Workplace social capital—a resource for all? A three-wave panel study of the effects of workplace social capital on sickness absence across occupational groups

Sickness absence is a salient challenge in most organizations today, and scholars have suggested that social relationships, e.g. in the form of workplace social capital (WSC), are a resource that buffers against sickness absence. However, sickness absence has been found to vary systematically between blue-collar and white-collar employees, and empirical evidence suggests that WSC may not be a beneficial resource for all employees. Our study addresses this knowledge gap and examines whether four subtypes of WSC are a resource for all employees in relation to sickness absence in a large three-wave panel (10,056 respondents and a total of 19,075 employee-year observations in the Danish public sector). We link survey responses on WSC to individual-level record-based data on sickness absence and occupational grade. Our findings indicate that all types of WSC are a resource for high-skilled white-collar employees, but not for low-skilled white-collar and blue-collar employees. This knowledge is crucial for advancing research on sickness absence within different occupational groups. It also has important policy implications, since practitioners should be aware of this gap and strategically plan their efforts in accordance.