The Relationship among Job Stress, Social Support and Affective Commitment: A Study on Employees of Nonprofit Organizations in Taiwan

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(1)The Relationship among Job Stress, Social Support and Affective Commitment: A Study on Employees of Nonprofit Organizations in Taiwan. by Yung-Cheng Kuo. A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of. MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION. Major: International Human Resource Development. Advisor: Wei-Wen Chang, Ph. D. National Taiwan Normal University Taipei, Taiwan June, 2012. 61.

(2) ACKNOWLEDGEMENT First of all, I would like to sincerely offer many appreciations to my thesis advisor, Dr. Chang, for giving any of academic and life supports during two years. She was always patients with me, and guild me to right directions in my life. I would like to thank my committee members, including Dr.Pai-Po-Lee and Dr.Lai. They give helpful opinions for me revising my thesis. Without them, I could not finish this thesis smoothly. Secondly, I would like to thank all my friends and classmates in IHRD, HRKM and dorm-1330, especially including Sandra, Lynn, Francis, Nancy, Rodrigo, James, William, Millie, Anita, Ashley, Grace, Vic, Lena, Winni, Matthew, Howard, Ryan, Alan Yu, Joseph Wang, Vicky Liu, Lynn Peng, Yu-Sheng-Chen and Dr. Chuin-Hsien-Lee. They taught me many things that I had never thought before. Many moments we shared with together in joyful and sorrowful memory. They also helped me to be a better man for different aspects in my soul, and gave me psychological and academic supports when I need help. Additionally, for my process of data collection, I would like to thank all NPO supervisors and practitioners who ever gave great assistances on my research. Lastly, I would like to specially thank my dear Family who has always given me a lot of confidence to conquer many difficulties and challenges. Most importantly, I wanted to dedicate all honors to my parents on this special moment. Without their inspiration and love, I could not stand here for achieving this milestone and pursuing the dream in my life.. 2.

(3) ABSTRACT Nowadays, human resources in nonprofit organizations become increasingly important. In this study, the research purpose was to examine the relationship among job stress, social support, and affective commitment in order to understand the job situations of employees of nonprofit organizations (NPOs) in Taiwan. A total of 156 employees in NPOs in Taiwan were examined to understand the relationship between job stress and affective commitment while regarding social support as a moderator. This study used three dimensions of scale to collect data regarding job situations of employees in NPOs in Taiwan. A pilot study, item analysis, internal consistency and expert reviews were used to improve validity and reliability of this study. In addition, the researcher conducted descriptive statistic, correlation analysis and hierarchical regression analysis to analyze hypotheses and examine the relationship among job stress, social support and affective commitment. The result confirmed that job stress was significantly and negatively related to the affective commitment. Moreover, social support was found to have a moderate effect on the relationship between job stress and affective commitment. The result of this research suggested that NPOs managers need to understand psychological situation of employees, and pay attention to the relationship of job stress, social support and affective commitment. Keywords: Nonprofit organizations, job stress, affective commitment, social support. I.

(4) TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract.........................................................................................................................I Table of Contents......................................................................................... .........II List of Tables............................................................................................................IV List of Figures..........................................................................................................VI. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION....................................................................................1 Background of the Study..............................................................................................1 Statement of the Problem...................................................................................................3 Research Purpose...................................................................................................4 Research Questions.................................................................................................5 Hypotheses of the Study..............................................................................................5 Significance of the Study.............................................................................................6 Delimit at ion.........................................................................................7 The Definition of Terms...............................................................................................7. CHAPTER II. LITERATURE REVIEW.......................................................................9 Nonprofit Organization................................................................................................9 Job Stress ....................................................................................................................11 Affective Commitment................................................................................................16 Job Stress and Affective Commitment........................................................................20 Job Stress, Affective Commitment and Demographic Characteristics……....................22 Job Stress, Social Support and Affective Commitment...............................................23. CHAPTER III. RESEARCH METHODS ...................................................................29 Research Framework and Hypotheses........................................................................29 Research Sample..........................................................................................................31 Research Approach..........................................................................................................31 Instrument..........................................................................................................37 Data Collection..........................................................................................................39 Validity and Reliability ...................................................................................................40 Data Analysis.............................................................................................................44 Research Procedure.....................................................................................................46. II.

(5) CHAPTER IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS.....................................................49 Descriptive Statistics........................................................................................................49 Correlation Relationship of Variables..............................................................................56 Relationship between Job Stress and Affective Commitment.........................................58 Moderating Effect of Social Support................................................................................64 Discussions.......................................................................................................................70. CHAPTER V. COUCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS.........................73 Conclusions......................................................................................................................73 Recommendations............................................................................................................74 Research Limitation.........................................................................................................75. REFERENCES.....................................................................................................................77 APPENDIX A. QUESTIONNAIRE (ENGLISH VERSION).................................85 APPENDIX B. QUESTIONNAIRE (EXPERT REVIEW).....................................91 APPENDIX C. QUESTIONNAIRE (PEER REVIEW)...........................................93. III.

