(1)PERCEIVED ORGANIZATIONAL SUPPORT AS A MODERATOR OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN JOB DEMANDS, WORKPLACE BULLYING, AND EMPLOYEE OUTCOMES

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(1)PERCEIVED ORGANIZATIONAL SUPPORT AS A MODERATOR OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN JOB DEMANDS, WORKPLACE BULLYING, AND EMPLOYEE OUTCOMES. CHIA SHI MIN. UNIVERSITI SAINS MALAYSIA 2017.

(2) PERCEIVED ORGANIZATIONAL SUPPORT AS A MODERATOR OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN JOB DEMANDS, WORKPLACE BULLYING, AND EMPLOYEE OUTCOMES. by. CHIA SHI MIN. Thesis submitted in fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Arts. August 2017.

(3) ACKNOWLEDGEMENT. First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my main supervisor, Dr. Daisy Kee Mui Hung, for her patience, constructive feedback and assistance throughout my Master journey. I appreciate her relentless efforts in imparting her knowledge, reading, and correcting my thesis. I will always remember in heart the endless support, encouragement that she has given me in completing this challenging journey. I am profoundly indebted to my parents and family for their moral support and encouragement throughout the duration of my Master research. Additionally, I would like to thank my friends both from the academia and from the industry who have engaged in intellectual discussion with me that had helped me in generating fruitful ideas. I am also thankful to the administrative staff from School of Management specifically Robitah Spian, Dasyilahanim Mohd Desa, Yeap Bee Luan and other staffs who had assisted me directly and indirectly. I am also grateful to those who have participated in my questionnaire survey and I hope all the findings will be beneficial to them. Further, my appreciation also goes to my friends from other universities who have provided humble assistance in downloading journal articles for me. I am deeply thankful to all of my friends for their moral support and companionship. Last but not least, I would like to extend my appreciation to the Malaysian government for awarding me the MyMaster scholarship that enables me to concentrate on my Master research with ease without worrying about my finances.. ii.

(4) TABLE OF CONTENTS. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT. ii. TABLE OF CONTENTS. iii. LIST OF TABLE. vii. LIST OF FIGURE. ix. LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS. x. ABSTRAK. xi xiii. ABSTRACT. CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION. 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8. Background of Study Problem Statement Research Objectives Research Questions Significance of Study Scope of Study Definitions of Key Terms Organization of the Thesis. CHAPTER 2. LITERATURE REVIEW. 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8. Occupational Stress Job Demands Workplace Bullying Job Performance Physical Health Problem Mental Health Problem Perceived Organizational Support as Moderator Underlying Theories 2.8.1 Job Demands-Resource Theory 2.8.2 Job Demands-Control-Support Theory 2.8.3 Social Exchange Theory Gap in Literature Theoretical Framework Research Hypotheses 2.11.1 The Relationship between Job Demands and Occupational Stress. 2.9 2.10 2.11. iii. 1 8 15 16 17 19 20 21. 23 29 34 37 43 47 54 58 60 63 65 69 70 70.

(5) 2.12. 2.11.2 The Relationship between Workplace Bullying and Occupational Stress 2.11.3 The Relationship between Occupational Stress and Job Performance 2.11.4 The Relationship between Occupational Stress and Physical Health Problem 2.11.5 The Relationship between Occupational Stress and Mental Health Problem 2.11.6 The Moderating Effect of Perceived Organizational Support on the Relationship between Independent Variables and Occupational Stress Summary. CHAPTER 3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY. 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7. Research Site Research Design Population and Sample Sampling Method Data Collection Procedure Administration of the Questionnaire Measurement Instrument 3.7.1 Occupational Stress 3.7.2 Job Demands 3.7.3 Workplace Bullying 3.7.4 Job Performance 3.7.5 Physical Health Problem 3.7.6 Mental Health Problem 3.7.7 Perceived Organizational Support 3.7.8 Demographic Variable Common Method Bias Pre-Testing of the Questionnaire Statistical Analysis 3.10.1 Data Screening 3.10.1(a) Missing Data Analysis 3.10.1(b) Outlier 3.10.1(c) Normality 3.10.1(d) Common Method Variance 3.10.2 Descriptive Statistics 3.10.3 Assessment of the Measurement Model 3.10.3(a) Formative Measurement Model 3.10.3(b) Reporting Measurement Model Results. 3.8 3.9 3.10. iv. 71 72 72 74 74. 76. 79 81 81 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 91 92 93 96 97 97 98 101 102 102 102 103 104 104 105 105 107.

(6) 3.11 3.12. 3.10.4 Assessment Structural Model 3.10.4(a) Reporting Structural Model Results The Moderating Effect in PLS Summary. CHAPTER 4. DATA ANALYSIS AND RESULTS. 4.1 4.2 4.3. Response Rate Profile of Respondents Data Screening 4.3.1 Missing Data 4.3.2 Outlier 4.3.3 Normality 4.3.4 Common Method Variance PLS-SEM Analysis 4.4.1 Assessment of Measurement Model 4.4.1(a) Content Validity 4.4.1(b) Convergent Validity 4.4.1(c) Discriminant Validity 4.4.1(d) Collinearity Assessment 4.4.1(e) Assessment of Significance and Relevance of the Formative Indicators Mean Scores and Standard Deviation Scores of the Study Variables Assessment of Structural Model 4.6.1 Collinearity Assessment 4.6.2 Path Coefficients and Coefficients of Determination 4.6.2(a) The Relationship between Job Demands, Workplace Bullying and Occupational Stress 4.6.2(b) The Relationship between Occupational Stress, Job Performance, Physical Health Problem and Mental Health Problem 4.6.3 Effect Size 4.6.4 Predictive Relevance (Q2) The Moderating Effect 4.7.1 Testing the Interaction Effect. 113 115 118 119 119 120 120 121 122 123 123 126 127 129. Summary of Hypotheses Chapter Summary. 149 149. 4.4. 4.5 4.6. 4.7 4.8 4.9. v. 107 110 110 112. 133 134 135 135 139. 140. 141 142 145 147.

(7) CHAPTER 5. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION. 5.1 5.2. An Overview of the Research Discussions of the Findings 5.2.1 The Relationship between Job Demands and Occupational Stress 5.2.2 The Relationship between Workplace Bullying and Occupational Stress 5.2.3 The Relationship between Occupational Stress and Job Performance 5.2.4 The Relationship between Occupational Stress and Physical Health Problem 5.2.5 The Relationship between Occupational Stress and Mental Health Problem 5.2.6 The Moderating Effect of Perceived Organizational Support on the Relationship between Job Demands and Occupational Stress 5.2.7 The Moderating Effect of Perceived Organizational Support on the Relationship between Workplace Bullying and Occupational Stress Contributions and Implication of the Study 5.3.1 Theoretical Contributions 5.3.2 Practical Implication 5.3.3 Methodological Contributions Limitations of the Study Suggestions for Future Research Conclusion. 5.3. 5.4 5.5 5.6. 151 153 153 154 155 156 157 158. 159. 160 161 163 166 167 170 172. 174. REFERENCES APPENDICES LIST OF PUBLICATION. vi.

