LITERATURE REVIEW - Work Stress, Organizational Commitment and Personality of Employees at the

This chapter reviews the different literature review on work stress, the Maquila Industry, organizational commitment and personality.

Work Stress

Stress is a concept that is progressively taking more significance among different researches that have evidence their interest to study the stress in the workplace as a whole including its causes and results for employees and organizations. In addition, diverse studies have focus their efforts on analyze how to manage the stress situations at the workplace (eg, LeFevre, Kolt & Matheny, 2006;Ongori & Agolla, 2008; Ornelas & Klainer, 2003). Moreover, stress is a concept that has to been easy to define. This is due to the fact that has a level of difficulty to define precisely. As a result, along the literature review there are different definitions of what is stress. Ornelas and Klainer (2003) defined stress as a result of the modern life and also, it’s an outcome of our willingness to balance the demands of the work and family life. Consequently, the demands are the stressors and the final effect is the stress on the person.

Moreover, there is another concept that defines what stress is, but in a more specific way. This concept focuses on one important aspect of every person’s life: the workplace.

According to the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (2007):

Work-related stress is a pattern of reactions that occurs when workers are presented with work demands that are not matched to their knowledge, skills or abilities, and which challenge their ability to cope. These demands may be related to time pressure or the amount of work (quantitative demands), or may refer to the difficulty of the work (cognitive demands) or the empathy required (emotional demands), or even to the inability to show one’s emotions at work. Demands may also be physical, i.e. high demands in the area of dynamic and static loads. (p.2)

The presence of stress at the workplace can have several negative consequences which cause a huge cost for the organization in terms of time and money. Schabracq and Cooper (2000) stated the different costs that an organization might face as a result of having employees that are

facing stress in the workplace. These costs are: reduced morale, defiance’s in the quality of the products and services, bad communication, disagreements, lost of customers, bad image and publicity, high turnover rate and sick-leave cost for replacements and permanent vacancies.

The diverse results or consequences of stress can influence completely the whole work course. Therefore, it will end up on numerous complications at the moment to achieve the organizations' goals.

Besides, there are some important statistical studies about the stress at the workplace in Europe and the United States; these results show the importance of this concept and also, the reality of the workers and the organizations. According to the results of the 2000 European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS) the work related stress is the second most common work-related health problem in the EU (back pain was more common) (Cited by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, 2007). In contrast, according to the 2001 “Attitudes in the American Workplace VII" the 82% of workers report that they are at least a little stressed at work. Another important information of the American Institute of Stress reports that job stress is really costly because it has an annual cost of more than $300 billion for the United States businesses. This cost represents the result of the increased rates on absenteeism, turnover, and productivity, medical, legal and insurance expenses. This cost also includes, the expenses of the worker’s compensation payments.

On the other hand not only the organizations mentioned above have expressed the importance of work stress. Currently, employees have also perceived the importance and impact that stress has at the present time in their professional life. In a recent study on occupational stress conducted in Malaysia by Awang, Dollard and Winefield (2009), their results show that 77% of the interviewees agreed that the level of stress has been increased lately. The opinion of the participants on the increment of stress is based on the following declaration: ‘‘this is an undeniable fact. What we needed in the past was different from what we want now. Everything is moving fast. People need to move fast for them to cope with others. If not, we will be left behind’’ (p.141). Definitely, nowadays all the employees work hard to accomplish their career goals but they also, recognize the fact that the competition on this globalize world has increased.

Hence, the level of stress has shown an increment, too.

Nowadays, one important issue on the whole stress concept is to know the actual cause or root of this issue among the organizations. All the different aspects that cause stress in a person

are called stressors (Neelamegam & Asrafi, 2010). Therefore the stressors are all the different factors that produce discomfort or inconvenience for the employee as consequence this one will face stressful situations.

