A longitudinal examination of public recognition and employee absenteeism: an exploratory study

The study extended the Scott et al. (1985) research by examining the influence of public recognition on employees' attitudes and perceptions toward absenteeism. The main focus was on why the public recognition program was effective in reducing employee absenteeism. To better understand the effectiveness of recognition in reducing absenteeism, a model of the absenteeism/recognition relationship was developed. The model was based on the integration of the need, expectancy, reinforcement, and goal setting theories. It implies that the influence of recognition on attendance behavior is a function of an employee's (1) desire for recognition; (2) belief that attendance is related to recognition; (3) personal attendance goal setting which is a function of an employee's(a)perceived congruency between individual and management's attendance goals, (b) perceived reasonableness of management's attendance goals, and (c) perceived ability to attend in order to meet goals; and (4) recognition award.

It was concluded that even though recognition programs have been shown to yield greater reductions in absenteeism than other approaches (e.g., lotteries, financial incentives, etc.), the reasons for its effectiveness are still not known.