(8) LIST OF TABLE. Page Table 1.1. Numbers of Recipients and Total Payment of. 10. Compensation on Accidents (Annual Report SOCSO 2012-2015) Table 1.2. Total Accidents Reported by Employees (Annual. 10. Report SOCSO 2012-2015) Table 2.1. A Summary of Important Literature Review on. 52. Occupational Stress Table 2.2. The Summary of Research Hypotheses. 77. Table 3.1. The Large-Scale Retailers in Malaysia (2015). 80. Table 3.2. Total number of retail outlets in Malaysia (2015). 80. Table 3.3. Summary of the Measurement for the Variables of the. 86. Study Table 3.4. Items in the Occupational Stress Scale. 88. Table 3.5. Items in the Job Demands Scale. 88. Table 3.6. Items in the Workplace Bullying Scale. 90. Table 3.7. Items in the Job Performance Scale. 92. Table 3.8. Items in the Physical Health Problem Scale. 93. Table 3.9. Items in the Emotional Exhaustion Scale. 94. Table 3.10. Items in the Psychological Distress Scale. 95. Table 3.11. Items in the Depression Scale. 95. Table 3.12. Items in the Perceived Organizational Support Scale. 96. Table 4.1. Participating Retail Industry and Overall Response. 114. Rate Table 4.2. Profile of Respondents. 117. Table 4.3. Skewness and Kurtosis Values for the Study Variables. 120. Table 4.4. Convergent. 124. Validity. Assessment. of. Formative. Measurement Models Table 4.5. Discriminant Validity of Constructs. 127. Table 4.6. Tolerance and VIF Values for Independent Variables,. 128. Outcome Variables and Moderating Variable vii.

(9) Table 4.7. Outer Weights Significance Testing Results. 131. Table 4.8. Descriptive Statistics for Variables. 134. Table 4.9. Path Coefficient of Job Demands, Workplace bullying. 139. on Occupational Stress Table 4.10. Path Coefficient on Outcomes (Job Performance,. 140. Physical Health Problem, and Mental Health Problem) of Occupational Stress Table 4.11. Effect Sizes for the Relationship between Factors and. 142. Occupational Stress Table 4.12. Cross-Validated Redundancy for the Endogenous. 143. Variable Table 4.13. R2 Obtained in Main Effect Model and Interaction. 146. Effect Model Table 4.14. Results of the Moderator Analysis. 148. Table 4.15. Summary of Hypotheses Testing. 149. viii.

(10) LIST OF FIGURES Page Figure 2.1. Theoretical Framework of the Present Study. 70. Figure 4.1. Outlines for Assessment of Measurement Model. 122. Figure 4.2. Structural Model of the Research Model with. 137. Path Coefficients Figure 4.3. Structural Model of the Research Model with t-Values. 138. Figure 4.4. Results of Cross-Validated Redundancy. 144. Figure 4.5. The Interaction Model for Endogenous OS. 146. ix.

(11) LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS β CI F2 f2 GNI H2 JCQ JD JD-C JD-R JDCS K10 MBI MH NKEA OS PH PHQ PLS PLS-SEM POS Q2 R2 SET SOSCO SPSS TP VIF WHO. Standard Beta Confidence Interval Cross Validity Redundancy Effect Size Gross National Income Cross-Validated Communality Job Content Question Job Demands Job Demands-Control Job Demands-Resource Job Demands-Control-Support Kessler 10 Maslach Burnout Inventory Mental Health Problem National Key Economic Area Occupational Stress Physical Health Problem Patient Health Questionnaire Partial Least Square Partial Least Square - Structural Equation Modeling Perceived Organizational Support Predictive Relevance Explained Variance Social Exchange Theory Social Security Organization Statistical Package for Social Sciences Task Performance Variance Inflation Factor World Health Organization. x.

(12) TANGGAPAN SOKONGAN ORGANISASI SEBAGAI MODERATOR HUBUNGAN ANTARA PERMINTAAN KERJA, BULI DI TEMPAT KERJA DAN HASIL PEKERJA. ABSTRAK Tekanan kerja telah dikenali sebagai punca utama untuk isu-isu keselamatan dan kesihatan dalam kalangan jurujual di organisasi runcit. Walaupun beberapa kajian telah menyatakan beberapa faktor dan hasil tekanan kerja dalam beberapa bidang pekerjaan, namun jurang pengetahuan mengenai tekanan kerja masih kekal menjadi topik panas yang menarik dalam kalangan ahli akademik dan pengamal. Kajian ini bertujuan untuk mengkaji hubungan antara tekanan kerja, permintaan pekerjaan, buli di tempat kerja, prestasi kerja, masalah kesihatan fizikal dan masalah kesihatan mental. Selain itu, kajian ini juga mengkaji kesan moderasi terhadap tanggapan sokongan organisasi mengenai hubungan antara permintaan pekerjaan, buli di tempat kerja, dan tekanan kerja. Borang soal selidik telah digunakan dan sebanyak 222 jurujual yang bekerja dalam organisasi runcit besar-besaran di Malaysia telah terlibat dalm kajian ini. Semua data telah dianalisis dengan penggunaan Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) dan Structural Equation Modeling (SmartPLS). Hasil kajian menunjukkan permintaan pekerjaan dan buli di tempat kerja mempunyai hubungan yang positif dengan tekanan kerja. Keputusan juga menunjukkan bahawa tekanan pekerjaan mempunyai hubungan yang positif dengan masalah kesihatan fizikal dan masalah kesihatan mental. Hubungan antara tekanan kerja dan prestasi kerja adalah positif, dan bertentangan dengan apa yang telah dihipotesiskan. Hasil kajian ini juga menunjukkan kesan moderasi terhadap sokongan organisasi kepada hubungan antara faktor (permintaan pekerjaan dan buli xi.

(13) di tempat kerja) dan tekanan kerja. Berdasarkan dapatan kajian ini, kesan moderasi terhadap sokongan organisasi tidak menyerdahanakan hubungan antara permintaan pekerjaan, buli di tempat kerja dan tekanan kerja. Oleh itu, hasil kajian ini berguna kepada ahli akademik dan pengamal yang ingin memahami faktor-faktor dan hasil tekanan kerja supaya tekanan kerja dalam kalangan jurujual boleh diurus dan dikurangkan di organisasi runcit. Keputusan seterusnya dihubungkaitkan dengan arah tuju penyelidikan pada masa depan terhadap tekanan kerja untuk pekerjaan lain serta pendekatan yang boleh mengurangkan tekanan kerja dalam kalangan pekerja.. xii.

(14) PERCEIVED ORGANIZATIONAL SUPPORT AS A MODERATOR OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN JOB DEMANDS, WORKPLACE BULLYING, AND EMPLOYEE OUTCOMES. ABSTRACT Occupational stress has been known as a major cause of safety and health issues among salespeople in retail organizations. Despite several studies have indicated the essential of factors and outcomes of occupations stress in several occupations, a knowledge gap on occupational stress still remains a hot topic of interest for academics and practitioners. This study intends to examine the relationship between occupational stress, job demands, workplace bullying, task performance, physical health problem and mental health problem. In addition, it examines the moderating impact of perceived organizational support (POS) on the relationship between job demands, workplace bullying, and occupational stress. Questionnaires survey was employed and a total of 222 salespeople presently working in large-scale retail organizations in Malaysia were participated in this research. All the data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) and Structural Equation Modeling (Smart PLS). The findings revealed job demands and workplace bullying have a positive relationship with occupational stress. The results also showed that occupational stress has a positive relationship with the outcomes, namely physical health problem and mental health problem. The relationship between occupational stress and job performance was positive, which was opposite of what had been hypothesized. The findings of the present study also revealed the moderating effect of POS on the relationship between factors (job demands and workplace bullying) and occupational stress. Based on the findings of xiii.

(15) the present study, POS does not moderate the relationship between job demands, workplace bullying and occupational stress. Hence, the findings of this study are useful to both academics and practitioners who wish to understand the factors and outcomes of occupational stress so the occupational stress among salespeople can be managed and minimized in the retail organization. The results are discussed in relation to the direction for future research on occupational stress in any occupations and approaches to stress reduction.. xiv.

