GLOBAL INSTITUTE LAHORE

Impact of Job Stress on Organization Commitment and Job Satisfaction

A Case on Banking Sector of Pakistan

By
Iqra Mushtaq
Roll No 16S MDP 152747
To
Sir Ahmad Mujtaba
A Project Submitted at
Department of Commerce & Management Sciences
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree of
MSC- HR
3rd December 2018

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 DECLARATION

This is to certify that this research work has not been submitted for obtaining

similar degree from any other college/university.

Iqra Mushtaq

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 EXAMINERS PAGE

Student Name: Iqra Mushtaq

Registration Number/ Roll No: 16S MDP 152747

Project Committee:

Supervisor: ………………………

External Examiner:………………

Dean / HOD: ……………………...

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 Acknowledgement

Thanks to Almighty Allah who has given me courage, health and power to complete my

project in due time and without the help of Almighty Allah this study which required untiring

efforts would become impossible to complete within time limits. Motivation, dedication,

guidance, encouragement and corrections provided by the supervisor are significant elements to

produce, design and comprise a study of good standard and quality so i am highly indebted to my

research supervisor Sir Ahmad Mujtaba who has guided me a lot throughout this research

process and made its fulfilment possible.

I am thankful to Head of Department for his review of my project and guidance in its

refinement. I am thankful to my loving parents, brothers and sisters and friends whose

encouragement helped me a lot to accomplish this task. I am especially thankful to my friend

Waqas Ehsan for his cooperation, affection and prayers for the success of this research study.

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 Abstract
Banking sector of Pakistan is a prime sector in Pakistani economy which is a major employer of

the educated workforce in Pakistan. But, employees in this sector are facing extreme stress which

is very dangerous for the employees of banking sector organizations. Stress is the root cause for

negative behavioral and work-related attitude and it also is a major cause for mental and physical

illness of the people. This study aims at investigating the levels of stress of banking sector of

Lahore along with its consequences in relevance to two important variables i.e. job satisfaction

and employee commitment having three dimensions i.e. affective commitment, continuance

commitment and normative commitment.

This study used valid scales measuring dependent variables i.e. job satisfaction an employee

commitment adopted from previous research. These scales were used to develop a questionnaire

which was used to collect the data from respondents chosen through Multi-Stage sampling.

Initially cluster sampling was used to select three clusters within Lahore having branches of all

major banks and then simple random sampling was used to choose 9 banks and thirty

questionnaires were sent to each selected bank. A total of 225 questionnaires were received

which were usable. Overall response rate was 83% which is quite good. To analyze the data

SPSS 16 is used and results are inferred by mean of descriptive, bar charts, correlation and

regression analysis.

This study finds an evidence of a negative impact on the job stress on job satisfaction and

employee commitment (affective commitment). A positive relation is also depicted in the study

for continuance commitment and normative commitment. Negative impact of stress on job

satisfaction and employee commitment is also confirmed by the past studies. This positive

relationship could be due to unemployment, economic issues and social issues. Implications for

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the research and suggestions are also provided by the study along with limitations and gap for

future research. There is a serious need to explore this phenomenon completely and to provide

empirical evidence in this regard.

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Contents
Abstract............................................................................................................................................ii

Chapter 1..........................................................................................................................................2

Introduction......................................................................................................................................2

1.1 Background of study.........................................................................................................2

1.2 Banking sector of Pakistan................................................................................................2

1.3 Objectives of the study......................................................................................................2

1.4 Significance of the study...................................................................................................2

Chapter 2..........................................................................................................................................2

Literature Review............................................................................................................................2

2.1 Stress......................................................................................................................................2

2.2 Job satisfaction.......................................................................................................................2

2.3 Job satisfaction and job stress................................................................................................2

2.4 Organizational Commitment.................................................................................................2

2.4.1 Affective Commitment...................................................................................................2

2.4.2 Continuance Commitment..............................................................................................2

2.4.3 Normative Commitment.................................................................................................2

2.5Job stress and organizational commitment.............................................................................2

2.6 Discussion..............................................................................................................................2

Chapter 3..........................................................................................................................................2
Research Methodology....................................................................................................................2

3.1 Purpose of the study...............................................................................................................2

3.2. Type of investigation............................................................................................................2

3.3 Extent of researcher interference...........................................................................................2

3.4 Study Setting..........................................................................................................................2

3.5 Unit of analysis (population to be studied)............................................................................2

3.6 Sampling design.....................................................................................................................2

3.7 Time horizon..........................................................................................................................2

3.8 Reliability & Validity............................................................................................................2

3.9 Data collection method..........................................................................................................2

3.10 Participants..........................................................................................................................2

Chapter 4..........................................................................................................................................2

Analysis and Discussion..................................................................................................................2

4.1 Demographics........................................................................................................................2

4.2 Descriptive statistics..............................................................................................................2

4.3 Correlation analysis...............................................................................................................2

4.4 Regression analysis................................................................................................................2

4.4.1 Model 1: Impact of job stress on affective commitment................................................2

4.4.2 Model 2: Impact of job stress on continuance commitment...........................................2

4.4.3 Model 3: Impact of job stress on normative commitment..............................................2

 4.4.4 Model 4: Impact of job stress on job satisfaction...........................................................2

4.5 Discussion..............................................................................................................................2

Chapter 5..........................................................................................................................................2

Conclusion & Recommendations....................................................................................................2

5.1 Conclusion.............................................................................................................................2

5.2 Implications of the study.......................................................................................................2

5.3 Suggestions............................................................................................................................2

5.4 Limitations and directions for future research.......................................................................2

References........................................................................................................................................2

Appendix (Questionnare).................................................................................................................2
 Chapter 1
Introduction

1.1 Background of study

Work place stress or occupational stress has evolved to be major problem around the globe

mainly due to the changing and dynamic nature of business and workplace. The organizations

are going global and boundary less, competition is increasing in the markets and job security is

getting less and less certain, unemployment and inflation are increasing and in the end work

family balance is increasing fire to the issue. Cotton & Fisher (1995) provided that not only

organizations and individuals are suffering from the stress in terms of performance but also stress

is the major cause of occupational health issues of costly nature. Study of stress is an old

paradigm and Ryland & Greenfeld (1991) two decades ago advocated a negative impact of stress

on employees performance due to factors like industrial accidents, employee turnover, lower

productivity and absenteeism. Afterwards many studies cite stress as major cause of such factors

which ultimately effect organizational performance in one way or other (Spielberger & Reheiser,

1995; Wright & Smye, 1996; Sutherland & Cooper, 2002). Apart from the organizational

performance, Grimshaw (1999) found that occupational stress can cause psychological as well as

physical dangerous diseases such like depression, anxiety, cardiovascular and musculoskeletal

disorder, gastrointestinal disorders and even cancer. Furthermore, stress not only hinders the

performance of the employees but also lead employees to indulge in counterproductive behavior

such like damaging products, equipment or property of organization on purpose, stealing and

doing low quality work intentionally (Ryland & Greenfeld, 1991). The behavioral outcomes of

the stress are widely studies in organizational behavior literature and mostly literature propose a

negative impact of the job stress on behavioral outcomes of the employees such like job

satisfaction, organizational commitment and employee motivation.

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This problem is worse in the developing countries like Pakistan as Siu (2003) evinced that

negative impacts of the stress are more cited among the nations which are undergoing social an

economic reforms and are in developing phrase. Banking sector particularly is a targeted area of

research for job stress related studies because banking sector in Pakistan is a major sector which

is characterized by high workload, late sittings and pressure which leads towards job stress and

burnout. Khattak, Khan, Haq, Arif & Minhas (2011) found that work load, excessive working

hours, technological problems at work and work-life balance issues are the major causes of work

stress in banking sector of Pakistan. Moreover, work stress was also found to have predicted

burnout in the study. Bashir and Ramay (2010) also concluded that high job stress in banking

sector of Pakistan leads towards reduced performance of banking sector employees in Pakistan.

Mohsan , Nawaz & Khan (2011) also observed that stress levels in the financial sector of

Pakistan has much increased, they also provided an evidence of a negative impact of job stress

on employee performance of banking sector of Pakistan. Most of the work done in Pakistan

focus on the job performance of the employees in banking sector of Pakistan while job related

variables like job satisfaction and employee commitment have largely been ignored. This study

aims at bridging this gap by providing empirical evidence regarding impact of the job stress on

job satisfaction and employee commitment in the banking sector of Pakistan.

1.2 Banking sector of Pakistan

Pakistan has seen unprecedented growth in the overall financial sector in last decade. Many new

banks started their operations in Pakistan and old banks grew their branch network. Remarkable

improvements in the products and services of banking sector were witnessed during this period.

This era also gave rise to the competition within banking sector. Official banking hours increased

from 5 hours to 8 years during this period and for daily closing employees of the banks have to

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wait for more 2-3 hours at least and in times of monthly, quarterly and annual closing it takes

even more time. Thus, banking sector is very important and competitive sector of Pakistani

economy which is characterized by high work pressure and job stress.

Banking sector is the most important tire of the financial system of Pakistan. It accounts for

almost 95% of the overall financial system in Pakistan. Following the privatization in the last

decade of the last century, this sector has seen unprecedented growth and particularly in the first

decade of this century, this segment has grown tremendously and many mergers and acquisitions

are seen in the market indicating towards a fierce competition in the industry.

At present 55 banks and financial institutions are operating in Pakistan under various categories.

Out of these 55 banks, 5 banks are categorized as public banks, 4 are specialized banks, 17 are

private banks, 5 are Islamic banks, 7 are foreign banks, 9 are microfinance banks and 8 are

development financial institutions (SBP). Public banks are governed by the government and are

assigned tasks of public service although these also provide full fledge banking service,

specialized banks serve special segments of the economy focusing on the need of that segment

only e.g. Zarai Tarakiati Bank Limited, private banks have profit motives and provide full range

of financial services and are in deep competition with each other and with other categories of the

banks, Islamic banks are still evolving in this country and are being widely accepted by the

banking consumers around the country, foreign banks mostly have limited operations in the

country but these too compete with the private banks and serve on commercial purposes,

microfinance banks serve the poor segment of the country who otherwise can not avail

sophisticated financial services and development financial institutions assist in the development

of a particular segment of the country. This situation entails that in Pakistan, almost all type of

banks are operating and competing with each other and this competition is severe in the big cities

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of the country. Situation implies serious considerations for the banks operating in Pakistan

regarding what factors are important in terms of customer satisfaction and customer preference

so that banks in Pakistan may consider these factors and compete effectively in the market.

1.3 Objectives of the study

The man objectives of the study are to:

 Empirically reinvestigate the actual levels of stress in the banking sector of Lahore,

Pakistan.

 Empirically assess the level of job satisfaction and different dimensions of employee

commitment.

 Investigate the impact of job stress on job satisfaction and all three dimensions of

employee commitment.

 Provide policy implications to human resource managers of the banking sector so they

may better understand the phenomenon and act accordingly.

