Score contribution per author:
α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count
We investigate the influence of personality as measured by the Big Five personality scale on absenteeism using the 2005 wave of the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP). Estimates of a double hurdle negative binomial regression allow us to test hypotheses on the influence of the Big Five personality traits on work attendance. Our findings augment previous results on the link between personality and absenteeism by analysing representative data and including a large set of control variables typically not available in small scale surveys. We find clear negative correlations between the absence probability and <italic>Conscientiousness</italic> among women. For male employees a negative correlation with the incidence of absence is observed for the <italic>Agreeableness</italic> dimension. When looking at the length of absence occurrences <italic>Neuroticism</italic> is found to significantly influence male absenteeism despite controlling for the subjective health of the individual. Following the reasoning by Bowles <italic>et al</italic>. (2001) for the provision of effort by employees, employers might pay for incentive-enhancing preferences such as low <italic>Neuroticism</italic> among male employees because employers can only insufficiently monitor the true level of sickness of their employees and consequently want to avoid voluntary absenteeism.