Personal and Organizational Determinants of ... - Springer Link

Hum an Relations, Vol. 51, No. 8, 1998

Person al an d Organ ization al Determ in an ts of Perceived Absence Norm s Ian R. Gellatly1,3 an d An drew A. Luchak2

A two-phase study e mployed a combination of qualitative an d quantitative me thodology to study absente eism in a complex, hospital setting. The primary focus was to identify the bases of e mployees ’ beliefs about what is acce ptable and expecte d in terms of abse nce be havior. Through a se rie s of employee intervie ws, two different absence cultures were identified. We found evidence that employee s’ normative perceptions were influence d by their prior personal abse nce, and by the average level of abse nce within both their imme diate work group and the abse nce culture to which they belonged. Perce ived norms were also shown to predict future individual absence (total days absent) 1 year later. The ore tical and practical implications of this rese arch were discussed. KEY WORDS: employee abse nteeism; abse nce culture; group norms.

INTRODUCTION Understanding the causes of abse ntee ism has bee n a difficult proble m for organizational rese archers (e.g., Johns, 1997; Martocchio & Harrison, 1993; Rhode s & Ste ers, 1990) . After decades of searching for personal and attitudinal predictors of employe e absentee ism (for re vie ws, see Farrell & Stamm, 1988; Hacke tt, 1989; Hackett & Guion, 1985; Muchinsky, 1977; Nicholson, Brown, & Chadwick-Jone s, 1976; Porte r & Ste e rs, 1973; Scott & Taylor, 1985; Stee rs & Rhode s, 1978) , we have a clearer unde rstanding of those psychological proce sse s which affe ct decisions to atte nd or abse nt one self from work, ye t a numbe r of gaps still exist (see Fitzgibbons, 1992) . Part of the proble m, according to Johns and Nicholson (1982) , has be en the prope nsity for re searche rs and practitione rs to vie w abse nte eism as the 1

Faculty of Manage ment, Unive rsity of Lethbridge , Le thbridge, Alberta, Canada, T1K 3M4. Faculty of Business Administration, Memorial University of Ne wfoundland, St. John ’s, NFLD, A1B 3X5, Canada. 3 Re quests for reprints should be addressed to Ian R. Gellatly, Faculty of Manage ment, University of Le thbridge, Lethbridge, Alberta T1K 3M4, Canada. (e -mail: gellatly@ uleth.ca) 2

1085 0018-7267/98/0800-1085 $15.00/1

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1998 The Tavistock Institute

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result of individual-le ve l factors, such as negative work attitude s. A conseque nce of this perspective has be en to unde re stimate or ignore the social determinants of absenteeism. According to Johns (1997), a more recent trend in the re search has be en to view absence within its social-be havioral context and to study the e ffe cts of group and organizational-le ve l factors on individual abse nce patte rns (e.g., Gellatly, 1995; Geurts, Buunk, & Schaufe li, 1994; Harrison & Shaffer, 1994; Haccoun & Jeanrie , 1995; Johns, 1994; Martocchio, 1994; Mathie u & Kohler, 1990). A common finding has be en that individual absence is affected to varying de gree s by the colle ctive be haviors of othe rs. Employe es learn through their interactions with othe r group or organizational members, how much absence is e xpected by co-worke rs and manageme nt, and individual membe rs may e xperience social pressure to raise or lower their level of personal absence to a norm that has been e stablishe d in the work group or the organizational culture (se e Chadwick-Jone s, Nicholson, & Brown, 1982; Johns & Nicholson, 1982; Marcus & Smith, 1985). Although there is a growing consensus that normative perceptions serve as important psychological be nchmarks for e valuating and re gulating individual be havior (Feldman, 1984), very little is known of the personal and organizational factors which shape these inte rnal states. By clarifying how social-conte xtual factors affect individual abse ntee ism, this study attempts to increase knowle dge and contribute to more e ffe ctive manage ment practice . The main purpose of this study was to e xamine the determinants of normative pe rceptions in a comple x, hospital setting. A se condary purpose was to examine whether perceived abse nce norms pre dicted future individual absence. The data in this study were gathe re d in two separate phase s. In phase one, e mploye e interviews were used to gathe r information about the nature of the pre vailing abse nce culture (s) as describe d by Nicholson and Johns (1985) . In phase two, hospital employe e s were surveyed and individual absenteeism re cords were analyze d for the 12-month pe riods prior to and immediately following the e mploye e survey. The pape r be gins with a discussion of absence culture s, and then is followe d by descriptions of the methodology and findings from the first and se cond phase s, respectively. ORGANIZATIONAL ABSENCE CULTURES