(6) LIST OF TABLES Table 2.1 The Finding for the Literature of Affective Commitment.......................................18 Table 2.2 The Studies of Demographic Characteristics...........................................................22 Table 2.3 Various Types of Social Support in the Organizations............................................25 Table 3.1 Research Hypothesis................................................................................................30 Table 3.2 Items and Reliability Coefficient of Job Stress Measure (Previous Study)............32 Table 3.3 Items and Reliability Coefficient of Social Support Measure (Previous Study).....34 Table 3.4 Items and Reliability Coefficient of Social Support Measure (Previous Study).....35 Table 3.5Items and Reliability Coefficient of Social Support Measure (Organizational Support of Previous Study)...................................................................................35 Table 3.6 Items and Reliability Coefficient of Affective Commitment Measure................36 Table 3.7 Reliability Analysis: Job Stress (N=30).................................................................42 Table 3.8 Reliability Analysis: Affective Commitment (N=30)............................................43 Table 3.9 Reliability Analysis: Social Support (N=30).......................................................43 Table 4.1 Sample Descriptive Statistics (N=156)....................................................................51 Table 4.2 Result of Item Analysis (N=156).............................................................................53 Table 4.3 Reliability Analysis: Job Stress (N=156)................................................................54 Table 4.4 Reliability Analysis: Affective Commitment (N=156)............................................55 Table 4.5 Reliability Analysis: Social Support (N=156).........................................................55 Table 4.6 Mean, Standard Deviation, Correlations and Reliabilities of Control Variables, Independent Variables, and Dependent Variables (N=156).....................................57 Table 4.7 Hypotheses Result for Correlation Analysis............................................................57 Table 4.8 Result of Regression Analysis for Job Stress and Affective Commitment (N=156)..................................................................................................................59 IV.

(7) Table 4.9 Result of Regression Analysis for Role Ambiguity and Affective Commitment (N=156)..................................................................................................................60 Table 4.10 Result of Regression Analysis for Role Conflict and Affective Commitment (N=156)................................................................................................................61 Table 4.11 Result of Regression Analysis for Role Overload and Affective Commitment (N=156)................................................................................................................62 Table 4.12 Hypotheses Results for Regression Analysis.................................................63 Table 4.13 Results of Regression Analysis of Moderating Effect of Social Support on the Relationship between Job Stress and Affective Commitment (N=156)..............65 Table 4.14 Results of Regression Analysis of Moderating Effect of Social Support on the Relationship between Role Ambiguity and Affective Commitment (N=156).....66 Table 4.15 Results of Regression Analysis of Moderating Effect of Social Support on the Relationship between Role Conflict and Affective Commitment (N=156)..........67 Table 4.16 Results of Regression Analysis of Moderating Effect of Social Support on the Relationship between Role Overload and Affective Commitment (N=156)........68 Table 4.17 The Result of Hypotheses.....................................................................................69. V.

(8) LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1 The Job Demands-Resources Model......................................................................15 Figure 2.2 Work Stress Model.................................................................................................15 Figure 2.3 The Conceptual Model of Workplace Commitment..............................................21 Figure 3.1 Research Framework..............................................................................................29 Figure 3.2 The Process of Designing Formal Questionnaire...................................................38 Figure 3.3 Data Collection and Analysis Procedure................................................................39 Figure 3.4 Research Procedure.................................................................................................48. VI.

(9) CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION The background, statement, purposes and questions of the study were discussed in this chapter. This chapter also discusses about delimitations, limitations and definition of terms.. Background of the Study Today, the managerial issues of employees in the nonprofit organizations have received increasing attention. In addition to enterprises and business sectors, the issue of retention, staffing and the turnover of employee (Ashcraft & Kedrowicz, 2002; Dewhust, Guthridge & Mohr, 2010; Laczo & Hanisch, 1999) on nonprofit organizations(NPOs) also has been widely discussed in the eras of globalization (Chiu, 2002; Moxham & Boaden, 2007; Netting et al., 2005; Tsai, 2002). From 1990s, these situations of employees were discussed within the organizations in Taiwan, the social services of policies and institutional environments had increasingly received more attentions on the development of NPOs (Kuan, 2000). In recent years, according to the statistical data from the middle of 1990s to June, 2010, the numbers of nonprofit organizations has increasingly grown with the relationship of multiple (Ministry of the Interior, 2010). Therefore, the board executives in NPOs could face many continuous challenges as well as the change of employees’ working attitudes (Kathryn & Grant, 2003). It is so important for organizations to create their organizational values that can associate with implementation of social and administrative affairs in the workplace on employees’ perceptions. Due to existing problems of external and internal environments in NPOs, such as work overloading and role conflict that caused by organizational size and budget in many NPOs(Chiu, 2002; Hsiao, 2000; Kuan, 2000; Shepherd, 2010; Tsai, 2002), The employees in the nonprofit organizations felt that those pressures were produced in their hearts during 1.

