Effects of Organizational Level and Gender on Stress in the Workplace

Authors: Vagg P.R.¹; Spielberger C.D.²; Wasala C.F.¹

Source: International Journal of Stress Management, Volume 9, Number 4, October 2002 , pp. 243-261(19)

Publisher: Springer

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Abstract:

Occupational stress adversely affects productivity, absenteeism, and job turnover, and contributes to health-related problems. The effects of organizational level and gender on the specific sources of occupational stress assessed by the Job Stress Survey (JSS) were evaluated for a heterogeneous sample of 1,791 working adults (860 males, 931 females) employed in 2 industrial companies and a large state university. Significant main or interactive effects of organizational level and/or gender were found for the JSS Item Index, Severity and/or Frequency scores of 29 of the 30 JSS items. Organizational level effects were both more numerous and larger in magnitude than gender effects. Employees at higher organizational levels reported that they experienced stress more often while making critical decisions and dealing with crisis situations than did workers at lower levels, for whom inadequate salary and lack of opportunity for advancement were more stressful. For males, work stress was more strongly related to concerns about their role in the power structure of an organization, whereas female employees reported experiencing more severe stress when there was a conflict between job requirements and family relationships.

Keywords: workplace stress; Job Stress Survey; organizational level; gender

Language: English

Document Type: Research article

Affiliations: 1: University of South Florida, Tampa, USA 2: Center for Research in Behavioral Medicine and Health Psychology, Department of Psychology, PCD 4110, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL 33620; spielber@chumal.cas.usf.edu

Publication date: 2002-10-01