Relationships matter: how workplace social capital affects absenteeism of public sector employees
Open Access
- 11 November 2022
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Taylor & Francis in Public Management Review
- Vol. 26 (4) , 1033-1060
Abstract
Although absenteeism is a key concern in most western societies, research on reducing absenteeism in public sector organizations is scarce, particularly regarding the impact of organizational relationships. By building on the concept of workplace social capital (WSC) and using a large longitudinal cohort of Danish municipal employees, this study shows that three types of WSC (bridging, direct-leader-linking, and top-level-linking WSC) reduce absenteeism, while there is no significant effect of bonding WSC. Our empirical results further suggest that the relationships with the immediate leader and the top management (direct-leader-linking and top-level-linking WSC) are most important for employees’ absenteeism.Keywords
Funding Information
- The Danish Working Environment Research Fund
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