An empirical study of employee gender and absenteeism

Absenteeism is a costly and pervasive problem to business and society. Differences in levels of absenteeism between men and women have been found in both national data and in individual studies; however, it is unclear why gender influences absenteeism rates. Differential effects from gender on the relationship between absenteeism rates and both personal and attitudinal factors of employees were studied. Specific variables examined were age, number of dependents, distance to work, role conflict, job involvement, job satisfaction and central life interests. Job level and working conditions were held constant so that gender effects on absenteeism were isolated from other factors. An employee's age and attitude toward pay were the only factors found to exhibit a gender-related differential impact on absenteeism. It was found that both men's and women's frequency of absenteeism is best explained by motivational factors to attend work. Duration of absenteeism was best explained by motivational factors for men, while both motivational and ability to attend factors were useful in predicting days absent for women.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S.

Level thesis:degree_level

masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Business Administration

Department dc:contributor.department

Business Administration

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Year dc:date.issued

1986

Author dc:creator

• McClellan, Elizabeth L.

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10919/106131

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/106131