(16) CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION. The present study focuses on factors and outcomes of occupational stress among salespeople in Malaysia. This chapter includes the background of the study, problem statement, research objectives, research questions, and followed by the scope of the study and significance of the study. Lastly, the definition of key terms and organization of chapters are presented at the end of this chapter.. 1.1. Background of Study Academic. researchers. and. practitioners. have. increasingly. recognized. occupational stress as one important factor that may affect employees’ both physical and mental health problem. Occupational stress is inevitable in the workplace and employees experience stress on different level. Stress can lead to a variety of problems, which in turn bring a range of negative consequences for employees and organizations. Occupational stress or work-related stress can represents a huge cost of the employees’ health and productivity at the workplace. A report by World Health Organization (Man, 2010) claimed that there is an increasing number of Malaysian people admitted they were stressful. There were 344,196 of Malaysian admitted stressful in 2007 followed by 400,227 Malaysians in 2008. Kumar (2013) reported that approximately 70% of individuals reported experiencing stress in Malaysia. Science Daily (21 January, 2016) reported that the diseases such as depression, anxiety, and other health problems are common and its main cause may be high due to work-related stress. In another word,. 1.

(17) stressed employees, in the long run, are more likely to be unhealthy, and they are more prone to physical and mental health problem. More research has been carried out in the last decade to examine occupational stress. For example, studies found that level of occupational stress difference in employees due to some workplace factors such as workload, support, resources, control, recognition, person resiliency and compensation (Pagon, Spector, Cooper & Lobnikar, 2011). These studies argued that occupational stress is related to negative impact on the well-being of employees in the organization. Hence, high level of occupational stress can give negative effects on employees over time (Sarafis et al., 2016). Consequences of the occupational stress may include steadily decreasing job performance and productivity, increasing production mistake which in turn can eventually bring a negative impact on the health and mental (Shinde & Anjum, 2014). Studying occupational stress is an important concept that helps to promote employees and organizational vitality. This is evident as the extant literature recognizes employee’s occupational stress as the core concept within the work and organizational factors which could lead to variety reactions (Gandham, 2000). Furthermore, there are some studies on this topic have generated substantially in quantitative analyses with which Delgado (2016) have revealed its relevance and importance with concluding remark that employee’s occupational stress is a measurable behavior which is relevant to employees and organizational outcomes. Occupational stress could influence the working conditions of employees, the responsibility of jobs, employee’s skill as well as the ability to cope with pressure (Dollard, 2001). Studies on the topic of job demands suggest that job demands cannot be left out of the context of any working environment as each working environment has. 2.

(18) some employees who handle with several job responsibilities in the organizations (Allison, Flaherty, Jung, & Washburn, 2016). Employees who handle with several job responsibilities in the organization may increase the job demands and lead to occupational stress as well. Jones, Stevens, and Chonko (2005) found that competition arising globalization and rapidly changing technology forced employees to learn and handle with many things which could cause high job demands in their jobs. Empirical study shows that employees might meet the criteria for being depressed because of these demands on their jobs (Cacioppo & Patrick, 2008). Hence, higher job demands have contributed to serious health problems such as physical and mental health problems among salespeople (Allison, Flaherty, Jung, & Washburn, 2016). Besides, workplace bullying is another global issue in organizations (Nielsen, Matthiesen & Einarsen, 2010; Strandmark & Hallberg, 2007) which can lead to occupational stress problem among employees. Exposure to workplace bullying is associated with physical and mental health problems have been well recognized around the world (Strandmark & Hallberg, 2007; Leka & Jain, 2010; Law, Dollard, Tuckey, & Dormann, 2011). Unfortunately, not many statistics on workplace bullying can be obtained in Malaysia, therefore limiting an understanding of how this particular factor is impacting upon the Malaysian working population (The Star Online, 10 December, 2012). Nevertheless, a study conducted by Omar, Mokhtar and Hamzah (2015) regarding workplace bullying in Malaysia revealed 83.2% of workplace bullying caused by leadership. Workplace bullying might subsequently be used as an instrument by the leader to keep individuals performing in high strain and high occupational stress. Some supervisors may use bullying to threaten employees and it eventually can lead to a negative reaction in behaviors as well as an unpleasant working condition may occur in the organizations (Tuckey, Dollard, Hosking, & Winefield, 2009). According to Tuckey. 3.

(19) et al. (2009), some supervisors use bullying as a tool to increase production in the workplace. Thus, in other words, bullying has placed employees at higher risk of exploitation, and they are the victims of workplace bullying. In the long run, workplace bullying may affect the relationship between supervisors and employees. The hostile relationship between supervisors and employees can have corrosive effects on employees stress level. The present study also aims to investigate how occupational stress may affect employee performance. According to Campbell, McCloy, Oppler, and Sager (1993, p.40) “Performance is what the organization hires one to do, and do well”, hence employee performance is something that all organization seeks after and wish to optimize. This is evident as the post literature (e.g. Campbell, 1990; Murphy, 1989) recognize employee performance as the core concept within the work and organizational psychology. Sonnentag and Frese (2002) argued that employee performance is a measureable behavior which is highly relevant to positive organizational outcomes and success. The present study focuses on employee performance, not only because of the prevalence and importance in organization, but also because explanations of occupational stress-job performance are lacking in the retail industry in particular (Lam, Walter, & Ouyang, 2014). Hence, occupational stress perceived by employees may play a vital role in affecting their job performance in the organization. Nevertheless, occupational stress could lead to physical and mental health problem among employees. Undeniably, there is also a growing interest issue such as physical and mental health problem. There is a population of 23 million people of various ethnicity, cultures and religious foundation in Malaysia. Jamaiyah (2000) reported that 10.7% of the population in Malaysia had been diagnosed with mental 4.

(20) health problem. While this represents an average of 2.3 million of Malaysian suffering the mental health issue, the actual number is almost certainly higher as many cases of mental health issue go unreported. Malaysian Health Ministry predicted that more than 10% of Malaysian would suffer some form of mental health issue by the year 2020 (Malaysian Digest, 4 December 2015). Thus, the actual number of Malaysian living with mental health problem across the nation stays obscure. Occupational stress may have affect employees health. Besides, occupational stress has been considered as a potential factor in physical health problem (Dollard et al., 2014; Dollard, Tuckey, & Dormann, 2012; Yulita, Idris, & Dollard, 2014). Most of the Malaysians are unaware of physical health problem especially cardiovascular disease which could lead to death among the individual (Pillay, 2014). Dr. Jeyamalar Rajadurai, a cardiologist, and the Chairman of Women’s Heart Health Organization mentioned that cardiovascular disease is 2.5 times higher than the extent of deaths from all cancers joined (Pillay, 2014). Dr. Jeyamalar Rajadurai also commented that there are about 25% of all medically certified deaths between 1990 and 2010. There are about one in four women died from cardiovascular disease. Kreatsoulas and Anand (2010) reported that cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death among high-income nations and is projected to be the leading cause of death worldwide by 2030. Hence, under Budget Malaysia 2016, a total of RM23 billion was allocated for health care. A substantial portion of that allocation goes into paying for treatment or diseases. From the employer’s perspectives, it means a loss of productivity resulting from absenteeism and increased turnover. Most Malaysian employers cover fully or partly the medical expenses of their employees. Such costs will also rise as more people succumb to diseases.. 5.

