Understanding the "personological" basis of employee withdrawal: The influence of affective disposition on employee tardiness, early departure, and absenteeism

This study investigated the impact of positive affectivity (PA) and negativ e affectivity (NA) on employee tardiness, early departure, and absenteeism, controlling for demographic, job-related, and environmental variables. The 3 temporary withdrawal measures were collected from organizational records in the 12 months following the survey. The LISREL analysis was based on a sample of 362 blue-collar employees from a multinational automotive manufac turer, The results indicate that individuals high in PA were associated wit h increased tardiness and early departure but decreased absenteeism. Indivi duals high in NA were associated with increased early departure. In terms o f moderator effects, job satisfaction had a significant negative impact for individuals low in PA in predicting tardiness and early departure, whereas job satisfaction displayed a significant negative relationship with early departure for individuals high in NA. Implications of the findings are disc ussed.