(10) working time. After producing pressures, the employees will inevitably affect the psychological level of employees as well as stresses or burnouts (Koh & Lim, 1996; Laczo & Hanisch, 1999; Maslach and Leiter, 2005; Thomas and Lan lau, 2009). Also, the reality of tight resource constraints and environmental uncertainty can make employees have more tensions in the workplace. And the commitment cannot easily translate to the organizations (Alatrsta & James, 2004). In current trends, studies showed that a significant relationship between affective commitment and stress (Chang, 2010; Johnson & Cooper, 2003; Leong et al., 1996; Meyer & Allen, 1991; Meyer et al., 1993). Job stress plays an important factor that can affect affective commitment in NPOs. Simultaneously, employees play vital asset on providing sufficient operations in the nonprofit organizations (Gindling, 2004). Therefore, it is important for organizations to retain existing employees to service in the organizations. Moreover, from some result of studies, organizations also consider the employees how to depict the relationship of commitment to the organizations through environmental factors. Such as social support, supervisor rand coworker supports (Fabian et al., 1993; Frost, B, 2003; Jayaratne & Chess, 1984; Robbins, 1988; Rousseau & Aube, 2010; Whitener, 2001) and, it is also vital for NPOs’ broad executives to reflect themselves that the organizations take steps that related to the quality of work on employees’ affective commitment. Ultimately, it is essential to create the connectivity between employee and organizations where would affect their affective commitment within the organizations ( Cuskelly & Boag, 2001; Meyer et al., 2002; Trimble,2006). Most literature about managerial issues was conducted by quantitative research, Therefore, the researcher involved two qualitative studies understand more needs from NPO employees’ perspective before conducting this research. First, Kuo and Chang (2011) found that workplace training in NPOs as an important phenomenon is significantly affecting employees’ perceptions to adapt to the workplace, including human structure, managerial 2.

(11) system, financial environment and the climate of learning. In addition, Kuo (2011) also found that employees need to resolve challenges from organizations and themselves when concerning about staff trainings in order to motivate and retain them as valuable human resource in complicate working environment. Therefore, the rationale of this study for selecting quantitative method was to confirm and improve this phenomenon on the effect of employees’ job stress, social support and affective commitment. Moreover, since there lacks of studies that focus on job stress through moderator of environmental factors on affective commitment (Jayaratne & Chess, 1984; Lin et al., 2011; Whitener, 2001). Employees from the nonprofit organizations in Taiwan need to understand the relationship of perceived of social support that affect affective commitment under stressful environments. To figure out this gap, the researcher focuses on NPO’s employees under the stressful environments and discusses how they commit to the organizations through the social support. Such a relationship has not been clearly investigated now in Taiwan.. Statement of the Problem In Taiwan, there have been many incidents about job situation and retention on employees of nonprofit organizations. Because the employees are so few due to their organizational size in many NPOs, it is not difficult to hardly figure out that the distributions of human resource are so tight (Chiu, 2002; Hsiao, 2000; Kuan, 2000; Tsai, 2002). The results show extreme discrepancies on the human scale in different types of foundations, hiring the employees is a very important for foundations to operate something within the organization as operational mode of human resource (Chang, 2010). For employees, the relationship between stress and psychological attachment can be assumed to the working situations. Also, affective commitment refers to the emotional attachment to the organizations (Meyer et al., 1993), which means the continuation of a commitment of behavior. The employees in the organizations feel stress in the working environment, this emotional change 3.

(12) affects how to increase or decrease their commitments to the organizations. Reviewing the studies, there are some debates about descriptions of relationship between job stress and affective commitment (Moorman et al., 1998; Wayne et al., 1997). Moreover, Rousseau and Aube (2010) indicated that the environmental factors may be constrained to the affective commitment, which means that organizations need to cope with strategies in order to make employees stay and adjust to the works in the organizations. Because, the NPO’s employees are very important assets to the organization (Seetoo, 1999), The main problem in this study has investigated the employees how to attach to their psychological connection in the organizations through varies of social supports, and to continue contributing their efforts to the job positions. Accordingly, the researcher stated that it is important for NPO managers to know how to retain employees within the organizations (Dewhurst et al., 2010).Moreover, according to literatures, the relationship between job stress and affective commitment has examined it before. However, the results of their relationship are unstable because of external and internal factors (Backer & Billings, 1993; Moorman et. Al., 1998; Wayne et. Al., 1997). Therefore, the researcher wants to know how importantly maintain and explore the employees’ affective commitment through social support in their organizations under the pressure of situations. Also, the study further explains that the employees who received social support are considered as a moderator which would create the positive, negative or indirect relationships between the job stress and affective commitment.. Research Purpose The purpose of this study was to explore the job situations about employees of nonprofit organizations. In doing so, this study aimed to help create the good working environments and increase job productivity through an analysis of quantitative research. It is to focus on examining relationship between job stress and affective commitment in the nonprofit orpganizations. Also, the study wants to measure the moderating effect of social support on the relationship between 4.