The concept “ absence culture ” refers, in a general sense, to the set of abse nce -re late d be lie fs, value s, and be havioral patte rns that are share d among members of a work group or organizational unit (Johns & Nicholson, 1982; Nicholson & Johns, 1985) , and have be en shown to account for the diffe re nt patte rn of abse nces within and betwee n organizational settings (e.g., Chadwick-Jone s et al., 1982) . Building on the work of Hill and Trist

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(1953, 1955), Nicholson and Johns (1985) propose d a mode l which asse rted the nature of an absence culture within a work group or organizational unit de pe nds on two broad factors, the leve l of trust and the salie nce of the culture to membe rs. Greate r trust and mutual re spe ct within the employme nt relationship is one factor be lie ved to integrate individual and organizational goals, which in turn, affects individual be haviors. Where the re is a lack of trust, employe es like ly turn to othe r regulatory mechanisms, such as profe ssional associations or trade unions, to defend and prote ct the ir intere sts in the employme nt re lationship. More salie nt abse nce culture s tend to be characte rize d by a distinctive and homoge neous set of behavioral expe ctations or norms that apply to all group membe rs. Under high cultural salie nce, attendance behavior should be unde r normative control, where as, individual-diffe re nce factors (e .g., job dissatisfaction) should play a greater role in de te rmining absence when cultural salie nce is low. From the ir ge neral mode l, Nicholson and Johns (1985) describe d four qualitative ly differe nt abse nce culture s which differe d in terms of cultural salie nce and manage ment trust. Type I culture s (low salie nce , high trust) are e vide nt whe n e mploye e s e njoy more discretion, autonomy, and inde pende nce in their work role s, but expe rience weak re lationships with othe r employe e s. In this type of culture , employe es are le ss influe nce d by the behavior of othe rs, and voluntary abse nce is vie wed as a form of de viance , having more to do with one ’s motivation to follow organizational rule s and le ss with the behavioral e xpe ctations of othe rs. Type II culture s (high salie nce , high trust) are evide nt whe n e mploye e s have both high-discre tion roles and strong late ral tie s with othe r membe rs. Here, the “ pre ss” of a cohe sive, unifie d, and homoge neous culture facilitate s the internalization of group norms as personal goals or standards. The se internal standards, along with one ’s inte rpretation of their psychological contracts with the organization (i.e., how much abse nce is acce ptable in light of one ’s dutie s and responsibilitie s), determine voluntary abse nce . Type III culture s (low salie nce , low trust) are characte rized as be ing fragme nted because employee s have little basis for interdepe nde nce and cohesion with othe rs, and because low-trust e mployme nt relations pre clude an integration of individual and organizational goals. Without strong ties to othe r group membe rs or to organizational goals, individual diffe rences (e .g., ne gative work attitude s) are expe cted to have the gre atest e ffe ct on abse nce be havior within this type of absence culture . Type IV culture s (high salie nce, low trust) are evident whe n e mploye e s e xpe rie nce strong interdepe ndent and cohesive re lations with othe r m e m be rs, bu t a lack of trust in the e m p lo ym e nt relationship separate s individual from organizational inte re sts. In this situation, employe es share a culture that is alie nate d from and fundame ntally in conflict with the employe r. Nicholson and Johns state d that voluntary