(21) Moreover, issues of occupational safety and health especially occupational stress have become most apprehensive in the business field. In fact, retail sector growing fast in Malaysia regardless of economic slowdown and escalated competition which can contribute to occupational stress among employees. Due to the economic downturn and increased pressure of competitive in the retail sector in Malaysia, retailers have to counter the changes, in turn, to survive in the competitive retail industry. As a result of the pressure of competitive between retail sectors, most of the retail employers have pressured their employees to increase the retail sales in turn leading to occupational stress among employees. Retail selling has been proven as a stressful job from the previous study. For example, Broadbridge (1999) indicated that retailing were identified as “over average” occupations in terms of stress due to the organizational changes taking place in retailing. Salespeople, the targeted respondents for this study, are the key enablers and core competence needed to sustain the retail industry. For instance, Sharma (2013) reported that salespeople who worked at the retail outlets are in stressful condition due to excessive workload and demands of the workplace. In general, working pattern in the retail sector is required employees to work long hours which cause fatigue among employees. Work pressure such as time pressures, shortage of employees, and work overload may lead to stress which perceived as challenging to individual’s well-being. As a matter of fact, salespeople play a major role in generating more sales and income for the organizations. Thus, salespeople are highly regarded implementers of the nation’s economic development. The present researcher believes that salespeople are a group at significant risk from the negative effects of stressful workplace. Hence, the present researcher proposes that salespeople are particularly at risk from stress-related. 6.

(22) problems, in turn, lead to a low job performance as well as they may suffer physical and mental health problems. Even though occupational stress may be unavoidable, the negative outcomes of occupational stress are preventable among employees in the organization. Undeniably, positive work environments that are supportive may be related with more positive outcomes and well-being among employee in the organizations. A supportive work environment can buffer the negative outcomes resulting from occupational stress. The present proposes perceived organizational support as a potential moderator in the factors and outcomes of occupational stress. As indicated by Wright, Kim, Wilk, and Thomas (2012), perceived organizational support is a highly effective organizational-based resource that can lead to a positive outcomes and well-being among employees in the organization. Further, perceived organizational support has been identified as a positive resource that can reduce the occupational stress (Ma, Hu, & Wang, 2013). Perceived organizational support is important for both employer and employee because an adequate of organizational support provided by the employer and organization can minimizes the occupational stress, in turn, to increase the productivity, well-being and performance among employee in the organization. With reference to the above discussion, occupational stress is an important social observation because low job performance and the causes of physical and mental health problems are usually attributed to personal aspects and work-related factors. In Malaysia context, very limited studies are conducted to investigate occupational stress in the retail industry. The present study intends to examine factors and outcomes of occupational stress in the retail industry in Malaysia. The present study also proposes perceived organizational support as a potential moderator in the context of factors and outcomes of occupational stress. One of the keys is research into factors and outcomes 7.

(23) of occupational stress in the retail industry can enhance wealth creating and contribute to the well-being of employees. Given the significant role played by the retail sector, the present study aims to answer the following important questions: 1) Do job demands have a positive relationship with occupational stress? 2) Does workplace bullying have a positive relationship with occupational stress? 3) Does occupational stress have a negative relationship with job performance? 4) Does occupational stress have a positive relationship with physical health problem? 5) Does occupational stress have a positive relationship with mental health problem? 6) Does perceived organizational support moderates the relationships between job demands and occupational stress? 7) Does perceived organizational support moderates the relationships between workplace bullying and occupational stress?. 1.2. Problem Statement Prevalence rates show millions of working Malaysians are suffering from mild. levels of occupational stress (Man, 2010). Occupational stress at the workplace is a critical issue and problems for the employees, the employers as well as society. World Health Organization predicted that stress related global illness such as depression would be the second disease after cardiac health in 2020 (Malaysian Digest, 28 October 2013) which means that there is a critical issue on occupational stress-related illness in Malaysia workplace. All employees have experienced stress, both in and further away 8.

(24) than the workplace. Consequently, it is a need to address the issues of occupational stress so that both employees and employers can concern about employee’s health and productivity involvement for Malaysia workplace. The global workplace provider, Regus, has provided the latest survey which released in 2015. The report showed that 70% of Malaysian employees had reported more stress-related illness due to challenging global economic conditions (Malaysian Digest, 10 June 2015). Also, the report also covered the study on the opinion of 20,000 senior executives and business owners across 95 countries. This report also revealed that 48% of Malaysians respondents felt stress level had risen and more than 42% of respondents started that they lack sleeping due to work worries. Many employees show up for work but are not functioning with full capacity (Willingham, 2008). Thus, this warrants the attention of employers as there is a high possibility of occupational stress that could lead to several outcomes such as performance and health problem among employees. The extent of occupational stress problem is also evident in a workplace accident or injury statistic. For instance, Zakaria, Mansor, and Abdullah (2012) revealed that elements such as stress, fatigue, and unsafe act have a directly affect to workplace accident in the organization. According to the latest statistical data on accidents at work in October 2016 provided by Department of Occupational Safety and Health Malaysia, there are 91 non-permanent disability and five permanent disabilities in the sector of wholesale and retail sale. Besides, Social Security Organization (SOCSO) has identified several accidents or injuries which affect employee’s physical health at the workplace. Over-exertion falls and other types of accidents often happen at workplace among employees. Therefore, it can cause a temporary disability and activity limitations of the employees in return affect to compensation of injury in Malaysia.. 9.

(25) Also, employee compensation statistics shows a relatively consistent increasing trend in rates of accidents and injury at the workplace and associated costs in Malaysia. Employee compensation legislation in Malaysia makes provision for financial claims to be made when suffering personal injury arising from work, including accidents while traveling, accidents while meeting emergency for the purpose of business and work that arises out of or in the course of employment. However, an annual report from the year 2012 to 2015 provided by SOCSO in Malaysia, there is a consistent increase in numbers of employees reported occupational accidents or injury as well as increasing the total amount on the compensation of disablement among employees. Table 1.1 demonstrated total payment for temporary disablement benefit and permanent disablement benefit whereas Table 1.2 showed the type of accident or injury reported by employees. Table 1.1 Numbers of Recipients and Total Payment of Compensation on Accidents (Annual Report SOCSO 2012-2015). 2012 Items/Year. TDB. 2013 PDB. 2014. TDB. PDB. TDB. 2015 PDB. TDB. PDB. No. of 57,817 33, 257 59, 312 35, 049 59, 190 36, 530 60, 071 Recipients (person) Total Payment 135. 62 363. 51 150. 27 392. 77 166.78 448.51 177.86 (RM million) Note: TBD & PDB denote as Temporary Disablement Benefit and Permanent Disablement Benefit Source: Annual Report SOCSO Malaysia (2016). 37, 711. 470.60. Table 1.2 Total Accidents Reported by Employees (Annual Report SOCSO 2012-2015). 2012. 2013. 2014. 2015. Total (person). Total (person). Total (person). Total (person). Falls. 15, 382. 16, 561. 17, 803. 18, 626. Struck by Falling Object. 4, 487. 5, 078. 4, 139. 3, 943. Struck by Object. 23, 023. 22, 686. 21, 845. 20, 803. Caught in between Object. 4, 278. 3, 198. 4, 521. 4, 298. Over-exertion. 4, 943. 5, 609. 5, 202. 5, 462. 433. 422. 379. 387. Types of Accidents/ Year. Exposed to Extreme Temperature. 10.