1.4 Significance of the study

This study is conducted to investigate the impact of job stress on job satisfaction and employee

commitment working in the banking sector of Lahore, Pakistan. This study bridges the gap of

literature by investigating this phenomenon in Lahore, Pakistan and provides policy implication

in this regard this study is applied side focused and would be helpful for the HR managers and

practitioners so that they may be in a position to better understand the phenomenon and devise

strategies to cope up with the situation. Moreover, this study not only enhances the literature on

the subject but also paves the path for the future research and investigation with in the domain of

job stress particularly in the banking sector of Pakistan. It should also be noted that Pakistan is a

developing country and have a draught of studies in almost every aspect of the business and

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management studies, thus such studies not only motivate other researchers to come forward but

also provide valuable policy implications and guidelines for practitioners where field of Human

Resource Management and Organizational Behavior are emerging both in theory and practice.

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 Chapter 2
Literature Review

This chapter presents the review of the literature on the subject. It starts with the definition of the

stress and its dimensions which is the independent variable of the study and then discusses the

dependent variables i.e. Employee commitment and Job satisfaction and relates the independent

variable with the dependent variables by discussing the empirical studies around the world which

have explored the phenomenon in this context before.

2.1 Stress
Stress is a multidimensional concept which can be defined in many ways such like in terms of

language or in terms of organizational perspective. In terms of language, the word stress is

derived from a Latin word ‘Stringere’, literal meanings of which are ‘to draw tight’ or ‘to

describe hardships and/or affliction’ (Cartwright & Cooper, 1997). In organizational context,

stress occurs, when people emotionally or physically cannot handle their job constraints,

demands and opportunities (Leka, Griffiths & Cox, 2004; Ugoji & Isele, 2009). Organizational

stress may further be categorized in two types i.e. eustress and distress (Fevre, Matheny & Kolt,

2003). Eustress is kind of a good stress and person who experiences it have moderate to low

stress levels. Distress on the other hand is considered bad kind of stress and person who

experiences it has high level of stress. People who experience eustress have no problem meeting

the demands of their job, and this type of stress may actually help them to increase their

performance. On the other hand, people who experience distress face difficulty to meet their job

demands, and such stress may cause a reduction in their performance (Newell. 2002; Fever

Matheny & Kolt, 2003; Millward, 2005). Stress has two major implications i.e. psychological

and physiological. Psychological stress is depicted by emotional reaction such like frustration,

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irritability, nervousness, anxiety, anger, tension, depression, hostility, job alienation, anxiety and

burnout, which might be a reaction to the stimuli at the work place (Millward, 2005; WHO,

2005). Physiological symptoms of the depicted through the physiological reaction of the body

such like change in sleeping, drinking and eating habits, heart palpitation, fatigue, chest pain,

backache, lethargic, abdominal pain, migraine, headache and smoking habit (Mansoor, Fontaine

& Chong, 2003; Critchley et al., 2004).

Failing to cope up with the stress may influence the work attitude of the employees in a negative

manner and such work attitudes may include a broad array of important variables critical to the

performance of the employee and success of the organization. These variables not only include

health and wellbeing of the individual but also his job satisfaction, his commitment to the

organization, his productivity and quality of work (Newell, 2002; Seaward, 2005; WHO, 2005).

In case of eustress, individual may cop up with the occupational stress and manage to keep up

with his job demands and pressures within the organization. This also gradually enhances the

ability of the individual to deal with the stress and its implications both psychological and

physiological ones (Cartwright & Cooper, 1997; WHO, 2005; Adler et al., 2006). In case of

distress on the other hand, employee fail to cop up with the demands of the job and pressures of

the organization, which ultimately decrease his ability to withstand and control stress over time

which disturbs his work more often due to psychological or/ and physiological implications

(Mansoor, Fontaine & Chong, 2003; Fairbrother & Warn, 2003; Critchley et al., 2004).

Nasurdin, Ramayah & Kemaresan (2005) provided the influence of organization related

variables on the stress. Blocked career, work overload, unfavorable work environment, alienation

and conflict were taken as independent variable to determine their impact on the stress level of

the mangers. The mean score of work load was found much higher than other independent

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variable. Variables of blocked careers, alienation and conflict were found to have significant

positive impact on the job stress. While the variables of work overload, unfavorable work

environment and alienation were found significant after the moderation of Neuroticism. Another

study conducted by Oreoluwa & Oludele (2010) tested the existence of the occupational stress in

the employees of banking sector of Nigeria. The result indicated that 84% of the sample provided

some symptom of stress. They argued that the reason for this high stress is the long working

hours, excessive work load and fierce competition in the banking industry of Nigeria which are

the result of liberalization reforms in the country. The level of stress was found to be higher in

executive employees than the non-executive employees of banks. Literature provides many a

reasons which evoke job stress. Some of these are discussed hereunder:

2.1.1 Shift work

Many organizations operate 24/7, which require the employees to come into shift and sometimes

in certain cases the shift is extended beyond the actual time forcing the employees to work an

extended day till night (Purnell, Feyer & Herbison, 2002). Working in shifts can also damage the

physical and psychological wellbeing of the employees who work on a typical regular hour shift

bases as compared to employees who work as typical day workers (Harrington, 2001). The

reason for this is that shift work schedule destroys their biological functioning such like

producing circadian desychronization (disruption of the ‘body clock’) by working and sleeping at

nonstandard times. Moreover, their work schedule also destroys their social and family life as

well. Luna, French & Mitcha (1997) also found that shift work particularly night shift work

increases the chances of circadian disharmony, immediate result of which is fatigue. Even in the

short run the problems like fatigue and sleepiness are quite evident in such cases and in the long

run it causes more serious health problems like cardiovascular and gastrointestinal disorders

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(Harrington, 2001). Barton & Folkard (1993) in this regard indicated that shift work may case

psychological symptoms such like depression, nervousness and anxiety.

2.1.2 Long working hours

Due to increases competitiveness the working hours of the workforce are increasing. Most of the

employees work around 12 hours a day and these hours is even more in developing countries like

Pakistan. Sparkes, Cooper, Fried & Shirom (1997) provided that there is a positive and

significant link of poor psychological and physical health with working hours. Employees who

work long hour are prone to be under high level of stress for long hours which results in the

fatigue of the employees and ultimately the performance of the employees and organization

suffers.

2.1.3 Work overload with time pressure

The pace at which somebody works could also be source of stress. Work overload may be

defined as ‘number or intensity or demands’ (Jones, Flynn & Kelloway, 1996) which an

employee is facing or handling at his work. Time element is quite important here as it determines

whether the demands that are handled by an employee are justified or are unreasonable with in

the time frame available. Assigning unreasonable time for a job to be done may cause stress for

the employee and doing this too often may cause serious problems to the health of the employee.

2.1.4 Noise

Working environments which are noisy could also evoke stress among the employees of the

organization. Landy (1992) in this regard stated that noise could be a cause of psychological

problem because it limits the ability of the individual to focus on a task and diverts his attention

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so the task could not be completed quickly and accurately. Thus in these cases psychological

symptoms like fatigue, depression, anxiety and pressure may arise which might lead towards the

negative job related behaviors such like job involvement, organizational commitment and job

satisfaction (Baron, 1989).

Apart from such factors other factors such like poor supervision, low job autonomy, high role

ambiguity and high role conflict could also cause stress. But, people facing such dilemmas differ

with regard to their ability to deal with stress and vulnerability to stress. These differences could

be related to individual experience, career goals and personality traits. Moreover, stress outside

the work environment and scope and social support also play its role with regard to degree of

stress and it’s coping up (Edwards, 1992).

Raza & Ali (2007) listed down measures found in the literature which could be implemented and

adopted to prevent from job stress. These factors include establishing work schedules which are

in line with responsibilities and demands outside the work, creating social interaction

infrastructure among the employees of the organization, improving communications particularly

with regard to the future prospects of the employees and their career development, entrusting

responsibility and empowerment by letting employees to participate in decision making

particularly related to action affecting their job, defining responsibilities and roles more clearly,

designing jobs in such a way that enhance meaning, opportunities and stimulation for employees

and that enable them to use their skills in a more appropriate way and ensuring an adequate

workload keeping in view the organizational resources and capabilities of employees.

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This study tries to infer the impact of stress on the job satisfaction and organizational

commitment of the employees, so the following part of the literature defines these variables and

discusses the interrelationships of variables of interest.

2.2 Job satisfaction

One of the key variable in which the social and psychological researchers are interested is job

satisfaction because job of a person is major part of the life activity of people (Levy, 2006). It is

probably the most researched variable in the field of organizational behavior and psychology.

The main reason for the focus on this variable is that it is a key predictor of various job outcomes

such like turnover, intention to quit and employee performance (Brown & Peterson, 1993; Lease,

1998; Tan, Tan & Tiong, 2007). Muchinsky (2006) stated that job satisfaction is the degree of

pleasure an employee derives from his job. Employees could be deemed satisfied with their jobs

if they perceive that they are receiving what they want out of their job (Levy, 2006). Many drives

of the job satisfaction are found by previous researchers such like co-worker support,

supervision, promotion policies, training, communication from management, difficulty of the job

and various situational and demographic factors (Anderson, 1984). Some theoretical support

could also be lent from the literature which helps to grasp the dynamics of the job satisfaction.

One of most celebrated theory in this regard is Two Factor Theory of Herzberg, which states that

there are two types of factors namely, hygiene factor and environmental factors. Hygiene factors

include personal life, working conditions, job security, status, supervision, organization policies

and administration, interpersonal relations with peers, subordinates and supervisors and most

importantly salary. Motivational factors on the other hand include possibility of growth, work

itself, responsibility, advancement, achievement and related recognition (Herzberg, 1968). This

theory states that motivational factors are actually satisfiers and if present aspire the individual,

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while hygiene factors are actually dissatisfiers, the presence of which do not matter but absence

of these factors may demotivate the individual and ultimately the dissatisfaction occur.

There are other explanations of job satisfaction as well but most of the studies focus on one or

more of the facets of the Herzberg Two Factor Theory. Gruneberg (1979) argues that there are

two facets of job satisfaction, one being the intrinsic job satisfaction and second extrinsic job

satisfaction. Intrinsic factors mainly are related to the job content or the job itself, while extrinsic

factors are contextual factors which are related to the other factors of the job. Many empirical

studies find support to this approach as well. Like Fairbrother & Warn (2003) provided evidence

that supportive work environment and teamwork has an influence on the job satisfaction. Spector

(1997) identified various factors that are frequently used in the studies as predictors of job

satisfaction. These factors include job security, pay, communication, job conditions, co-workers,

supervision, fringe benefits and promotion opportunities. Some other studies also find these

factors relevant in this regard like Davey, Obset & Sheehan (2001) found lack of organizational

support and recognition from peers and supervisor along with inconsistent promotional policies

to be the main reasons of low job satisfaction. Alpass, Long, Champerlain & MacDonald, (1997)

on the other hand found levels of conflict, job conditions and leadership to be the main predictors

of job satisfaction. Fairbrother & Warn (2003) named variables of disruption in personal life,

teamwork and supportive work climate to be relevant in the game of job satisfaction theory.

