Predicting absenteeism and turnover intentions by past absenteeism and work attitudes An empirical examination of female employees in long term nursing care facilities

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of prior absenteeism, demographic variables, and work attitudes (job satisfaction, perceptions of health, and work commitments forms) on absenteeism and turnover intentions. Design/methodology/approach – This study is a longitudinal survey. The questionnaire used established scales of the research instruments. The sample was composed of 119 female employees working in five long term nursing facilities in northern Israel. Findings – The findings showed a strong effect of prior absenteeism on later absenteeism. They also showed that among work attitudes, job satisfaction is a strong predictor of absenteeism, while commitment forms, particularly organizational commitment, are related to turnover intentions. Research limitations/implications – Using a survey questionnaire for collecting most of the data might cause common method error. Practical implications – The findings of this study shed some more light on important work outcomes in general and in the health care industry in particular. Increasing job satisfaction and organizational commitment seem to be good strategies for reducing absenteeism and turnover intentions, as the findings here suggested. A higher rate of absenteeism provides an early indication of a withdrawal process among employees, and the organization should treat such information as more than just data on absence rates. Originality/value – Very few papers have used a longitudinal design examining the effect of both prior absenteeism and work attitudes on turnover intentions and actual absenteeism.