Employee absenteeism as an affective event

We consider theoretical and empirical developments in personality, affect, and absenteeism research. Specifically, we investigate the relationship between these three constructs and propose a theoretical perspective about the importance of affect in mediating the effect that personality has on absenteeism. One of our main goals is to look at both positive and negative consequences of absenteeism. We propose a model of the personality types that have a higher likelihood of using absenteeism to their benefit (i.e., to "recharge" and change negative affect) and therefore have the absence be functional (i.e., positive affect and higher productivity upon returning to the job) rather than dysfunctional (i.e., negative affect and person is still unproductive or has less productivity than before the absence event). We conclude by emphasizing the theoretical contributions that this model makes and by suggesting ways in which the model could be tested.