(26) Exposed to Harmful Substance. 149. 166. 131. 133. Exposed to Electric Current. 51. 54. 47. 49. 8, 806. 9, 157. 9, 264. 9, 136. Other Type of Accidents. Source: Annual Report SOCSO Malaysia (2016). Furthermore, rapid growth in retail sectors in Malaysia has increased the needs for the privilege sort of employees who can deal with retail operations in the organizations. According to Department of Statistic Malaysia (2015), employment statistics showed that there are 3,169, 000 of the labor force are employed in service sectors in 2014. However, talent base of the workforce in Malaysia is still lagging behind with the standard of high-income nations (The Rakyat Post, 17 August 2015). Based on the 2013 survey carried out by Grant Thornton, 62% of organizations in Malaysia have difficulty in finding the skilled employees, while 48% go to the reason of lack of talent as enforcement for future growth in organizations (The Star Online, 24 April 2015). Although, Malaysia government has been trying to enhance the skill level of labor force with providing skill training programs and the take-up rate still remains low. The headline: “I am always bullied at my workplace.” News reported by The Star Online (5 May 2016) which revealed that employees in Malaysia are likely faced with workplace bullying problem in the workplace but fear to report it. Apau (2010) reported that many employers believe that workplace bullying is minimal in Malaysia compare to Western countries which provide supports effort against workplace bullying issue. According to National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health chairman, Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye (The Star Online, 5 May 2016), employers should consider workplace bullying as sources of stress or pressure and it is related to the issue of occupational safety and health. When the employers do not feel responsible for reducing the psychological risks on employees, and it could create an unhealthy work 11.

(27) environment for employees. Professor Dr. Marhani Midin, the Psychiatry Department head at Chancellor Tuanku Muhriz Hospital, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre, reported that employees who have been bullied at the workplace would feel pressured as well as unhappy with their current working environment, in turn, to affecting the employee’s productivity and quality of work in the organization (The Star Online, 5 May 2016). She added that the Malaysia working culture is quite worrying because most of the accomplishment is largely measured by competition with other employees which could result in victimization among employees. Undeniably, workplace bullying could involve physically and mentally. Due to the lack of awareness on the workplace bullying issue, it is usually subjective and difficult to protect the victim, who has been bullied at the workplace (The Star Online, 10 December, 2012). Employees can experience occupational stress as a result of workplace bullying. As mentioned by Dwamena (2012), many organizations in the world are witnessing an alarming increase of the negative impact of occupational stress on employee’s productivity in the organization. The effective performance among salespeople is one important area that organizations will look into (Mallin & Ragland, 2017). Employees who workings in the service sector are subject to a high work-related stress, in turn, lead to a poor job performance among employees. For example, Mackay et al. (2004) examined that work-related stress on employee’s performance and it has revealed that the adverse effect of occupational stress act as an impediment to the job performance among employees. In another word, excessive occupational stress can eventually lead to a poor performance when employees perceive themselves as being unable to cope and not to possess the necessary skill to tackle their stress in the workplace (Alkubaisi, 2015). Thus, occupational stress is considered a challenge for. 12.

(28) employers because it can lead to a poor productivity and performance among employees in the organization. In addition, the occupational stress has made Malaysian increasingly prone to health problem. The cost in term of working hours lost and added spending on healthcare is alarming. The healthcare cost to the Malaysia economy is substantial. Chronic health problem such as diabetes, heart problems and hypertension lead to early retirement and that reduces productivity and household income (Vuong, Wei, & Beverly, 2015). In other words, these chronic health problems raise the cost of healthcare in Malaysia. According to World Health Organization (2001), cardiovascular diseases are recognized as a worsening problem in the middle and lower income groups in many developing countries. Most of the Malaysia work five days a week. When employees are unable to perform their duties, decrease the productivity, and the cost of managing the situation can be very high. According to Malaysian Federation Employers Executive Director, Datuk Shamsuddin Bardan (The Star Online, 27 February 2015), when an employee goes on sick leave, the cost rises for the organization. It cost an organization 3.5 times more not just cover for the absentee but to pay his or her medical bills as well. Datuk Shamsuddin commented that unfortunately Malaysian takes a lackadaisical view of their well-being. Of the 1.9 million people are eligible for the Social Security Organization (SOSCO) free health screening program, only 200,000 took it up. More worrying is that 60% of those who went for the screening were found to have silent diseases such as hypertension and diabetics. The experience of stress can impact on employee behavior. Examples of the noticeable changes in behavior when person experience stresses are anger and tendency to become easily upset. The impact of occupational stress extends beyond the physical level. Psychological distress is relatively common among employees. Based on a report 13.

(29) by National Health and Morbidity Survey in 2011 (Malaysian Digest, 28 October 2013), 12% of Malaysians aged between 18 to 60 are suffered from several mental health problems. According to the percentage of the mental health issue, depression made up 2%, psychosis 1%, worrying 1.8%, whereas the rest of percentage involved with an anxiety disorder (e.g. chronic disease, mild mental health problem). According to Deputy director-general of Health, Datuk Dr. Lokman Hakim Sulaiman, mentioned that people with aged above 50 are most likely prone to mental illness, followed by heart disease (Malaysian Digest, 4 December 2015). Nevertheless, he also commented that nowadays even young people also have the issue with mental illness as they are too busy with works to even think of their psychological well-being needs. Also, Jessie Foo (Urban Health, 10 September 2015), a clinical psychologist with the Malaysia Sunway Medical Centre, work-related stress such as a lack of time, high workload, and low job control, contributes to depression among employees. She added that depression and anxiety are the two most common mental health problems that are caused by stressful lifestyle. High-stress levels are associated with increased likelihood of mental health issues (Dollard et al., 2014, Dollard et al., 2001). In other words, work-related stress can lead to both physical health problem and mental health problem. The present study, therefore, intends to examine the outcome of occupational stress, namely physical health problem (general health and cardiovascular health) and mental health problem such as emotional exhaustion, psychological distress, and depression. Despite the fact that many studies on each main construct under investigation are found in the extant literature, most have been inspected independently. Perceived organizational support is broadly used to reduce the stress among employees in the organization. Undeniably, negative reactions, anxieties, or even ongoing emotional 14.

(30) problems can be reduced if there is support available to employees. In another word, perceived organizational support provided by the employer and organization can help employees perform effectively and cope the stressful situations adequately (Stinglhamber & Vandenberghe, 2003). When the employees sense that such organizational support is meeting their emotional needs and they will turn their attention to achieve the organizational goal as well as performance needs. Hence, perceived organizational support is introduced as moderator in the present study. Thus, the present study can provide the employer with an actionable framework, in turn, to developing a healthy work environment for the employees in the retail industry. A good of working environment can increase the labor force to sustain the organization’s growth, profitability, and performance as well.. 1.3. Research Objectives The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between factors of. occupational stress such as job demands and workplace bullying with occupational stress. The study also intends to examine the impact of occupational stress on job performance, physical health problem and mental health problem. There are not many studies reported the relationship between factors and outcomes of occupational stress among salespeople in the retail industry. Lastly, the present study aims to examine the moderating role of perceived organizational support in the above relationship. As such, this study primarily aims: 1) to examine the positive relationship between job demands and occupational stress. 2) to examine the positive relationship between workplace bullying and occupational stress. 15.

(31) 3) to examine the negative relationship between occupational stress and job performance. 4) to examine the positive relationship between occupational stress and physical health problem. 5) to examine the positive relationship between occupational stress and mental health problem. 6) to examine if perceived organizational support moderates the relationship between job demands and occupational stress. 7) to examine if perceived organizational support moderates the relationship between workplace bullying and occupational stress.. 1.4. Research Questions Given the problem statement described in the previous section, the present study. aims to investigate the relationship between factors of occupational stress, namely: (job demands and workplace bullying) with occupational stress and its outcomes. The study aims to answer the following research questions as follows: 1) Do job demands have a positive relationship with occupational stress? 2) Does workplace bullying have a positive relationship with occupational stress? 3) Does occupational stress have a negative relationship with job performance? 4) Does occupational stress have a positive relationship with physical health problem? 5) Does occupational stress have a positive relationship with mental health problem? 6) Does perceived organizational support moderates the relationships between job demands and occupational stress? 16.