(13) job stress and affective commitment. An employee commitment will be only examined in terms of antecedent of affective commitment. Accordingly, research purpose of this study was to examine the relationship among job stress, social support and affective commitment.. Research Questions Based on above purpose, therefore, the researcher wants to address the issues already outlined and to begin to fill the research gap, the present study was designed to state the following research questions: 1. Is job stress significantly related to the affective commitment? 2. Does social support have significant moderating effect on the relationship between job stress and affective commitment?. Hypotheses of the Study Based on above research questions, the study has following research hypotheses, including two hypotheses and six sub-hypotheses based on the literature review. Hypothesis 1: Job stress is negatively related to affective commitment. Hypothesis 1-1: Role ambiguity is negatively related to affective commitment. Hypothesis 1-2: Role conflict is negatively related to affective commitment. Hypothesis 1-3: Role overload is negatively related to affective commitment.. Hypothesis 2: There is a moderating effect of the social support on the relationship between job stress and affective commitment. Hypothesis 2-1: There is a moderating effect of the social support on the relationship between role ambiguity and affective commitment. Hypothesis 2-2: There is a moderating effect of the social support on the relationship between role conflict and affective commitment. Hypothesis 2-3: There is a moderating effect of the social support on the relationship between role overload and affective commitment.. 5.

(14) Significance of the Study First of all, According to Anton’s (2009) study, “The Good economic health of an organization depends on the control and prevention of role stress at work (p.193).” the researcher hopes the board executives to aware that the organizations can understand employees how importantly attached their psychological commitments to the organizations through examining the relationship between the job stress, and affective commitment. Also, the organizers can better develop training programs to help employees to indentify obstacles during their works and to increase their retentions within the organizations. And then it also enforces the interaction between employees and organizations (Rousscan & Aube, 2010). The organizations look deeply at employees of behaviors which caused by personal and environmental factors in deciding whether the kinds of social supports can be assist in gaining the knowledge of working and draining the bad emotions or not in the organizations. Therefore, getting social supports will better improve employees’ behaviors and enhance good relationship between affective commitment effects and job stress to the organizations. (Lin et al., 2011; Kidd & Smewing, 2001; Rafferty & Griffin, 2004; Stinglhamber & Vandenberghe, 2003 ) Secondly, Anton (2009) also observed that role stress did not have a direct effect on workers’ affective commitment, therefore, the study is also significant in that it would prove and provide the important perspectives what social support should NPOs’ managers or supervisors consider about when employees continually stay to face with varies of job stress in the internal organizations. This is important because by realizing what affects employee of intention to the organizations. The organizations will notice the employees of nonprofit organizations who are able to balance between the life quality and working environment and to enhance the awareness of emotional connections through different training programs. Ultimately, the study will also provide some point of views to further researchers who are curious about this area as references in the future.. 6.

(15) Delimitation Regarding to the delimitations of this study, the study delimits to analyze the job stress of employees working in the NPOs. The study needs to assess the employees through moderating of social support on job stress and affective commitment. First of all, for sampling of participants, the researcher only focuses on adopting the employees of non-profit organizations. Furthermore, the source of organizations mainly comes from social welfare foundations and different types of cultural and educational foundations. The results may not apply to all types of non-profit organizations in Taiwan. Secondly, to realize that the role of employee and work situations in the organizations, the study aims to conduct quantitative method to understand the relationship among job stress, social support and affective commitment. For the arrangement of delivering questionnaires, the area on nonprofit organizations was divided into two parts, including volunteers and employees. Because the subject of this study is employees of nonprofit organizations, any questionnaires would not be distributed to the volunteers of nonprofit organizations. The research only adopts the point of views from employees and excludes any point of views from volunteers in NPOs. It will avoid receiving statistical biases about final result of analysis in the study.. The Definition of Terms Non-Profit Organization NPO is an organization that can provide the many varieties of information and helps for those people who seek to deal with some situations, rather than focus on the orientation of money, Also, a diverse set of private institutions that mobilized individual initiative for the common good. It is also known as the Third Sector, these institutions as being charitable organizations, and therefore tax-exempt (Wolf, 1990). Affective Commitment Allen and Meyer (1991) indicated that organizational commitment refers to three-component model of commitment, including affective, continuance and normative commitment. The affective commitment component of organizational commitment refers to the employee’s emotional attachment to, identification with, and involvement in the organization. Zain and Gill (1999) used an affective commitment as a dependent variable to measure the employee commitment in the workplace through using a 5 points Likert scale. 7.