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abse nce in a Type IV culture “ is like ly to be regarde d as an “ e ntitle ment,” and as defiant of manage rial injunctions, through staying within the le tter of e nforceable law” (p. 403) . Here , decisions to attend or be abse nt from work are he avily de te rmined by acce ptable group norms. An implication of the above -mentione d typology is the importance of identifying the type of absence culture (s) that may be pre se nt in a give n work situation. Thus, the first phase of this study was to diagnose and describe the ope rative abse nce culture (s) by evaluating the le ve ls of cultural salie nce and manage ment trust. Although othe r methods of measuring abse nce culture s have be e n de scribe d in the lite rature (e .g., Martocchio, 1994) , we fe lt a qualitative approach was appropriate in this situation because we require d a flexible , interactive approach that would allow us to explore a wide range of issue s, and be cause of the highly sensitive nature of these issues for the organization. PHASE 1 Research Settin g The re search se tting for this study was a mid-size Canadian hospital. Like most hospital se ttings, there was an exte nsive mix of employe es across a plethora of job classifications. In total, there were 852 full-time and permanent part-time employe e s organize d into six main areas: nursing, house kee ping, food se rvices, administration, profe ssional-technical, and physical plant. Atten dan ce Con trol Policy With the exception of casual/te mporary staff, all e mploye e s were subje ct to an atte ndance control policy. The following is a brief de scription of the policy in effe ct ove r the study period. Manage rs or department heads were re sponsible for maintaining atte ndance re cords in the ir re spe ctive work units. When an e mploye e ’s abse nte e ism e xcee de d the pre vious 6month ave rage for the work unit, he or she was subje cted to a progre ssive disciplinary procedure . The se “ floating ” 6-month ave rage s were unique to each work unit and provide d manage rs with a threshold for de te cting e xcessive individual abse ntee ism. Em ployee Interviews A se ries of 30 semi-structure d e mploye e inte rvie ws (approximate ly 1 ¯2 hours in length) as well as several focus groups with members of large r occupational groups were conducte d to asse ss the nature of the abse nce culture and the atte ndance -re lated issues within the hospital. Inte rviews

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were he ld with various department heads, nurse manage rs, union representative s, and employe es from all six are as of the hospital. Participation was voluntary. Participants in the inte rvie w process were encourage d to talk about “ life in the ir work groups ” and discuss any issues that contribute d to abse ntee ism at the hospital. The intervie wer’s role was simply to re cord and unde rstand by questioning what the interviewee presente d. The intervie ws were carrie d out over a 2-wee k pe riod prior to the second phase of the study. At the time of the study, the hospital was expe riencing intense sources of structural change in the exte rnal e nvironme nt, most notably in the le ve l of financial re source s available through gove rnme nt funding. Aside from incre asing workloads and reducing income and e mployme nt security, the gove rnment was also placing pressures on the hospital to rationalize its ope rations and control costs. As one could imagine , a varie ty of issue s, concerns, and complaints were re vealed during the employe e inte rviews. For the sake of bre vity, however, only comme nts relevant to the pre se nt study have bee n summarize d. Evidence of Cultu ral Salien ce an d Man agem ent Tr ust Almost all the manage rs interviewed believed that abse ntee ism was a major proble m in certain are as of the hospital (nursing, house ke eping, food service s, and physical plant) but not othe rs. However, when abse ntee ism statistics were e xamine d, this share d belief was only partially supporte d as nursing (45% of employe es) accounte d for 62% , house kee ping (8% of employe e s) accounte d for 11% , food se rvice s (9% of employe e s) accounte d for 7% , administration (10% of employe e s) accounte d for 3% , profe ssionalte chnical (22% of e mploye e s) accounte d for 12% , and physical plant (6% of e mploye e s) accounte d for 5% of total abse nces, re spe ctive ly, in the ye ar prior to the study. The vast majority of e mploye es and some of the first-line and middle -le vel manage rs expre sse d a dee p mistrust of senior manage ment. A rathe r poignant quote , showing the le ve l of fe ar and mistrust within this organization, was re vealed by an e mploye e who re fe rre d to the senior HR manage r as the “ prince of darkne ss.” This lack of trust which see med to permeate the organization was also notice able be twee n the two unions in the hospital, and be tween the nonunion and unionize d e mploye es. Pe rhaps the single -most important issue re lating to trust or lack the re of was the manne r in which atte ndance was being controlle d. Most e mploye es, especially in the unionize d are as of the hospital, complaine d about the hospital ’s attendance control policy. At the he art of the matter were strong feelings that the policy was unfair because it faile d to distinguish be tween le gitimate and culpable abse nce. Here are some typical comments: “ . . .