According to Werner and DeSimone (2009) despite of the several differences that the researches can find on the definition of stress between all the studies, they mentioned that there is still some agreement on the literature review. They state that this agreement is the fact that stress is composed by three main factors:

 The environmental force that affects the individual behavior, which is call stressor.

 The individual’s psychological or physical response to the stressor.

 Sometimes, the interaction between the stressors and the individual’s response.

The stress in the workplace can be produced by job content (work load and monotony at work), employment conditions (employment contract, job insecurity and shift work), working conditions ( physically demanding work and poor working conditions) and social relations at work ( mobbing experiences) ( Otto & Schmidt, 2007).

Bhatti, Hussain, Shaikh and Suhail (2010) made a study on the causes of stress in organizations at different sectors such as service, manufacturing and distribution. The study was done in Sukkur, Pakistan using as a sample employees that work on these sectors. According to their results they categorized the causes of stress into two main groups: Extra-organizational stressors and intra-organizational stressors. The extra-organizational stressors are composed by:

a) climate, b) economic and c) family. On the other hand, the intra-organizational stressors are formed by: a) leadership, b) company policies, c) working conditions, d) work load and e) office timings.

Moreover, different studies have used as an object of analyze the three role stressors: role conflict, role ambiguity and role overload (Barr, Spitzmuller & Stuebing, 2008; Eatough, Chang, Miloslavic & Johnson, 2011; Elloy & Smith, 2003; Peterson, Smith, Akande, & Ayestaran, et al, 1995; Posig & Kickul, 2003).

Griffin and Moorthead (2010) defined a role as “a set of expected behaviors associated with a particular position in a group or organization” (p.173). These authors also mentioned that each person perceive the role expectations in a different way, as a results the misunderstandings that

can occur on that process can lead to stress related problems as role conflict, role ambiguity and role overload. These three factors of the role stressors are the main variables of this research and they are explained more in detail below.

Hence, this leads to the first hypothesis of this study:

H1: Work stress is significantly related to organizational commitment.

Role Conflict

Glazer (2005) define in his study role conflict as the contradiction between what the employee thinks it should be done and the rest of the staff expectations; which tend to occurred because the employee receives conflict messages from the others on how the job has to be done.

Barr, Spitzmuller and Stuebing (2008) stated that “the employees who experience high levels of role conflict are under substantial demand” (p.234). The employees that experiment role conflict at their work positions will find themselves struggling in order to accomplish the goal of satisfying the different demands that come from the diverse sources of ambiguous work expectations (Eatough, Chang, Miloslavic & Johnson, 2011).

According to Rahim (2011), the role conflict can also occur when the person is requested to execute two or more roles that include activities that are different or conflicting among each other. Thus, role conflict can occur in the workplace when the employees are drag into different directions by their superiors (Bersamin, 2006).

There is little evidence on a previous research (Martinez & Chang, 2011) of the role conflict that middle managers at the production department on the Maquila Industry in Honduras face. This study makes reference to the high amount of pressure that this managers face due to the fact that everybody has high expectations on their functions because of their managerial positions. Therefore, they have to satisfy the expectations from the whole staff of the production department.

Moreover, Bersamin (2006) wanted to find a negative relationship between role conflict and organizational commitment. However, the results presented a positive relationship between role conflict and organizational commitment. Based on the literature review the first sub-hypothesis of the sub-hypothesis 1 was formulated:

H1-1: Role conflict is negatively related to organizational commitment.

Role Ambiguity

Role ambiguity is when the role of the employee it is not clear and as a consequence this one does not what do (Griffin & Moorthead, 2010).

Moreover, role ambiguity is when the employees are not clear about what the organization expects of them or also this can happen when they have not had any feedback regarding their work performance (Posig & Kickul, 2003).

On the other hand according to the study of Bersamin (2006) there is a weak and positive relationship between role ambiguity and organizational commitment.

