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The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the last 50 years of empirical research on leaders' influence on employee absenteeism. Furthermore, the aim is to direct future management research by identifying what is still undiscovered regarding areas such as leadership concepts, measurements of absenteeism, methodology and country-specific contexts of the studies.

This is a qualitative review which is suitable as the literature on leadership and employee absenteeism is still emergent and characterized by heterogeneity in terms of operationalization of absenteeism and leadership concepts, respectively, as well as types of analyses.

This review identifies different aspects of leadership affecting employee absence, i.e. leadership behaviours (i.e. task, relational, change, passive), leadership styles, leaders' social modelling and attitudes, and leaders' management of health and absence. Furthermore, a number of gaps in extant research are identified as well as a research agenda is provided.

This review is the first of its kind and hence contributes more profound insights into leaders' influence on employee absenteeism. Leaders as a factor explaining employee absenteeism have only played a minor role, in large theoretical contributions, and the exact behaviour and style is not elaborated much in the literature. Thus, this paper provides practical and theoretical considerations over the role of leaders in shaping employee absenteeism.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the determinants of perceived work-related stress among public sector managers.

A general questionnaire-based survey of managers at all managerial levels in Danish organizations concerning the content of their job and the way it is practiced (n=1,500, response rate 72 per cent) are applied. For the purpose of this paper only specific information related to the perception of work stress among public sector managers is analyzed (n=400).

The perception of stress are influenced by factors like gender, managerial level, work load, the influence on own job situation, if they have children living at home as well as the percentage of work-at-home.

In a general survey work stress is one among a larger number of issues. This fact may influence the validity of the information – in a positive as well as a negative way. However, the findings point to issues which call for more in-depth analyses.

The identified significant determinants influencing the perception of stress point to issues where preventive initiatives can be taken.

Since work-related stress may cause absence from work it may influence production and the health system. If preventive measures can be taken a positive impact on the economy may be the result.

Work-related stress has been studied before. But little focus has been given to the public sector and especially managers. Furthermore, including a variety of potential explanatory determinants such a work-life balance, psycho-social work characteristics, gender and managerial level – as well as the potential interaction between them – give a detailed platform for the analyses.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between workplace social capital and health and job related outcomes in a large Danish municipality.

Data used in this cross-sectional study are based on an electronic employee survey conducted in 2012 in a large municipality. Of the total population of 5,672 individuals, the number of participants amounted to 4,162, leading to a response rate of 73.4 percent. Binary logistic regression analysis is used as a statistical method, and odds ratios and their corresponding 95 percent confidence intervals have been estimated.

The level of social capital is fairly high in the municipality (3.75 on a five-point scale). Social capital is related to health (OR=0.420) and psychological distress (OR=0.282) but has an even stronger relationship to job satisfaction and commitment (OR is 9.889 and 7.800, respectively). The study contributes with the conclusion that different sub-dimensions of social capital are related to health and job related outcomes. Therefore, managers need to be specific about what exactly they want to achieve with the implementation of social capital in municipalities.

Research of the relationship between social capital and health and job related outcomes based on a case study approach of a municipality are limited. This paper makes an original contribution in providing evidence of the importance of social capital for Danish municipal sector employees’ health, job satisfaction, and commitment in a work context.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the drivers of absenteeism and gives information of the relationship between absenteeism and personal and organizational characteristics in the Nordic countries.

The theoretical assumptions are tested empirically on data from a survey carried out in Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland. 10.748 employees from randomly selected households participated. Differences were examined using analysis of variance.

Among the findings are that Danish employees are less absent than employees in Norway, Finland and Sweden. Employees working in the public sector, more specific the municipalities, have a higher level of absence compared to the private sector. According to the personal characteristics, women are more absent than men in all Nordic countries, but the effect of age differs according to the country in question. If the manager however is a woman and the employee likewise, then the level of absence is higher in Denmark, Norway and Finland compared to the other gender constellations.

Because of the lack of international comparative studies of absenteeism in the Nordic countries, this paper brings new and a deeper understanding of the area as a basis of further empirical research and/or management concern.