Mood and absence

Abstract

While viewing absence as a mechanism of mood control, I explored the impact of mood at work on absenteeism, taking into account situational influences. Among a sample of 210 salespeople, I found that positive mood at work was significantly and negatively associated with absenteeism. Adjustment to the work situation as indexed by tenure also was influential for absence behavior. In addition, the personality traits, positive affectivity, and negative affectivity had significant effects on the extent to which workers experienced positive moods and negative moods, respectively. The implications of these results and directions for future research are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)