Absenteeism as a Reaction to Harmful Behavior in the Workplace from a Stress Theory Point of View

The paper gives an overview as to the extent of socially harmful behavior in the workplace. Data comes from European Survey on Working Conditions. We draw upon the information from the surveys which were carried out in 2000, 2005 and 2010 in the EU-15. Unfortunately, the findings show that the number of employees who suffer socially harmful behavior in their work environment is not low. Following the assumption that stressful working conditions increase the probability of harmful behavior it is shown that the reaction to harmful behavior depends on what resources are available to the person affected. Social support and satisfying working conditions prove to be effective buffers against hostile behavior. Nevertheless, behavioral buffers can only play a supporting role in detecting and removing the causes of hostile behavior. The paper adds new insights into the topic and in addition to an overview, we identify empirically significant determinants and conduct a stress theoretic analysis of different ways of reacting to socially aversive behavior.