This leads to the second sub-hypothesis of the hypothesis 1:

H1-2: Role ambiguity is negatively related to organizational commitment

Role Overload

According to Rahim (2011) role overload refers when the employees are requested to execute more amount work than what they can on a precise amount of time. In addition this author mentioned that this aspect as become a frequent issue on the organizations. Therefore, role overload also occurs when the role the employees is asked to execute goes beyond his/her capabilities (Griffin & Moorthead, 2010).

A previous study on women that work on the basic level of the production department at the Maquila Industry shows that they are exposed to high work rates and in addition, they have to face the pressure of reaching high production goals. This leads them to have an intense work rhythm. (Ledesma, Pulido & Villegas, 2009).

On the other hand another study on the middle managers at the production department in the Maquila Industry a study by Martinez and Chang, (2011) it was found that these employees face an elevated work rhythm and that the amount of work that they have is high as well.

In addition, on the study of Bersamin (2006) it was predicted that the perceived work load on the employees affects negatively their organizational commitment level, however on its results was not found a relationship between both variables.

Based on the literature review the third sub-hypothesis of the hypothesis 1 was formulated:

H1-3: Role overload is negatively related to organizational commitment

Hence, the stress in the work place can have different causes. Therefore, nowadays the most important thing for the organizations is to know which ones are the factors causing stress on the organizations’ employees.

According to the literature review and the statistics mentioned above, it can be demonstrate that the stress in the work place has an effect and cost for the employee and the organization. The numbers also, proof the importance that this concept has on the European Union and the United States. However, one could not imagine that a country from Central America like Honduras can actually be facing work stress situations on one of its most important industries in this case the Maquila Industry.

Maquila Industry

One important factor in the history of the Maquila Industry in Central America is that this one began with the foundation of a project named “Free Zones” which has its main goal to attract foreign investors, incentive the economic growth and increase trade rates in the region (Bogarin, 2007 Trade and Investment Magazine). According to Bogarin (2007) “Free Zones are defined as areas subject to special customs regulations that allow the manufacturing or commercialization of goods for exportation or re-exportation and provide services associated with international trade” (p.72). Hence, the Free Zones became an important element in the creation of the Maquila Industry in all the Central America’s countries.

Moreover, to be more specific in Honduras the story with Maquila Industry started when the government emitted the Constitutive Act of the Free Zone of Puerto Cortes on July 19^th 1976 with the objective of benefit and incentive the national and foreign investors. This law gives to the companies’ different benefits: exemption of import tariffs and taxes for the entrance of merchandise related to the import and export activities and exemption on payment of the income tax. Then on May 20^th 1998 was approved the Free Zone Act, these new laws were an extension

of the benefits and also extend those benefits to the whole Honduran territory (Central Bank of Honduras, 2001).

One of the major characteristics of the Maquila Industry is that needs a large quantity of labor hand for the massive production of diverse products. As a result, the industry has generated a positive effect on Honduras because of its contribution to lower the unemployment rate of the population (Central Bank of Honduras, 2005). The production of the Maquila generates more than 106,695jobs and also represents a 17.3% of the total economic activity of Honduras (Central Bank of Honduras, 2009). As a consequence from those salaries more than a half million of people are benefited without counting on the indirect jobs that the Maquila Industry has generated (Honduran Manufacturers Association, 2007).

Moreover, there is previous study on the Maquila Industry and poverty in Honduras for this was used as sample women that work in that sector. During the study was done a simulation exercise and the results were that the poverty would increase by 1.5 % points if the Maquila Industry did not exist in Honduras (Hoyos, Bussolo & Nuñez, 2008).

As it is pointed out in the literature review the Maquila industry, has made significant contribution to the Honduran economy, employment, and has a contribution on the battle against poverty levels. The economy part and contribution of the maquilas to the society its support by different literature review, but as it was mentioned before there is still a gap on the research of different topics using as a sample the employees of this sector. One important topic that is mentioned on the little research of the employees on this sector is the stress that employees face at their works.

