REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Studies adopting a new approach towards employees absenteeism are

reviewed here.

Ian R. Gellatly, Journal of Organizational Behavior ( 1995 ). Status that this study
examined whether an employees level of absenteeism was affected by age, organization tenure,
perceptions of interaction 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 frequently 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.

Paul P . Brooke Jr, James L. Price, Journal of Occupational Psychology

(1989). States that the parameters of a causal model of absenteeism are reported for a sample of
425 full time employees of a 327-bed medical center. The model modifies and extends the
conceptual framework of Steers & Rhodes (1978) and includes routinization, centralization, pay,
distributive justice, work involvement, role ambiguity, conflict and overload, kinship
responsibility, organizational permissiveness, job satisfaction, job involvement, organizational
commitment, health status and alcohol involvement as the determinates of absenteeism. Based on
self-report measures of absence frequency, significant positive direct effects of kinship
responsibility, organizational permissiveness, role ambiguity and alcohol involvement, and
negative direct effects of centralization, pay and job satisfaction yielded an R 2 absenteeism of
21.6. Job satisfaction completely mediated the effects of routinization and work involvement,
and partially mediated the effects of centralization and role ambiguity.
Rick D. Hacket, Journal of occupational P psychology, (1989). States that
the three mete-analyses of the relationship of employee absenteeism to job satisfaction have
appeared in the literature (cf. Hackett & Guion, 1985; McShane , 1984; Scott & Taylor, 1985).
While the size of the parameter estimates was similar across the three reviews, different
interpretations were offered. Moreover, agreement was lacking over the status and impact of
moderators. This paper summarizes and compares the results of these three separate reviews.
Some refined analyses of the comprehensive data set showed that the strongest relationship were
between absence frequently and work satisfaction (p = -0.21), and absence duration and overall
job satisfaction (p = _0.23). sex was identified as a strong and consistent

Thomas . I. Miller, Personnel Psychology, (1984). States that the evidence supporting
claims that employer- sponsored child care programs improve employee work behaviors and
attitudes. Explanation of the logic behind expectations for success, description of testimony for
employer-sponsored child care and critiques of empirical studies are presented. Well planned
evaluations with proper controls appear to be absent. Documentations was equivocal on whether
women workers of child-bearing age were absent from work more than men or quit more often
than men. Even if greater absences among women was assumed, it was suggested that this could
be due to factors other than child care-such as lower attachment to work or need for wages in
two-income households, or poorly paid and low prestige jobs. Despite enthusiasm by some chief
executive officers, public relations officials and child care advocates, assertions that employer-
sponsored child care reduces workers absenteeism or tardiness, or that it increases workers
productivity or job satisfaction are not supported by credible research.

Mortocchio, Joseph J., Psychology and Aging, (1989). States that the meta-analyses
were performed on 34 samples that included correlations of the age and employee absenteeism
relationship. Samples were categorized into 2 groups for voluntary absenteeism and involuntary
absenteeism based on the frequently index and the time-lost index, respectively. Results
indicated that both voluntary and involuntary absence is inversely related to age. Unexplained
variance remained for each of the absence measures after variance due to sampling error and
measurement unreliability was statistically estimated. Work demand was negatively associated
with age, but not in the expected direction. Work demand did not moderate the age-absence
relationship for either voluntary or involuntary absence. Sex moderated the relationship between
age and voluntary absenteeism only. For men, the relationships were negative; for women, they
did not differ significantly from 0. Implications for research and human resource management
practices regarding aging and absenteeism are discussed. (psyc INFO Data base Record (c) 2012
APA, all rights reserved).

Rick D. Hackett, McMaster University, Human Relations (1990). States that the
two demographic/personal characteristics in the steers and Rhodes (1978, 1984) process model
of employee attendance, and on which considerable research has accumulated in the absenteeism
literature, are age and tenure. Recent narrative reviews of this research show that the results are
quite mixed and likely to depend upon sex of the sample and absence type. A meta-analysis
(Hunter, Schmidt,& Jackson, 1982) of this literature revealed that age(but not tenure) had a
modest (p= - 23) relationship with avoidable absences, neither age nor tenure was associated
with unavoidable absences, and sex of sample was identified as a moderator. Implications of
these findings for the Steers and Rhodes model are discussed in light of possible directions for
future research.

