| Abstract: | For much of the last decade research studies on absenteeism have con-centrated on samples of white-collar employees in service-sector organizations. Unionized factory workers have largely been ignored. As a consequence, certain work-setting variables and policy matters which would appear to be germane to an understanding of absenteeism in a manufacturing environment have tended to be neglected. The purpose of this study is to develop and test a causal model of absenteeism using a sample of unionized, production workers in the automotive industry. The LISREL results indicated there were a number of different factors that had a significant effect on the incidence of absenteeism. These causal factors included job motivation, the routinization of work and supervisory support, as well as absence culture and the employees' external responsibilities. In addition, policy issues relating to previous disciplinary warnings and the accumulation of sick pay were identified as significant determinants of absence behaviour. |
