.