Hamed Dehghanan
1* 
, Maghsoud Amiri
2 , Mehdi Yazdanshenas
1 , Mahdi Ghafoorifard
1 1 Department of Business Management, Faculty of Management and Accounting, Allameh Tabataba'i University, Tehran, Iran
2 Department of Industrial Management, Faculty of Management and Accounting, Allameh Tabataba'i University, Tehran, Iran
Abstract
Background. The health of employees and the work environment is important for any organization, but some organizational phenomena challenge this issue. One of the emerging organizational phenomena is presenteeism, which causes an employee to decide to be at work despite being sick (physical or mental) and feeling unwell. The aim of the current research is to provide a model of employee presenteeism based on factors affecting this behavioral phenomenon.
Methods. In this study, by meta-synthesis method, all the researches of reliable databases that were related to the research topic from 1991 to 2022 were systematically examined and finally, following the entry and exit criteria, 78 articles were identified and analyzed.
Results. The results showed that the most important factors affecting employee attendance can be designed in the form of a three-dimensional model with 13 core categories and 60 components. In this model, three main dimensions include behavioral, structural and contextual dimensions. 13 core categories also include organizational characteristics and procedures, job characteristics, human resources management of the organization, organizational culture, health status of the individual, employee's attitude and perception towards the consequences of absenteeism or presenteeism, organizational communications and interactions, individual characteristics, individual personality, job and organizational attitude, cultural and social factors, economic factors of society and legislation and infrastructure.
Conclusion. The results of the synthesis and analysis of 78 articles in this research showed that presenteeism is a complex and multidimensional phenomenon that is caused by various factors, and the correct management of this behavior in the organization depends on careful attention to the pattern identified in this research.
Extended Abstract
Background
Presenteeism or working while sick is the act of employees continuing to work despite having reduced productivity levels or negative consequences. It is a poorly understood and relatively unfamiliar concept outside academic spheres. The phenomenon has only recently been attracting attention as one of the main factors that affect organizational performance. Compared to absenteeism, research on presenteeism is “markedly a theoretical”. Presenteeism refers to situations where people continue to work despite feeling sufficiently unwell to take time off sick. Working during minor illness is not necessarily damaging and returning to work while not fully recovered via a phased return can be beneficial following more serious health problems. Nonetheless, there is growing evidence that presenteeism can impair wellbeing and job performance and potentially threaten the health and safety of others. The physical presence of a person along with his/her problems in the workplace reduces his/her productivity at work, as evidence suggests that presenteeism almost reduces productivity four times more than absenteeism. The aim of the current research is to provide a model of Presenteeism based on factors affecting this behavioral phenomenon.
Methods
In the present study, the meta-synthesis research method according to the seven–step model of Sandlowski and Barroso has been used. The statistical population in this study included all articles published from 1991 to 2022 in the field of the research subject, which were shared in reputable English databases of Scopus, ScienceDirect, Web of Science, Emerald, ProQuest, PubMed, EBSCOhost, Springer, Wiley, Taylor & Francis, SAGE and Persian databases such as, SID, Irandoc, Magiran, Noormags, IranMedex and the Humanities Research Institute. The sampling method in this section was purposeful. Keywords used to select articles were as follows: "sickness presenteeism", "employee attendance", "workplace attendance", "working while ill". The inclusion criteria of selected studies in this research were components of presenteeism, providing clear and sufficient information about the structural elements of the research (purpose, component, sampling method), and placement of the research in the desired time period and research language. The data and sources were used in several stages of refinement and extraction and after analyzing and combining results, components were presented in a framework (model). Using Cohen's Kappa coefficient, the reliability of the research was established and its validity was approved through the triangulation method.
Results
Our search yielded 3072 papers after duplication check. 455 studies were found eligible in the stage of title and abstract screening. 377 studies were excluded from the analysis process due to lack of sufficient information about the objectives of the research, quality assessment by CASP and irrelevance to the purpose of the research. Finally, 78 studies were selected as the sample with the most coordination and appropriateness with the objective of this research. After selecting the samples, the researchers carefully analyzed them and the sub–components and main components were extracted by coding and classifying the components of a model of presenteeism. The final model of presenteeism has 3 behavioral, structural and environmental dimensions and 13 main components and 60 sub components. The 13 main components are: 1-organizational characteristics and procedures, 2-job characteristics, 3-human resource management of the organization, 4-organizational culture, 5-individual health status, 6-employee attitude and perception towards the consequences of absenteeism or presenteeism, 7-communication and interactions organizational, 8-individual characteristics, 9-individual personality, 10-occupational and organizational attitude, 11-cultural and social factors, 12-economic factors of society and 13-legislation and infrastructure.
Conclusion
The results of the synthesis and analysis of 78 articles in this research showed that presenteeism is a complex and multidimensional phenomenon that is caused by various factors, and the correct management of this behavior in the organization depends on careful attention to the pattern identified in this research.