(16) Social Support Social support is defined as an exchange of resources between two individuals perceived by the provider or the recipient to be intended to enhance the well-being of the recipient (Shumaker & Bronell, 1984: p.13) Job Stress Negative emotions as a result of work specifically the psychological aspect of role properties classified as role ambiguity, role conflict and role overload (Kahn & Byosiere, 1992). And the job stress is generally defined as an employee’s feeling of job- related difficulty, tension, anxiety, frustration, worry, emotional exhaustion and distress (Cartwright & Cooper, 1997). The researcher measured job stress as an independent variable through using 5 points of Likert scale.. \. 8.

(17) CHAPTER II. LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter discusses literature related to employees in the organizations regarding job stress, social support (moderator) and affective commitment. The study includes four sections of literature in this chapter. The first section of literature discusses nonprofit organizations and how job stress connects to affective commitment in NPOs. The second section provides reviews with prior studies about job stress and affective commitment respectively. The third section explains the relationship between two variables (including job stress and affective commitment) which depicted by previous propositions. The final section discusses the relationship among job stress, social support and affective commitment.. Nonprofit Organization The research described the characteristics of nonprofit organizations, and then provided information about working situations of employees and organizational operations in the nonprofit organizations in Taiwan. Characteristics of Nonprofit Organizations When it comes to nonprofit organizations, Drucker (1992) said that managing the nonprofit organizations is essential for board executives to create the human resource and organizational resources and to give practices of changes in the society. Without constant official institutions’ supports, the organizations need to contribute more efforts to conduct different missions of social benefits. The big difference between nonprofit organizations and profit organizations is a stakeholder issue (Lee, 2011: p.120). Characteristics of nonprofit organizations are also different from profit organizations as well as general enterprises and governments. NPOs with have important characteristics can promote faster organizational efficiency, effectiveness and better job quality. Some characteristics in the NPOs are indicated as follow (Basini & Buckley, 1997): 1. NPOs do not necessarily exist to generate profit for the owners, but they may generate 9.

(18) income that is spent 2. NPOs are outsides of the realm of government and private enterprises; they may rely on both for funding or expertise, etc. 3. NPOs’ staffing may be made up of unpaid volunteers as well as paid employees 4. NPOs may be exempt from taxation of income or property, and may generate revenues through charitable donations (p.2) Moreover, according to different missions and organizational purposes, NPOs are divided into many types, including charitable organization, fundraising, religious organizations, political campaigns and social service in this society (Lee, 2011: p.120). In addition to above NPOs’ characteristics, the evaluation of reward and appraisal system was differenced from the private sectors (Basini & Buchley, 1997). Therefore, for many NPOs, The management of NPOs is becoming a critical issue, especially for integrating collaboration of different sectors and managing volunteer and employees. The Employees in NPOs For nonprofit organizations, human resource is a valuable resource, including volunteers and employees (Gindling, 2004: p.122). In Taiwan, for 1990-mids, the number of foundations has gradually increased double speed of growth rate, with the rapid development of NPOs, Kuan (2010) estimated that 4500 NPOs were established in Taiwan based on the statistical information of 2010 Ministry of Interior. But, the human resources in NPOs also exist in uneven distributions and extreme discrepancies from different types of foundations; the scale of human resources is from 1 to more than 1000 people (Hsiao, 2006: p.11). For volunteers, organizations can recruit new volunteers who became new human resources under no financial pressures. And volunteers can also help organizations implement different assistance programs. But, for recruiting new employees, it is not easy for organizations to implement this recruitment process because of budgets limitation. According to the statistical result(Kuan, 2010), organizational structure in social service foundations tend to much 10.

(19) smaller from1990 until 2010, for external and internal environment in NPOs, the welfare services have been noticed and improved in our society. Therefore, the nature of the practical working situation of organizational goals of the employees in NPOs is differing from private sectors (Ashcraft & Kedrowicz, 2002). There are some problems related to the working situation of employees faced by NPOs, including organizational resources, the attitude of supervisor and peers, no strategic planning for overall missions in NPOs and psychological pressures(Chiu, 2002; Tsai, 2002; Thomas & Lan Lau, 2009). In fact, the employees in NPOs have identifications with organizational missions to the organizations and they can devote themselves to conduct different activities (Seetoo, 1999). Retaining and maintaining employees are vital policies for NPOs, because it is not easy to replace any employees who have the practical knowledge’s base of long time. Therefore, it is important for sectors to continue to explore and care the understanding of what are real skills and training needs for employees. Also, the organizations need to strengthen the employees to meet challenges of the organizational missions and human resource (Kathryn & Grant, 2003).. Job Stress In the workplace, job stress is attained from working experiences for many workers (Story & Billingham, 2001). According to Kahn and Quinn (1964) study, the occupational stress is a negative factor. And it is easy for workers to connect with their works, such as work load, role conflict, role ambiguity, and poor working conditions. During the psychological or physiological change, the employees who feel the chronic organizational stress have increasingly changed by their external and internal working environments (Beehr & Newman, 1978). Also, Kessler et al. (1985) proved that the psychological well being and stress have some connections with each other. Therefore, employees perceived some personal conditions and feeling from their works, simultaneously, it can produce the psychological and 11.

