How job demands affect absenteeism? The mediating role of work–family conflict and exhaustion

Purpose. To investigate how psychosocial factors (such as job demands and work–family con ict) produce absen- teeism in the workplace, using the health impairment pro- cess of the job demands–resources model. According to this model, job demands lead to burnout (often measured with the emotional exhaustion component), which in turn could lead to outcomes (such as absenteeism). Work–fam- ily con ict (WFC) was also studied, because of contradic- tory results collected in the existing literature on absentee- ism in the workplace, regarding the role of WFC in causing absenteeism. Methods. Data were collected on 245 workers using both subjective (questionnaire on psychological risk factors and work-related health) and objective data (sickness leave fre- quency records). To test the hypothesis that job demands and WFC contribute to absenteeism in the workplace, a subsequent mediation analysis was used, which analysed both (a) the subsequent mediation of WFC and emotional exhaustion and (b) the separate roles played by the media- tors proposed (WFC and emotional exhaustion). Results. Job demands affect absenteeism through the sub- sequent mediation of WFC and emotional exhaustion. In addition, emotional exhaustion mediates the relationship between job demands and absenteeism, while WFC does not. Conclusion. In conclusion, subsequent mediation high- lights the role of emotional exhaustion in causing absen- teeism; in fact, when emotional exhaustion is included in the analysis, job demands are associated with higher levels of absenteeism. The results of this study suggest that with- out the concurrent contribution of emotional exhaustion, WFC does not in uence absenteeism in the workplace. Our ndings are useful for organizations that aim to reduce absenteeism.