Europe and North America have previous research and analysis on work stress but there is still a gap to fill on this field for Honduras which has showed with the little research evidence that the employees in the Maquila Industry are facing work stress situations. However, Honduras it’s not the only country in Latin America showing signs of work stress on the Maquila Industry.

Another good example of the same situation is Mexico. This country has different studies that have focused on studying occupational health on the employees at that industry and moreover it is mentioned the long working hours that the employees have on their works (Abell, 1999;

Guendelmen & Silberg, 1993; Velasquez, Munguia, Navarrete & Zavala, 2006)

There is a study conducted in Tijuana, Mexico using as a sample women that work in the Maquila Industry (Guendelmen & Silberg, 1993). The results of this study show that women face long hours at work and low salaries. Moreover, they reported similar incidences of the service workers like depression and lack of control life. On the other hand, according to Abell (1999) stress is part of the women workers on the Maquila industry at Mexico. This is because they have to face pressure to achieve high production quotas.

As it was mentioned before Honduras is a country where employees are facing stress situations on the Maquila industry. There is a previous study on the Maquilas that are located at Choloma which is situated in the north part of Honduras (Ledesma, Pulido & Villegas, 2009).

The researchers used as sample women that work at the basic level of the production department.

As a result the female workers showed high stress levels (84%). Another important finding of this study is that the workers have to face different demands; for example long work day, reach high production quotas and as consequences an intense work rhythm. In contrast, there is another study on this industry that shows that middle level managers on the production area are facing work stress and their works and also, the commitment toward their organization is an important aspect to handle that type of situation (Martinez & Chang, 2011).

Organizational Commitment

According to Samgnanakkan (2010) organizational commitment can be defined as the force that creates a strong connection between the employee and the organization. On the other hand, organizational commitment can also be perceived as the intensity of ownership that the employee has for the organization’s values and objectives and as a result this performs in a most optimal way to reach them (Tanriverdi, 2008). Therefore, if the employees have an attachment for the organization’s goals they will be more efficient and committed on their work activities and this will be reflected on the organization’s results in a positive way.

A person’s commitment toward the organization is ‘‘an effective response (attitude) resulting from an evaluation of the work situation which links or attaches the individual to the organization’’ (Mottaz, 1988, p. 468 cited in Tuzun, 2009, p.730).

The employee’s commitment is derived from the interest that the employees have on their job and also from the employees’ strong belief on the organizations values (Tanrıverdi, 2008).

There are different definitions about organizational commitment and all of them have a point in common which is that organizational commitment is the bond between the organization and the employees. The existence of that bond allows to the organization to have more opportunities of having an effective accomplishment of its goals.

There is a model for organizational commitment; which is form by three dimensions:

affective commitment, continuance commitment and normative commitment (Allen & Meyer, 1996).

According to the results of a study by Meyer, Stanley, Herscovitch, and Topolnytsky (2002) the three type of organizational commitment have a negative correlations with withdrawal cognition, turnover intention, and turnover but that they present a different correlation with other work behaviors (i.e., attendance, job performance, and OCB).

Martinez and Chang (2011) in their qualitative study make reference to the commitment that the middle level managers who work in the production department of the Maquila Industry in Honduras have toward the organization as a strategy to handle the situations where they have a lot of work demands and stress.

Moreover, previous research pointed out that when the employees’ level of stress incremented as a consequence, their level of organizational commitment became lower (Michael, Court & Petal, 2009; Vakola & Nikolaou, 2005). This agrees with the findings of Khatibi, Asadi and Hamidi (2009) which indicated a significantly negative relationship between job stress and organizational commitment. However, in contrast Ziauddin, Khan, Jam and Hijazi (2010) on their study found a positive relationship between job stress and organizational commitment.

This research is based on the three dimensions of organizational commitment: affective commitment, continuance commitment and normative commitment (Allen & Meyer, 1996).

These three dimensions are explained more in detail below.

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