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The Relationship among Work Related Stress Risk Factors, Stress, Burnout and Wellbeing: A Cross-Cultural Comparison between French and Japanese Cashiers

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(1)The Relationship among Work Related Stress Risk Factors, Stress, Burnout and Wellbeing: A Cross-Cultural Comparison between French and Japanese Cashiers. by Romain Hiernard. Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of. MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION Major: International Human Resources Development. Advisor: Wei-Wen Chang, Ph.D.. National Taiwan Normal University Taipei, Taiwan January 2017.

(2) ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I would like to thank with the bottom of my heart my advisor Dr. Vera Chang, without whom I would have never succeeded throughout this whole thesis process. You showed me the path to follow on that thesis journey and you helped me achieve this whole process. Your guidance has been beyond extraordinary. I am grateful for my committee members, Dr. Lai and Dr. Pai Po Lee who gave me precious advises in order to enhance the quality of my work. You adapted your schedule to fit my plans so I want to thank you for making my goal to graduate in one and a half year possible. I am also thankful to my fiancée who came to support me during the hardest periods of the process and gave me the strength to keep pushing forward. Finally, I want to thank my parents and family for the encouragements and support received through my studies.. I    .

(3) ABSTRACT Stress is one of today’s major issues. With the increasingly high productivity required by companies and the pressure put on employees in order to reach the companies’ goals, individuals suffer a lot of distress. Stress is a vague notion representing a state of distress from a person; it can be either positive or negative. This study has for goal to focus on the negative impact of stress on employees from two different countries in terms of culture and work organization. This study will focus on the appreciation of risk factors that may increase the potentiality of developing stress. Those risk factors play a crucial role in the overall wellbeing of employees. By cross-comparing the results of the potential stress felt by cashiers in those two countries, the study hopes to find potential ways to take influence from one country and bring it to the other. Thus influence could be used as a mean of reducing stress from employees with for overall objective the development of job satisfaction and their wellbeing. The population of cashier was chosen in order to study the impact of stress on people who do not take decisions, but rather suffer their company’s managerial decisions. They are also at the front line of customer satisfaction or dissatisfaction, and coupled with those mental external pressures they exert a manual intensive work that could lead to potential repetitive strain injuries (RSI). Keywords: stress, wellbeing, burnout, France, Japan. II    .

(4) TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ................................................................................................. I ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................... II TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................... III LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................... V LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................ VI CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION .................................................................................... 1 Background of the Study ........................................................................................................... 1 Purpose of the Study .................................................................................................................. 2 Questions of the Study ............................................................................................................... 3 Delimitations ............................................................................................................................... 3 Research Limitations ................................................................................................................. 4 Definition of Terms .................................................................................................................... 5. CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW ....................................................................... 8 Work Related Stress Risk Factors ............................................................................................ 8 The Impact of Stress on Work .................................................................................................. 9 Burnout ..................................................................................................................................... 15 Employees’ Wellbeing .............................................................................................................. 17 The Relevance of Japan and France to the Study, Similarities and Differences................ 20 Hypothesis Building and Relationships Between the Variables .......................................... 28. CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY .............................................................................. 35 Research Framework ............................................................................................................... 35 Research Procedures ................................................................................................................ 36 Data Collection ......................................................................................................................... 38 Instrumentation ........................................................................................................................ 39 Data Analysis ............................................................................................................................ 41. CHAPTER IV RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS ........................................................ 42 Descriptive Statistics ................................................................................................................ 42 Mean Comparison .................................................................................................................... 51 Reliability Analysis .................................................................................................................. 51. III    .

(5) Correlation Analysis ................................................................................................................ 52 Hypothesis Tests ....................................................................................................................... 54 Summary of the Analysis Results ........................................................................................... 65 Discussion of the Results .......................................................................................................... 66. CHAPTER V CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS ........................................... 67 Conclusions ............................................................................................................................... 67 Implications .............................................................................................................................. 69 Suggestions for Future Research ............................................................................................ 71. REFERENCES ................................................................................................................ 72 APPENDIX I ENGLISH QUESTIONNAIRE ............................................................ 77 APPENDIX II FRENCH QUESTIONNAIRE ............................................................ 83 APPENDIX III JAPANESE QUESTIONNAIRE....................................................... 88. IV    .

(6) LIST OF TABLES Table 4.1. Demographics .................................................................................................. 42 Table 4.2. Descriptive Statistics for Mean Comparison of Stress .................................... 43 Table 4.3. Descriptive Statistics for Mean Comparison of Burnout ................................. 44 Table 4.4. Descriptive Statistics for Mean Comparison of Management Standards ........ 46 Table 4.5. Descriptive Statistics of Mean Comparison for Wellbeing ............................. 49 Table 4.6. Independent T-Test .......................................................................................... 51 Table 4.7. Cronbach's Alpha Analysis .............................................................................. 52 Table 4.8. Correlation Analysis of French Cashiers ......................................................... 53 Table 4.9. Correlation Analysis of Japanese Cashiers ...................................................... 53 Table 4.10. Linear Regression Analysis of Work Related Stress Risk Factors and Stress for French Cashiers ................................................................................................... 54 Table 4.11. Linear Regression Analysis of Work Related Stress Risk Factors Sub Dimensions and Stress For French Cashiers ............................................................. 55 Table 4.12. Linear Regression Analysis of Work Related Stress Risk Factors Sub Dimensions and Burnout for French Cashiers .......................................................... 56 Table 4.13. Linear Regression Analysis of Work Related Stress Risk Factors and Burnout for French Cashiers ................................................................................................... 56 Table 4.14. Linear Regression Analysis of Wellbeing and Stress for French Cashiers ... 57 Table 4.15. Linear Regression Analysis of Wellbeing and Burnout for French Cashiers 58 Table 4.16. Mediation Effect of Stress for Work Related Stress Risk Factors and Wellbeing .................................................................................................................. 58 Table 4.17. Mediation Effect of Burnout for Work Related Stress Risk Factors and Wellbeing .................................................................................................................. 59 Table 4.18. Linear Regression Analysis Of Work Related Stress Risk Factors And Stress For Japanese Cashiers ............................................................................................... 60 Table 4.19. Linear Regression Analysis of Work Related Stress Risk Factors Sub Dimensions and Stress for Japanese Cashiers .......................................................... 60 Table 4.20. Linear Regression Analysis of Work Related Stress Risk Factors Sub Dimensions and Burnout for Japanese Cashiers ....................................................... 61 Table 4.21. Linear Regression Analysis of Work Related Stress Risk Factors and Burnout for Japanese Cashiers ................................................................................................ 62 Table 4.22. Linear Regression Analysis of Wellbeing and Stress for Japanese Cashiers 62 Table 4.23. Linear Regression Analysis of Wellbeing and Burnout for Japanese Cashiers ................................................................................................................................... 63 Table 4.24. Mediation Effect of Stress for Work Related Stress Risk Factors and Wellbeing .................................................................................................................. 64 Table 4.25. Mediation Effect of Burnout for Work Related Stress Risk Factors and Wellbeing .................................................................................................................. 64 Table 4.26. Summary of the Analysis Results .................................................................. 65. V    .