(20) physiological situations. This research found that different types of sources that employee received can result in much job stress. Story and Billingham(2001: p.601) stated, “there are six general areas of stress in the workplace, including physical environment, employee’s role, organizational structure and climate, public image and expectation and the inter-face between work and home” (p.601). Also, Lu et al. (2003) also found that there are six sources related to stress during the working, including physical environment, role stressors, organization structure and job characteristics, relationship with others, career development and work family conflict. Moreover, people who experience much emotional exhaustions can produce some burnout, and then the burnout is connected with working performance, absenteeism and working satisfaction. According to Antoniou et al. (2006) study, employees produce the job stress, the sources of stress could cause by endogenous and exogenous. On the hand, the exogenous including the balance between the training and work, the situation of working on projects, the balance between families and works. On the other hand, the endogenous including career development, organizational structure, the distributions of employee in NPOs, role position, job complexity and organizational climate. Generally, according to Kahn and Byosiere (1992), the job stress was divided into three dimensions, including role conflict, role ambiguity and overload. Three dimensions were discussed below in NPO context. The Job Stress in Nonprofit Organizations The working situations of employees in NPOs still have some potential problems. For working time; even though, the organizations set up the constant working time, NPOs’ workers usually don’t finish their works on time due to the heavy working loading. Because of nature of NPOs’ job, employees in NPOs are especially sensitive to face with much stress and its devastating effects under the complicate working environments. Owing to limitation of fewer organizational resources, the distribution of human resource, and fundraising. 12.

(21) problems, it is easy for NPOs’ workers feel the job stress, and finally become burnout in the workplace (Maslach & Leiter, 1997). Under full of stressful environments, the employees need to complete their works that caused by pre-employees and finish own works with limitation of human resource. Therefore, the job overload is very heavy. Employees need to wear different shoes to implement multiple tasks in the working environment. Thomas and Lan (2009) said that the characteristics of NPO’s job are dangerous or stressful and lack of supervisory. The NPOs’ workers need to experience many frustrations and depressions because of gaps between job expectations and realities. Because, the Michael et al. (2009) indicated that “when role expectation are not clear due to lacks of information and the work it entails”(p.267), the problem of role ambiguity was cause by employee’s awareness, and then the employees can lose confidences and increase the anxieties and hopelessness (Muchinsky, 1997). In addition, under the incompatible role expectation and the requirement of organization, employee could create the role conflict that produces the psychological stress. Almost all the NPOs’ workers need to deal with the multiple cases during the period of long time. So, when it comes to staff training, although employees are willingness to accept the staff trainings designed by organizations, their participation still depends on their working loading. Otherwise, NPOs’ workers would not only experience more job stress, but also reduce the benefit of training outcomes after staff trainings. The Models Affecting Job Stress in the Organizations When it comes to models related to job stress, this research adopts three models to introduce the process and psychological impacts when employees experience job stress in the workplace, including the Conservation of Resources Model, the Job Demand- Resources Model and Work Stress Model.. 13.

(22) Conservation of Resources Model The first model, which is called Conservation of Resources Model, is to describe the importance of accepting available sources for employees during working. Halbesleben and Buckley (2004) said that “Stress and burnout occur when individuals perceive a threat to that which they value (resources)” (pp.861-862). Therefore, the employees may have difficulties in acquiring treasure and helpful resources, which means that it is sensitive for employees to have feeling of unsafe and produce job stress at that time.. The Job Demands—Resources Model The second model, which is called The Job Demands—Resources Model, is to divide into two dimensions as well as job demands and job resources in performing how to need considerations to deal with your job stress in the workplace (Halbesleben & Buckley, 2004). (1) Job demands are those aspects of the job that require effort, and as a result are associated with psychological costs (2) Job resources are characteristics of the job that assist in achieving work goals, diminish the demands of the job, or lead to personal growth. (pp.862-863) Therefore, job demands and job resources can affect employees producing degrees of job stress as well as exhaustion and disengagement when employees deal with external working needs lacking of any resources supports.. 14.

(23) ◆Physical Workload ◆Time Pressure ◆Physical Environment. Job Demands. Exhaustion. Job Resources. Disengagement. ◆Recipient Contact ◆Shift Work ◆Feedback ◆Rewards ◆Job Control ◆Participation ◆Security ◆Supervisor Support. Figure 2.1 The job demands—resources model. Adapted from: “The job demands- resourcesmodel of burnout.” By Demerouti, E., Bakker, A. B., Nachreiner, F., & Schaufeli, W.B. (2001), Journal of Applied Psychology, 86, 499-512.. Work Stress Model The third model, which is called Work Stress Model, is to divide into three steps, and then Work Stress Model described that people who received stress affect how to use the strategy of stress management to deal with any situations under different sources of stressors. Therefore, this study indicated that job stress plays vitals impact on employees’ psychological needs, physiological needs and organizational performance. Stressor (Cause of Stress) (1) Environment (2) Relationship between Coworkers (3) Work Overload. Strategy to Handle Work Stress Situation. Results or Consequences On: (1) Work Performance (2) Personal Life (3) Health. Figure 2.2 Work stress model Note: Adapted from “Worksite stress management interventions.” By Ivancevich, Matteson, Freedman, and Phillips. (1990), American Psychologist, 45(2), 252-261. 15.

