This paper offers a cultural perspective to the work absenteeism literature, by conceptualizing
work absence at the U.S. state level of analysis, and by assessing absenteeism as a manifestation
of regional cultures. First, I establish that absenteeism is a spatially dependent phenomenon, and
demonstrate that the retest reliability of absenteeism increases at higher levels of aggregation
(from individual-level to city-level to state-level), to provide evidence for absence as a state-level
construct. Second, I hypothesize main effects of regional cultures on state-level work
absenteeism (i.e., in the U.S. West). Third, I assess whether observed regional differences in
state-level absence cultures in the West are attributable to (mediated by) regional differences in
state-level social disorganization/anomie, while controlling for state-level variance in work
industry (e.g., manufacturing), personality (Extraversion, Neuroticism), unemployment rates, and
physical disabilities. Analyzing data spanning over 4 years and over 3 million people per year,
this paper explains how absenteeism varies across states in the U.S.