Sanchez, Bray, Vincus & Bann (2004) in regard of job satisfaction found feeling life, positive

life changes and job pressure to be relevant factors. Blair & Phillips (1983) also found certain

factors relevant for the job satisfaction of employees. These factors include supervisor, chances

of promotion, autonomy, management of the organization, skill variety, rate of pay and feedback.

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Job stress, which is our main variable of interest, is also found repeatedly as a predictor of Job

Satisfaction (Fairbrother & Warn, 2003; Sanchez, Bray, Vincus & Bann, 2004; Pawar & Rathod,

2007; Khan, Raza & Ali, 2007; Patel, 2012; Chaudhry; 2012). Following section provide an

array of the studies which found job stress to have an influence over job satisfaction of the

employees.

2.3 Job satisfaction and job stress

Employees face stress because of the mismatching nature of the job with regard to employees’

capabilities, or if they feel that they do not have appropriate control over their life or work, or

there is some type of conflict among employee roles at work and outside the work. Job

satisfaction of the other hand represents the feelings of the employee and how well they have

adjusted to them. Job stress can cause various emotional and physical problems along with

increasing work conflict with other employees, reducing employee morale, encouraging

absenteeism, increasing work accidents and mistakes and reducing productivity of the employees

(Pflanz & Ogle, 2006) and this could lead towards lower levels of life satisfaction (Pawar &

Rathod, 2007). Various studies document a negative relationship between work stress and job

satisfaction (Fairbrother & Warn, 2003). Sanchez, Bray, Vicus & Bann (2004) revealed that job

pressure is on the most predictor of the job satisfaction and has negative association with job

satisfaction. This section summarizes various studies investigating the phenomenon of impact of

job stress on job satisfaction to provide theoretical support for the study.

Buckingham (1977) conducted a study to elicit associations between stress, role conflict, work

overload, and self-efficiency for the people employed as principals of educational institutions in

Maine. Results showed that stress level ranges from moderate to high for 82% of the

respondents. Work overload was also found to have a strong impact on the principal’s working

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life. Moreover, stress was having a direct association with role conflict as well as work overload.

Furthermore, respondents reported higher stress, were more dissatisfied with regard to their

working conditions, pay and rewards.

Robbins (1996) provided an argument regarding the stress and job satisfaction of the employees

and concluded that there exist a significant relationship between these two variables and this

relationship ship is also moderated by other factors such like designated power to the individual,

level of responsibility, job role clarity and relevant placement. Existence of the factors like

identity, autonomy, uniformity and job importance bring a positive change in job satisfaction

while factors like unfair interference of the management, low control on work and less

empowerment cause stress and lead towards a lower level of job satisfaction.

Yousef (2002) studied the mediating role of job satisfaction between commitment types and job

stressors in UAE. Using Path analysis he concluded that stressor of role overload affected job

satisfaction negatively. Moreover, the stressor of lack of career development was also negatively

related to the job satisfaction and job satisfaction tended to mediate the impact of work overload

on many dimensions of organizational commitment.

Sattar & Jamil (2004) investigated the phenomenon of job stress and job satisfaction using the

sample of head teachers of elementary schools of Lahore, Pakistan. The study provided the

evidence of a negative correlation between job satisfaction and work stress among the heads of

elementary schools. The results also indicated an inter-gender variability with regard to stress

and job satisfaction.

Khan, Raza & Ali (2007) conducted a study to measure the extent of the impact of job stress and

its coping mechanism with relevance to the job satisfaction in pharmaceuticals in Karachi,

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Pakistan. They found that major causes of the stress in such organizations were organizational

structure, role demands and task demands. They also found that stress coping mechanism also

has a positive impact of the job satisfaction of the supervisors in the sampled firms. Inter sample

differences with regard to area of study and nature of the organization were also found namely in

sample of non-Korangi areas job satisfaction was found to be higher and stress levels were

found to be lower in multinational organizations as compared to the local pharmaceutical

companies.

Tabatabaei, Hosseinianb & Gharanjiki (2011) provided the evidence relating to the general

health issues and stress in association to the job satisfaction and work at Hormozgan Cement

factory of Iran using a semi-experimental design. The study indicated that stress seemed

necessary for the daily activities of the individuals including both personal life activities and job

life activities. Lower level of stress could also be an indicator of the lower level of interest in

work or motivation of the employees. Lower level of stress was found among the employees in

the sample along with dissatisfaction with individual factors i.e. motivational factors. While

general health and job satisfaction of the employees was found to be higher than average.

Patel, Rajdekar & Naik (2012) investigated job stress and burnouts as predictors of job

satisfaction in Sangli district using the sample of lawyers due to the nature of the law profession

which is deemed quite stressful. Results indicated that most of the sample was exposed to the

stress. Female sample showed a higher level of stress than male sample and was less satisfied

with their jobs. More than 50% of the male sample who had stress reported substance abuse

disorder. On the whole a negative correlation between stress and job satisfaction was

documented by the study.

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Chaudhry (2012) conducted a research in Pakistani universities to find the relationship between

job stress and job satisfaction of university faculty using various characteristics of the sample

like age, work, experience, cadre, job nature, gender and sector of the university. The study

document an evidence of no relationship between stress and job satisfaction using the whole

sample, public university sample, on the bases of gender (male & female) and on the bases of

nature of job (permanent, contract & visiting). A negative relationship was however, evident for

the faculty of private sector universities. Moreover, young faculty members of the university

were found to be more sensitive to the job stress and job satisfaction.

Rehman et al. (2012) provided contradictory evidence with regard to the relationship between

job stress and job satisfaction. Using the sample of the employees of private colleges in Pakistan

they found an evidence of positive impact of job stress on job satisfaction. Stress was

operationalized using two dimensions i.e. workload & physical environment in the study and

both of the dimensions were found to have a positive association with the job satisfaction. They

argued that this contradiction may arise due to the economic circumstances of the Pakistan where

unemployment is abundant and private colleges pay good remuneration to their employees.

Nirel, Goldwag, Feigenberg, Abadi, & Halpern (2008) provided the insight by their empirical

investigation aimed at determining the causes of dissatisfaction for paramedics in Israel. They

found that respondents feel pressure at work due to long working hours, good for nothing

administrative support, paper work, work-family conflicts and sudden metallization of some

emergency situation. Moreover, the employees in this industry seem to be dissatisfied due to

factors of poor health, burnout and work overload.

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Bokti & Talib (2009) looked into the phenomenon by collecting the data from the navy

personnel at naval base, Lumut, Malaysia. The study documented a moderate levels of job

satisfaction among the navy respondents and higher level of stress. A negative correlation

between stress and all facets of job satisfaction used in this study was documented. Highest

scoring stressor among was found to be unknown supervisor’s evaluation of work performance

of the navy employees.

Willams (2003) tried to explore the matter by establishing the relationship between stress,

satisfaction and intention to leave the organization. The data was collected from nurses which

revealed no significant relationship of intention to leave the organization and job satisfaction

with stress. Job satisfaction and intention to leave were found to be the moderately correlated.

The sample overall indicated a moderate scoring for job satisfaction and stress. Younger nurses

were found to be under the effect of higher stress than the nurses having long tenure in the

organization.

Ismail, Yao & Yunus (2009) conducted a study to measure the impact of occupational stress on

the job satisfaction for the employees of private institutes of higher learning in Malaysia. Using

two dimensions of the stress i.e. psychological and physiological, the study provided evidence

that psychological stress has an insignificant relationship with job satisfaction while

physiological stress has a positive and significant relationship with job stress. Moreover, the

study also confirmed that stress act as a partial determinant of job satisfaction in stress models.

2.4 Organizational Commitment

The term of commitment is very much relevant in almost every phrase and aspect of life of

human beings. So, tis term is also relevant in the organizational context The term organizational

commitment is explained by Begin (1997, p.20) as “Loyalty and support of workforce to the

17
goals of organization”. Organizational commitment is employees’ heartiest attachment towards

their employers (O'Reily & Chatman, 1986). According to (Robbins & Coutler, 1999),

organizational commitment denotes loyal behaviors and attitudes of workforce in an

organization. Greenberg & Baron (2000) explained organizational commitment as the extent to

which employees of a particular organization possess their involvement in all necessary

organizational practices, and want to stay in the same organization instead of leaving it for any

prospective benefits from other organizations.

The concept of organizational commitment has gained much attention from human resource

researchers and practitioners as an important domain of scholarly study, and previously lots of

researches has been conducted on it to find out the severity and stability of employees’

dedication and loyalty towards their respective organizations (Eisenberger, Fasolo & dan

LaMastro, 1990).

Organizational researchers claim that commitment of employees towards organization could

prove to be a stimulating factor for the performance improvement of the organization. If the

employees of a particular organization are highly committed, it shows significantly of the culture

fostered by the organization which holds upmost importance for the success of a financial

institution in today’s ever changing and dynamic corporate environment. Top performing

organizations always boost their business through people i.e. making their workforce happy,

motivated, highly committed and loyal towards the organization.

The financial institutions make their employees motivated and committed by taking lots of

initiatives i.e. empowering the employees, applying organizational justice and providing a

18
workplace environment in which employees can work with dignity and due respect which in turn

enhances employees’ job satisfaction and performance (Holden, 1998).

Employee commitment has many forms and is considered to have a significant potential to affect

employees’ job performance as well as organizational outcomes (Meyer & Herscovitch, 2001).

According to Jaros (1997), organizational commitment holds significant importance in an

employee’s professional life. It is some sort of emotional attachment of an employee to his

employer or immediate boss. It is witnessed that employees who are more committed to the

organization are engaged in variety of fruitful activities such like superior job performance and

organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) which are considered to be valuable to the

organizations. Researchers suggested that different employees may experience commitment in

distinct ways. So, academicians and managers could better understand the associations and

affiliations of employees with their respective organizations by properly analyzing different

components of commitment simultaneously (Reichers 1985; Meyer & Allen, 1991: Meyer,

Stanley, Herscovitch & dan Topolnytsky, 2002).

There are three themes of organizational commitment which are widely accepted and applied in

the related research. These themes are explained as under:

2.4.1 Affective Commitment

Effective commitment is considered most important and much prevalent approach to the

organizational commitment. It refers to employees’ emotional attachment and dedication towards

his / her employing organization. It has been witnessed that employees’ workplace experiences

play a significant role in their intentions to remain with an organization or to leave it. There are

lots of work experiences variables which significantly predict affective commitment among

19
employees include distributive justice, role clarity, procedural and interactional justice and

opportunities for participation in decision making of the organization (Allen & Meyer, 1990;

Meyer & Allen, 1991).

Lee, Lee & dan Lum (2007) provided that more the affective commitment an employee would

have, more would be his feelings of belongingness to their respective organizations and more

would he be emotionally attached to his organization. So, employees having higher level of

affective commitment tend to stay with their current employers as a matter of personal liking

(Allen & Meyer, 1996; Meyer & Herscovitch, 2001).