(7) LIST OF FIGURES. Figure 2-1. Hebbian version of the Yerkes-Dodson law .................................................. 11 Figure 2-2. The stress response curve ............................................................................... 12 Figure 2-3. Trend in the number of non-agricultural employees working 60h or more per week in Japan between 1967 and 2004 ..................................................................... 13 Figure 2-4. The wellbeing continuum ............................................................................... 19 Figure 2-5. A comparison of the employment rate in France between men and women between 1975 and 2012 ........................................................................................... 23 Figure 2-6. The unemployment rate evolution between 1975 and 2012 in France .......... 24 Figure 2-7. Unemployment rate by professional categories in France between 1975 and 2012........................................................................................................................... 25 Figure 2.8 – Japan vs. France unemployment rate............................................................ 26 Figure 3-1. Framework of the study ................................................................................. 36   Figure 3-2. The research proces ........................................................................................ 37  . VI    .

(8) CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION. This study has for overall goal to depict a clear understanding of the overall stress felt by French and Japanese workers. By doing a cross-comparison of two radically different cultures the objective is to find common stress factors and address questions relatives to solving thus problems. This section is going to be composed of five subsections. The first section will provide the background of the study in which we will take a deeper look into the crucial role stress puts on work satisfaction. This first section will be followed by the purpose of the study, the questions of the study, the delimitations of the study. This first section will finish with the definition of terms.. Background of the Study Employees are faced with a lot of difficulties in their everyday life at work. Those difficulties can become a burden for some of them. As a result, these employees might start developing a condition known as “stress”. Stress can be influenced by different risk factors, and it can lead to a state of permanent distress for the employees. If stress intensifies, employees might start feeling the first effects of a potential burnout. Stress and burnout are major issues in the workplace. These notions can sometimes appear unclear about what it really is and how it can affect both the employees and the company. The term stress was first defined as “the non-specific response of the body to any demand made on it” (Selye, 1980). Stress can therefore be a result of demanding circumstances. Those can be various, from a soon deadline to a high pace pressure. Stress can have mental repercussions as well as physical ones. The Dutch psychologist Geert Hofstede established several cross-cultural dimensions including one particularly relevant to our subject: individualism vs.. 1    .

(9) collectivism. In individualistic cultures, individuals are expected to look out for themselves as well their closest kin, whereas in collectivistic cultures, individuals are born within systems; they live in close relations with their whole family and are expected to take care of their elders, they have to be conscious about the group importance in schools as well as in the workplace. Therefore there is a real division that can be summarized by the confrontation of an “I consciousness” opposed to a “We consciousness”. The feelings observed by those individuals in different cultures differ greatly, notably in terms of transgression of norms individuals in individualistic cultures may express guilt, whereas individuals in collectivistic cultures may express shame (Hofstede, 2011, p.11). Traditionally collectivistic cultures have been found predominant in Asia and Africa, when individualistic ones are mostly found in Western countries. In that regard, and for the rest of the study we will refer to Japan as a collectivistic culture and French as an individualist culture. Since this study is going be involving two different cultures, it is important to take a deeper look at those culture in order to have some insights of how stress may differ from one culture to the other. The cultures are different, therefore the pressure felt by individuals differs greatly; hence workers need to cope with different kind of stress. Studying stress from various cultures will provide us with potential differences employees have to come with, as well as possible solutions that can be taken from one culture and implemented into the other.. Purpose of the Study The demonstration of various stress factors relatives to each culture may help draw out potential action plans in order to reduce this intangible scourge put on employees. Through the study and the collection of data based on a same questionnaire the overall goal is to identify common stress factors and try to find potential solutions. Therefore the purposes of the study are listed as follow: •. Examine the relations between risk factors, stress, potentially leading to a burnout, and its effect on the employees’ wellbeing;. •. Compare cashiers’ situation in France and Japan. 2    .

(10) •. Examine the impact of the length of work on the stress felt by cashiers. Questions of the Study According to the purpose of the study, the research questions are listed as follow: 1.. What are the relationships between risk factors, stress, burnout and wellbeing. 2.. What are the differences and similarities between France and Japan in terms of these relationships. 3.. Does working fewer hours mean having less stress?. Delimitations This study has for overall goal to examine the stress and well being of employees within large organizations. Since organizations are composed of a lot of employees with a complex system of positions, the study focuses on the risk factors, stress, burnout and wellbeing of employees that receive direct orders, employees that work simple jobs requiring few to no qualifications but are very emotionally and physically demanding. Therefore the job population the study is going to focus on is “cashiers”. Indeed, cashiers are working very long hours; they have to deal with customers’ feelings and satisfaction as they represent the company since they are the last impression left before exiting the store. It is also a very demanding job: in France when people go grocery shopping, they shop for the whole week, even month, therefore cashiers need to pass a lot of articles at once, some of them being really heavy. In Japan, cashiers work mostly standing; they need to be very efficient when it comes to passing articles if they want to have a good productivity. A simple look at the job offers for becoming cashier help reveal the difficulty of the job: the cashiers are the frontline of the organization. The cashier must be agreeable and sympathetic with the customers. They have to deal with several tasks at the same time therefore they have to be greatly focused. Depending their position (e.g. self checkout counter) they are required to stand for long periods of time. They lift heavy. 3    .

(11) objects such as gallons of water in their everyday tasks. The Cashiers must be able to read and understand the labels, discount coupons, checks, etc. They have to work quickly and efficiently. They have to be able to control their stress in case of a problematic situation, therefore it is important to focus on the impact of such pressure onto the employees, on what is done to improve it and how stress can cause a negative effect on both their mental and physical health.. Research limitations People are dubious by nature, therefore finding a population willing to fulfill the questionnaire might be slightly challenging since they may be afraid of having their identity revealed to their employers. In that regard the questionnaire is made anonymous in order to protect the employees’ identity and to get more accurate responses. The questionnaire is slightly long (however this is a crucial point of the study to gain knowledge from all front about the employees’ feelings, stress and well being). As a support tool to gain additional information from the questionnaire, interviews will be conducted. Developing an accurate picture of the work related stress risk factors can be very hard (Rick, Briner, Daniels, Perryman, & Guppy, 2001). Therefore questionnaires have been developed in order to develop indicators more than precise problem identifications. However those indicators are sufficient enough to give managers the tools necessary to put the employees back on a healthier track (Cousins et al, 2004). Another limitation of the study represents the difficulties presented by crosscultural studies. According to Hofstede cross-cultural study researchers often fail to “recognize the differences between analysis at the societal level and at the individual level… which led to numerous errors of interpretation and application.” (Hofstede, 2011, p.6) This study only includes cashiers from France and Japan. Since it only focuses on those two countries, the results can be applied to similar context. The study evaluates cashiers. Therefore all the interpretations and results may only apply to cashiers. The results cannot be extended to other jobs within the retail industries since they offer different challenges.. 4    .