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this policy is very thre atening ” ; “ the policy is not conducive to e ncourage some one to come to work” ; “ pe ople hate it . . . it’s unfair to hone st pe ople ” ; “ you have to see it work . . . it hurts the good and is too libe ral for the abuse rs.” More ove r, using the pee r-group ave rage to detect excessive abse ntee ism was also se e n as unfair. For instance , on se veral occasions the re were storie s of employe es with very high levels of abse nte eism not ge tting in trouble be cause the unit ave rage was so high. O n the othe r hand, some people with low levels of abse nce were discipline d because the ir unit ave rage was ve ry low. Eve n manage rs had difficultie s with this aspe ct of the policy: “ There must be a bette r system to calculate the threshold . . . where counse lling is require d. My departme nt has a ve ry low rate of absente eism. If this policy is followe d to the lette r I would have to counse l ove r 50% of the staff every 6 months.” It was e vide nt that e mploye e s in some work groups secretly coordinate d the ir absence s to prote ct one anothe r. Listen to what one employe e had to say: “ I have heard that in othe r departments . . . worke rs purpose ly take days off so the department ave rage is high and the pe ople that are legitimate ly sick will not be re primande d.” A diffe rent set of reactions were e xpre ssed by employe es who worke d in the profe ssional-te chnical and administrative are as of the hospital. Employe e s working in these are as of the hospital were very positive about the way attendance was manage d, and, relative to othe r areas in the hospital, abse ntee ism rate s were quite low. Cle arly employe es who worke d in the profe ssional-t e chnical and adm inistrative are as of the hospital e njoye d much more flexibility in terms of how abse nce was controlle d. For instance a manage r in one of the profe ssional groups imple mente d a buddy system so that if someone neede d time off, they could trade -off with his/he r partner to avoid compromising patie nt care . Compare this practice with nursing or food-se rvice manage rs who typically applie d the “ le tter of the law” and require d employe es to formally reque st time off 6 weeks in advance . In anothe r unit in the profe ssional-te chnical are a, one manage r, on her own initiative , would freque ntly recognize and appre ciate employe es who had exceptional atte ndance re cords (e .g., hand out candie s at staff mee tings) . Q uite apart from the issue of trust, we obse rve d and he ard evide nce of high cohesion within work groups. It was quite notice able that employe es were banding toge the r with similar othe rs. Employe e s generally e xpre ssed a liking of and a te nde ncy to defe nd and prote ct their co-worke rs. In many case s, the nature of the work itse lf (e.g., lifting patie nts, preparing food trays) fostered an inte rde pe nde nce among workers. This notion is reflected in the following comme nt: “ aside from the fact that I truly enjoy my work, knowing that the people that I work with in my de partme nt de pend on me to assist the m with the smooth ope ration of their own work, make s coming

