We meta-analyzed the correlations between voluntary employee lateness, absenteeism, and turnover to (i)
provide the most comprehensive estimates to date of the interrelationships between these withdrawal behaviors;
(ii) test the viability of a withdrawal construct; and (iii) evaluate the evidence for competing models
of the relationships between withdrawal behaviors (i.e., alternate forms, compensatory forms, independent
forms, progression of withdrawal, and spillover model). Corrected correlations were .26 between lateness
and absenteeism, .25 between absenteeism and turnover, and .01 between lateness and turnover. These correlations
were even smaller in recent studies that had been carried out since the previous meta-analyses of
these relationships 15–20 years ago. The small-to-moderate intercorrelations are not supportive of a withdrawal
construct that includes lateness, absenteeism, and turnover. These intercorrelations also rule out many
of the competing models of the relationships between withdrawal behaviors, as many of the models assume
all relationships will be positive, null, or negative. On the basis of path analyses using meta-analytic data,
the progression of withdrawal model garnered the most support. This suggests that lateness may moderately
predict absenteeism and absenteeism may moderately predict turnover.