Going to Work Ill: A Meta-Analysis of the Correlates of Presenteeism and a Dual-Path Model

Interest in presenteeism, attending work while ill, has flourished in light of its consequences for individual well-being and organizational productivity. Our goal was to identify its most significant causes and correlates by quantitatively summarizing the extant research. Additionally, we built an...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of occupational health psychology 2016-07, Vol.21 (3), p.261-283
Main Authors: Miraglia, Mariella, Johns, Gary
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Dual Process Models
Efficiency, Organizational
Employee Absenteeism
Employee Attitudes
Female
Health
Health Status
Human
Humans
Job Performance
Job Satisfaction
Justice
Male
Models, Psychological
Occupational Stress
Organizational Culture
Physical Disorders
Presenteeism
Professional Autonomy
Stress, Psychological
Workload
Workplace - psychology
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Interest in presenteeism, attending work while ill, has flourished in light of its consequences for individual well-being and organizational productivity. Our goal was to identify its most significant causes and correlates by quantitatively summarizing the extant research. Additionally, we built an empirical model of some key correlates and compared the etiology of presenteeism versus absenteeism. We used meta-analysis (in total, K = 109 samples, N = 175,965) to investigate the correlates of presenteeism and meta-analytic structural equation modeling to test the empirical model. Salient correlates of working while ill included general ill health, constraints on absenteeism (e.g., strict absence policies, job insecurity), elevated job demands and felt stress, lack of job and personal resources (e.g., low support and low optimism), negative relational experiences (e.g., perceived discrimination), and positive attitudes (satisfaction, engagement, and commitment). Moreover, our dual process model clarified how job demands and job and personal resources elicit presenteeism via both health impairment and motivational paths, and they explained more variation in presenteeism than absenteeism. The study sheds light on the controversial act of presenteeism, uncovering both positive and negative underlying mechanisms. The greater variance explained in presenteeism as opposed to absenteeism underlines the opportunities for researchers to meaningfully investigate the behavior and for organizations to manage it.
ISSN:1076-8998
1939-1307
DOI:10.1037/ocp0000015