(12) The researcher relied on tierce persons to distribute the questionnaires. Therefore the researcher had no control over the random selection of participants.. Definition of Terms Key terms in this study are defined as follow:. Cashier Cashier takes its origins from the ancient French word “caissier” which translated literally means “money-box”. A cashier is a representative of a retail business who has the responsibility to checkout items purchased by customers, collect and keep records of customer’s payment (Opara-Nadi, 2005, p.10). Cross Cultural Research Cross-cultural research refers to empirical studies carried out among members of various cultural groups who have had different experiences that lead to predictable and significant difference in behavior. In the vast majority of such studies the groups under investigation speak different languages and are governed by different political units (Brislin, Lonner & Thorndike, 1973, p.6). Risk Factors It refers to the likelihood that exposure to a hazard (features of the workplace that have the potential to lead to harm or unwanted consequences) will lead to harm. The aim of any preventive strategy must be to keep exposures well below a level at which harm is manifest (Mackay, Cousins, Kelly, Lee & Mccaig, 2004). Stress Stress can feature various definitions depending on the type and the individual concerned. The term stress was first defined as “the non-specific response of the body to. 5    .

(13) any demand made on it” (Selye, 1980, p.6). More traditionally when we hear the term “stress” we think about a mental response to a tension that may be caused by pressuring situations. In the case of our questionnaire, part II refers to stress. If an employee scored high on this part, then this employee’s stress rate will be interpreted as high.. Burnout The term burnout was defined as: “a syndrome of emotional exhaustion and cynicism that occurs frequently among individuals who do ‘people-work’ of some kind. A key aspect of the burnout syndrome is increased feelings of emotional exhaustion” (Maslach & Jackson, 1981, p.99). In the case of our questionnaire, part III refers to burnout. If an employee scored high on this part, then this employee’s burnout likelihood will be interpreted as high.. Wellbeing Wellbeing is when individuals have the psychological, social and physical resources they need to meet a particular psychological, social and/or physical challenge (Dodge, Daly, Huyton, & Sanders, 2012, p.230).. Job Satisfaction A broad notion that can be defined in different ways. Hoppock defined job satisfaction as “any combination of psychological, physiological and environmental circumstances that cause a person truthfully to say “I am satisfied with my job”” (Hoppock, 1935, p.47). Vroom defines job satisfaction as “affective orientations on the part of individuals toward work roles, which they are presently occupying” (Vroom, 1964, p.99). Work Related Stress Factors Those are factors that are possible causes of stress inducement. In this study, we measure work related stress risk factors with the questionnaire by evaluation the below points. Depending on which point is being evaluated the score interpretation is different.. 6    .

(14) •. Demands: including such issues as workload, work patterns and the working environment. If the employee has score high in this part, then this employee is under a tremendous amount of stress;. •. Control: how much say the person has in the way they do their work. If the score is high, the employee has control, and less likely to be under stress;. •. Support which includes the encouragement, sponsorship and resources provided by the organization, line management and colleagues; If the score is high, the employee receives support, and is less likely to be under stress;. •. Relationships at work which includes promoting positive working practices to avoid conflict and dealing with unacceptable behavior. If the score is high, the employee has conflicted relations with his colleagues or with the direction. As a result, this employee’s stress is most likely to be higher than others;. •. Role: whether people understand their role within the organization and whether the organization ensures that the person does not have conflicting roles. If the employee scores high, then the employee knows his role within the organization and is less inclined to self-wonder since this employee understands the purpose of his/her work;. •. Change: how organizational change (large or small) is managed and communicated in the organization. If the score is high, the employee is able to deal with change and to discuss about it. Therefore the employee is less likely to be under stress.. Culture The way in which organizations demonstrate management commitmentand have procedures which are fair and open (Mackay, Cousins, Kelly, Lee & Mccaig, 2004).. 7    .

(15) CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW. In this chapter, an emphasis is going to be put on several key components of this study. Firstly, the researcher is going to focus on the overall aim of this study: employees’ wellbeing, with a close look at the relevant literature concerning job satisfaction. Then, the researcher is going to measure the impact stress may have on work, quickly followed by the possible derivations and complications brought by it. Then, the researcher is going to focus on the potential risk factors felt by employees at work. Finally, the researcher is going to observe the impact of collectivism on Japanese society, for finally shift our focus on the other side of the world to develop insights of the cross cultural comparison that is going to follow and observe the French liberal system with a special focus on the recent years development and the impact it may have on the position of cashiers.. Work Related Stress Risk Factors Stress can be the consequence of a lot of different factors. The combination of these factors can become a burden for companies that have to face an increasing number of employees missing work due to stress-related conditions. Studies confirm this evidence (Jones, Huxtable, Hodgson, & Price, 2003). There is the notion that stress entails a sequence of events that include the presence of demands, a set of evaluative processes through which those demands are perceived as significant (in terms of threat, and in terms of its impact on individual resources or requiring of the individual something other than normal functioning), and the generation of a response that typically affects the well­ being of the individual (Mackay, Cousins, Kelly, Lee & McCaig, 2004). These risk factors can create a threatening condition over the employees’ spirit. The employees might find themselves carrying the possibility of undergoing such risks alongside their lives, making it impossible for them to stop thinking about work, bringing them in a constant state of mental distress potentially leading to stress. In certain. 8    .

(16) circumstances, the employees may feel impossible to disconnect from work, since their boss, or direct superior manager keeps on reminding the employees about work related tasks. Due to these overwhelming circumstances, France decided to take actions by making it illegal for employers to contact their employees outside of work hours. The bill is however still pending and awaiting congress approval (Mosbergen, 2016). The overall aim of this pending bill is to help reduce potential work related overwhelm and therefore, prevent potential burnout. The measurement of the impact of those risk factors is really hard, and a simple questionnaire is not sufficient enough to potentially measure all of it (Rick, Briner, Daniels, Perryman, & Guppy, 2001). Despite the difficulty to efficiently pinpoint work related stress risk factors, a questionnaire was developed in order to show a somewhat sufficient indication for company managers to assess the likelihood of potential issues encountered by their employees. The “Indicator Tool” provides only a broad indication to organizations of how well their workforce considers they are performing in managing the risks associated with work related stress (Cousins et al, 2004).. The Impact of Stress on Work Stress is one of the most studied subjects. Its importance is outstanding in today’s increasingly demanding world. As a result, various cases of work related stress occurs. Researchers have compiled tremendous data collections in the past in order to aim at finding ways to reduce this scourge. Some questionnaires have been developed in order to measure the impact of stress. The “Job Content Questionnaire was designed to measure scales assessing psychological demands, decision latitude, social support, physical demands, and job insecurity” (Karasek, Brisson, Kawakami, Houtman & Bongers, 1998, p.322). This questionnaire helps assessing the intensity of work as well as the duration of work and helps measuring the psychological demand. With the same objective, the “Effort-reward imbalance” questionnaire focuses on the effort aspect (Siegrist et al., 2004). Work is very different; its complexity varies on the task in hand, the time allowed for doing it and other external factors. Due to this complexity of variables, the human principle that despite the fact that every human is born equal in rights, we are all different. 9    .

