Performance evaluations of leadership quality and public sector leaders' absenteeism

This paper investigates the effect of performance evaluation of leadership quality on leader sickness absence. While previous research has focused on how evaluation of leadership impacts employee sickness absence, we analyse how superiors' and subordinates' evaluations of leadership quality, as well as leaders' self-evaluations, influence public leaders' own absence. A longitudinal study of 335 Danish municipal leaders, 94 superiors, and 4,449 subordinates is conducted. Findings indicate that superiors' evaluation of leadership quality compared to the leaders' self-evaluation is important for public sector leaders' absenteeism. Furthermore, findings show that leaders who are over-estimators have a higher absence frequency compared to under-estimators.