Re-examining the relationship between core job characteristics and employee presenteeism in a sample of Greek public and private employees

Abstract

Presenteeism describes a phenomenon where the employee attends work while he or she is not feeling well or is ill. Our primary research objective was to investigate in a Greek context how certain job/task characteristics trigger and sustain presenteeism behavior among employees. Specifically, we examined how the core job characteristics (i.e. skill variety, skill identity, skill significance, autonomy and feedback) are linked to Greek employees’ presenteeism. An online questionnaire was created and administered to employees in different professions working in two separate geographical areas (the city of Athens and the island of Lesvos). A final sample of 121 participants was used to perform the statistical analyses in order to examine the key research hypotheses. Our results were aligned with existing research, indicating that, of the five job-related characteristics examined, task variety and task significance are associated with presenteeism. This study therefore offers additional cross-cultural evidence regarding the relationship between two work-related constructs (presenteeism and job/task characteristics). Future research should incorporate additional aspects of one’s job characteristics to enhance our understanding of how this complicated work-related phenomenon emerges and affects employees’ lives.