(32) 7) Does perceived organizational support moderates the relationships between workplace bullying and occupational stress?. 1.5. Significance of Study The present study is significant in several ways. In the present study, a cross-. sectional survey conducts in Malaysian large-scale retail organization enable the empirical data to be collected from salespeople thus further testing to acquire findings to the hypothesized research model developed. The moderating effects of the perceived organizational support variable in the context of factors and outcomes of occupational stress as well as occupational stress are empirical examined. Moreover, the theoretical contribution is achieved in the present study through the Job Demands-Resource Theory (JD-R), Job Demands-Control-Support Theory (JDCS), and Social Exchange Theory (SET). These theories establish the theoretical framework which can lead to empirical testing of the interrelationships among the main constructs under investigation. The support of these theories will help the researchers obtaining a better understanding and insights of how the relational variables impact on the paradigm variables under investigation. Furthermore, the findings which provide insights into the relationship between the factors and occupational stress can add more values to the general theories of occupational stress. The empirical findings are very helpful for employers and managers in the retail sector in Malaysia. Another significance of the study is as such. First, the attempt to research the factors and effects of occupational stress of salespeople provides points of view and insights into the retail industry on the growing occupational stress issues. Secondly, the present study attempts to reveal insights at whether perceived organizational support 17.

(33) moderates such relationships. Thirdly, by looking at the constructs of factors of occupational stress, the suggestion can be advanced to other retail industry that to enhance the working environment and put more concern on the issues of occupational stress among their employees. Meanwhile, employers and managers in retail industry could use pointers to concentrate on particular elements of causes and effects of occupational stress, in turn, to help the employer and manager to enhance a working environment and improve the productivity in the organizations. Lastly, the present study can serve as a guideline for employers and managers in the retail organization to understanding the causes and effect of occupational stress. The findings can help both employees and employers in retail organizations to become more aware of the occupational stress, risk factors, mechanisms as well as its effects. Employers should identify any hazard in the workplace where there is a reasonable probability that it could lead to work-related stress. It is also important for employers to help employees identifying ways to overcome stress. McCleery and Harvey (2004) suggested that identify the root causes of occupational stress can be an effective prevention in organizations. In other words, identifying the underlying causes and triggers of occupational stress is very important to reduce the occupational stress to improve employee well-being and productivity in the organization. Some factors are evidence such as the complexity of the responsibilities may cause occupational stress among employees. Today, it is not uncommon to see that the rising levels of responsibilities require employees to exert themselves even more strenuously to meet rising expectation about their performance at the workplace. When the potentially harmful effects of occupational stress in terms of decrease the productivity, compensation claims, absenteeism, it could lead to health problems and poor performance among employees in the organizations. Although research on 18.

(34) occupational stress in the Malaysian retail organization is limited, there is a necessary for both employees and employers to understand the factors that can contribute to occupational stress. Such knowledge is vital for both research and practical purposes. The present researcher believes that occupational stress may have a range of significant consequences for the well-being of salespeople.. 1.6. Scope of Study The present study aims to investigate the factor of occupational stress among. salespeople in Malaysian retail industry. The study is conducted in the large-scale retail organization which has hypermarket, supermarket, and departmental stores located in Malaysia. Respondents are the salespeople who are presently working full-time in the large-scale retail organizations situated in Kuala Lumpur, Johor, and Penang, Malaysia. The researcher has personally approached to respondents. Before the distribution of the questionnaire to the respondents, the researcher has asked the respondents if they are a full-time salesperson. Only the full-time salespeople are asked to participate in this survey. Empirical data collected from the salespeople who presently working full-time in these retail organizations are believed to enhance representatives of the study sample. Consequently, the unit of analysis in this study is employees who are salespeople working in the large-scale retail organizations in Malaysia.. 19.

(35) 1.7. Definitions of Key Terms. Occupational Stress Refers to the stress that originated in characteristics of occupational roles which can cause to an unpleasant emotional situation when individual experiences the work requirements cannot be balanced with their abilities to resolve the occupational stress (Crank, Regoli, Hewitt & Culbertson, 1995). Job Demands Refer to the psychological stressors which involved in completing the workload, stressors related to unpredicted work tasks and job-related personal conflict which may affect the individual’s active behavior or learning environment at the workplace (Karasek et al., 1998). Workplace Bullying Refers to the situations where an employee is persistently exposed to negative and aggressive behaviors at the workplace especially of a psychological nature with the effect of humiliating, intimidating, frightening and punishing the target (Einarsen, Hoel, & Notelaers, 2009). Job Performance Refers to in-role behaviors which the behaviors are related to the completion of responsible work among the employee (Williams & Anderson, 1991). Physical Health Problem Refers to physical conditions that adversely affect the individual health (Dollard et al., 2014). 20.

(36) Mental Health Problem Refers to a variety of conditions that impair an individual’s cognitive, emotional, or behavior functioning (Schaufeli, Leiter, Maslach, & Jackson, 1996). Mental health problem comprises three dimensions and they are emotional exhaustion, psychological distress, and depression. First, emotional exhaustion refers to the feeling being emotionally overextended and depleted by one’s work (Schaufeli, Leiter, Maslach, & Jackson, 1996). Second, psychological distress is a wide negative affective state that comprised with sadness, depressive and anxiety symptoms (Kessler & Mroczek, 1994). Lastly, depression is a state of treatable mental disorders which includes depressive and other related mental disorders that commonly experienced in individuals (Spitzer, Kroenke & William, 1999). Perceived Organizational Support Refers to the employees’ perception of the organizations’ commitment to them and reflects their belief about the extent to which the organizations value their contributions and care about their well-being (Eisenberger, Huntington, Hutchison, & Sowa, 1986).. 1.8. Organization of the Thesis This study has five chapters. Chapter 1 presents the overview of the study which. includes the background of the study, the problem statement, research objectives, research question, the significance of the study, the scope of study and definition of the key terms.. 21.

(37) Chapter 2 contains a comprehensive of literature review which related to the variables of the study. Factors such as job demands and workplace bullying are presented. The underlying theories are included in this chapter. Both theoretical framework and hypotheses are presented. Next, Chapter 3 covers the research methodology employed for this study, which includes the research site, research design, population and sample, sampling method, data collection procedures, research instruments, common method bias, pretesting of the questionnaire, and statistical analyses used for the research. Moreover, Chapter 4 reports the results that obtained from the data analysis that used in the present study. This chapter presents the statistical results of this research. Chapter 5 provides the discussion of the findings presented in Chapter 4 and the conclusion drawn from this study. The discussions are presented to answer the research questions and address the research objectives stated in Chapter 1. The discussions lead up to specific discussions on theoretical and managerial implications. Last but not least, the limitations of the study and directions for future studies are presented in the present research.. 22.

(38) CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW. In this chapter, reviews of related literature will be presented. This chapter first reviews the research literature on the study variables which are occupational stress, job demands as well as workplace bullying. The literature on outcomes of occupational stress such as job performance, physical and mental health problem will present in this study. Also, literature on the moderating effect of perceived organizational support also presented in the present study. Further, previous empirical findings are presented and discussed in this study. At the end of this chapter, a proposed theoretical framework and hypotheses are presented.. 2.1. Occupational Stress Occupational stress has been recognized as a major element which influences to. individual’s well-being. Besides, occupational stress is a global issue that is on the rise. In the year 2013, approximately 70 percent of individuals reported experiencing stress in Malaysia (Kumar, 2013). Quick and Henderson (2016) also mentioned that occupational stress is not a critical state that can be cured by treatment. Stress can be considered as second common wellbeing issues which related to work (Greiner, 2008). As in Michie (2002) definition, occupational stress refers to insufficient resources on the individual to cope with the high demands situation in turn to adverse modern health as well as safety challenge. Occupational stress is anything concerning the working environment that causes individual perceived stress (Rohany, 2003). The present study. 23.