(17) and unique individuals and the impact of different cultures on people stress is going to affect individuals in different ways. It is inherent to your personality to be more inclined to stress than other people, however the context is a major influential key on its development. Stress can also come from job insecurity. Greenhalgh and Rosenblatt defined job insecurity as a “perceived powerlessness to maintain desired continuity in a threatened job situation” (Greenhalgh & Rosenblatt, 1984, p.438). For instance being in a position of awareness of potential threat to one’s position without knowing for certain. Anxiety might develop as follow. Through this definition and deep explanation of job insecurity, we can assert the possible dangers coming from an uncertain future for the employees. Job security can be very destructive and a reason of stress aggravation. Too little pressure on the employee can result in a lack of “good stress”. In terms of performance this may translates into poor performance or disinterest of employees. However, the correlation is not effective the other way around: high pressure does not necessarily means high performance. Indeed, employees may have to face various external factors related with their personal life, therefore imposing extremely strict and unreasonable deadline coupled with the addition of other stress factors may cause a stress overload and result in an extreme fatigue from the employee. Nixon, in 1979, highlighted the relationship between stress and performance (Sincero, 2012). Before this, Yerkes and Dodson developed their “Yerkes-Dodson Law”, which represents the relation between arousal and performance (Yerkes & Dodson, 1908). The law dictates that performance increases with physiological or mental arousal, but only up to a point. When levels of arousal become too high, performance decreases.. 10    .

(18) Figure 2-1. Hebbian version of the Yerkes-Dodson law. Adapted from “The Temporal Dynamics Model of Emotional Memory Processing: A Synthesis on the Neurobiological Basis of Stress-Induced Amnesia, Flashbulb and Traumatic Memories, and the YerkesDodson Law" by Diamond et al., 2007, Neural Plasticity, p.3. Copyright © 2007 by Hindawi Publishing Corporation  . Stress, A Potential Degenerative Condition Stress does not have to be a solely negative aspect of the work life. Indeed, stress makes people do things they would not normally do, it does increase productivity in some ways. Employees will try to fit in deadlines and therefore work faster than what they probably would without those. However, according to the “Hebbian version of the Yerkes-Dodson law” adapted by Diamond et al. stress is beneficial only up to a certain point (Diamond, Campbell, Park, Halonen & Zoladz, 2007). Once that point is reached, then stress takes on a negative turn. The problem for companies and managers is that there is no clear definition of that meeting point between efficiency, productivity and overly intensive stress. When fatigue starts prevailing over the general positive stress, the employee starts being in danger. If this distress state continues, exhaustion may appear, followed by a possible breakdown.. 11    .

(19) Figure 2-2. The stress response curve. Adapted from “Stress Management for Patient and Physician” by Posen, 1995. The Canadian Journal of Continuing Medical Education. Retrieved from: http://mentalhealth.com/mag1/p51-str.html Copyright © 1995-2011 by Phillip W. Long, M.D. As shown in the above curve, stress represents a complexity of variables. Since stress can be either positive or negative, it is interesting to wonder what could be the potential degenerations of this perpetual stress of distress. Stress can evolve into anxiety, burnout and even suicide.. Karoshi (過労死) According to the International Labour Organization (ILO) report (2004), in 2001, 28.1% of Japanese employees were working for 50 h or more per week. This represented approximately 15 millions Japanese workers, in other words, half of France’s working population. With these long working hours, work related mental pressure, stress as well as physical injuries came to hover around this hardworking population.. 12    .

(20) Figure 2-3. Trend in the number of non-agricultural employees working 60h or more per week in Japan between 1967 and 2004. Adapted from “Health Problems due to Long Working Hours in Japan: Working Hours, Workers’ Compensation (Karoshi), and Preventive Measures”, by Iwasaki et al. 2006. Industrial Health, 44, p. 538. Copyright © 1996 Statistics Bureau The figure above represents the number of employees (from non agricultural professions) working at least 60 hours per week. The Japan Statistics Bureau conducted the study. We can observe a strong increase of the long working hours from 1975 to 1990. It is during this timeframe that the concept of Karoshi arose and that it became a major concern for the country. According to Kanai (2009), the term Karoshi was defined for the first time in 1982 by Hosokawa, Tajiri and Uehata as the following: ‘‘Condition of being permanently unable to work or dead due to acutely attacking ischemic heart disease such as myocardial infraction, or acute heart failure caused by cerebral vascular diseases such as cerebral hemorrhage, subarachnoid hemorrhage and cerebral infraction, because inherent health problems such as hypertension and arteriosclerosis are deteriorated by excessive work overload’’. (p. 209). 13    .

(21) Applied within the study’s focus, it is interesting to wonder whether cases of potential Karoshi could happen in France. With its 35 weekly hours work system, France is subject to jealousies worldwide. Its image is of a country where people are relaxed and take care of themselves. However, the workplace can be a very stressful place, and even though it is not as harsh as in Japan, the first official case of work related death was declared in France in 2007. People may not push themselves to the physical limit of stress overload, however, due to the high mental stress intensity, numerous cases of suicides have occurred.. Work-Related Suicides We find cases of work-related suicides in both France and Japan. Japanese people even created a termination for it, they call it: “karojisatsu”. “Karô” (過労)refers to “overwork” or “stress” and “jisatsu” (自殺)refers to “suicide”. Literally this termination means “suicide from stress”. In Japan, karoshi and karojisatsu are considered as work accidents. Therefore families of victims of those two conditions are eligible to receive a pension after the examination has proven that the death of the victim was indeed work related. The main difference between France and Japan, is that suicides because of overwork are officially recognized regardless of the location where the suicide was committed in Japan. However, in France, a suicide from overwork will only be recognized if it was committed at the workplace, or during the working hours (Jobin, 2008). In France, in 2007 and 2008, a wave of suicide occurred in the company “France Telecom”. This communication company saw 35 of its employees commit suicide during this timeframe. During this period employees were facing a lot of uncertainties: forced geographical mobility, leave incitement, seminars, etc. As a consequence of this suicide wave, a long and thorough examination has been conducted and saw for the first time in history for a “CAC 40” company rule the following: France Telecom was convicted of moral harassment towards its employees (Sud-Ouest, 2015). Fortunately for the company, the direction has changed in 2012. A recent study showed that 81% of the employees were proud to be working for the now called “Orange”, versus 39% under the previous direction.. 14    .

