"A Moderated Mediation Analysis of Job Demands, Presenteeism and Absenteeism"

Abstract

Presenteeism or attending work while ill is said to be a growing organizational problem. This study examined the association between job demands, presenteeism and absenteeism. We tested a moderated-mediation model of the effects of job demands on absenteeism with the key objective of exploring the mediation effects of presenteeism and the moderating effects of organizational justice on this relationship. Based on a sample of emergency services call centre workers (N=227) the research revealed that a set of job demands predicted presenteeism which in turn was associated with longer absence spells. The study found that presenteeism mediated the relationship between work overload and attendance enforcement and absence spells, and that employee perceptions of distributive justice represented an important mechanism through which presenteeism mediated the relationship between job demands and absence spells.