Organizational-based emotional attachment is mainly related to employees’ feelings of

ownership and possession to a financial institution as whole including organizational practices,

organizational culture, management decisions and actions, organizational goals and corporate

policies (Mayhew, Ashkanasy & dan Gardner, 2007). Therefore, it is suggested that

organizations should emphasize on different aspects of job characteristics and work experiences

such like skill variety, task identity, autonomy, task significance and feedback of immediate

bosses, in order to develop effective commitment in their employees (Jaros, 1997). In view of

above discussion we can say that:

“Employees with high levels of affective commitment prefer to remain with a particular

organization because they really want to”

2.4.2 Continuance Commitment

Construct of continuance commitment refers to employees’ intension to continue employment

with a particular organization keeping in view the costs and various benefits associated with

leaving that organization. Potential loss of leaving a particular organization may include cost of

20
important benefits and waste of time. Moreover, apart from losses associated with leaving a

particular financial institution, continuance commitment also act as a function of lack of

alternative job opportunities for employees (Meyer & Allen, 1991).

Organizational researchers claim that continuance commitment is based on employees’

willingness to continue employment with a particular financial association due to loss of benefits

and association of various costs with leaving that organization. Therefore, continuance

commitment holds significant importance in an employee’s professional life and they prefer to

stay in a particular organization as a matter of their choice (Allen & Meyer, 1996).

Allen and Meyer (1990) stated that the concept of continuance commitment is mainly based on

two factors: the magnitude of investments employees make and their perceptions about the lack

of alternative employment opportunities. It has been witnessed that employees would be more

psychologically and emotionally attached to a particular financial institution if they can’t expect

similar benefits in another organization (Lee, Lee & dan Lum, 2007; Meyer, & Herscovitch,

2001; Meyer & Allen, 1991; Becker, 1960). In view of the above discussion, we can say that

“Employees with high levels of continuance commitment remain with a particular organization

because they need to”

2.4.3 Normative Commitment

This construct is related to employees’ intention to linger on with a particular organization due to

some obligation or external pressure. Existing literature suggests that feelings of obligation to

stay in an organization may come from some normative pressures i.e. family or cultural

orientation (Meyer & Allen, 1991). This type of commitment is generally regarded as

employees’ perceived feeling of responsibility to remain in a particular financial institution

21
(Meyer, Stanley, Herscovitch & dan Topolnytsky, 2002). Allen & Meyer (1996) stated that

normative commitment is mainly based on an obligation or some feeling to remain employed in

a particular financial institution and employees with high levels of normative commitment

remain employed with a particular employer because they feel they ought to do so. Weiner

(1982) examined that normative commitment promotes socialization among employees which in

turn encourage them to develop a feeling of responsibility to their respective organizations but

for other reasons excluding familial experiences or socialization or receipt of some benefits that

rose some feelings relating to reciprocity of such benefits (Meyer et al., 2002). Thus, normative

commitment pours some feelings of obligatory emotional attachment among employees towards

their respective financial institutions (Jaros, 1997; Oliver, 1990) and employees with significant

normative commitment believe that it is their responsibility to remain employed with their

current financial institution (Aube, Rousseau & Morin, 2007).

Thus we can conclude that:

“Employees with high levels of normative commitment prefer to remain with a particular

financial institution because they feel that they ought to”

Organizational researchers suggested that out of three basic forms of organizational commitment,

effective commitment holds upmost importance for a organizations as employees with greater

levels of affective commitment willingly make their contributions towards productivity and

performance of a financial institution, and even perform more responsibilities than the

expectations. (Meyer & Allen, 1991; Dunham, Grube & Castaneda, 1994).

22
2.5Job stress and organizational commitment
Like job satisfaction organizational commitment is also one of the most studied behavioral

outcomes of employees in study of organizational behaviors. Both of these variables are

considered pre-requisite for the good performance of employees. Many studies have tried to

establish the link between job stress and organizational commitment. The intuition in this regard

posits towards negative impact of job stress on the organizational commitment (Mathieu &

Zajac, 1990) and empirical findings also support the notion of a negative relationship among the

variables (Cooper, Rout & Faragher, 1989). Following discussion summarizes some studies in

the regard which have empirically investigated the interrelationship between these two variables.

Addae & Wang (2006) by constructing two dimension of the stress i.e. time pressure and anxiety

investigated their impact on job related attitudes of teacher in Trinidad and Tobago. They found

that time pressure was not significant with regard to any kind of commitment i.e. normative,

continuance and affective. A quadratic significant relationship however, was found of anxiety for

affective as well as normative commitment. Continuance commitment on the other hand showed

a linear relationship with anxiety. Moreover, these significant relationships were also found to be

mediated by job satisfaction, job involvement and psychometric wellbeing.

Nideffer (n.d.) while working with different organizations collected the data through the

Attentional and Interpersonal Style (TAIS) Inventory and provided that the ability of people to

perform under stress increases along with their dedication and commitment as their managerial

level increases. Both the middle level managers and top level managers scored higher for the

dimensions of performance under pressure and commitment than other two lower level

managerial groups i.e. supervisors and managers.

23
Yousef (2002) studied the mediating role of job satisfaction between commitment types and job

stressors in UAE. Using Path analysis he concluded that stressor of role overload affected the

affective commitment in a negative way. Moreover, job satisfaction tended to mediate the impact

of work overload on many dimensions of organizational commitment.

Another study conducted by Hsiao and Huang (n.d.) aims at finding the predictors of

organizational commitment both at individual as well as team level. Variables of job challenge,

work over load and motivation were found to be significantly correlated with commitment at

individual level while co-worker relationship and supervisor leadership were significant

predictors at team level. All the predictors indicated a positive relationship except a weak

negative impact of external motivation.

Tahir and Kaleem (n.d) assessed the impact of work load on the performance and commitment of

the employees of WPADA, Attock Division, Pakistan. Using survey methodology they

concluded that work performance and commitment of respondents is highly affected by the

excessive work load as well as low compensations in a negative way.

Malik, Waheed and Malik (2010) provided the casual direction between role stressors and

affective commitment with mediation of job satisfaction for the branch managers in the banking

sector of Pakistan. They found that role overload and role conflict as sources of stress had a

negative impact, both on job satisfaction and affective commitment. This impact on affective

commitment, however, was partially mediated by the job satisfaction.

Conducting cross country survey Llorens, Bakker, Schaufeli, & Salanova (2006) tested the job

demand resource model which was originally developed by Demerouti et al. (2001) to access the

effect of working conditions on the health and commitment of the workers. They found that

24
quantitative as well as emotional overload have a weak negative impact on organizational

commitment. A moderate negative impact for Cynicism was also prevalent. All other variables

i.e. job control, social support, feedback, exhaustion vigor and dedication were having a positive

relationship with commitment.

Garu, Salanova & Peiró (2001) studied impact of stress taking four stressors i.e. routine, lack of

job autonomy, role conflict and adverse social support climate on organizational commitment,

emotional exhaustion, cynicism and job satisfaction taking self-efficiency as moderator variable.

The variables of routine and role conflict were found to have a weak negative correlation with

the organizational commitment while the direction of other two variables was direct with regard

to commitment. Self-efficiency and job satisfaction were also found to have the positive

relationship with commitment. Emotional exhaustion and cynicism on the other hand indicated a

negative correlation sign.

Addae, Parboteeah & Velinor (2008) sought to identify the relationship between role stressors

i.e. role conflict and role ambiguity and all three aspects of organizational commitment and turn

over intentions in public sector of St. Lucia. They established that both the stressors were

negatively associated with affective and normative commitment. However, no significant

relationship was found for continuance commitment. A negative relationship between all three

aspects of organizational commitment with turnover intentions was also evident.

Saksvik, Jørgensen, Tvedt & Eiken (2010) conducted a comparative study on native and work

immigrant with regard to their level of over commitment, stress and mental health in food and

beverage industry of Norway. Significant differences were put forward by the study as native

workers reported lesser stress, more commitment and better mental health problems then their

25
immigrant counterpart did. The regression analysis revealed that over commitment was found

positively associated with the commitment for both types of respondents while effort-reward was

found significant in case of native employees. Stress in relation to commitment was significant

only for native employs with a negative direction while effort-reward was significant for both

types.

The objective of the research conducted by Coetzer & Rothmann (2006) was to find out the

stress factors and establish the relationship between stress, bad health and organizational

commitment of insurance company. Using organizational stress screening tool they found that

job insecurity and compensation were the highest stress factors being faced by the employees in

this industry, while stress factors of job characteristics and control predicted organizational

commitment with significance and work overload and job characteristics were significant

predictors of physical as well as psychological bad health.

The perspective on the relationship of work stressors with organizational commitment with

reference to public sector organizations was provided by Bersamin (2006). Role and task base

work attributes were used as independent factors while burnout was taken as moderating

variable. The results suggested that three stressors i.e. work overload, role ambiguity and role

conflict were having a weak direct relationship with organizational commitment. Moreover

burnout did not seem to moderate the relationship between stressors and organizational

commitment.

Greenberg, Sikora, Grunberg & Moore (2004) empirically analyzed the factors that influence the

team member; attitude towards the organizational commitment and turnover intentions. The

findings suggested that opportunities to participate, team structure, social relations and

26
effectiveness along with stress were having an impact on the dependent variables while these

relationships are mediated by work overload, job satisfaction and perceptions of personal

mastery.

2.6 Discussion
Stress is quite important variable in organizational context and establishing its relationship with

other behavioral outcomes may prove to be useful in context of application. Regarding job

satisfaction most of the evidence is clear that stress has a negative relationship with job

satisfaction. People argue that moderate level of stress may actually boast the performance of the

employee but higher levels of the stress distort other behavioral outcomes such like job

satisfaction. Thus, theoretical implications are clear in this regard, that higher levels of stress

actually cause dissatisfaction implying a negative impact of stress on job satisfaction. Following

hypothesis could be formed:

H1: There exists a negative and significant relationship between job stress and job satisfaction.

With regard to the organizational commitment, most of the evidence suggests a negative

relationship. But some evidence also suggests a weak positive impact of the stress on

organizational commitment that may be truer in the case of continuance commitment. To

investigate the phenomenon in a better way, this study would use three dimensional framework

of the organizational commitment and individual relationship of these variables would be found

by means of empirical analysis. Thus, non-directional hypotheses are formed the three

dimensions of organizational commitment:

H2a: There exists a significant relationship between job stress and affective commitment.

H2b: There exists a significant relationship between job stress and normative commitment.

27
H2c: There exists a significant relationship between job stress and continuance commitment.

Study Model

Job Satisfaction

Job stress

Organizational
Commitment

Affective
Commitment

Normative
Commitment

Continuance
Commitment

28
 Chapter 3
Research Methodology
This chapter discusses the research methodology of the study. Research methodology includes

the discussion related to the research design, instrumentation, population of the study, sample

drawn from the population and tools used to analyze the data collected.