(22) Thankfully, stress does not necessarily leads to suicide. Before people commit this act of self-despair, there are often times precursor signs of over-exhaustion. This exhaustion caused by work is often referred to as “burnout”.. Burnout The German-born American psychologist Herbert Freudenberger first categorized the term “burn-out” in his 1975 study titled “The staff burn-out syndrome in alternative institutions.” When facing a burnout situation, an employee is going to lose all sense of accomplishment. The employee’s work is going to feel overloading, and due to outrageously high objectives will start experiencing work-induced exhaustion. Nothing is going to be relevant for that person anymore, and a lack of recognition from his peers may help accelerate the process. In that regard, an additional definition of burnout may be “a state of physical, emotional and mental exhaustion that results from long-term involvement in work situations that are emotionally demanding” (Schaufeli & Greenglass, 2001, p.501). In a French research conducted by the national research institute in collaboration with the government (Anact & INRS & Ministère du travail, p. 8-9), burnout is divided into three distinct categories: 1. The emotional exhaustion, which is the most prevalent and can be translated into a state of complete fatigue in which the usual recovering time, composed of week ends, holidays and off days is not sufficient enough to allow the employee to recover from the job exhaustion; 2. Cynicism towards work: the individual behavior becomes negative and distant towards his job and colleagues. The individual undergo a form of depersonalization in which he tries to protect himself from the overload of emotional distress; 3. The diminution of personal accomplishment at work. In this component the individual feels not worthy of his job, unable to achieve what he would want and starts expressing a feeling of uselessness. A lot of researches have been conducted in the past in order to help preventing the employees to reach this low-esteem stage. Tools have been developed and the currently. 15    .

(23) most used burnout questionnaire is the “Maslach Burnout Inventory” (Maslach & Jackson, 1981). This MBI is divided into two distinct questionnaires that are targeting different population: one for specific populations (medical and teaching) and one for the general population. This MBI helps point out degradation phenomenon. Other literatures on the subject include the “Copenhagen Burnout Inventory” (Kristensen et al., 2005) as well as the “Oldenburg Burnout Inventory” (Demerouti et al., 2003). Burnout however remains difficult to identify and there is no right clinical evaluation that can assess whether a person suffers or not from burnout. Burnout is categorized more like a syndrome, a syndrome of work-related exhaustion. A burnout occurs when a person simply cannot cope with stress anymore and starts feeling overwhelmed by it. Burnout should be differentiated with stress on the regard that its importance is such greater that the downsides coming from it will also have a lot more impact on individuals’ lives. A certain amount of stress is healthy and makes you strive forward. Burnout will just shatter a person’s abilities to do what they are supposed to, making it impossible for them to even accomplish the simplest tasks. Once a case of burnout is identified, several options are possible for the employee. The employee may simply quit his job. The employee may take a leave of absence, in which case he would leave his current job position for a little while in order to regroup and work on himself by trying to overcome the burnout syndromes. After a little while, the individual may find his sense of self-esteem rise again, and an ancient desire to work may reappear. Once this desire reappears, it is very important to prepare the employee to come back to work. This transition phase is very important in order for the employee to learn to love his job again. If this phase is not respected correctly the employee may burnout once again. During this phase moral support from both the family side and the work side is very important. This transition could be translated into a part time reestablishment of the employee to help him ease into work. Fortunately, in most cases a prediction of a burnout case with a proper treatment from both the employee side and the direction side helps addressing this issue. The employee, once properly rested usually comes back to his job and look at that burnout like a very stressful time in his life. If this same person starts exhibiting burnout symptoms again, he will know what to do.. 16    .

(24) Employees’ Wellbeing Wellbeing in the Workplace: The Example of Google From the companies’ point of view, maximization of profits and productivity are the norms. Some companies, in addition to those objectives also develop a specific focus towards their employees’ wellbeing. In recent years, some companies took a stance in order to satisfy their employees, this is the case of Google. An exhaustive list of Google’s benefits for its employees (D’Onfro, 2015): •. Free gourmet food for all of Google’s employees. •. Being surrounded by great minds. •. Free transportation depending on the area. •. Career development perspective. •. Decent parental leaves (6 weeks for new dads and 18 weeks for new moms). •. Death benefits for the spouse and children.   The company, Google, is established as a real leader in terms of employee satisfaction and wellbeing. Its focus on talent recruitment and retention coupled with the tremendous amount of benefits and intuitive learning and sharing in the workplace makes it an incredible inspiration for other companies. Its work environment is so singular and friendly that it enhances employee productivity. As a result employees feel more integrated, and concerned about the company’s general direction, leading to an increase in productivity.. Wellbeing Theories On the side of research well being has been defined as “a summative concept that characterises the quality of working lives, including occupational safety and health (OSH) aspects, and it may be a major determinant of productivity at the individual, enterprise and societal levels” (Schulte& Vainio, 2010).. 17    .

(25) The correlation between wellbeing and productivity is clearly a predominant part of this definition. As a result, companies should really put a special emphasis on the development of well being for their employees, which could trigger a feeling of usefulness and enhancing their capacities to the best. A “Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development” study expressed wellbeing being “more than an avoidance of becoming physically sick. It represents a broader bio-psycho-social construct that includes physical, mental and social health. Well employees are physically and mentally able, willing to contribute in the workplace and likely to be more engaged at work” (Tehrani, Humpage, Willmott & Haslam, 2007). In the same study, a deeper understanding of the surface of wellbeing is being explored, with a thorough look at the organizational wellbeing: “organisational wellbeing is about many things, but some of the most important include employees having meaningful and challenging work and having an opportunity to apply their skills and knowledge in effective working relationships with colleagues and managers in a safe and healthy environment. Wellbeing-orientated organisations provide the tools to get the job done and the opportunity to achieve personal aspirations while maintaining work–life balance” (Tehrani et al., 2007, p.6). This evaluation let us suggest that in order for employees to develop their personal wellbeing within the organization they may develop a real sense of commitment as well as a career evolution perspective provided by the company while at the same time living a decent life on the side. This definition brings up an inescapable dimension: the importance of the individual’s personal life. Wellbeing is a tough variable to measure due to the complexity of schemas that can impact its way. This complexity of schemas is represented in the following figure. Hyett and Parker, in their wellbeing questionnaire broke down wellbeing into several parts, focusing on the following aspects (Parker & Hyett, 2011, p.395): 1. Work satisfaction 2. Organisational respect for the employee 3. Employer care 4. Intrusion of work into private life Each dimension has an impact on the overall wellbeing. Since they are all somehow interconnected, the failure of a dimension can engender the failure of the whole. 18    .

