Coming to work while sick: An economic theory of presenteeism with an application to German data
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In: Oxford Economic Papers, Vol. 69, No. 4, 01.10.2017, p. 1010-1031.
Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Coming to work while sick
T2 - An economic theory of presenteeism with an application to German data
AU - Hirsch, Boris
AU - Lechmann, Daniel
AU - Schnabel, Claus
PY - 2017/10/1
Y1 - 2017/10/1
N2 - Presenteeism, i.e. attending work while sick, is widespread and associated with significant costs. Still, economic analyses of this phenomenon are rare. In a theoretical model, we show that presenteeism arises due to differences between workers in the disutility from workplace attendance. As these differences are unobservable by employers, they set wages that incentivize sick workers to attend work. Using a large representative German data set, we test several hypotheses derived from our model. In line with our predictions, we find that stressful working conditions and bad health status are positively related to presenteeism. Better dismissal protection, captured by higher tenure, is associated with slightly fewer presenteeism days, whereas the role of productivity and skills is inconclusive. © Oxford University Press 2017 All rights reserved.
AB - Presenteeism, i.e. attending work while sick, is widespread and associated with significant costs. Still, economic analyses of this phenomenon are rare. In a theoretical model, we show that presenteeism arises due to differences between workers in the disutility from workplace attendance. As these differences are unobservable by employers, they set wages that incentivize sick workers to attend work. Using a large representative German data set, we test several hypotheses derived from our model. In line with our predictions, we find that stressful working conditions and bad health status are positively related to presenteeism. Better dismissal protection, captured by higher tenure, is associated with slightly fewer presenteeism days, whereas the role of productivity and skills is inconclusive. © Oxford University Press 2017 All rights reserved.
KW - Economics
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85031712379&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1093/oep/gpx016
DO - 10.1093/oep/gpx016
M3 - Journal articles
VL - 69
SP - 1010
EP - 1031
JO - Oxford Economic Papers
JF - Oxford Economic Papers
SN - 0030-7653
IS - 4
ER -