3.1 Purpose of the study

The research studies may be either exploratory or descriptive in nature or may be conducted to

test certain hypothesis. We used descriptive research method for this study in order to describe

the characteristics of variables of interest in a given situation. The goal of the descriptive

surveys, according to Ezeani (1998), is to collect the factual and detailed information regarding

an existing phenomenon. Descriptive surveys thus become essential in many situations and

quantitative data in terms of mean, frequencies and standard deviation is required for such type

of studies (Sekaran, 2003, p. 119-123). Job stress can be positive or negative and this positivity

and negativity can contribute towards work related and behavioral outcomes. The purpose of

this study in this regard is to assess the impact of job stress on organizational commitment and

job satisfaction of the employees within banking sector of Lahore. Banking sector in Pakistan is

characterized by high workload and work stress and turnover is said to be quite high in the

banking sector of Pakistan. This study in this regard explores the phenomenon by isolating the

impact of job related stress regarding three dimensions of the organizational commitment i.e.

affective commitment, normative commitment and continuance commitment and regarding job

satisfaction of employees in banking sector of Lahore.

29
3.2. Type of investigation
Type of investigation is solely dependent upon the objectives of the research. This is a

correlational study which sought to determine the correlation between the social phenomenon in

a practical context. The nature of the study is empirical and applied. The findings of the study

would be helpful to understand the dynamics of the work related stress in banking sector of

Lahore and relative consequences of the job stress in relation to the behavioral outcomes of the

employees would also be determined in this study.

3.3 Extent of researcher interference

The extent of the researcher interference with the normal flow of work at the actual workplace

has a direct bearing on whether a research study is impartial or not (Sekaran, 2003, p. 127) . The

study described here, is conducted in the natural work setting of the organization, with the

normal flow of work and with the minimal interference by the researcher. However, there were

some disruptions to the normal flow of work as well, as the researcher administered the

questionnaire surveys at the actual workplace and respondents were requested to take a look on

the surveys and respond honestly.

3.4 Study Setting

The organizational research may be done either in natural environment, called non-contrived

setting or in artificial environment, called contrived setting. Correlational studies are normally

conducted in non-contrived settings, whereas causal studies are done in contrived lab settings.

Correlational studies conducted in the organizations are also called field studies (Sekaran, 2003,

p. 129-130). The study described here, conducted in non-contrived settings in the natural work

environment where work proceeds normally.

30
3.5 Unit of analysis (population to be studied)
The level of accumulation of the data collected during the subsequent data analysis phase is

called the unit of analysis. The unit of analysis may be individuals, groups or organization

depending on the type of study. The researcher should decide about the appropriate unit of

analysis for the study (Sekaran, 2003, p. 132). The study described here was related to the job

stress and related outcomes prevailing in the banking industry and whole banking sector of

Pakistan was the target population of the study. The study however was delimited to the area of

Lahore due to time and cost constraints. Lahore is the second largest city of Pakistan and has

branches of all major banks operating in Pakistan. The unit of analysis for the study is employees

of the banks as their stress level and related outcomes are factors this study revolves around.

3.6 Sampling design

The sampling technique may be either probability sampling or non-probability sampling. The

researcher should decide about the type of sampling technique depending on the type of research

question and how the problem is defined. There is tough competition in banking sector

particularly among private banks which is the main reason for the job stress of the employees of

the banks. According to the scheduled bank list of State Bank of Pakistan there are 26

conventional banks operating in Pakistan, out of which 17 are categorized as private, 5 as public

banks and 4 as specialized banks. To achieve symmetry in the responses we only choose private

banks in this study. The reason for this is that specialized banks target special segment of the

economy and are supported by the government, thus work load is much lessor in such financial

institutions. Public banks in Pakistan on the other hand are not considered that efficient and have

traditional work flow and mechanism. Moreover, these banks are also not competition driven and

are not included in the race of survival of fittest. Thus these banks are also excluded from the

analysis. Out of 17 banks, this study chooses 9 banks on random bases. Three branches of

31
selected banks were located using cluster sampling choosing clusters having presence of all

banks within close vicinity. The areas of Model town, Goldberg and Township were chosen for

the survey as these areas are considered banking hubs and are quite competitive in nature.

3.7 Time horizon

The research study may be either one-shot (cross-sectional) or longitudinal. The researcher

should decide about the type of study depending on the type of research question and how the

problem is defined (Sekaran, 2003, p. 135). In the study described here, due to the time

restrictions, it was not possible to conduct a longitudinal study, so we conducted cross-sectional

research in which we gathered the data from bank employees at only one point in time. Data

collection continued for approximately three weeks.

3.8 Reliability & Validity

All scales were pilot-tested first for checking the reliability and content validity before the study

was actually conducted. The questionnaires was distributed to 30 bank employees at first to

check the reliability of the scales being used in the study using cronbatch’s alpha test which is

widely used to measure the reliability of the scales. The study actually considers three variables

out of which one i.e. job stress is independent variables and two i.e. job satisfaction and

employee commitment are dependent variables. All these three scales are adopted from previous

studies which have also been used by many other studies. The scale of job stress was adopted

from Kahn, Wolfe,Quinn, Snoek and Rosenthal (1964) who developed this 15 item scale naming

it job related tension index. 3 item job satisfaction scale is adopted from Mueller &

McCLOSKEY (1990) while scale of organizational commitment is adopted from Mowday &

Steers (1979). This scale has a total of 13 items and three components i.e. affective commitment

having 4 items, continuance commitment having 4 items and normative commitment having 4

32
items. Cronbatch’s Alpha test was used to check the reliability of the scales used in the study. All

scales were found reliable as Cronbach’s Aplha value of all scales exceeded cut off value of .6.

Job stress scale had Cronbach’s Alpha’s value of .948, affective commitment had value of .820,

continuance commitment has value of .800, normative commitment has value of .843 and job

satisfaction had value of .842.

3.9 Data collection method

Data may be collected through observation, interviews or questionnaire surveys. The researcher

should decide about the type of data collection method depending on the type of research

question and how the problem is defined. Questionnaires were used as data collection instrument

as questionnaires allow the respondents to think about the research questions before responding

which produce more meaningful answers (Peil, Mitchel, & Rimer, 1982). The questionnaire was

based on existing scales already used for various studies in the literature. Thus questionnaire was

used as data collection instrument in this study. The final questionnaire consisted of two sections.

The first section contained the items regarding the dependent and independent variables of the

study i.e. job stress, job satisfaction and employee commitment. A demographics section was

also included in the questionnaire containing questions regarding gender, age, qualification of the

respondent and about the type and nature of the bank respondent is working in.

3.10 Participants
Employees of the banks were respondents of the study. We visited the selected branches and

requested respondents to participate in the survey. We distributed 10 questionnaires in each

branch of the bank thus 30 questionnaires were allocated to each selected bank in the sample. A

total number of 270 questionnaires were distributed in total, 90 in each cluster, 30 in each bank

and 10 in each branch.

33
3.11 Procedure

The researcher traveled to the branches of the selected branches of the banks and administered

the questionnaire to bank employees at the floor after getting approval from the bank

management. Employees were assured that their responses would remain confidential. Following

the instructions on the questionnaire, the questionnaires were filled out and returned to the

researcher.

3.12 Response Rate

For concrete research work, necessary information regarding the level of job stress in various

banks of Lahore and its relative impact on job satisfaction and employee commitment were

collected from employees of the targeted banks. The bank employees were requested to respond

to all the questions to the best of their knowledge with reference to the quality of services they

experienced in their respective banks. Out of the 270 questionnaires distributed 225 yielded

usable responses which were used in the final analysis of the study. The overall response rate

was 83% which is considered quite good in such types of the studies.

3.13 Data Analysis

The collected data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version

19. Data on demographic characteristics of the subjects were analyzed through frequency and

percentage tables. Pearson Correlation and regression analysis on the other hand, are used to

explain the association between the variables of the study.

34
 Chapter 4
Analysis and Discussion
This chapter provides the statistical analysis of the data collected through survey. This chapter is

organized as follows: firstly demographics of the respondents are presented in this chapter which

includes name of the bank respondents are employee of, age group of the respondents, gender of

the respondents, qualification of the respondents, total work experience of the respondents, work

experience of the respondents with the current organization and their monthly salary range.

Secondly descriptive statistics of mean and standard deviation are presented for dependent and

independent variables of the study whereas dependent variables are job satisfaction and three

dimensions of employee commitment i.e. affective commitment, continuance commitment and

normative commitment and independent variable is job stress. In the last correlation analysis of

the variables is presented to find out the relationship between dependent and independent

variables.

4.1 Demographics
This part of the analysis provides demographics of the study by categorizing the respondents in

different characteristics groups. Demographical analysis is provided by means of frequency

distribution table and responses are also exhibited in shape of bar chart.

Table 4.1.1 on the next page provides the detail of the representation of 9 banks from which

questionnaires were got filled. A total of 30 questionnaires were distributed in each bank. Out of

these 30 questionnaires Allied Bank Limited yielded 23 valid responses which is 10.2% of the

whole sample, Bank Alfalah Limited on the other hand provided 27 valid responses which is

12% of the sample, Both Faysal Bank and Silk Bank yielded 22 valid responses, which

individually represent 9.8% of the sample. Habib Metropolitan Bank Limited represents 11.1%

35
of the sample with 25 valid responses; likewise KASB Bank Limited provided 24 valid

responses representing 10.7% of the sample. Then comes NIB Bank Limited with 26 valid

responses representing 11.6% of the sample. In the last Standard Chartered Bank (Pakistan)

Limited and United Bank Limited both provided 28 valid responses individually which constitute

12.4% sample of the study.

Table 4.1.1 Respondents Bank wise distribution

Cumulative

Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent

Valid Allied Bank Limited 23 10.2 10.2 10.2
Bank Alfalah Limited 27 12.0 12.0 22.2
Faysal Bank Limited 22 9.8 9.8 32.0
Habib Metropolitan Bank
25 11.1 11.1 43.1
Limited
KASB Bank Limited 24 10.7 10.7 53.8
NIB Bank Limited 26 11.6 11.6 65.3
SILKBANK Limited 22 9.8 9.8 75.1
Standard Chartered Bank
28 12.4 12.4 87.6
(Pakistan) Limited
United Bank Limited 28 12.4 12.4 100.0
Total 225 100.0 100.0

Bank wise distribution indicates a fair distribution of the respondents across banks which were

randomly selected. That is fair enough to eliminate any kind of sampling bias. This bank wise

distribution of the respondents is also depicted by following bar chart 4.1.1.

Chart 4.1.1 Respondent Bank wise distribution

36
Table 4.1.2 on the next page provides age distribution of the respondents of the study. Most of

the people belonged to the age group of 20 to 25 years i.e. 117 respondents that represent 52% of

the whole sample of the study. On second number come respondents in age group of 26 to 30

years which constitute 38.2% of the sample. Then comes age group of 31 to 40 years which

contain 14 respondents (6.2% of sample). Least number of respondents are in age group of less

than 20 years i.e. 8 (only 3.6% of sample). Age distribution of respondents is also presented by

bar chart 4.1.2.

Table 4.1.2 Age distribution of respondents

37
 Cumulative

Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent

Valid Less than 20 8 3.6 3.6 3.6
20 – 25 117 52.0 52.0 55.6
26-30 86 38.2 38.2 93.8
31-40 14 6.2 6.2 100.0
Total 225 100.0 100.0

Chart 4.1.2 Age distribution of respondents

Table 4.1.3 Gender distribution of respondents

Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent

Valid Male 198 88.0 88.0 88.0

Female 27 12.0 12.0 100.0

Total 225 100.0 100.0

38
Table 3.1.2 provides gender distribution of the respondents of the study. Out of total 225

respondents 198 are male which are 88 % of the sample, while only 27 female respondents were

included in the study i.e. 12% of the sample. This also is represented in bar chart 4.1.3.

