IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/worbus/v42y2007i2p214-227.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Job attitudes and absenteeism: A study in the English speaking Caribbean

Author

Listed:
  • Punnett, Betty Jane
  • Greenidge, Dion
  • Ramsey, Jase

Abstract

This paper examines the relationships of job attitudes (facets of job satisfaction and organizational commitment) and personality characteristics to absenteeism, in five manufacturing companies in Barbados, an English-speaking Caribbean country. The relationships examined are based on well-established theories from the developed world, especially the USA. In addition, individualism, uncertainty avoidance, and power distance were measured. The results show that an employee's levels of satisfaction with co-workers, activity, responsibility, and job security, as well as loyalty to the organization, are related to absenteeism. These results are similar to those found in past research in the developed world. The most important single predictor of absence was satisfaction with co-workers. Respondents were moderate on individualism, high on uncertainty avoidance, and low on power distance. The cultural scores are used to help interpret the results. The implications of the results are discussed in terms of expanding the reach of an established theory, and relative to decreasing absenteeism in Barbados.

Suggested Citation

  • Punnett, Betty Jane & Greenidge, Dion & Ramsey, Jase, 2007. "Job attitudes and absenteeism: A study in the English speaking Caribbean," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 42(2), pages 214-227, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:worbus:v:42:y:2007:i:2:p:214-227
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1090951607000156
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rabinra N Kanungo & Richard W Wright, 1983. "A Cross-Cultural Comparative Study of Managerial Job Attitudes," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 14(2), pages 115-129, June.
    2. Hackett, Rick D. & Guion, Robert M., 1985. "A reevaluation of the absenteeism-job satisfaction relationship," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 340-381, June.
    3. Michael H Morris & Duane L Davis & Jeffrey W Allen, 1994. "Fostering Corporate Entrepreneurship: Cross-Cultural Comparisons of the Importance of Individualism Versus Collectivism," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 25(1), pages 65-89, March.
    4. Leigh, J. Paul, 1985. "The effects of unemployment and the business cycle on absenteeism," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 159-170, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Benjamin Artz, 2012. "Does the Impact of Union Experience on Job Satisfaction Differ by Gender?," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 65(2), pages 225-243, April.
    2. Hauff, Sven & Richter, Nicole Franziska & Tressin, Tabea, 2015. "Situational job characteristics and job satisfaction: The moderating role of national culture," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 24(4), pages 710-723.
    3. Benjamin Artz & Ilker Kaya, 2014. "Job insecurity and job satisfaction in the United States: the case of public sector union workers," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(2), pages 103-120, March.
    4. Vedrana Čikeš & Helga Maškarin Ribarić & Kristina Črnjar, 2018. "The Determinants and Outcomes of Absence Behavior: A Systematic Literature Review," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 7(8), pages 1-26, July.
    5. Magnus Sverke & Lena Låstad & Johnny Hellgren & Anne Richter & Katharina Näswall, 2019. "A Meta-Analysis of Job Insecurity and Employee Performance: Testing Temporal Aspects, Rating Source, Welfare Regime, and Union Density as Moderators," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(14), pages 1-29, July.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Rakesh Sambharya & Martina Musteen, 2014. "Institutional environment and entrepreneurship: An empirical study across countries," Journal of International Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 12(4), pages 314-330, December.
    2. Laszlo Goerke, 2017. "Sick pay reforms and health status in a unionised labour market," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 64(2), pages 115-142, May.
    3. Andrén, Daniela, 2001. "Short-Term Absenteeism Due To Sickness: The Swedish Experience, 1986 - 1991," Working Papers in Economics 46, University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics.
    4. Maarten Dossche & Andrea Gavazzi & Vivien Lewis, 2023. "Labor Adjustment and Productivity in the OECD," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 47, pages 111-130, January.
    5. Andrew Copus & Dimitris Skuras & Kyriaki Tsegenidi, 2006. "Innovation and Peripherality: A Comparative Study in Six EU Member Countries," ERSA conference papers ersa06p295, European Regional Science Association.
    6. Williams, Christopher & van Triest, Sander, 2009. "The impact of corporate and national cultures on decentralization in multinational corporations," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 156-167, April.
    7. Anna Watson & Olufunmilola (Lola) Dada & Owen Wright & Rozenn Perrigot, 2019. "Entrepreneurial Orientation Rhetoric in Franchise Organizations: The Impact of National Culture," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 43(4), pages 751-772, July.
    8. Bratberg, Espen & Monstad, Karin, 2015. "Worried sick? Worker responses to a financial shock," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 111-120.
    9. Sjoerd Beugelsdijk, 2010. "Entrepreneurial Culture, Regional Innovativeness and Economic Growth," Springer Books, in: Andreas Freytag & Roy Thurik (ed.), Entrepreneurship and Culture, chapter 0, pages 129-154, Springer.
    10. Yaniv, Gideon, 1998. "Phobic disorder, psychotherapy, and risk-taking: an economic perspective," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 229-243, April.
    11. Harzing, Anne-Wil, 1997. "Response rates in international mail surveys: Results of a 22-country study," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 6(6), pages 641-665, December.
    12. García-Serrano, Carlos & Malo, Miguel A., 2009. "The impact of union direct voice on voluntary and involuntary absenteeism," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 372-383, March.
    13. María-José Pinillos & Luisa Reyes, 2011. "Relationship between individualist–collectivist culture and entrepreneurial activity: evidence from Global Entrepreneurship Monitor data," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 37(1), pages 23-37, July.
    14. Boone, Jan & van Ours, Jan C., 2006. "Are recessions good for workplace safety?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(6), pages 1069-1093, November.
    15. Konstantinos, Pouliakas & Ioannis, Theodossiou, 2010. "An Inquiry Into the Theory, Causes and Consequences of Monitoring Indicators of Health and Safety At Work," MPRA Paper 20336, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Gao, Lei & Han, Jianlei & Pan, Zheyao & Zhang, Huixuan, 2023. "Individualistic CEO and corporate innovation: Evidence from U.S. frontier culture," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(9).
    17. Aaviksoo, Evelyn & Kiivet, Raul Allan, 2016. "Influence of the sickness benefit reform on sickness absence," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 120(9), pages 1070-1078.
    18. Lewis, Vivien & Villa, Stefania & Wolters, Maik H., 2019. "Labor productivity, effort and the euro area business cycle," Discussion Papers 44/2019, Deutsche Bundesbank.
    19. Maarten Dossche & Andrea Gavazzi & Vivien Lewis, 2023. "Labor Adjustment and Productivity in the OECD," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 47, pages 111-130, January.
    20. Gudrun Biffl, 2004. "Health and Employment Status. The Case of Austria," WIFO Working Papers 219, WIFO.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:worbus:v:42:y:2007:i:2:p:214-227. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/620401/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.