Exploring work-related attributions of sickness absence during organizational change: a scoping review

International Journal of Workplace Health Management,Volume 10, Issue 3, June 2017. Purpose The present article reviews the literature on the relationship between organizational change and sickness absence and seeks to map and describe the prevailing “trends” in the field. In particular, the paper focuses on the indirect links between change and sickness absence and identifies knowledge gaps and novel research opportunities. Design/methodology/approach A scoping review was conducted seeking to generate a wide-ranging overview of relevant s tudies. To this end, research articles were collected through different sources of landmark articles, bibliographies and databases. Findings The association between organizational change and sickness absence is often explained by adverse changes in work characteristics. Such potential mediation or moderation effects, however, are rarely statistically tested. Including such variables in the analyses may represent an important avenue for future research. Additionally, earlier studies have mainly emphasized organization-wide episodic changes. Recently however, researchers have focused on smalle r and frequently implemented changes. Accordingly, the field of organizational change and occupational health may advance by incorporating greater diversity of change type. Originality/value The article demonstrates that attention to the potential health effects of organizational change will remai n important as the field of workplace health man...
Source: International Journal of Workplace Health Management - Category: Occupational Health Source Type: research