(26) process. This figure also tells us that wellbeing is not something that can be achieved on its own, there needs to be a complex integration of external and individual factors that will shift the whole process towards the same direction. One factor is however at the center of this wellbeing process: the organization. A negative impact from the organization or the work can result in terrible outcomes. The employee may end up feeling stress, which could degenerate into more serious conditions. As a result of this conclusion, it is crucial for companies to enhance their employees’ wellbeing in order to motivate them in ways that are going to be beneficial from both the employee point of view as well as the company’s one. As a direct response to this concern, the study is going to observe the relation of the potential existing relations between work related stress risk factors, burnout, stress and wellbeing.. Figure 2-4. The wellbeing continuum Source: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (2007), p.8 Retrieved from: http://www.mentalhealthpromotion.net/resources/what-happening-withwell-being-at-work.pdf Copyright © 2007 by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. 19    .

(27) In a nation-wide survey conducted in Australia in 2011, it was reported that although women tend to have higher stress than men, this does not lead to differences in wellbeing. However, the results of their surveys highlighted the role of education as well as the one of the income in the levels of wellbeing of employees (Casey & Mathews, 2011).. Work Satisfaction As of today, one of the most used definition of work satisfaction is the one of Locke, who defined it as “"a pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one's job or job experiences" (Locke, 1976, p.1304). A more simplistic definition would be the one of Spector that defined it as “how content an individual is with his or her job; whether he or she likes the job or not” (Spector, 1997, p.2). A more recent definition would be the one of Hulin and Judge who raised the idea that “job satisfaction includes multidimensional psychological responses to an individual's job, and that these personal responses have cognitive (evaluative), affective (or emotional), and behavioral components (Hulin & Judge, 2003). Through the evolution of the attempts at designing work satisfaction, we can assert that work satisfaction, just like wellbeing, is a dimension that is subjected to the affection of multiple variables and in order for it to be whole, there must be an interdependent process of variables that is going to put the individual on the path of job satisfaction.. The Relevance of Japan and France to the Study, Similarities and Differences. France and Japan, despite both belonging to the G8 countries of this world differ in various ways. Japan takes its uniqueness by being a stranded island off the world. Radically opposed to this vision, France is at the basis of the European Union and led various colonial expeditions in the past. The differences highlighted in those two countries in terms of culture and history play a major role on the job market. Japan has a. 20    .

(28) collectivist culture, with employees fully committed to their company, often times working very long hours. As opposed to that, France has a “35 hours per week” work regulation. Does the length of your work have a significant impact on feeling stress? Or is pressure from your colleagues or managerial decisions a more important factor to the development of stress. By examining both countries specificities and linking it to the questionnaires results, the study aims at examining what factors are most important for stress development.. Japan, A Highly Collectivist Society Before going into specifics, we must look deeper into the notion of collectivism itself. Relevant studies have been conducted in the past, an especially an article from Wagner and Moch that defined collectivism as “a condition in which cooperation stems from the pursuit of interests shared among the members of a collectivity (even if these pursuits some- times conflict with members’ immediate personal desires)” (Wagner & Moch, 1986, p.282). This definition is really important and highlights the major keys of collectivism. Indeed, the group interests are predominant and will always triumph in regard to the individuals’ desires. Therefore when an individual joins a collectivistic group, he is expected to set his personal desires asides and do whatever is in his power to better benefit the interests of the group. Opposed to the notion of collectivism comes “individualism”. In the same study by Wagner and Moch, individualism is defined as “the condition in which cooperation is motivated by the contingent satisfaction of personal interests (whether this satisfaction stems from personal or group performance)” (Wagner, J. III & Moch, M.). This definition of individualism is very interesting because it reveals that the overall purpose of an individual can be the same as the one of the group. Therefore, in some cases individualistic goals can be intertwined with collectivistic ones. Hofstede’s dimensions include, as well as collectivism, the notion of masculinity. In countries where masculinity is prevalent, individuals are expected to be driven towards goals-achievement, to prevail work over family and to have a real admiration for the strong (Hofstede, 2011, p.12). Japan, being a strong collectivistic country, somewhat appropriated this notion of masculinity in a unique way. Despite having individuals. 21    .

(29) compete for power and high-achievements, Japan appropriated this notion to the group. Indeed, group competition is strong from the youngest age, schools compete between each others, then individuals compete within each other in order to enter in their university of choice and finally during the very competitive “shuukatsu” period. “Shuukatsu” represent the job-hunting process students go through in their final years of university. This process is really hard on students and brings a lot of stress. Japan has also a policy of long-term employment, coupled with a high masculinity putting the emphasis on group competition in this particular context and a strong collectivism, “shuukatsu” is a crucial moment of individuals’ lives.. France, A Liberal Country France has seen drastic changes in the recent decades. Historically France is a country where individuals are valued, as represented in the “Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen” of 1789. The first article has been included in the “Universal Declaration of Human Rights” and stipulates that “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights” (UDHR, 1948, p.2). Since the individual’s place has been prevalent throughout the development course of French history, it came naturally for French people to value individual privileges and desires within the workplace. This resulted in a lower collectivism vision compared to Japan. In the overall course of its history, France has put a strong emphasis on human rights, however women gained more privileges overtime. They received the right and eligibility to vote in 1946. Through demographic changes, history of economical crisis, long politically engaged strikes (May 1968) and the increasing place of women in the workforce, the workplace environment shifted a lot in recent years, bringing its new scope of challenges and problems (as well as solutions). On top of all those changes, the age of retirement has been postponed and young French people are staying longer in schools in order to obtain much-needed diplomas in today’s world of excellence.. 22    .

(30) Figure 2-5. A comparison of the employment rate in France between men and women between 1975 and 2012. Source: Trois décennies d’évolutions du marché du travail [Three decades of the job market evolution], p.56 Retrieved from: https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/1374370?sommaire=1374377 Copyright © 2014 by Insee These. demographical. changes. helped. the. development. of. long-term. unemployment in the country. Indeed, France has now more workforces than ever, especially with the free passing of borders and the allowance of foreign workers coming within the Schengen space. Diverse types of contract have been developed with time, and the importance of part-time employment increased at the same time. Unemployment being an ever-growing problem, the government had to take actions. Actions were translated into a reform called “The 35 hours workweek.” In this reform the “Jospin government” decided to take measures aiming at a greater social coordination with a sharing of the available workload. As shown in the Article 1 of the law (1998), the now authorized working hours are limited at 35 per week. The overall aim was to reduce employment duration in order to free spots for unemployed people. This law played its part, however this had for consequence to increase the amount of part time workers.. 23    .

(31) Figure 2-6. The unemployment rate evolution between 1975 and 2012 in France Source: Trois décennies d’évolutions du marché du travail [Three decades of the job market evolution], p.60 Retrieved from: https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/1374370?sommaire=1374377 Copyright © 2014 by Insee This chart highlights the demographic changes as seen above, with the slow involvement of women in the overall workforce, reducing their unemployment, as well as the implementation of the “35 hours workweek” law that helped reducing unemployment for a short while, until the 2008 crisis occurred (Legifrance, 2000). French people are inclined to a lot of stress, despite the short working hours, especially in comparison with Japan. Young graduate have a hard time finding a job and a lot of them are exiting the country in order to look for a better future abroad. This phenomenon is commonly referred as “la fuite des cerveaux” (“the human capital flight”). An article published in 1998 documented this threatening economical growing process for France. In the article, several students were interviewed and asked why they wanted to find a job elsewhere in the world. For some of them the principal motivation was the perspective of a higher wage. For another one, who really wanted to come back to France to study and conduct researches, it was the unemployment that decided her not stay. As we can observe, the reasons are various, however the conclusion is the same: there is a real exodus currently happening. So, what happens to the ones who decide to stay? The position tittle has a lot of influence on the individuals’ capacity of landing a. 24    .