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to work de pendably ve ry important to me.” O ther e vide nce of interdepe ndence and mutual attraction was base d on casual observation that people in similar occupational groupings tende d to sit toge the r in the cafeteria (manage rs with manage rs, nurse s with nurse s, social workers with social workers, e tc.). Take n toge the r, the findings sugge st the presence of two distinct absence culture s within the hospital. First of all, there appe ared to be high le ve ls of interde pende nce and cohe sion within work groups, and this patte rn was e vide nt across all six are as; thus, for the purpose s of classification, we are assuming cultural salie nce was high for all employe es. Major difference s were evide nt, howe ve r, with re spe ct to the level of manage ment trust. It appe ars that employe es who worked within the profe ssional-te chnical and administrative are as of the hospital expe rienced a Type II abse nce culture (high salie nce, high trust). In these areas the formal atte ndance control policy was loose ly applie d, if at all; there were no centralize d atte ndance records for the se e mploye es that we could find; and unit manage rs had more discretion in handling absence . Employe e s who worke d within the nursing, house keeping, food services, and physical plant are as appe ar to share a Type IV abse nce culture (high salie nce, low trust). In the se areas, the formal atte ndance control policy was strictly applie d (e.g., counse ling was automatic whe n personal absence s e xce eded the peer-group ave rage ), there were centralize d and detaile d atte ndance records ke pt for each employe e, the emphasis was clearly on detecting and disciplining proble m e mploye e s, and we found e vide nce of employe es abse nting themselves as much as possible within the strict le tter of the law. PHASE 2 In the se cond phase of the study, we narrowe d the focus by e xamining employe e s’ beliefs and perceptions of the abse nce norm within the hospital. Although the re is e vide nce to sugge st normative pe rceptions pote ntially mediate abse nce be havior (e .g., Gellatly, 1995; Geurts et al., 1994; Harrison & Shaffe r, 1994) , the re is some debate as to the source of these perceptions. Be fore de scribing the methodology and results of the se cond phase , we will now re vie w what is known about the ante cedents and conseque nce s of pe rceive d abse nce norms, and assert several hypothe se s. Antecedents of Perceived Absen ce Norm s An individual characte ristic which has been shown to influe nce normative be liefs is the level of one ’s pe rsonal absence (Harrison & Shaffer, 1994; Johns, 1994). Harrison and Shaffe r assessed the abse nce norm for different

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work groups/situations by requiring e mploye es to act as observers and e stimate the ave rage le vel of abse nteeism exhibite d by co-worke rs or pee rs. One of the more striking and consiste nt findings was that the vast majority of study participants (85 ¯90% ) believed the absence norm in their work situation to be highe r than the ir own level of pe rsonal abse ntee ism; almost eve ryone belie ved that their atte ndance record was bette r than ave rage ! This tende ncy to ove restimate co-worke rs’ absence s relative to one ’s own le vel of absence was also obse rved among employe e s at a large utility company (Johns, 1994). Johns propose d that these upwardly-biase d group e stimates were the re sult of strong se lf-serving, e go-prote cting mechanisms. By unde re stimating personal absences and overe stimating the absenteeism of othe rs, e mploye es are better able to dissociate the mselves from the negative connotations impute d by high personal abse nce s (e.g., unreliable , lazy) and maintain a positive image of themselves and their compe te ncies (Gioia, 1989). Anothe r explanation for this e ffe ct is that e mploye es with poor attendance records are less aware of the prevailing absence culture than are e mploye es with bette r attendance records. Whe n asked to e stimate the average le vel of abse nce in their work group, employe es with poor attendance records may be more incline d to gue ss, inflating their e stimates upward to justify or le gitimize their own level of abse nte eism (cf. Johns, 1994). Compare d to their high-abse nce counte rparts, howe ve r, employe e s with better atte ndance records will have had more observations on which to base the ir estimate s, and thus, are more like ly to provide bette r estimates of co-worke r abse nce s. All else equal, the n, we predict that across employe e s the leve l of perceived absence norm will be positive ly relate d to prior, self-re ported, absence. Hypothesis 1, Employe es who report highe r le ve ls of personal abse nce will estimate that their co-worke rs are abse nt more often, on ave rage , than employe e s who re port lower levels of personal absence . Notwithstanding the te nde ncy to inflate estimates of co-worke r absence s, the le ve l of perceived absence norms should be base d on the ave rage le ve l of abse nte e ism actually e xhibite d by group membe rs. O ne recent study specifically examine d the e ffe ct of group-le ve l abse nce on individual abse nce . In the ir study of bus ope rators, Mathie u and Kohle r (1990) , showed that group-le vel abse nce (compute d 6 months prior to the study) affected individual abse nce 6 months later, e ven whe n the e ffe cts of prior individual abse nce, personal characte ristics (sex, race , age , seniority) , and work attitude s (job involve ment, job satisfaction, organizational commitment) were statistically controlle d. However, because work-group norms were not measure d, it is difficult to know whe ther the le ve l of group abse nce was perceived as a norm. O ne would expe ct, howe ver, that nor-

