Abstract
The central issues explored in this article are the importance of geographical location in explaining the attitudes of individuals, and the interplay between these attitudes and overt behaviour. The context is as follows: In the late 1990's, sick‐listings in Sweden underwent a substantial increase, causing the public expenses for the general sickness insurance to soar. Moreover, the extent of the usage of the insurance was found to vary significantly across different regions within the country. This development of the sickness insurance generally, and the regional differences specifically, have since been the subject of an intense debate. Differences and/or changes in attitudes toward sick leave within the population have been proposed as possible reasons for the regional variations. Much of the discussion has, however, been based on speculative arguments rather than empirical studies. Using data from a survey conducted in 2005, this research explores whether geographical location influences individual attitudes toward sick leave, and whether these attitudes in turn influence the sickness absence of individuals. The data are analysed using factor analysis, ordinary linear regressions and logistic regressions. The results provide some support for the idea that geographical factors matter to individual attitudes, and that variation in these attitudes is in turn associated with propensity for sickness absence. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.