Perceived Human Resource Management Practices: Their Effect on Employee Absenteeism and Time Allocation at Work

How employees spend their work time can have important consequences for organizations. Although some research has examined the relationship between human resource management (HRM) and employee absence, we know less about whether HRM also affects employees’ time allocation at work. This study examines the role of perceived HRM and psychological processes in explaining employee absence and time allocation in the form of time spent on core task and contextual activities. Besides an avoidance mechanism, linking perceived HRM to absence via lower satisfaction, we propose an approach mechanism linking perceived HRM to time spent on task and contextual activities via satisfaction and willingness to exert extra effort. A study among 1,626 employees of a Dutch governmental organization supports the proposed model.