Sickness presenteeism as psychological absence: a mediation model of presenteeism as a determinant of job satisfaction via affective-motivational states

Sickness presenteeism, or the phenomenon of attending work whilst being ill and unfit to attend due to health reasons, has been described as extremely costly. Research has tended to focus on either its determinants or, less frequently so, on its outcomes. Outcomes that have been examined include costs to organizations in financial terms, costs to individuals in health terms, and impact on future sickness absenteeism. However, research has neglected to examine how sickness presenteeism itself can further impact on attitudinal and motivational outcomes.In this study, sickness presenteeism is viewed as physical presence combined with psychological absence, or performing work mindlessly, and propose a mediation model of sickness presenteeism as a determinant of job satisfaction via affective-motivational states. Specifically, our model centres on the effort to remain psychologically present at work (despite illness that limits work capacity) that can impact on performance and a range of work-related outcomes. Although mindless task performance may be possible for some minor tasks, but it depletes the capacity and attention necessary to carry out a job well, which has an impact on affective motivational states (specifically engagement with work and addiction to work) and can accumulate into further health impairments in the longer term.A cross-sectional survey study was conducted with a sample of office workers from three organizations in England. The mediation model posits presenteeism as impacting on job satisfaction via its impact on work engagement and addiction to work. Bootstrapped mediation analysis of the survey data provided support for full mediation model, which explained a total of 48.07% of the variance in job satisfaction. Specifically, the data provided support for the hypothesis that work engagement and addiction mediate the relationship between presenteeism and job satisfaction. The effects were positive via work engagement and negative via work addiction: Presenteeism fuels work addiction, which is in turn linked to job dissatisfaction, and can also reduce work engagement, which is in turn positively related to job satisfaction.The model offers an extension to the literature on sickness presenteeism by viewing presenteeism as psychological absence, and suggesting that it can affect affective-motivational states (work engagement, work addiction, and job satisfaction). This study offers avenues for developing the area conceptually