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The effects of job demands and control on employee attendance and satisfaction
Author(s) -
Dwyer Deborah J.,
Ganster Daniel C.
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
journal of organizational behavior
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.938
H-Index - 177
eISSN - 1099-1379
pISSN - 0894-3796
DOI - 10.1002/job.4030120704
Subject(s) - attendance , workload , psychology , job satisfaction , sick leave , control (management) , absenteeism , applied psychology , tardiness , job control , turnover , social psychology , mental health , work (physics) , medicine , computer science , management , psychiatry , engineering , physical therapy , mechanical engineering , schedule , job shop scheduling , artificial intelligence , economics , economic growth , operating system
We examined the impact of stressful job demands on employee attitudes and attendance. Using Karasek's (1979) theory of job decision latitude as the conceptual foundation, we hypothesized that mental and physical work demands would interact with employee beliefs of personal control. Survey data from 90 male manufacturing employees regarding their control beliefs were combined with objective job analysis data concerning mental and physical demands and one year's worth of archival data regarding unexcused absences, sick days, and days tardy. There were significant interactions between control and objective psychological demands that indicated that these demands were associated with higher levels of tardiness and sick days only under conditions of low perceived control. In contrast, subjective workload ratings showed no relationship with tardiness and sick days, but, in interaction with control, predicted work satisfaction and voluntary absence. We discussed these results in terms of a stress process that affects health‐related attendance independent of employee attitudes.