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mative perceptions would more accurate ly represent the behavior of othe rs unde r conditions of highe r rathe r than lower cultural salie nce; in Type II and IV absence culture s. Hypothesis 2. Employe es who work in groups with highe r levels of absente eism will estimate the ir co-worke rs are abse nt more often, on ave rage , than employe e s who work in groups with lowe r le vels of abse ntee ism. It is re asonable that the le vel of abse nce exhibite d by othe rs within the same abse nce culture will also shape normative perceptions and individual be havior. In the present setting our qualitative analyse s re veal the presence of two abse nce culture s; both similar in te rms of cultural salie nce but differing in terms of manage ment trust. As mentione d pre viously, employe e s who be long to a Type II absence culture will fe el social pre ssure to align pe rsonal and organizational goals when making de cisions to attend or be abse nt. When organizational nee ds are conside red along with personal ne eds, the result should be a lowering of abse nce norms and actual abse nce than whe n only pe rsonal ne eds are conside red. In Type IV abse nce culture s, we see an uncoupling of organizational and pe rsonal inte rests. Thus, one can expe ct employe es to follow “ the lette r of the law” with regard to organizational policie s and to take their cues from othe r workers. Given the pote ntial conseque nces of e xce ssive abse nte eism for individuals, the work group, and the organization (e.g., Moore , Nichol, & McHugh, 1992; Scott & Markham, 1982) , we can spe culate e mploye es will internalize and e nforce norms that are high e nough to prote ct othe r membe rs by raising the pee r-group ave rage , but low e nough to ensure the group ’s survival. All e lse equal, the net e ffe ct of a Type IV culture should be to raise norms and actual abse nce highe r than would be the case if organizational nee ds were take n into account. Hypothesis 3. Employe e s who be long to a Type IV abse nce culture will estimate that the ir co-worke rs are abse nt more often, on ave rage , than employe e s who be long to a Type II abse nce culture . Con sequ ences of Perceived Absence Norm s Absence norms provide internal standards for employe e s to evaluate the ir absence in relation to the abse nces of othe rs. The notion that individuals re ly on social information in their work e nvironme nts to help them interpre t the ir behaviors and the ir outcome s (e .g., Griffin, 1983; Salancik & Pfe ffer, 1978) is fundame ntal to equity theory (Adams, 1965) . For instance, the personal implications of ten paid absence s would be quite dif-

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ferent if the group ave rage was 5 days rathe r than 15 days. In the forme r case , employe es may perceive an ove rpayme nt inequity, and possibly, resolve this by reducing the ir personal abse nte eism to a leve l more in line with that e xpe cted of group members. In doing so, e mploye e s restore individual equity and re duce the risk of sanctions from manage ment and othe r group members. In the latte r case, e mploye e s may perceive an underpayme nt inequity which, in turn, may be resolve d by increasing pe rsonal abse nces to the group norm. Atte ndance , the n, like othe r be havioral inputs such as effort and performance , can be lowere d or increase d by employe es to bring the ir input/outcome ratios in line with those of comparison othe rs (Johns & Nicholson, 1982, pp. 154). All e lse equal, it is reasonable to e xpe ct that conscious decisions to increase or de crease pe rsonal abse nces will be guide d by pe rceptions of what is a typical or normal le vel of absence in a particular work situation (Johns, 1994) . Thus, a ge neral pre diction is that employe e s who perceive a highe r abse nce norm in their work groups or organizational units will exhibit more subse que nt abse nce s than will employe e s who perceive a lower abse nce norm (cf. Ajzen & Fishbe in, 1980) . Hypothesis 4. Employe es who perceive highe r abse nce norms will e xhibit more future individual abse nce than employe es who perceive lower abse nce norms. Hypothesis 5. Pe rceive d abse nce norms will mediate the e ffects of prior individual and group-le vel absence s on future individual abse nce. METHODOLOGY Su rvey Particip an ts The population of interest were 852 full-time and pe rmanent part-time employe e s belonging to work units with more than one constitue nt member. In total, 57 work units, ranging in size from 2 to 65 e mploye es, fit this inclusion crite rion. Employe es who worke d alone or on a casual/te mporary basis were not conside red part of the sample population. A structured survey was deve lope d and administe red to hospital employe e s. Q uestions on the surve y were develope d to test study hypothe ses on a broade r sample of e mploye es. Participation was voluntary and completed surveys were re turne d via mail. In total, 305 of the 852 targe t employe e s re turne d com ple te d surve ys, re pre se ntin g a re turn rate of approximate ly 36% . The 305 survey re sponde nts were drawn from 49 of the 57 targe t work units, and cove red 154 of the 192 job classifications across the hospital. Twelve pe rcent of re sponde nts were classifie d as manage rs (7% of the sample population were manage rs). Eighty-four percent

