Individual and group determinants of employee absenteeism: Test of a causal model

Abstract

This study examined whether an employee's level of absenteeism was affected by age, organizational tenure, perceptions of interactional justice, affective and continuance commitment, and the perceived absence norm in the employees' work unit or department. One hundred and sixty‐six nursing and food services employees in a mid‐size chronic care hospital provided attitudinal and perceptual data on an employee survey. Absence data (absence frequency and total days absent) were collected during the 12‐month period immediately following an employee survey. Hypothesized relations between the various individual‐ and group‐level factors and employee absenteeism were specified in a structural model and tested using LISREL 7 (Joreskog and Sorbom, 1989). General support was found for the study hypotheses.

Injury-related absenteeism and job satisfaction: insights from Greek and UK data

“…The negative relationship could be explained by the fact that older workers usually take up higher responsibility at work and are more satisfied, appreciating greater benefits (see, for instance, Siu 2002). However, it is consistent with Hoque and Islam (2003), who found a non-significant relationship between age and absenteeism, with Gellatly (1995), who suggested that age is negatively related to absence, and with Hackett (1990), who suggested that the relationship is quite complex, implying that other factors play a role too.…”

Work-Unit Absenteeism: Effects of Satisfaction, Commitment, Labor Market Conditions, and Time

“…Social influence theories hold that members of a work unit develop shared attitudes about their jobs and organization because they have opportunities for information exchange, share similar structural characteristics, and generally experience the same events (e.g., Rentsch, 1990;Rentsch & Steel, 2003;Ryan, Schmit, & Johnson, 1996;Salancik & Pfeffer, 1978;Schneider & Reichers, 1983). In addition, unit supervisors and managers are responsible for the implementation and interpretation of organizational policies, rules, and procedures, and thus may guide employees to respond to organizational events in similar ways (Gellatly, 1995;Rentsch & Steel, 2003). Situational and social influences tend to create relatively homogeneous attitudes within work units, including shared levels of job satisfaction and organizational commitment.…”

Further Training for Older Workers: A Solution for an Ageing Labour Force?

“…Furthermore, high absenteeism rate is often mentioned as another disincentive for investing in the training of older workers (Warwick Report, 2006). The latter are perceived as more expensive than younger workers, due to "a perceived higher rate of absenteeism and sick leave" (Gellatly, 1995). This was confirmed by a recent research of who found that HR professional are more likely to train older workers with lower absents.…”