(39) employed Crank et al.’s (1995) definition of occupational stress. According to Crank et al. (1995) defined that occupational stress is originated in characteristics of occupational roles which can cause to an unpleasant emotional situation when individual experiences the work requirements cannot be balanced with their abilities to resolve the occupational stress. Based on their research finding has shown that an individual characteristic of the interest to police reformers has a positive relationship with occupational stress. Also, Crank et al. (1995) found that institutional and organizational features of chiefs’ occupational environment had a negative relationship with occupational stress among the police executive. Occupational stress can be sorted as a form of uncountable and non-visible in nature (Ismail et al., 2015). According to Yeboah et al. (2014), occupational stress refers to the harmful physical and emotional responses that are provoked when the requirements of the job mismatch the capabilities, resources, or needs of the employees. In other words, occupational stress can reveals a feeling of uneasiness due to pressure from internal and external sources that deploys individual for a result that is beyond their capability to execute it by any mean (Saygin, Akdeniz, & Deniz, 2015; Lazarus, 2013). As indicated by Selye (1974), occupational stress might be construed from two perspectives which are eustress and distress. Eustress is refers to a positive stress where individuals have adequate knowledge, skills, capabilities as well as attitudes to manage their job demands and pressures (Keshavarz & Mohammadi, 2011; Yu-Fei, Ismail, Ahmad, & Kuek, 2012; Gachter, Savage, & Torgler, 2011). However, distress is refers to a negative stress where the individuals do not have adequate of knowledge, skills, capabilities as well as attitudes to manage with changelings and external forces placed on their bodies (Ismail et al., 2010; Keshavarz & Mohammadi, 2011).. 24.

(40) Based on the organizational context, occupational stress has been known as job stress or work stress and it has divided into two dimensions which are physiological stress and psychological stress. Physiological stress referred as a reaction of the body in physiological to different stressful causes at the workplace such as a headache, back pain, chest pain, and musculoskeletal pain (Critchley, Rotshtein, Nagai, O’Doherty, Mathias, & Dolan 2004). However, psychological stress often related to an emotional reaction, in turn, evokes stimuli at the workplace such as depression, anxiety, frustration, and burnout (Millward, 2005; World Health Organization, 2005). Hence, a negative effect on work ability and attitudes may happen in the workplace as well as provoked the issues of health if the employee could not control well with the occupational stress on the job (Seaward, 2005). Extant studies in occupational stress revealed different factors and outcomes on occupational stress (Mark & Smith, 2011; Noor & Hassim Ismail, 2016; Bickford, 2005). Occupational stress is common and cannot be avoided. Occupational stress is comprised with the job characteristics that may influence the strains reaction for an individual. In addition, most of the sources of occupational stress can be found in the workplace compare to other factors which related to employee’s family and social environment. Edwards (1992) indicated that occupational stress on sales jobs could emerge with the reason of imbalance of salespeople’s appropriate job expectations. For instance, Verhoef and Langerak (2001) revealed that salespeople who work at the retail organizations have to deal with a large number of customers who has different expectations. As mentioned by Moncrief et al. (1997), the source of occupational stress can come from the level of sales position because the low level of retail employees may be faced with multi-tasking or demands on the job. Likewise, Cartwright and Cooper (1997) have indicated that occupational stress is related to poor working conditions,. 25.

(41) higher of workload, high demands, and frequent changes of work. It is important to note that regardless of the job demands, occupational stress has become an unavoidable part of working life. Adegoke (2014) mentioned that job demands could lead to a higher of stress and different types of occupations have different job demands in terms of time, performance as well as responsibility. Other sources of occupational stress reported is workplace bullying. Yeh and Wang (2014) reported a positive relationship between workplace bullying and occupational stress among employees in Taiwan. There is evident on the relationship between workplace bullying and occupational stress which may create a poor organizational climate, in turn, to cause the stress among employees. One of the factors that can decrease employee’s job performance is occupational stress. The low productivity of the employee can affect to the poor performance of organizations. Demerouti, Backer, and Leiter (2014) indicated that employees who are feeling happy is more likely productive in the workplace, whereas, employees lacking energy or other resources may show performance decrements in the organization. This is also supported by Khan and Ali (2013) reported that unfavorable effects of occupational stress are evident to both employer and employees where hinders the productivity and job performance in the organizations. McClelland and John Jemmott (1987) have indicated that the level of difficulty and nature of the task to be performed could affect the relationship between occupational stress and job performance. In other words, occupational stress has a strong effect on the employee’s performance level in many job tasks. Similarly, when an employee experienced a high level of occupational stress, the negative effects start to emerge (e.g. stress or feeling of discontent), in turn, resulting in decreasing the employee’s job performance in the organization (Kahn et al., 1964).. 26.

(42) Specifically, occupational stress is one of the leading causes of employee’s psychological and physiological reaction toward uncomfortable and undesirable risks happening in the workplace (He, Zhao & Archbold, 2002; Montgomery, Blodgett, & Barnes, 1996). This lends support to Sarafis et al. (2016) which mentioned that stress could be impairing to an individual’s physical problem as well as mental health problem. Sauter and Murphy (1995) have stated that employees who work in the highly stressful occupation likely have an increased risk for poor physical and mental health problem. In particular, occupational stress is an inability to cope with the pressure on the job (Rees, 1997). Occupational stress can be provoked to physical demands of the workplace. These factors may contribute to an increase of occupational stress where the job related to employees, for example, the employee may feel insecure about the current job position, tired of the long working hours as well as stress from work. Due to a poor fit between individual’s abilities and work requirement or conditions (Holmlund-Rytkonen & Strandvik, 2005), occupational stress can affect directly to the mental and physical health. According to Cartwright and Cooper (1997) pointed out a short term of occupational stress can lead to mental health problem (emotional distress) and physical health (headaches, loss of energy, stomach disorder). However, a long term of occupational stress could evoke a serious illness such as cardiovascular disease and even contribute to pre-mature death. Cartwright and Cooper (1997) suggested that many effects of occupational stress on bodily function, which an individual may suffer from stress, will have headaches, anxiety, muscular tension, frequent urination, hypertension, coughs, weight gain and loss as well as trouble sleeping (Hinton, 2010; MacDonald, 2006; Roisin, 2004; Cartwright & Cooper, 1997). Several studies have supported on the involvement of stress could evoke the risk factor in illness and disease. For instance,. 27.

(43) Guyton (1981) has stated that a person who experiences stress over an extended period of may evoke the risk factor of diseases such as hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, and stroke. Moreover, high level of occupational stress also can strike its unfavorable effects on mental health problem such as depression, lack of concentration, sadness, and loss of sleep. All of these conditions could affect an individual’s ability to behave as normal and execute regular routines (Dash & Patnaik, 2012). For example, Sarafis et al. (2016) have stressed that occupational stress and emotional level has been consistent with depression, anxiety, and low self-esteem which can lead to a major risk factor such as psychiatric morbidity. Weissman and Klerman (1977) also found that prolonged of occupational stress are strongly related to depressed mood for an individual. Bhagat (1983) have supported that a global occupational stress has shown a positive relationship with psychological disorders such as anxiety and depressed mood. Also, Watson and Kendall (1989) have explained that both conditions on anxiety and depression are adverse effect which involves an essential level of distress. However, Neff (1985) pointed out that the interrelationship between occupational stress, anxiety and depression are always indefinite because the mental health problems are difficult to measure and clinically for recognition. In other words, effects of depression and employee’s outcomes are complex and difficult to measure because depression could affect constraint employee’s efficiency at the workplace. For instance, Stewart, Ricci, Chee, Hahn, & Morganstein (2003) found that individual who has depression may hard to concentrate on a task, in turn, to lose the productive time on the workplace. Hence, mental health problems can lead someone responding in a downward spiral since lost efficiency because of mental health problems could be a wellspring of other mental issues.. 28.