Rick D. Hackett, Peter Bycio, Journal of Occupational and Organizational

Psychology, (1996). States that the break from work provided by an occasional absence may
help employees cope with various types of stress and thereby lead to an improvement in their
overall condition when they return. In this study, the mean levels of nurses daily ratings of
personal problems, tiredness, ill-health, sleep disruption, stress and job dissatisfaction were
compared statistically across a period encompassing one shift of attendance, an absence, and
another shift of attendance. As expected, significant decreases in most variables were observed
between the day of the absence and the subsequent shift. However, improvements were seldom
found between the shifts immediately proceeding and subsequent to the absence. The findings
were interpreted as suggesting that occasional absences may help maintain physical and
psychological states at manageable levels even if they do not result in immediately noticeable
improvements on the part of returning employee.

James B. Avey L. Patere, Bradley J. West , Journals of Leadership &

Organizational Studies Winter, (2006). States that the drawing from positive
psychology and positive organizational behavior (Luthans, 2002 a, 2002b) this study utilized a
field study in a high tech manufacturing firm to demonstrate how positive psychological capital
reduces levels of both involuntary and voluntary absenteeism. Previous studies setting out to
determine job attitude antecedents of absenteeism have been generally disappointing and account
for only small levels of variance. In addition, with few exceptions conceptualization of
absenteeism has been uni-dimensional despite calls by previous researcher to consider the
significant differences in semantic network of voluntary and involuntary absenteeism as separate
metrics. We make this dual dimension distinction and show how previous antecedents of
absenteeism contribute to one dimension more than the other. The utility of the study findings
conclude the article.

Dale Fitzgibbons, Michael Moch, Employee absenteeism: A multivariate

analysis with replication, (1979). States that the empirical work on the correlates of
employee absenteeism consider few predictors simultaneously or fails to distinguish among
different type of, or reasons for, absences. In addition there have been few attempts to assess the
stability of findings over time. The current study assesses a multivariate model of absence
behavior generated from the literature and distinguishes among excused and unexcused absences
and absences attributed to illness. It also assesses the model at two different points in time.
Results indicate that predictors are associated differently with different absence type. While there
are consistencies, there also is a discomforting lack of stability in the results over time. Although
some of the instability may have been due to changes in economic conditions over time, it is
concluded that other factor must be taken into account if we are to develop a stable model of
absence behavior.

Conrad KM, Riedel JE, Gibbs JO., Effect of worksite health promotion
programs on employee absenteeism, AAOHN .J.(1990). States that the employee
absenteeism is an important economic variable that needs to be examined by occupational health
nurses when evaluating worksite health promotion programs. Two of the three Blue Cross and
Blue Shield Plan studies suggested that their programs acted to contain absenteeism among
program participants. The worksite programs that met with success tended to be comprehensive
and to have strong management support. Strengths of the three studies included the use of
comparison and to have strong management support. Strengths of three studies included the use
of comparison groups and pretest measures of absenteeism in the analyses. Limitations included
selection bias, subject dropout over time, limited monitoring of the program process, and the use
of an analysis method that did not consider the statistical characteristics of the absenteeism
variable.

Terborg, James R.;Thomas W.; Smith, Frank J.; Davis, Gregory A.; Turbin,
Mark S., Journal of Applied Psychology, (1982). States that the weak relationship
between job satisfaction and absenteeism could be explained by the statistical artifacts of I. L.
Schmidt et al (see record 1978-11448-0010 (criterion unreliability, predictor unreliability, range
restriction, sampling error, computational and typographical errors, criterion contamination and
deficiency, and slight differences in factor structural). Data were collected on job satisfaction and
organizational commitment from 242 sales employees. Evidence of differences was found on
variable means, standard deviations, reliabilities, and predictive validities. However, when 6
artifacts were controlled, little variability in variability in validities remained. (32 ref) (psycINFO
Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).

Joseph J. Martocchio, Diana I. Jimeno, Employee absenteeism as an affective

event, Available online (2003). States that the theoretical and empirical developments in
personality, affect, and absenteeism research. Specifically, we investigate the relationship
between these three constructs and propose a theoretical perspective about the importance of
affect in mediating the effect that personality has on absenteeism. We propose a model of the
personality type that have a higher likelihood of using absenteeism to their benefit(i.e., to
recharge and change negative affect) and therefore have the absence be functional (i.e.,
positive affect and higher productivity upon returning to the job) rather than dysfunctional (i.e.,
negative affect and person is still unproductive or has less productivity than before the absence
event). We concluded by emphasizing the theoretical contribution that this model makes and by
suggesting ways in which the model could be tested.

