Impact of Psychosocial Work Environment on Stress at Work: Moderating Role of Personality

Abstract

The current study examines the psychosocial work environment’s impact on stress at work based on job demand-resource theory. Further, this study examines the effects of personality on the psychosocial work environment and stress at work as a moderator. Using a standard questionnaire, data were collected from 126 executive level employees in automobile dealer companies in the Colombo district, Sri Lanka. The data were analyzed using simple linear regression with the aid of SPSS 26.0. The results of this study show that psychosocial work environment has a significant impact on stress at work. More specifically, the results revealed that job demands have a significant positive impact on stress at work while job resources have a significant negative effect on job stress. However, these relationships vary across employee personality, where the impact of job resources is strong for employees with type A personality. The study’s data are cross-sectional. Thus, future studies are encouraged to use longitudinal research designs with people from various industries. Further, future studies could present a multi-level analysis. In line with extant research, this study contributes to increasing the understating of job demand-resource theory. Moreover, this study presents several implications for managers to reduce stress in the workplace.