(44) The present study intends to examine if job demands and workplace bullying may affect occupational stress. The following section will focus on job demands.. 2.2. Job Demands Bakker, Demerouti, and Schaufeli (2003) defined job demands as the aspect of. the job from physical, social or organizational in need of sustained mental or physical effort. Al-Homyan, Shamsudin, Subramaniam, and Islam (2013) conceptualized job demands as psychological, physical, work shift demands and quantitative demands. Meanwhile, Cho, Park, Jeon, Chang and Hong (2014) considered job demands as quantitative demands, emotional demands, and work pace. The present study employed the definition of job demands which indicated by Karasek et al. (1998). They defined job demands as the psychological stressors which involved in completing the workload, stressors related to unpredicted work tasks and job-related personal conflict which may affect the individual’s active behavior or learning environment at the workplace. From the research finding, Karasek et al. (1998) confirmed that job demands potentially occur to the psychosocial work environment and job strain (e.g. depression, exhaustion, physical health problems and dissatisfaction). In another word, job demands are a concept that includes different aspects where researchers reported several forms that are considered as parts of job demands. Undeniably, increased of demands for an individual has reached out into social lives of employees and this created stress within employees. According to Theorell and Karasek (1996), Job Demands-Control (JD-C) model has recognized as an importance of daily environmental stressors on the long-term experiences of stress. Both of them have concluded that a high level of occupational stress turn up when there are job 29.

(45) demands did not line up with a sufficient of decision making as well as social support among employees. Several studies have found that high of job demands are likely to cause occupational stress among employee. For instance, Moustaka and Constantinidis (2010) have conducted a systematic review of research studies in turn to examine different sources and consequences of occupational stress, specifically on productivity and efficiency among employees. Based on the review, they found that occupational stress is mostly caused by the working environment (e.g. job demands, work overload, role stressors and lack of power). All of these have associated with occupational stress to diminishing the productivity and efficiency of the organization as well as affected by the employee’s interaction and achievement in the organization. Furthermore, job demands are assumed to play a major role in energy exhaustion process among employee (James & Anitha, 2016). Job demands may deplete the energy reserves of an employee and cause to any occupational stress problem in any working environment which could evoke health problems for the employee. According to job demands-control model of occupational stress, work in high demands and low in control produces a stressful response and it most damaging to health among individuals (Belkie, Landsbergis, Schnall, & Bakker, 2004; De Lange, Taris, Kompier, Houtmans, & Bongers, 2004; De Jonge, Mulder, & Nijhuis, 1999). Besides, job demands play important roles in the development of mental health and work engagement among employees (Bakker, Demerouti & Schaufeli, 2003; Bakker and Demerouti, 2007). Several studies reported that job demands could evoke mental health problem and physical resources which can lead to burnout (Bakker & Demenrouti, 2007; Crawford, LePine, & Rich, 2010). For example, Bakker, Demerouti, and Schaufeli (2003) found that there is a positive relationship between job demands, exhaustion, health complaints, and strain injury. Thus, Nahrgang, Morgeson, and Hofmann (2011) supported that. 30.

(46) employees have a limited energy to the physical and cognitive demands of the work when there is a high demands for the work as well as leading effect to the employee’s mental health problem. Karasek et al. (1998) have conceptualized several dimensions in Job Content Questionnaire (JCQ 2.0) to examine the job demands. The present study focuses on three dimensions of job demands, namely psychological demands, physical demands, and emotional demands. Psychological demands referred to how an individual is required to resistant the pressure in the work environment. Physical demands referred to the real stressors on the body which can disclosure to lasting physical strain in large part of the workplace. Further, emotional demands referred to the level of emotional exertion which requires performing in a circumstance. As indicated by De Jonge and Dormann (2003), job demands generally included those aspects of the job which require psychological, physical and emotional effort. In other words, the aspects of psychological demands, physical demands, and emotional demands are important to examine the job demands that can lead to occupational stress among employee in the organization. For the aspect of job demands, psychological demands on the employees are related to the skills require and the ability to overtake on another employee. Several studies have indicated that high psychological and low job control can cause high strains which adverse a poor mental health such as depression and anxiety (Kawakami, Haratani, & Araki, 1992; Niedhammer, Goldberg, Leclerc, Bugel, and David, 1998). For instance, Niedhammer, Goldberg, Leclerc, Bugel, and David (1998) found that high psychological demands have a strong relationship to depressive symptoms through the study. Furthermore, Anounymous (2007) have found that 75% of women who reported high psychological demands (long working hours, tension) are more likely to depression 31.

(47) or anxiety compare to the women who have reported with low psychological demands. However, men are most likely to reported social support than psychological demands. The study also found that there is an increasing of depressive symptoms and anxiety among men. Hence, the researcher found that almost half of the depression and anxiety problems were based on the relationship between occupational stress and job demands at the workplace. Next, physical demands are still relevant and important to be a concern in organizations. Physical exertion is one of the serious concerns in organization whereas it can become a stressor among employees. For instance, Park (2007) has mentioned that physical exertion was related to physical hazards and work injuries among employees at the workplace. In addition, Skov, Borg, and Orhede (1996) agreed that salespeople are a suitable group for estimating the effect of physical exposures to test the job demand among salespeople. These researchers have examined physical exposure in the job which included prolonged driving, sedentary work, and lifting of heavy loads at the workplace in the study. Some studies have been identified by Long (1995) which is a lack of control in job demands known as a source of stress and it can occur a critical health risk to some employees. There is a positive relationship between workload and upper extremity musculoskeletal disorders have been investigated in the previous study. For example, studies have found that there is a positive relationship between workload in physical demands and musculoskeletal symptoms such as lifting and work in an awkward position (Pot, Padmos, & Brouwers, 1987; Theorell, Harms-Ringdahl, Aglberg-Hulten, & Westin, 1991). Bongers, de Winter, Kompier, and Hildebrandt (1993) concluded high job demands had been associated with musculoskeletal symptoms through the factors at work and musculoskeletal disease. The demands on salespeople grew equally dramatically. They are always subject to fast-changing forces. 32.

(48) such as increased competition, and the pressure of achieving the sales target. Some of the salespeople have to work outside the company or rotate location with other colleagues. Moreover, emotional demands have defined as a level of emotional exertion which requires performing in a circumstance (Karasek, 1979). Besides, Hochschild (1983) referred this as an “emotional labor” which defined as effort, planning, and control needed to demonstrate proper emotions in the workplace during interpersonal transactions (Morris & Feldman, 1996). Normally, emotional labor is requested by employers because of increased number of clients (Briner, 1999). Specifically, employees in the service sector are more likely face high emotional job demands because of interactional contact with clients during the working hours. For instance, Ybema and Smulders (2001) found that employees in the service sector are tackled with many human problems and suffering such as diseases, as well as problems on social interactions with clients. However, Wharton and Erickson (1995) found that employees in the public service sectors are regularly required to deal with the negative stress created by an unusual degree of emotional such as hiding an emotion and express the emotions different from the actual feeling. Additionally, Van den Tooren, de Jonge, and Dormann (2011) have suggested that high emotional demands on the job can maintain dominance to a significant cost for organizations such as burnout and low productivity. In line with the above discussion, the literature can be concluded that job demands might influence employee occupational stress. As reported by The Star Online (24 April 2015), the shortage of skilled employees can increase the responsibilities of works and job demands which can lead to occupational stress as well as affect the employee well-being in the workplace. Hence, the present study hypothesized that job demands are positively related to occupational stress among salespeople in the retail 33.