(32) job. Since unemployment has been growing, young French men and women took and stand for themselves and decided to undergo higher education studies a lot more than their elders. As a result, the general population became more knowledgeable and skilled.. Figure 2-7. Unemployment rate by professional categories in France between 1975 and 2012 Source: Trois décennies d’évolutions du marché du travail [Three decades of the job market evolution], p.61 Retrieved from: https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/1374370?sommaire=1374377 Copyright © 2014 by Insee. France And Japan: Macro-Economical Differences The recent global economy put an overwhelming strain on the global market. As a consequence, both countries had to suffer from major downside. We saw in the above section that France has been suffering from unemployment from a long time now. The trend has been keeping on going up through time. Japan, on the other hand, was a country left in pieces after WWII. The citizens collectively gathered and lived up to Japan’s expectations in terms or collectivistic achievements. They started working hard as a group, and as a society, and never abandoned that culture. People developed a sense or real value and commitment towards their workplace and seniority-based pay was induced in the country. This had for direct consequence to retain employees for a very long time within the company, by giving them the prospect of future prosperous incomes.. 25    .

(33) Figure 2.8. Japan vs. France unemployment rate Source: Trading Economics. Retrieved from http://www.tradingeconomics.com/france/unemployment-rate Copyright © 2017 by Trading Economics. In the above figure (2.11), the data on the left refers to France unemployment rate, and the data on the right refers to Japan unemployment rate. We can observe, as mentioned before that the global crisis hit both countries. In 2008 we observe a strong peak of unemployment increase in both countries. However Japan succeeded in getting back on the track of employment by reducing the unemployment. Japan succeeded because they focused on innovation and the creation of jobs rather than laying-off more and more employees to sustain the company’s benefits like we could observe in France. This could also be due to a certain amount of geopolitical decisions: France is a social country, the welfare system is very expensive and more and more people are coming in the country. Those immigrants can benefit from social aids from the government, weakening the local economy. Japan, on the other hand has a very strict policy in terms of immigration. By being secluded from the rest of the world, the country has focused on its citizen’s overtime, creating job opportunities where other countries could not. Despite the rise of technology, Japan kept on focusing on its people, and while some self-. 26    .

(34) checkout counters have emerged in major companies, the number and the amount of people using them is still extremely low compared to what can be observed in France.. The Rise of Self-Checkout Counters in Recent Years The unemployment rate increasing in unskilled workers and remaining high for the general population coupled with the development of new technologies that is slowly suppressing jobs from the workforce is putting an uncertain cloud above certain workers. This is the case of cashiers. Indeed, this position is inclined to evolve towards a more technological process due to its mechanical aspect. A 1990 survey by the Food Marketing Institute (Alcott, 1991) reported that 89% of shoppers interviewed indicated that a fast checkout process is one of the top priorities in their choice of a store that meets their expectations. As a result line managers are looking for ways to reduce the waiting time of customers in their supermarkets. This could be translated into the opening of new cash registers, the development of new queuing system, or to use the recent development of technology in order to improve the overall passing speed. This survey was the predicator of an upcoming change in the following years. Indeed, as soon as 1996 Walmart had its first trial concerning self-checkout. Cashiers repeat similar movements everyday. As a result, there is a high possibility to develop repetitive strain injuries (RSI). A French study conducted in the early 21th Century, reveals that those RSI are by far the number one cause of injury in the workplace. 70% of the injuries related to work would be RSI (Coutarel, 2013, p.18). For cashiers suffering RSI, the development of self-checkout counters is a real opportunity because they can shift their work from an active perspective in which they needed to pass the articles individually to a passive perspective where they exert a role of supervision and assistance for the customers needing help. The development of self-checkout services however created a lack of need for cashiers in the checkout area. In an interview of Guy Laplatine in the famous French newspaper “L’humanité”, the “CFDT central union delegate” revealed that since the implementation of the self-checkout counters, Auchan (French international retail group and multinational corporation) has evaluated an increase in productivity up to 15%. However, as a counterpart of this productivity. 27    .

(35) increase, the company has seen its numbers of cashiers reduced by 2000 (L’humanité, 2015). The uncertainty of the future of their profession, the development of physical repercussions in the nature of repetitive strain injuries as well as the constant pressure faced by unsatisfied or in-a-hurry customers brings a lot of pressure on the cashiers’ shoulders. This pressure, overtime may develop into stress.. Hypothesis Building and Relationships between the Variables The study focuses on six hypotheses that aim at highlighting relationships between the variables. The study focuses on two different cultures in order to determine whether work-related stress risk factors have a significant impact on both stress and burnout and if those risk factors are more inclined to induce stress in a culture rather than on the other as well as their impact on individuals’ wellbeing.. Work Related Stress Risk Factors and Stress The risk factors of stress will have a significant impact on the level of stress perceived by employees. A tough work environment might help increasing the chances of stress. The Management Standards define the characteristics and culture of an organization in which the risks of work-related stress are managed and effectively controlled (Cousins et al., 2004). Management standards cover six key areas of work design that, if not properly managed, are associated with poor health and wellbeing, lower productivity and increased sick leave. In other words, the six management standards cover the main sources of stress at work. These are: demands, control, support, relationships, role and change (Health and Safety Executive). Leka, Griffiths and Cox wrote: “Stress results from a mismatch between the demands and pressures on the person, on the one hand, and their knowledge and abilities, on the other. It challenges their ability to cope with work. This includes not only situations where the pressures of work exceed the. 28    .

(36) worker’s ability to cope but also where the worker’s knowledge and abilities are not sufficiently utilized and that is a problem for them.” (Leka, Griffiths & Cox, 2003, p.4).. This development from Leka, Griffiths and Cox highlights several aspects of work related stress risk factors: employees have to deal with pressure which may affect their stress level, by having to meet unrealistic deadlines for instance, but also from being underutilized. Indeed some workers might find themselves having to deal with the realization that no matter how skillful or knowledgeable they might be, if their managers do not give them the tools to shine and express their full potential, they might start feeling downgraded and experience stress related to whether or not they will be able to use their full potential someday. Most of the causes of work stress concern the way work is designed and the way in which organizations are managed. Because these aspects of work have the potential for causing harm, they are called ‘stress-related hazards’ (Leka, Griffiths & Cox, 2003, p.5). Those dimensions are composed of several important factors such as the job content, the job pace, the working hours etc. There are various numbers of factors that can induce stress in the workplace. Although research supported the idea that there may be a relation between the workplace and stress, Sparks and Cooper tried to evaluate the connection in their study. They developed a model to evaluate the impact of the connection of the variables (stress and job satisfaction) using seven job characteristics. They evaluated 7099 employees from 13 different occupations and although they found a significant relation between the variables, it was not true for all the different occupations. They suggested to have a more occupation centered approach in order to better evaluate work stress for a specific job (Sparks & Cooper, 1999). Accordingly, based on the existing literature and the purpose of this study, the following hypotheses was tested: H1: Work Related Stress Risk Factor is significantly related to Stress. Work Related Stress Risk Factor and Burnout As mentioned earlier in the thesis, these risk factors can create a threatening condition over the employees that might find it impossible to stop thinking about work,. 29    .