(24) Affective Commitment Meyer and Allen’s (1991) study indicated that organization commitment was divided into three dimensions, including continuance commitment, normative commitment and affective commitment. However, as the range of organization commitment is so board, this study was only focused on affective commitment, which involves employees’ emotional changes (Beck and Wilson, 2000). Also, after combining many literatures, this study found that affective commitment which was caused by psychological pressure and social supports would influence the perceptions of employees in the organizations. Accordingly, the researcher explained the concept, affective commitment, in the following two sections, including the important for employees on emotions to change and the impact of job stress on affective commitment to change.. The Importance for Employees on Emotion to Change When it comes to affective commitment, it is defined as the employee’s positive emotional attachment to the organization. It means that the identifications from employees are connected with the commitment of organization base on varies of attitudes of working situations. When the employees produce the strong psychological attachment in their hearts, the employees have more willingness to devote their efforts to their organizations (Mueller et al., 1992). Moreover, in the organizations, employees who have the relationship with affective commitment can contribute their efforts to the organizational tasks, which mean that this factor is related to the positive attitudes towards organizational change. This is because Beck and Wilson (2000) indicated that the evidence for developmental needs from employees’ psychological attachment is more important than other two organizational commitments (continuance and affirmative commitment).. 16.

(25) Also, Meyer and Allen (1993) also indicated that affective commitment refers to workers’ psychological attachment to the working locations. Therefore, the NPOs’ workers stay in the stressful working environment, it is easy to affect psychological process in their minds. For affective commitment, Ugboro (2006) indicated that there was a significant positive relationship associated with job performance, employee employment and self determination. It is not only adjusting the organizational performance of employee, but also connecting with the level of psychological and physiological in the organizations. When affective commitment from employees becomes much weaker, employees are tired of their works and lose their feelings of organizational identifications. According to the Somers (1995) statistical result, the study showed that there was a significant and positive relationship with affective commitment and employee intention in the organizations. Therefore, when employees decide to leave their jobs, the organizations need to care about employees’ real needs from emotional attachment in their working environments. The Impact of Job Stress on Affective Commitment to Change Furthermore, there are some literatures connecting with psychological, spiritual aspect and employees in the working organizations. According to the Rego and Cunha (2008) finding, employees with higher affective commitment can attach to their organizations and sense of loyalty because of importance of workplace spirituality. The employees in the organizations are suitable for affecting and transferring their affective commitment through spiritual and psychological stress. For continuance and affirmative commitment, it is not belong directly to employees’ emotions and feelings. Rhoades et al. (2001) also indicated that” Employees have a sense of belonging and identification that increases their involvement in the organization’s activities their willingness to pursue the organization’s goals and their desire to remain with the organizations (p.825)”. This study found that it is an important factor for NPO managers to pay attention on observing employees ‘perceptions on how employees’ attitudes and behaviors they emotionally changed to the organizations (Adawiyah, et al. 2011). In addition, Lin et al. (2011) also indicated that job psychological stress had a significant and negative influence on employee affective commitment in the organizations. Therefore, it 17.

(26) is obviously for nonprofit organizations to consider that affective commitment is connected to their employees’ emotion change, and this present study aims to understand more details about among connections of job stress, social support and affective commitment. Table 2.1 The Finding for the Literature of Affective Commitment Authors. Finding. Meyer and Allen Affective commitment refers to workers’ psychological (1993). attachment to the working locations.. Somers (1995). Affective was positively related to intent to remain with the organization.. Beck and. The evidence for developmental needs from. Wilson (2000). employees’ psychological attachment is more important than other two organizational commitments. Rhoades et al.. Employees have a sense of belonging and identification that. (2001) increases their involvement in the organization’s activities their willingness to pursue the organization’s goals and their desire to remain with the organization. (p.825) Cartwright and. Job stressors associated with negative attitudes to change and. Cooper (2002). affect the individual’s value to the organizations. (Continued). 18.

(27) Table-2.1(Continued) Authors Vakola and Nikolaou (2005). Finding The range of organizational and individual factors were caused and related by the commitment as well as work Experience, personal characteristics. Structural characteristics and role related features.. Ugboro (2006). There. was. a. significant. relationship. associated with job performance, employee employment and self determination. Rego and. The findings suggest that when people. Cunha (2008) experience workplace spirituality, they feel more. affectively. organizations,. attached. experience. a. to sense. their of. obligation/loyalty towards them, and feel less instrumentally committed. Liu et al.(2011). Job psychological stress had a significant negative influence on employee affective commitment to change. it is suggested that by improving psychological factors at work, it is possible to promote employee affective commitment to change as well as positive organization change.. 19.

