This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Nyberg, A. Articles by Theorell, T. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Nyberg, A. Articles by Theorell, T. Social Bookmarking                   What's this?

Managerial leadership is associated with self-reported sickness absence and sickness presenteeism among Swedish men and women

Department of Public Health Sciences, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden, anna.nyberg{at}ki.se

Hugo Westerlund

Stress Research Institute, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden

Linda L. Magnusson Hanson

Stress Research Institute, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden

Töres Theorell

Stress Research Institute, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden

Aims: The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between managerial leadership and self-reported sickness absence/presenteeism among Swedish men and women. Methods: Five thousand one hundred and forty-one Swedish employees, 56% of the participants in a nationally representative sample of the Swedish working population, were included in this cross-sectional questionnaire study. The leadership dimensions measured were five subscales of a standardized leadership questionnaire (Global Leadership and Organizational Behaviour Effectiveness Programme): Integrity, Team integration, Inspirational leadership, Autocratic leadership, and Self-centred leadership. Multiple logistic regression analyses were conducted, adjusting for factors in private life, employment category, labour-market sector, working conditions, self-reported general health, and satisfaction with life in general. Results: Inspirational leadership was associated with a lower rate of short spells of sickness absence (<1 week) for both men and women. Autocratic leadership was related to a greater amount of total sick days taken by men. Sometimes showing integrity was associated with higher rate of sickness absence >1 week among men, and seldom showing integrity was associated with more sickness presenteeism among women. Managers performing Team integration were sometimes associated with women taking fewer short (<1 week) and long (>1 week) spells of sickness absence. Adjustment for self-reported general health did not alter these associations for men, but did so to some extent for women. Conclusions: Managerial leadership was found to be relevant for the understanding of sickness absence in the Swedish working population. There were distinctive gender differences.

Key Words: Gender • health • managerial leadership • sickness absence • sickness presenteeism • working conditions

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?