How stress affects presenteeism in public sectors: a dual path analysis of Chinese healthcare workers

Aim: Job stress is an important concept in current organizational behavior and relevant studies. We explored how two types of job stress impact on presenteeism from a dual-path. Subject and methods: This cross-sectional study conducted a literature research and questionnaire survey to explore the influence of job stress on presenteeism among healthcare workers based on a dataset composed of 1516 valid samples from 12 hospitals across China. Structural equation modeling and mediation analysis in SPSS were used to test the roles played by public service motivation and health in the influence of job stress on presenteeism. Results: In the final structural model equation, challenge stress had a significant positive impact on public service motivation (β = 0.08; P < 0.05) but a negative impact on health (β = −0.20; P < 0.01), and an insignificant negative effect on presenteeism (β = −0.00; P > 0.05). Hindrance stress was significantly negatively correlated with public service motivation (β = −0.20; P < 0.001) and health (β = −0.27; P < 0.001) and positively correlated with presenteeism (β = 0.09; P < 0.01). The mediating role of public service motivation was insignificant for challenge stress but significant for hindrance stress, while both paths were significant when mediated by health. Conclusions: First, job stress has a significant influence on presenteeism. Second, different types of job stress have different effects on presenteeism and hindrance stress plays a more salient role. Third, health plays a significant mediating role compared with public service motivation. The government and health industry should pay attention to healthcare workers’ working status to improve the quality of healthcare service from the supply side.