Collective Autonomy and Absenteeism Within Work Teams: A Team Motivation Approach

This study investigates the role of collective autonomy in regard to team absenteeism by considering team potency as a motivational mediator and task routineness as a moderator. The sample consists of 90 work teams (327 members and 90 immediate superiors) drawn from a public safety organization. Results of structural equation modeling indicate that the relationships between collective autonomy and two indicators of team absenteeism (i.e., absence frequency and time lost) are mediated by team potency. Specifically, collective autonomy is positively related to team potency which in turn is negatively related to team absenteeism. Furthermore, results of hierarchical regression analyses show that task routineness moderates the relationships between collective autonomy and the two indicators of team absenteeism such that these relationships are stronger when the level of task routineness is low. On the whole, this study points out that collective autonomy may exercise a motivational effect on attendance at work within teams, but this effect is contingent on task routineness.