Economic stress has been recognized as a major threat to the well-being and performance of workers, especially during times of global economic crisis. An interesting and relatively unexplored research topic concerns the associations between economic stress and employee job outcomes such as innovative behaviors, indispensable for business survival. The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between economic stress, absenteeism and innovation. We considered both a direct and a mediation hypothesis and hypothesized that economic stress can have a negative influence on innovation directly and indirectly through increased absenteeism. A cross-sectional study was performed during 2018 and 2019 in an Italian food factory. A sample of 578 employees completed the Stress Questionnaire, the Janssen’s nine-item scale and a single-item regarding absenteeism. All relationships are supported by empirical data. As expected, the results indicated that economic stress is negatively related to innovation and positively related to absenteeism, which, in turn, plays a mediating role in the relationship between economic stress and innovative behavior. Herewith, those employees with higher levels of economic stress show higher levels of absenteeism contributing at the same time to a decrease in innovative behaviors. These findings show the importance of economic stress in understanding individual work outcomes and highlight the need to promote adequate intervention programs.

中文翻译：

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工作中的经济压力：对旷工和创新的影响

人们已经认识到经济压力是对工人福祉和绩效的主要威胁，尤其是在全球经济危机时期。一个有趣且相对未开发的研究主题涉及经济压力与员工工作成果（例如创新行为）之间的关联，这对于企业生存是必不可少的。本研究的目的是研究经济压力，旷工与创新之间的关系。我们既考虑了直接假设，也考虑了中介假设，并假设经济压力可以通过缺勤率的增加直接或间接地对创新产生负面影响。在2018年和2019年期间在一家意大利食品工厂进行了横断面研究。578名员工的样本完成了压力问卷，Janssen的九项量表和有关缺勤的一项。所有关系都由经验数据支持。正如预期的那样，结果表明经济压力与创新负相关，而旷工则与正相关，反过来，旷工在经济压力与创新行为之间的关系中起中介作用。因此，那些承受较高经济压力的员工表现出较高的缺勤率，同时也导致了创新行为的减少。这些发现表明，经济压力对于理解个人工作成果的重要性，并强调了促进适当干预计划的必要性。结果表明，经济压力与创新负相关，而旷工则与正相关，反过来又在经济压力与创新行为之间的关系中起中介作用。因此，那些承受较高经济压力的员工会表现出较高的旷工率，同时也会导致创新行为的减少。这些发现表明，经济压力对于理解个人工作成果的重要性，并强调了促进适当干预计划的必要性。结果表明，经济压力与创新负相关，而旷工则与正相关，反过来又在经济压力与创新行为之间的关系中起中介作用。因此，那些承受较高经济压力的员工表现出较高的缺勤率，同时也导致了创新行为的减少。这些发现表明，经济压力对于理解个人工作成果的重要性，并强调了促进适当干预计划的必要性。具有较高经济压力的员工表现出较高的缺勤率，同时也导致创新行为的减少。这些发现表明，经济压力对于理解个人工作成果的重要性，并强调了促进适当干预计划的必要性。具有较高经济压力的员工表现出较高的缺勤率，同时也导致创新行为的减少。这些发现表明，经济压力对于理解个人工作成果的重要性，并强调了促进适当干预计划的必要性。