Perceptions of absence from work: People's Republic of China versus Canada

Cross-cultural theory was marshaled to predict how views of absence from work would be similar and different in Canada and the People's Republic of China. Respondents (N = 1,209) from both cultures had self-serving perceptions of their own absence levels, seeing them as exemplary compared with those of their work group and occupational peers. The Chinese showed a stronger tendency to generate estimates that favored their work group. Both cultural groups underreported their own actual absence. Chinese managers and employees agreed on absence norms, whereas Canadian managers provided lower estimates than did employees. Canadians and Chinese ranked the legitimacy of reasons for absence and attendance fairly similarly, but ratings showed that Canadians were less likely to endorse domestic reasons for absence, whereas Chinese were less likely to endorse illness, stress, and depression.