(37) bringing them in a constant state of mental distress potentially leading to degenerative stress, creating burnout. Leka, Griffiths and Cox said: “The experience of work stress can cause unusual and dysfunctional behavior at work and contribute to poor physical and mental health. In extreme cases, long-term stress or traumatic events at work may lead to psychological problems and be conductive to psychiatric disorders resulting in absence from work and preventing the worker from being able to work again.” (Leka, Griffiths & Cox, 2003, p.8).. A long-term exposure to stress might result in an inability to cope with stress by employees. Once employees do not cope with it anymore, they start drowning under the weight of it. Employees need to realize stress is consuming for them so that they can take actions. If nothing is done, some of them might experience degenerative symptoms that may result in burnout. “Quantitative job demands (e.g. too much work for the available time) have been studied by many burnout researchers, and the findings support the general notion that burnout is a response to overload.” (Maslach et al, 2001, p.407). This explanation comforts our hypotheses that burnout is induced by a long-term exposure to several factors at the workplace that make it unbearable for the employee to cope with that overwhelm. Accordingly, based on the existing literature and the purpose of this study, the following hypotheses was tested: H2: Work Related Stress Risk Factor is significantly related to Burnout. Stress and Wellbeing If an employee is regularly stressed, then it will be harder for that person to focus his/her mind to something. The thought of work or difficult tasks ahead will keep on coming back, making it impossible to relax, which will have for consequence to negatively impact wellbeing.. 30    .

(38) Table 2.1 The Role of the Organization in Employees’ Wellbeing Change Management. Consultation, involvement, change-readiness training. Work demands. Risk assessments, person/job fit. Autonomy. Control, whistleblowing, risk-taking. Job security. Working hours, shift-working, redundancy policy. Source: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (2007), p.7 Retrieved from: http://www.mentalhealthpromotion.net/resources/what-happening-withwell-being-at-work.pdf Copyright © 2007 by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development The above extract from the CIPD’s work highlights the effect of organizations on employees’ wellbeing. The right part shows example of what an organization may do in order to enhance employees’ wellbeing depending on the factors on the left. If an organization does not consult its employees or does not train them appropriately when changes in brought in the workplace this could cause stress to the employees. We could imagine a new customer service policy for instance, which would have to transform employees’ habits to fit the new policy. If no work has been done on getting the employees ready they might face stress from being unable to comprehend why the company implements a new policy but especially how to implement it. Customers might feel dissatisfied and this could impact the employees negatively resulting in lowering their self-esteem and eventually their wellbeing at work. Communication is key when change is implemented in an organization. In a nation-wide survey conducted in Australia in 2011, it was reported that although women tend to have higher stress than men, this does not lead to differences in wellbeing. However, what played a major difference in wellbeing was the level of education as well as the income (Casey & Mathews, 2011). Accordingly, based on the existing literature and the purpose of this study, the following hypotheses was tested: H3: Stress has a significant negative effect on Wellbeing. 31    .

(39) Burnout and Wellbeing Burnout is a constant mental strain where achieving even the simplest task appears impossible. It is very unlikely for someone to live happily while experiencing burnout. A commonly discussed source of burnout is overload: job demands exceeding human limits. Increased workload has a consistent relationship with burnout, especially with the exhaustion dimension (Cordes & Dougherty, 1993; Maslach et al., 2001; Schaufeli & Enzmann, 1998). The above dimension helps understanding the impact of burnout on the individuals. By being constantly overload individuals are unable to rest and to disconnect from their jobs. As a consequence it becomes very difficult for them to appreciate their personal lives. By being personally unsatisfied individuals wellbeing will be negatively impacted. “Burnout causes mental dysfunction—that is, it precipitates negative effects in terms of mental health, such as anxiety, depression, drops in self-esteem, and so forth.” (Maslach et al, 2001, p.406). Furthermore, burnout has also been linked to a high neuroticism, which is a long-term tendency to be in a negative emotional state. As a consequence people experiencing burnout see their lives attracted towards a downward spiral of self-unworthiness and see their personal wellbeing impacted as a consequence. Accordingly, based on the existing literature and the purpose of this study, the following hypotheses was tested: H4: Burnout has a significant negative effect on Wellbeing. Stress as a Mediator Between Work Related Risk Factor and Wellbeing By being exposed to several risk factors such as career uncertainty (where do the employee go from where they are? Can they be promoted or will they always be a line worker their whole life?), what they are doing in the organization or whether they are affected by bullying in the workplace, the employees might find themselves accumulating stress and sort of start drowning in it. Stress can affect the employees in different ways such as making them more irritable or less committed to their job. It can also impact themselves on more personal levels, such as difficulty sleeping, having to deal with. 32    .

(40) anxiety, as well as some physical symptoms such as high blood pressures and muscle twitches (Leka, Griffiths & Cox, 2003, p.8). In a study conducted in Spain in the early 2000s, it was found that for nurses in an hospital in Valencia there was a correlation between stress factors and wellbeing (Escriba et al., 2000). Accordingly, based on the existing literature and the purpose of this study, the following hypotheses was tested: H5: Stress mediates the relationship between Work Related Risk factor and Wellbeing. Burnout as a Mediator Between Work Related Risk Factor and Wellbeing Burnout researchers Leiter and Maslach highlighted key roles burnout plays in individuals negative slope (Leiter & Maslach, 2004). 1. Low control 2. Seclusion 3. Poor fairness 4. Ethical conflict 5. Work overload People may start to experience burnout if they have no control at all over their jobs, because they are more likely to be entirely affected by managerial decisions without being able to response from them. Individuals who feel secluded at the workplace might also have a higher chance of experiencing burnout because they have to cope with all the stress of a task alone. A lack of fairness in the workplace may also lead the employees to start self-doubting on why they have to accomplish much harder task than other employees and set them in a negative resentment mode towards their peers and the management. If an employee is conflicted about his personal values and the organization’s values, he might have to deal with unethical situations that might be hard for him to address. As a result the employee will start self doubting his place at the company as well as whether he made the right decisions or not, bringing him in a state of self-doubt and constant worries over the potential consequences of his actions making it. 33    .

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