Chart 4.1.3 Gender distribution of respondents

Table 4.1.4 Qualification distribution of respondents

39
 Cumulative

Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent

Valid Graduation 78 34.7 35.6 35.6

Masters 116 51.6 53.0 88.6

Other 25 11.1 11.4 100.0

Total 219 97.3 100.0

Missing System 6 2.7

Total 225 100.0

Table 4.1.4 provides qualification distribution of the respondents. Most of the respondents are

master degree holder in the study i.e. 166 (51.6% of sample), then 78 respondents which

represent 34.7 of the sample are graduate while 25 respondents had other qualifications such like

ACCA and other diploma course. 6 respondents in the sample however, did not provide response

to this question. Pictorial representation of qualification of the respondents is provided on the

following page by bar chart 4.1.4.

Chart 4.1.4 Qualification distribution of respondent

40
Table 4.1.5 Total experience distribution of respondents

Cumulative

Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent

Valid Less than 1 Year 58 25.8 25.8 25.8

1-2 39 17.3 17.3 43.1

2-5 68 30.2 30.2 73.3

5-10 46 20.4 20.4 93.8

Above 10 14 6.2 6.2 100.0

Total 225 100.0 100.0

Table 4.1.5 on the previous page provides experience distribution of the respondents which

entails about the total experience of the respondents. Most of the respondents i.e. 68 were in the

category of total experience of 2-3 years which represent 30.2% of the sample. After that, comes

the category of less than one year which contains 58 respondents representing 25.8% of sample.

Then comes experience category of 5 to 10 years which account for 20.4% (46 respondents) of

41
the study sample. The age category of 1 to 2 years has 39 respondents accounting for 17.3% of

the sample. In the last is the category of more than 10 year of experience which has only 14

respondents representing 6.2% of the sample. Bar chart 4.1.5 below provides a graphical view of

the experience distribution of the respondents.

Chart 4.1.5 Experience distribution of respondents

Table 4.1.6 Experience in current bank distribution

42
 Cumulative

Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent

Valid Less than 1 Year 72 32.0 32.4 32.4

1-2 68 30.2 30.6 63.1

2-5 82 36.4 36.9 100.0

Total 222 98.7 100.0

Missing System 3 1.3

Total 225 100.0

Table 4.1.6 above provides the experience with current bank distribution of the respondents

included in the study which entails the experience duration of the respondents with their current

banking organization. Most of the respondents in the sample i.e. 82 (36.4%) have less than one

year experience in their current organization. Then on the second come respondents having less

than one year of experience in their current banking organization i.e. 72 respondents representing

32% of the sample. 30.2% of the respondents in sample (68 respondents) are in 1 to 2 year

experience category. 3 respondents did not provide about their experience in the current

organization. This experience in current bank distribution is also provided in the following bar

chart 4.1.6 in graphical form.

Chart 4.1.6 Experience in current bank distribution

43
Table 4.1.7 on the next page provides salary distribution of the respondents indicating the salary

group of the respondents. Most of the respondents in the sample belong to the salary range of

35,001 to 55,000 i.e. 40.4% (91 respondents) of the sample. Then comes income range of 20,000

to 35,000 which has 57 respondents representing 25.3% of the sample. 32 respondents (14.2 %)

belong to the income range of 55,001 to 75,000. 20 (8.9%) respondents were in lowest income

range of the respondents i.e. below 20,000 while 13 (5.8%) belonged to the highest income range

of above 75,000 while 12 respondents choose not to answer this question. Bar chart 4.1.7 also

presents this salary range in graphical format.

44
Table 4.1.7 Salary distribution of respondents

Cumulative

Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent

Valid Below 20,000 20 8.9 9.4 9.4

20,000- 35,000 57 25.3 26.8 36.2

35,001 - 55,000 91 40.4 42.7 78.9

55,001 - 75,000 32 14.2 15.0 93.9

Above 75,000 13 5.8 6.1 100.0

Total 213 94.7 100.0

Missing System 12 5.3

Total 225 100.0

Chart 4.1.7 Salary distribution of respondents

45
4.2 Descriptive statistics
This part of the analysis provides descriptive statistics for dependent and independent variables.

Independent variable in this study is job stress and dependent variables in the study are job

satisfaction and employee commitment while employee commitment is measured through three

dimensions i.e. affective commitment, continuance commitment and normative commitment.

Descriptive statistics indicates the overall condition relating to the prevalence of a variable that

how strongly according to the respondent a variable is present or not.

Table 4.2.1 provides descriptive statistics of the dependent and independent variable of the study.

The independent variable job stress has a mean value of 3.553 along with a standard deviation

of .75701 which indicates that bank employees on the average experience high level of job stress

as mean value is fairly above the average value of 3. For dependent variables the first dimension

of the employee commitment, affective commitment yielded a mean value of 2.5889 along with

46
a standard deviation of .65881 indicating that on the average employees in the banking sector has

lower level of affective commitment. The second dimension of the employee commitment,

continuance commitment yielded a fairly above average value of mean i.e. 3.5876 along with a

standard deviation of .73596 indicating that continuance commitment is higher among the

employees of the banking sector in Lahore. The third dimension of employee commitment,

normative commitment provided again a lower than average mean value of 2.2876 along with a

standard deviation of .90717 indicating a lower levels of normative commitment among

employees of banking sector in Lahore. The second dependent variable i.e. job satisfaction also

yielded a slightly lower than average value of job satisfaction i.e. 2.9556 along with a higher

standard deviation of 1.06153 indicating a mix response that some respondents are somewhat

satisfied while other are dissatisfied with their jobs.

Table 4.2.1 Descriptive statistics

N Mean Std. Deviation

Job Stress 225 3.5530 .75701

Affective Commitment 225 2.5889 .65881

Continuance Commitment 225 3.5876 .73596

Normative Commitment 225 2.2856 .90717

Job Satisfaction 225 2.9556 1.06153

Valid N (listwise) 225

4.3 Correlation analysis

This part of the analysis provides correlation analysis for the study. Correlation analysis

established the relationships between the dependent and independent variables of the study. Main

47
independent variable of the study is job stress while independent variables of the study are

affective commitment, continuance commitment and normative commitment.

Table 4.3 provides correlation matrix of the study. Independent variable of job stress has a

negative and strong correlation with dependent variable of affective commitment as indicated by

correlation coefficient of -.866 which is also significant at 1% level of significance. A strong but

positive correlation is also evident between independent variable of job stress and dependent

variable of continuance commitment as indicated by correlation coefficient of .786 which is also

significant at 1% level of significance. The third dimension of the independent variable

employee commitment i.e. normative commitment is also depicting a positive but weak

correlation with independent variable of job stress as provided by the correlation coefficient of .

327 which again is significant at 1% level of significance. The last dependent variable of the

study i.e. job satisfaction has also a moderately strong but negative relationship with independent

variable of job stress which is also significant at 1% level of significance.

On the whole job stress is significantly correlated with all of the dependent variables of the study

while this relation is strong and negative with affective commitment, strong and positive with

continuance commitment, weak and positive with normative commitment and moderately strong

and negative with job satisfaction. Hypothesis of the study are tested in the next section of the

analysis using regression analysis as that is more powerful tool than correlation.

48
Table 4.3 Correlation matrix

Affective Continuance Normative

Job Stress Commitment Commitment Commitment

Affective Commitment Pearson Correlation -.866** 1

Sig. (2-tailed) .000

Continuance Commitment Pearson Correlation .786** -.673** 1

Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .000

Normative Commitment Pearson Correlation .327** -.061 .182** 1

Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .363 .006

Job Satisfaction Pearson Correlation -.693** .737** -.739** -.158*

Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .000 .000 .018

**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

*. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

49
4.4 Regression analysis
This part of the analysis provides regression analysis relating to the dependent and independent

variables. This study considers only one independent variable and two main dependent variables

one of which has three dimensions which are regressed separately with independent variable of

job stress. Thus, four regression models are presented in this section. First provides retrogression

results of job stress and affective commitment, second of job stress and continuance commitment

third of job stress and normative commitment, while forth provides regression analysis of job

stress and job satisfaction.

4.4.1 Model 1: Impact of job stress on affective commitment

First regression model of the study regresses independent variable of job stress against dependent

variable of affective commitment. Following tables 4.4.1.1, 4.4.1.2 and 4.4.1.3 provide model

summary, ANOVA and coefficients of the regressions respectively:

Table 4.4.1.1 Model summary (Model 1)

Std. Error of the

Model R R Square Adjusted R Square Estimate

1 .866a .750 .749 .33039

a. Predictors: (Constant), Job Stress

Table 4.4.1.1 above provides model summary of model 1 which takes job stress as independent

variable and affective commitment as dependent variable. R Square of the model is .750 which is

quite good and indicates that job stress predicts 75% of the variation in affective commitment.

Adjusted R Square is .749 and R is .866 of the model 1.

Table 4.4.1.2 ANOVA (Model 1)

50
Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.

1 Regression 72.881 1 72.881 667.682 .000a

Residual 24.342 223 .109

Total 97.222 224

a. Predictors: (Constant), Job Stress

b. Dependent Variable: Affective Commitment
Table 4.4.1.2 above provides ANOVA results of model 1. ANOVA table tells us the goodness of

fit of the model. F statistics is the main indicator of the goodness of fit of the model which is

667.682 for the model indicating that model is good fit at 1% level of significance.

Table 4.4.1.3 Coefficients (Model 1)

Standardized

Unstandardized Coefficients Coefficients

Model B Std. Error Beta T Sig.

1 (Constant) 5.266 .106 49.716 .000

Job Stress -.753 .029 -.866 -25.840 .000

a. Dependent Variable: Affective Commitment

Table 4.4.1.3 on the previous page provides the coefficients for the model 1. The main

independent variable of the study is job stress which is regressed against the dependent variable

of affective commitment. Beta coefficient for the job stress is -.753 which indicates a negative

impact of job stress on the affective commitment. T-statistics for this relationship is -25.84 which

indicates that this relationship is significant at 1% level of significance so we accept H 2a which

propose a significant relationship between job stress and affective commitment.

51
4.4.2 Model 2: Impact of job stress on continuance commitment

First regression model of the study regresses independent variable of job stress against dependent

variable of continuance commitment. Following tables 4.4.2.1, 4.4.2.2 and 4.4.2.3 provide model

summary, ANOVA and coefficients of the regressions respectively:

Table 4.4.2.1 Model summary (Model 2)

Std. Error of the

Model R R Square Adjusted R Square Estimate

2 .786a .618 .616 .45603

a. Predictors: (Constant), Job Stress

Table 4.4.2.1 provides model summary of model 2 which assumes job stress as independent

variable and continuance commitment. R Square of the model is .618 which is quite good and

indicates that job stress predicts almost 62% of the variation in continuance commitment.

Adjusted R Square is .616 and R is .786 of the model 2.