Blair SN, Smith M, Collingwood TR, Reynolds R, Prentice MC, Sterling CL

Preventile Medicine (1986).States that the impact of a comprehensive worksite health
promotion program an employee absenteeism in a large metropolitan school district was
evaluated. Participants in the program (n=3,846) did not differ from no participants (n=8,290) in
age or sex distributions. Program participants improved their physical fitness, body composition,
coronary risk factors, and overall feeling of well- being. Absenteeism was determined for the
study year and for the previous year from records in the district personnel office. Absenteeism
differences were evaluated by analysis of covariance by using age, sex, ethnic group, and the
previous years absenteeism as covariates. Participants who completed the health promotion
program had an average of 1.25 days less absenteeism (p less than 0.0001) during the study year
than no participants. Regression analyses suggest that a reduction in absenteeism due to the
health promotion program was possibly associated with an improvement in physical fitness.

Porter, Lyman W., Steers, Richard M., Psychological Bulletin, (1973). States that
the research over the past 10-12 years concerning factors related to turnover and absenteeism in
work situations. On a general level, overall job satisfaction was consistency and inversely related
to turnover. In an effort to break down the global concept of job satisfaction, various factors in
work situation were analyzed as they related to withdrawal behavior. 4 categories of factors, each
representing 1 level in the organization, were utilized; organization wide factors, immediate
work environment factors, job-related factors, and personal factors. Several variable in each of
the 4 categories were found to be related fairly consistency to 1 or both forms of withdrawal. An
attempt is made to put the diverse findings into a conceptual framework certaining on the role of
met expectations. Methodological considerations and future research needs are also discussed.
(83 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record(c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).

Dan Farrell, Department of Management, Western Michigan University,

Kalamazoo Michigan 49008., Human Relations (1988). States that the a quantitative
review of employee correlates was conducted to address inconsistencies among and include the
result of studies conducted since the last major review. Correlates were categorized as
psychological, demographic work environment, or organization-wide factors and analyzed
separately using two operationalization (total time absent and absence frequency). Occupational
states was used as a moderator for correlates with unstable effects. The result of the study
indicate the work environment and organization-wide correlates are better predictors of
employee absence than psychological or demographic correlates. Both the implications for
volitional theories of absence and practical applications of the findings are discussed.
Mark John Somers, Journal of Organization Behavior, (1995). States that the
three component model of organizational commitment was used to study job withdraw
intentions, turnover and absenteeism. Affective commitment emerged as the most consistent
predictor of these outcome variables and was the only view of commitment related to turnover
and to absenteeism. In contrast, normative commitment was related only to withdrawal intentions
while no direct effects for continuance commitment in were observed. Continuance,
commitment, however, interacted with affective commitment in predicting job withdrawal
intentions and absenteeism. The form of the interaction was such that high sunk costs tempered
relationships between affective commitment and the relevant outcome variables.

Katheen R. Garrison, Paul M. Muchinsky, evaluating the concept of absentee-

proneness with two measures of absence (1977). States that the concept of absentee-
proneness the notion that the a small percentage of employee are responsible for a great
percentage of absenteeism. Two uncorrelated measures of absence (paid and unpaid) were
recorded for each individual in a sample of 195 employees working in the accounting department
of a large public utility. Data were recorded for seven consecutive quarters (e.g.,21 months). The
results showed that a core of employees was responsible for the vast majority of absenteeism in
any one quarter, but that core changed from quarter to quarter. The distribution of absence data
over the full 21 months period did not differ from chance expectancy.

Indge, Timothy A.; Martocchio, Joseph J., Thoresen, Carl J., Journal of
Applied Psychology, (1997).States that the degree to which dimensions of the factor model
of personality (often termed the big five) are related to absence. On the basis of previous
descriptions of the big five traits and drawing from prior research, the authors hypothesized that
neuroticism and extraversion would positively predict absence and conscientiousness would
negatively predict absence. Also, they hypothesized that absence history (absence proneness),
measured by the personality characteristics and subsequent absenteeism. Data were collected
from a sample of 89 university employees. Result suggest that extraversion and
conscientiousness predicted absenteeism and that part, but not all, of the relationship between
these taints and absence was mediated through absence history. (PsycINFO Database Record(c)
APA, all rights reserved).
Abraham Sagie, Ramat Gan, Israel, Employee Absenteeism, Organizational
Commitment, and Job Satisfaction, (1996).States that , absence were regarded as
voluntary or involuntary based on the reasons provided by the employee or supervisors. It was
hypothesized that voluntary as opposed to involuntary absenteeism can be predicted by
organizational commitment, job satisfaction, and their interactive effect. Intention to quit was
expected to predict voluntary absenteeism as well. Subjects were 140 clerks in an Israeli
municipality (average age was 41). Moderated multiple regression analyses of attitudes and
objective (personnel records) or subjective (self-reported) absence data yielded support for the
first hypothesis. Nonetheless, the intention to quit was not significantly related to either type of
absence. Theoretical and methodological considerations were discussed and implications for
continued research were outlined.