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of responde nts were female which approximate s the proportion of females in the sample population (81% ). O n ave rage , responde nts had be en employe d at the hospital for 7 ye ars (SD = 5.44) and were 38.31 ye ars old (SD = 10.09). We were unable to compare our re sponde nt sample to the sample population on the se two latte r attribute s. Measures Surve y re sponde nts were asked to ide ntify the mselves, their job title , and their work unit. A measure of prior individual abse nce was colle cted by asking re sponde nts to report how many days the y had bee n abse nt during the previous 12-month period (not including vacation). Overall, re spondents re porte d the y were absent on ave rage about 5 days (M = 5.39) during that period, which is conside rably lower than the hospital ave rage of about 9 days pe r year. The perceived abse nce norm was measure d by asking responde nts to e stimate the ave rage numbe r of days othe r employe es were abse nt during the previous 12-month pe riod. Inte re stingly, responde nts e stimated their co-worke rs were abse nt an ave rage of 9 days per year (M = 8.59) , which is very close to the actual hospital average . Thre e additiona l variable s we re compute d for surve y re sponde nts. First, by identifying e ach responde nt’s work group, we were able to e stimate, from organizational records, the ave rage le vel of actual abse ntee ism within the immediate work group. It was hospital policy to record an absence if employe es were unavailable to work a schedule d shift. Abse nces due to vacations, pe rmitte d leave (e .g., medical, maternity) , or work-re lated injurie s were coded separate ly and not include d in work-group ave rage s. For thre e areas of the hospital (nursing, food se rvice s, and house ke eping) actual abse nte eism data were available at the individual le ve l. Abse ntee ism data from the othe r are as were aggre gate d at the le vel of the work group. Thus, for e ach of the 57 work groups, we compute d aggre gate s by averaging individual absence s within the group, or, if this data was unavailable , group ave rage s provide d by the hospital were use d. Some work groups reporte d no abse nces at all, while othe rs work groups maintaine d much highe r average s (highe st average was 25 days) . Se cond, a dichotomous culture variabl e was c od e d ( 1 = Typ e II; 2 = Type IV ) an d assigne d to e ach responde nt, and the actual leve l of abse nce for each culture type was e stimated. The latte r was accomplishe d by aggre gating actual abse ntee ism data across work groups within e ach of the six main areas of the hospital, and then combining area-le vel data into two e stimate s (culture 1: profe ssional-te chnical and administrative are as; culture 2: nursing, food se rvice s, house ke e ping, and physical plant) . The ave rage numbe r of days abse nt within culture type s 1 and 2 were 5.15 and 10.26, respe ctively. Each re-

1096

Gellatly an d Lu chak Table I. Me ans, Standard Deviations, and Zero-O rder Corre lationsa V ariables

1. 2. 3. 4. a

Perce ived abse nce norm Prior individual abse nce Group-leve l absence Culture-le vel abse nce

Mean

SD

1

2

3

4

8.59 5.39 7.99 8.53

4.85 6.61 3.75 2.42

1.00 .258 .325 .359

1.00 .182 .213

1.00 .535

1.00

N= 305 (1-tail test: r > .094, p < .05) . The prior individual absence me asure was the selfreported number of days absent ove r the 12-month period prior to the study. The group and culture measures were ave rages of the actual number of days absent within the respective work unit and absence culture to which each respondent was a membe r.

