ABSENCE and EMPLOYEE FEELINGS ABOUT FAIR TREATMENT¹

Abstract

Summary This study calls into question again a frequently made assumption that variations in employee absence rates may be accounted for solely by examining the direct rewards and punishments provided by the work situation. Absences among nonsupervisory men at an oil refinery were found to be related to feelings of fair treatment with regard to promotion, irrespective of how good employees see their actual chances for promotion to be. Attitudes concerning the fairness of pay also were found to affect absences. The results were interpreted as indicating the importance of feelings of loyalty and obligation among employees in accounting for behavior such as absences.

Social Comparisons and Absenteeism: A Structural Modeling Approach1

“…Most studies on this topic have focussed upon interpersonal pay comparisons (Dittrich & Carrell, 1979;Hendrix & Spencer, 1989;Patchen, 1960): individuals appear to be absent more often, the more underpaid they feel compared to their colleagues. Research by Oldham et al (1986) has failed to show a relationship between pay inequity and absenteeism.…”

Major influences on employee attendance: A process model.

“…Specifically, three studies among various work samples found an inverse relationship between pay satisfaction or perceived pay equity and absenteeism ( Patchen , 1960;Dittrich ~ Carrell, 1976;Smith, 1977), while six other studies did not find such a relationship ( Hackman L awler, 1971;Newman, 1974;Lundquist, 1958; Garrison ~ Muchinsky, 1977; . Three other studies found mixed results (Waters ~ Roach, 1971Metzner M ann , 1953).…”

Personnel Management

“…Investigating size as a moderator variable, Vroom & Mann (172) found that employees in small groups showed more positive attitudes toward equalitarian leaders (low scores on the F Scale), whereas those in large groups which afforded only limited opportunity for interaction showed more positive attitudes toward authori tarian leaders (high F-Scale scorers). Patchen (126) showed that absentee ism rates were related to employee perceptions of the fairness of company policies rather than to objective measures of pay level, length of time since last promotion, etc. England (37) obtained only c h ance relationships be tween objective measures of attitudes toward company and union among two groups of union members, thereby casting serious doubt upon the validity of previous results inferring, from subjective attitude measures such as interviews, the existence of dual allegiance.…”