Presenteeism and Its Conceptualization: A Literature Review

Presenteeism is a comparatively new phenomenon in the study of occupational behaviors which evolved throughout the past few decades. Increasing interest in managing presenteeism effectively emerged as a new source of competitive advantage in current organizations. With definitional confusion, the most scholarly conception of presenteeism involves the employee’s attending to work while being ill. However, the definition has been more recently extended to include other conditions and events that limit productivity. Now focus is moving from single dimension to multiple dimensions of presenteeism. Accordingly, this conceptual paper traces the development of interest in presenteeism with consideration of its various conceptualizations which are important theoretically and practically. The paper may be useful to those who are interested in understanding the concept of presenteeism for future research studies.