sponde nt was then assigne d an appropriate group-le ve l and culture -leve l abse nce score (for a re view of this proce dure, see Mossholde r & Bedeian, 1983; Rousse au, 1985) . Finally, we were able to measure future individual abse nce for a portion of the re sponde nt sample (N = 164) by computing the numbe r of days abse nt ove r the 12-month period immediate ly following the surve y. RESULTS Descriptive statistics and zero-orde r corre lations among study variable s are prese nted in Table I. O verall the patte rn of intercorre lations are consiste nt with the first thre e hypothe ses. Perceived abse nce norms were correlate d positive ly with prior individual abse nce, group-le vel abse nce, and culture -le ve l abse nce . Prior individual abse nce was correlate d positive ly with both group- and culture -level absence , and a strong positive relation was evide nt be tween the latte r two variable s. A four-ste p hie rarchical re gre ssion analysis was conducte d to te st whe the r the diffe rent source s of inform ation explaine d unique crite rion variance with the e ffe cts of variable s at previous steps controlle d (Table II). O n the first step, we regre sse d the crite rion, pe rceive d abse nce norm, on thre e demographic variable s (e ach responde nt ’s se x, age , and organizational tenure ) which have bee n linke d to e mploye e absenteeism (se e Hacke tt, 1989, 1990) . Although it was unknown whethe r the se de mographic variable s would affect normative perceptions, we fe lt it prude nt to control for any pote ntial effects before te sting the study hypothe ses. Inde ed, the block of control variable s e xplaine d a significant amount of crite rion variance , R2 of .041, F(3, 301) = 4.32, p < .01, with only sex showing a weak significant corre lation with the crite rion. O n ste p two, the crite rion was regre sse d on prior individual abse nce, yielding an R2 of .098, F(4, 300) = 8.17, p < .01. More over, an e xamination of the standardize d re gression weight associate d with this predictor re ve ale d a significant positive re lationship. In addition to supporting the first hypothe sis, the se findings show

Perceived Absen ce Norm s

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Table II. Hie rarchical Regression Analysis: Perce ived Absence Norm a Step 1

2 3 4

Variables Control variables Sex Age Tenure Prior individual absence Group-level abse nce Culture-level absence Multiple R = .4528, p < .01

Beta

R2

.105* .031 .102 .167* .138* .245*

.0413 .0982 .1636 .2050

D R2

.0413 .0569 .0654 .0414

D F

4.324 18.932 23.366 15.532

p
.129, p < .05). Organizational absenteeism records we re available for only those re spondents of work units within the Type IV absence -culture classification. The measure of future individual absence was the total number of days abse nt ove r the 12-month period following the survey.

absence on future absence were mediate d by pe rceived abse nce norms (Table IV). The block of thre e control variable s (se x, age , and organizational tenure ) were entered on step one, yie lding an R2 of .050, F(3, 160) = 2.83, p < .05. O n ste p two, the criterion was regressed on pe rceive d abse nce norm, yielding an R2 of .154, F(4, 159) = 7.26, p < .01. Examination of the standardize d regression weight reve ale d a significant positive relationship, supporting hypothe sis 4 and providing e mpirical e vide nce that normative pe rceptions were associate d with individual absence s 1 year late r. O n step three, with the effects of de mographic variable s and perceive d absence norms controlle d, both prior individual and group-le vel abse nce explaine d unique criterion variance , R2 = .199, F(6, 157) = 6.49, p < .01, but only prior individual absence was significantly relate d to the criterion. With respect to hypothe sis 5, the se findings offer mixed support. Although perceive d abse nce norms comple te ly mediate the e ffe cts of group-l e ve l abse nce on future abse nce , normative perceptions only partially mediate the e ffe cts of prior individual abse nce on future absence (cf. James & Brett, 1984).

Table IV. Hie rarchical Re gression Analysis: Future Individual Absence (Type IV Absence Culture) a Step 1

2 3

a

V ariables Control variables Sex Age Te nure Perce ived abse nce norm Prior individual absence Group-level abse nce Multiple R = .4459, p < .01.

N = 164. *p < .05.

Be ta

R2

D R2

D F

¯ .084 ¯ .093 .146 .268* .179* .120

.0503 .1545

.0503 .1041

2.828 19.580

.05 .01

.1988

.0444

4.346

.05

p