The Impact of the Employee’s Personal Characteristics on the Abuse of Sickness Absence: Empirical Evidence From Poland

Jurek Łukasz ()
Additional contact information
Jurek Łukasz: Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Wroclaw University of Economics and Business: Uniwersytet Ekonomiczny we Wroclawiu, Wrocław, Poland

Wroclaw Review of Law, Administration & Economics, 2023, vol. 13, issue 2, 60-81

Abstract: Objective The tendency to abuse sickness absence is a complex problem conditioned by many factors, that can be divided, depending on the level of impact, into three groups: micro (related to personal characteristics), meso (related to the work environment), and macro (related to the broader environment). The subject of interest in the article is the first level (micro). The aim is to evaluate the impact of various personal factors on the declared abuse of sickness leave in Poland. Research Design & Methods The data was gathered using the CAWI survey. The research sample consisted of 1067 respondents (full-time employees). Statistical analysis incorporated multivariable linear regression and structural equation modelling. Findings Some personal characteristics have a significant impact on the declared abuse of sick leave. These factors are: gender, age, number of children, place of living, marital status, and subjective health. We found no impact of education and financial status. Implications & Recommendations Although abusing sick leave is a serious economic and organisational problem, its causes still remain relatively poorly recognised. Personal characteristics determine the propensity to abuse sick leave, and they need to be taken into account under the process of managing absence behaviours. Contribution & Value Added The added value of the study is drawing attention to the new personal factors which were not previously identified as a determinant of abuse of sick leave. These are: the number of children, place of living, and marital status.

Keywords: sickness absence; absenteeism; welfare abuse; personal factors (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.2478/wrlae-2022-0008 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:vrs:wrolae:v:13:y:2023:i:2:p:60-81:n:1002

DOI: 10.2478/wrlae-2022-0008

Access Statistics for this article

Wroclaw Review of Law, Administration & Economics is currently edited by Artur Kozłowski

More articles in Wroclaw Review of Law, Administration & Economics from Sciendo
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Peter Golla ().