Table 4.4.2.2 ANOVA (Model 2)

Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.

2 Regression 74.950 1 74.950 360.405 .000a

Residual 46.375 223 .208

Total 121.325 224

a. Predictors: (Constant), Job Stress

b. Dependent Variable: Continuance Commitment

52
Table 4.4.2.2 above provides ANOVA results of model 2. ANOVA table tells us the goodness of

fit of the model. F statistics is the main indicator of the goodness of fit of the model which is

360.405 for the model indicating that model is good fit at 1% level of significance.

Table 4.4.2.3 Coefficients (Model 2)

Standardized

Unstandardized Coefficients Coefficients

Model B Std. Error Beta t Sig.

2 (Constant) .873 .146 5.968 .000

Job Stress .764 .040 .786 18.984 .000

a. Dependent Variable: Continuance Commitment

Table 4.4.2.3 on the previous page provides the coefficients for the model 2. The main

independent variable of the study is job stress which is regressed against the dependent variable

of continuance commitment. Beta coefficient for the job stress is .764 which indicates a positive

impact of job stress on the continuance commitment. T-statistics for this relationship is 18.984

which indicate that this relationship is significant at 1% level of significance so we accept H 2b

which propose a significant relationship between job stress and continuance commitment.

4.4.3 Model 3: Impact of job stress on normative commitment

First regression model of the study regresses independent variable of job stress against dependent

variable of normative commitment. Following tables 4.4.3.1, 4.4.3.2 and 4.4.3.3 provide model

summary, ANOVA and coefficients of the regressions respectively:

Table 4.4.3.1 Model summary (Model 3)

53
 Std. Error of the

Model R R Square Adjusted R Square Estimate

3 .327a .107 .103 .85925

a. Predictors: (Constant), Job Stress

Table 4.4.3.1 provides model summary for the model modeling normative commitment as

dependent variable and job stress as independent variable. R Square of the model is .107

indicating that almost 11% variation in normative commitment is predicted by job stress.

Adjusted R Square is .103 and R is .327 for this model.

Table 4.4.3.2 ANOVA (Model 3)

Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.

3 Regression 19.699 1 19.699 26.681 .000a

Residual 164.642 223 .738

Total 184.341 224

a. Predictors: (Constant), Job Stress

b. Dependent Variable: Normative Commitment
Table 4.4.3.2 provides ANOVA result for the mode 3 to judge its goodness of fit. F statistics for

the model is 26.681 which indicate that the model is good fit at 1% level of significance.

Table 4.4.3.3 Coefficients (Model 3)

54
 Standardized

Unstandardized Coefficients Coefficients

Model B Std. Error Beta t Sig.

3 (Constant) .894 .275 3.244 .001

Job Stress .392 .076 .327 5.165 .000

a. Dependent Variable: Normative Commitment

Table 4.4.3.3 provides regression coefficients for the model 3. Job stress is independent variable

in the model and normative commitment is dependent variable. Beta coefficient for the job stress

is .392 along with a t-statistics of 5.165 indicating that the relationship is positive and significant

at 1% level of significance. Thus, hypothesis H2c is accepted which proposes a significant impact

of job stress on normative commitment.

4.4.4 Model 4: Impact of job stress on job satisfaction

First regression model of the study regresses independent variable of job stress against dependent

variable of normative commitment. Following tables 4.4.4.1, 4.4.4.2 and 4.4.4.3 provide model

summary, ANOVA and coefficients of the regressions respectively:

Table 4.4.4.1 Model summary (Model 4)

Std. Error of the

Model R R Square Adjusted R Square Estimate

4 .693a .480 .478 .76684

a. Predictors: (Constant), Job Stress

Table 4.4.4.1 above provides summary statistics of model 4 which assumes job stress as

independent variable and job satisfaction as dependent variable. The R Square of the model is .

55
480 which indicates that 48% of the variation in the job satisfaction is caused by the job stress in

the banking sector of Lahore. Adjusted R Square of model is .478 and R is .693.

Following table 4.4.4.2 provides ANOVA results for model 4 to check the goodness of fit of the

model. F statistics of 206.238 is quite good and indicate goodness of fit of the model at

significance level of 1%.

Table 4.4.4.2 ANOVA (Model 4)

Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.

4 Regression 121.278 1 121.278 206.238 .000a

Residual 131.135 223 .588

Total 252.413 224

a. Predictors: (Constant), Job Stress

b. Dependent Variable: Job Satisfaction

Table 4.4.4.3 Coefficients (Model 4)

Standardized

Unstandardized Coefficients Coefficients

Model B Std. Error Beta t Sig.

4 (Constant) 6.409 .246 26.069 .000

Job Stress -.972 .068 -.693 -14.361 .000

a. Dependent Variable: Job Satisfaction

56
Table 4.4.4.3 provides the coefficient of model 4 which provides statistics relating to the impact

of job stress on the job satisfaction of the employees of the banking sector of Lahore. Value of

beta coefficient of job stress is -.972 which indicates a negative impact of job stress on the job

satisfaction of the employees of the banking sector of Lahore. T-statistics of this relationship is

-14.361 which indicates that the relationship is significant at 1% level of significance. Thus,

hypothesis H1 of the study is accepted which advocate a negative and significant relationship

between the job stress and job satisfaction.

4.5 Discussion
Overall, this study documents a significant impact of job stress on job satisfaction and all three

dimensions of employee commitment i.e. affective commitment, continuance commitment and

normative commitment. The impact of stress however, was positive for the variables of

continuance commitment and normative commitment and negative for affective commitment and

job satisfaction. Theoretically it is justified in sense that more job stress put pressure on the

employee and his job satisfaction is affected negatively in the scenario and same is the case with

the affective commitment which is the real type of commitment in which a person is really

attached to an organization without any consideration or pressure. In cases of continuance

commitment and normative commitment a positive impact of the job stress is also not out of

question. Continuance commitment implies that a person stays with the organization because he

has financial implications if he leaves the organization so the reason a person wants to stay with

the organization in case of the higher stress are purely financial. Apart from that normative

commitment implies that a person is staying with the organization because he feels some

obligation to the organization. The positive impact of the job stress on the normative

commitment is not profound and strong as in case of continuance commitment. But, it is logical

57
in the sense that a person is bearing higher levels of stress in one organization because he has

spent some time to the organization and is loyal to the organization. Loyalty is a key

characteristic of the Asian people and they put aside many things because they have feelings for

some person, organization or place.

The finding that banking sector in Lahore has a higher stress level is matched with other studies

conducted in Pakistani context. Same evidence of higher stress was put forwards by many

researchers who conducted their research in recent era to document the impact of job stress on

various work and behavior related variables (Bashir & Ramay, 2010; Khattak, Khan, Haq, Arif

& Minhas, 2011; Mohsan, Nawaz & Khan, 2011). This implies that there is a serious need to

reconsider the work related practices in banking sector of Pakistan as stress not only causes

behavior and performance related issues but also physical and mental health related issues and in

the recent era when human capital is considered very much important for the success of the

organization and retaining and training employees have become major challenge for the

organizations to survive and compete in the industry, such higher level of the stress might cause

problems for the organizations in the long run.

A very serious consideration in the study is the negative impact of job stress on the variables of

job satisfaction and affective commitment. Many studies advocate a negative relationship

between job stress and job satisfaction (Yousaf, 2002; Sanchez, Bray, Vicus & Bann, 2004;

Bokti & Talib, 2009; Patel, Rajdekar & Naik, 2012), and this evidence is also supported in

various sectors of Pakistan other than banking sector (Sattar & Jamil, 2004; Khan, Raza & Ali,

2007; Rehman et al., 2012; Chaudhry, 2012). This finding has serious implication, this

relationship may not only distort the feelings of the employees but also may have a negative

impact on the job performance of the individual and in the long run the organization is at loss.

58
Secondly, the negative impact of job stress on the affective commitment of the employees of the

banking sector of Lahore is a relationship that also endorses the findings of the previous studies

in this domain (Yousaf, 2002; Addae, Parboteeah & Velinor, 2008), same findings were reported

in a study conducted in Pakistan particularly on the banking sector (Malik Waheed & Malik

2010). Affective commitment is considered the basic form of commitment or actual commitment

(Boles et al., 2007) and it is also more consistent with the operational definition of the

commitment (Iverson and Buttigieg, 1999) but most of the previous studies used a different scale

to measure overall commitment of the employees rather than investigating the separate impact of

stress on the three dimensions of the employee commitment individually. These studies taking

employee commitment as a whole construct have also found a negative impact of the job related

stress and its various dimension on overall organizational commitment (Tahir & Kaleem, n.d.;

Garu, Salanova & Peiró, 2001; Llorens, Bakker, Schaufeli, & Salanova, 2006; Coetzer &

Rothmann, 2006; Saksvik, Jørgensen, Tvedt & Eiken, 2010) . The negative relationship of the

job stress on the overall organizational commitment also indicates towards a serious

reconsideration of the policies and procedures of the banking sector of Pakistan in order to

facilitate employees and make the more committed to their organizations keeping in view the

strategic and long term prospects of the organization.

Apart from the overall commitment scales and affective commitment the findings on the

remaining dimensions of commitment i.e. continuance commitment and normative commitment,

in relation to stress are mixed. Addae & Wang (2006) found an insignificant impact of time

pressure on these two dimensions. There is also some evidence of a direct relationship of job

stress with overall commitment as well (Bersamin, 2006; Nideffer, n.d.). another study by

Addae, Parboteeah & Velinor (2008) on the other hand provide evidence of a significant

59
negative impact of job stress on normative commitment and an insignificant ipact of job stress on

continuance commitment. This study finds a positive impact of job stress on continuance

commitment and normative commitment. This finding although, is unique but did not pose a

complete surprise. Banking sector of Pakistan is the one of the few sectors in Pakistani economy

which are growing and have employment potential. Most of the people seek employment in

banking sector in order to start their career and thus people are bound to remain in banking sector

because of less employment opportunities elsewhere. This makes people more committed in

continuance terms and after sometime when employee have gained some experience of banking

sector they have no choice but to build their career in this sector and remain committed to their

bank. They switch from bank to bank but almost every banking organization have same policies

and working environment in Pakistan and stress on the whole is higher n banking sector of

Pakistan. Thus, despite higher levels of stress people are bound to remain within banking sector

in Pakistan. The positive impact of stress on continuance commitment however, was stronger

than on normative commitment. For normative commitment, the positive impact of stress could

be due to the unique demographical characteristic of Pakistani people. Pakistani people are loyal

and develop emotional relationships with the people they work with and with the organization

they work for. Due to this characteristic, this positive relationship could be justified.

This study although provide some evidence with regard to the impact of job stress on employee

commitment, but it is not conclusive. Further study to investigate the phenomenon particularly in

relevance to the continuance commitment and normative commitment is necessary. Anyhow, this

study provides interesting findings and policy implication which are discussed in the next

chapter of this thesis. Future research in this domain can be more interesting and revealing in

nature. The empirics of job stress, employee commitment and job stress with reference to the

60
banking sector of Pakistan if studies in depth can provide conclusive evidence with regard to the

understanding of the phenomenon in relation to a growing sector of a developing economy which

is facing economic issues.

