PhD thesis,
The economic impact of non-faculty smoking employees on private institutions of higher education in South Dakota
University of South Dakota, Vermillion, SD, PhD Thesis, (1991)
Abstract
The purpose of the study was to determine the economic impact of non-faculty smoking employees on selected private institutions of higher education in South Dakota. Economic impact was determined through the use of sick leave records. Employees were split into male, female, single, and married groups. These groups were then split into smoking and non-smoking groups and the sick leave records compared. A review of literature revealed no studies regarding higher education employees and smoking as it relates to absenteeism. The population was comprised of 164 employees from four private colleges and universities in South Dakota. Information was gathered by business office personnel from employee files at each school. Descriptive statistics revealed that the smoking groups utilized two days more sick leave in the 18 month time frame than did non-smokers. Point-biserial correlations were done on the data with variences running from 1.4 percent to 7.0 percent between smoking and non-smoking groups. As a result of the analysis of data, it was concluded that there is a difference between smokers and non-smokers with regards to sick leave taken as shown in the descriptive statistics. There was however not enough of a varience financial-wise to make the results significant enough for a company to set policy by as shown by the point-biserial correlations.
