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The Association of Meaningfulness, Well‐Being, and Engagement with Absenteeism: A Moderated Mediation Model
Author(s) -
Soane Emma,
Shantz Amanda,
Alfes Kerstin,
Truss Catherine,
Rees Chris,
Gatenby Mark
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
human resource management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.888
H-Index - 94
eISSN - 1099-050X
pISSN - 0090-4848
DOI - 10.1002/hrm.21534
Subject(s) - absenteeism , work engagement , mediation , moderated mediation , psychology , social psychology , association (psychology) , structural equation modeling , work (physics) , sociology , psychotherapist , mechanical engineering , social science , engineering , statistics , mathematics
We theorized that absence from work is a resource‐based process that is related to perceived meaningfulness of work, well‐being, and engagement. Broaden‐and‐build theory (Fredrickson, 1998, 2001) and engagement theory (Bakker, Schaufeli, Leiter, & Taris, 2008; Kahn, 1990) were used to develop a framework for explaining absence. Results of a study of 625 employees and human resource records of subsequent absenteeism data for a three‐month period supported our hypotheses that meaningful work increases engagement with work, and that engagement is associated with low levels of absenteeism. Furthermore, data showed that engagement fully mediated the relationship between meaningfulness and absence, and that well‐being strengthened the relationship between meaningfulness and engagement. The results have implications for understanding the role of individual‐level resources in the workplace, and how meaningfulness, well‐being, and engagement influence absence.