61
 Chapter 5
Conclusion & Recommendations
This chapter concludes the study and provides recommendation to the Human Resource

practitioners so that the implications of higher stress in the banking sector could be controlled

and directed towards a better end. Moreover, limitations of the study along with the directions

for the future research are also discussed in this chapter.

5.1 Conclusion
Banking sector is a major sector of Pakistani economy and it contributes heavily towards the

economic growth of the country. But, this sector has some serious human resource and

organizational behavior related issues. One of these issues is particularly sever which is job

stress. Banking sector of Pakistan is characterized by the high stress due to excessive workload,

late sittings and excessive working hours (Khattak, Khan, Haq, Arif & Minhas, 2011). Research

indicates that job stress not only deteriorates the behavioral outcomes of the employees but also

has serious implications for the physical and mental health of the people (Grimshaw, 1999).

Stress factor is also important in predicting the work and organization related outcomes of

employees of the organization such like job performance, job satisfaction, employee motivation

and employee commitment (Sutherland & Cooper, 2002; Millward, 2005). This study aimed at

empirically analyzing the impact of job stress on two important variables of organization

behavior i.e. job satisfaction and employee commitment in banking sector of Lahore, Pakistan.

This study finds negative impact of job stress on job satisfaction and affective commitment of

the employees in banking sector of Lahore, Pakistan, while this impact was positive for

continuance commitment and normative commitment. Thus, previous findings on the subjects

are confirmed regarding a negative correlation of job stress with job satisfaction and employee

62
commitment as affective commitment is considered the main type of commitment or real

commitment. The reason for a positive impact of stress on continuance commitment might be

economic rather than behavioral as banking sector is the only sector in Pakistan which is

growing and provides employment to the business graduates all over the Pakistan and people

who seek employment in the banking sector stick to their bank because they do not have any

other option and leaving their bank may lead towards serious financial implications for them as

the job hunting is the market is quite tough in Pakistan considering the unemployment situation.

The second positive impact of job stress on the normative commitment is more of a social issue

than behavioral one. People in Pakistan tend to get attached with the organization and develop

close relationship with their coworkers. As employees of the bank spend most of their time in the

bank and go to home to take sleep, their active life mainly consists of bank life only which evoke

their feelings for the bank and their coworkers. Thus, despite the higher level of stress a positive

normative commitment is found in the banking sector of Lahore, Pakistan. Further research in

this area may resolve the issue and shed light on the true reasons for positive impact of job stress

on continuance and normative commitment. Following implications in this regard are offered by

the study:

5.2 Implications of the study

This study is conducted to assess the impact of job stress on the job satisfaction and employee

commitment. The assessment suggests a negative impact of job stress on job satisfaction and

affective commitment and a positive impact of job stress on continuance commitment and

normative commitment. This study provides first hand evidence in this regard on the developing

economy of Pakistan where unemployment and economic problems are major issues and thus

uncertainty prevails in the job market so people in this era of uncertainty stick to the organization

63
due to financial issues and emotional attachments despite a higher level of stress in the industry.

Although affective commitment indicates that people are not really committed to the

organization in real sense but they also do not leave their banking organization due to other

considerations. This implies that there are so many factors that a person considers while leaving

an organization and employee commitment is a multifaceted concept which should better be

measured through multidimensional scales. Although the structural problems of the economy

force the employees to stick to their banking organization still the long term implications of the

job stress do not encourage current practices in the banking industry of Lahore, Pakistan.

Employees are assets of the organizations and wellbeing of the employees should be a top

priority of the organization. Higher stress levels could not only distort the performance of the

employee in the short run but also have serious mental and physical health issues of the

employees facing this stress and in the long run the organization may lose its most experienced

assets too soon. Moreover, when commitment is not a consideration, other factors like salary

package could be the consideration for the employees and thus employees of organization may

have tendency to shift to the organization in the industry giving higher salaries. Employees could

not be exploited particularly if they are experienced in the long run. Thus, organization in the

banking sector of Pakistan should consider ways to boast the commitment and job satisfaction of

their employees which is possible if the policies of the banks are relaxed and stress in banking

sector jobs could be reduced somehow.

5.3 Suggestions
As reflected in the previous discussion that higher levels of stress is a dangerous thing not only

for the employees of the banks but also for the banking organizations not only in the short run

but also in the long run. Human resource managers and practitioners working with and advising

64
to banking sector must understand this and device policies to tackle this problem of higher stress.

Following are some suggestions that could be useful in order to reduce stress level of the

employees of banking sector of Pakistan:

 Most of the bank branches are under staffed. Proper staff in an branch can make a

difference for all of the employees in one branch. No one would have to bear extra load

of work and things will run smoothly.

 Job rotation of the employees can also help to reduce stress. Routine work encourages

boredom and limits the capabilities of the employees. Employees of banks should learn

multitasking and get diversified experience so they may work effectively in all

operations of the bank.

 Courses and trainings on time management and stress management should be introduced

in the banks so that employees in banking sector may learn to channelize their stress and

frustration.

 More and more work should be shifted to technological assisted mechanisms so that

automation could be promoted. This will not only facilitate the customers of the banks

but would also release some pressure from the banking sector employees.

 Empowerment is also very important in this regard. Banks should empower their

employees to take basic decisions so that they may resolve issues smoothly.

Participatory decision making is another thing; it will not only contribute towards

reducing stress levels but also would help to improve employee commitment, job

involvement and job satisfaction.

 Banks should acknowledge the extra work done by the employees in overtime and

employees should not only be appreciated but also get paid for the overtime in the

65
 banking sector of Pakistan so that their frustration could be released in a channelized

way.

5.4 Limitations and directions for future research

There are certain limitations of this study which are provided as follows:

 Only geographical area of Lahore is considered for the study which is a big city and

could not be representative of the small rural areas. The stress level and other findings for

replication of this study on rural area may be different.

 This study does not differentiate between public and private banks. A comparative study

of public and private banks could be more revealing in nature.

 This study also ignores structural, social and economic factors of Pakistan which may

distort the results of the study.

Despite the above limitations this study fulfills its purpose and indicates towards a problems and

its impact on the employee commitment and job satisfaction. Future research in this domain may

focus on the limitations of this study so that the research gap could be bridged. Moreover, other

players in the financial sector such like insurance companies, leasing companies and mutual

funds could also be considered in such study to assess their stress levels and its impact on other

behavioral and work related outcomes. Moreover, this study could also be replicated to Islamic

Banking sector which is not taken in this study. The prevalence of economic and social factors is

particularly very important in this regard. Further research should be directed to assess whether

these factors somehow mediate or moderate the relationship between stress and behavioral and

work related outcomes of the employees facing economic constraints.

66
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 Appendix (Questionnare)
QUESTIONNAIRE

Dear respondent,

I am a student of M.Com (Hons.) from Hailey College of Commerce, University of the Punjab
Lahore. This questionnaire is designed to study the “The impact of Stress on Job
Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment”. Your co-operation would be highly
useful for this research. So it is requested to spare your few precious minutes to fill this
questionnaire. Try to be realistic in your answer. Your response will be kept confidential and
used only for this research purpose.

the TimeNearly All

OftenRather

Sometimes
Section 1: Job Stress

Never
Rarely
How frequently are you bothered at work by….

Not knowing what your supervisor thinks of you, how he/she

1 5 4 3 2 1
evaluates your performance.

Feeling that you have too heavy a workload, one that can’t possibly
2 5 4 3 2 1
finish during an ordinary workday.

Thinking that amount of work you have to do may interfere with

3 5 4 3 2 1
how well it gets done.

Feeling that you have too little authority to carry out the
4 5 4 3 2 1
responsibilities assigned to you.

Having to decide thing that affect the lives of individuals or people

5 5 4 3 2 1
that you know.

Thinking that you’ll not be able to satisfy the conflicting demands

6 5 4 3 2 1
of various people over you.

Feeling that you have to do thing on the job that are against your
7 5 4 3 2 1
better judgment.

81
 The fact that you can’t get information needed to carry out your
8 5 4 3 2 1
job.

9 Feeling that your job tends to interfere with your family life. 5 4 3 2 1

Being unclear on just what the scope and responsibilities of your

10 5 4 3 2 1
job are.

Feeling unable to influence your immediate supervisor’s decisions

11 5 4 3 2 1
and actions that affect you.

Not knowing that opportunities for advancement or promotion exist

12 5 4 3 2 1
for you.

13 Not knowing just what the people you work expect of you. 5 4 3 2 1

14 Feeling that you’re not fully qualified to handle your job. 5 4 3 2 1

Feeling that you may not be liked and accepted by the people you
15 5 4 3 2 1
work with.

Strongly

Strongly
Disagree
Neutral
Agree
Section 2: Organizational Commitment

I would be very happy to spend the rest of my career with this

Agree

Disagree
1 5 4 3 2 1
organization.

2 I enjoy discussing my organization with people outside it. 5 4 3 2 1

3 I really feel that this organization’s problems are my own. 5 4 3 2 1

4 This organization has a great deal of personal meaning to me. 5 4 3 2 1

It would be very hard for me to leave my organization right now, even

5 5 4 3 2 1
if I wanted to.

Too much in my life would be disrupted if I decided I wanted to leave

6 5 4 3 2 1
my organization now.

82
 Right now, staying with my organization is a matter of necessity as
7 5 4 3 2 1
much as desire.

8 I feel that I have too few options to consider leaving this organization. 5 4 3 2 1

One of the major reasons I continue to work for this organization is

9 that leaving would require considerable personal sacrifice — another 5 4 3 2 1
organization may not match the overall benefits I have here.

I think that people these days move from company to company too
10 5 4 3 2 1
often.

I believe that loyalty is important and therefore I feel a sense of moral

11 5 4 3 2 1
obligation to remain with this organization.

If l got another offer for a better job elsewhere I would not feel it was
12 5 4 3 2 1
right to leave my organization.

Things were better in the days when people stayed with one
13 5 4 3 2 1
organization for most of their careers.

Strongly

Strongly
Disagree
Neutral
Agree
Section 2: Job Satisfaction
Agree

1 I find real enjoyment in my work 5 4 3 2 1

Disagree
2 Most days I am enthusiastic about my Job 5 4 3 2 1

3 I feel well satisfied with my job 5 4 3 2 1

Name of Bank: ________________________________

Name (optional): Mr./Mrs./Miss_______________________________________
Age (Years): (a) Less than 20 (b) 20 to 25 (c) 26 to 30
(d) 31 to 40 (e) Above 40
Gender: Male [ ] Female [ ]
Qualification: (a) Intermediate (b) Graduation (c) Masters (d) Others

83
Total work experience: (a) Less than 1 (b) 1 to 2 (c) 2 to 5
(Years) (d) 5 to 10 (e) Above 10
Experience in this bank: (a) Less than 1 (b) 1 to 2 (c) 2 to 5
(Years) (d) 5 to 10 (e) Above 10
Your monthly salary:

(a) Below 20000 (b) 20000-35000 (c) 35000-55000 (d) 55000-75000 (e) Above 75000

***Thanks for your precious time and cooperation***

84