(28) Job Stress and Affective Commitment In NPOs, the employees can produce job stress by facing varies of cases during working time. When the multiple tasks increase, the job stresses also increase. Therefore, it is possible for employees to affect their affective commitment to the organizations. This is because they do not concentrate devoting efforts with their works, and improving organizational efficiency. Some literatures showed that job stress was associated with the affective commitment on the workplace. Kessler et al.’s (1985) research found that fundamental nature of stress has an impact on psychological well-being. Based on above study, the level of psychological pressures can affect the employees’ feelings in the working environment. Therefore, Heller et al. (1990) also indicated that it is essential for organizations to understand the psychological situations of employees by diagnosing their social and working conditions, and then to lessen psychological distress. The fore-mentioned scholars proved that job stress have a significant relationship with affective commitment. Moreover, Yousef (2002) also showed that role ambiguity has a clear impact on affective and normative commitment. However, Moorman et al. (1998) and Wayne et al. (1997) demonstrated that role stress did not have a direct effect on workers’ affective commitment, but an indirect effect through job satisfactions. For social service workers, the employees need to face work-family problems and social obligations. Therefore, it is unfair for employees to implement the different works and experience more additional job stress and no brighter future in their organizations. Moreover, Fornes et al. (2008) created the conceptual model to explain what factors of antecedents affecting the outcomes to the workplace commitment. From this model, it is important for organizations to build the policies based on those antecedents and move toward improving organizational outcomes through promoting employee perceptions as well as affective commitment, individual employee commitment and perceived organizational support. The conceptual model of workplace commitment is as follows:. 20.

(29) Antecedents. Outcomes. Employee Perception. *Congruency *Interesting Work. *Individual and Organizational Success *Organizational. *Clarity of Purpose *Emotional Attachment. Commitment. *Willing to Change in Organizational Citizenship. *Equity and Fairness *Feedback & Recognition *Empowerment. *Extra-role Performance *Perceived Support of. *Increased Job Satisfaction and Work Motivation. Organization. *Improved Performance. *Autonomy. *Improved Production * Lower Absenteeism and Turnover * Reduced Work-related Stress. *Congruency. * Improved Self-esteem/Self-image. *Interesting Work *Congruency. *Individual. *Feedback & Recognition Employee Commitment. *Increased Employee Well-being. *Autonomy. *Self-Awareness. *Perceived Meaningfulness. Figure 2.3 The conceptual model of workplace commitment Adapted from “Workplace commitment: A conceptual model developed from integrative review of the research.” Fornes, A. L., Rocco, T. S., & Wollard, K. K, (2008), Human Resource Development Review, 7(3), 339-357.. Based on this conceptual model, the organizations can make a balance between employees’ work and psychological needs. Indentifying the importance of good fit between employees and organizational values is a key to increase the affective commitment to the employees (Van Vianen, 2000). Also, Lahiry (1994) indicated that the greater levels of consistency of individual and organizational values, the greater the levels of employee affective commitment. Based on above literature reviews, therefore, the hypotheses 1 and sub-hypotheses (1a, 1b and 1c) of this study are set as follow: 21.

(30) Hypothesis 1: Job stress is negatively related to affective commitment. Hypothesis 1a: Role ambiguity is negatively related to affective commitment. Hypothesis 1b: Role conflict is negatively related to affective commitment. Hypothesis 1c: Role overload is negatively related to affective commitment.. Job Stress, Affective Commitment and Demographic Characteristics The researcher found that some demographic characteristics affect to job stress or affective commitment. There are several studies which is described the effect of variance on the following table 2.2.. Table 2.2 The Studies of Demographic Characteristics Author. Result. Rozenblatt(2001). There is no simple correlation between age, education or nationality, organization commitment and burnout, but these factors were medicated by participant’s skill level and skill flexibility.. Rodriguz et al.(2005). Hispanic professional females experience higher levels of job stress than do males.. Balay(2007). Male teachers were likely to experience commitment based on compliance and avoidance of conflict than were female teachers.. Brewer and McMahon Teachers with industrial educations felt effect in levels (2003) of job stress was not explained by demographic characteristics. Michael et al. (2009). The Perach Mentoring Project coordinators who have junior seniority feel much heavier workload than senior PMP coordinators.. Note: Adapted from “Job stress and organizational commitment among mentoring coordinators.” Michael, O. Court, O., & Petal, P. (2009), International Journal of Educational Management, 23(3), 271.. 22.

(31) Among these prior studies adopted by Michael et al. (2009) study, Rozenblatt (2001) found that the correlation of age, education, nationality, organization commitment and burnout is not so clear. But affective commitment may be medicated by employees’ competencies. The researcher found that gender and age play an important indicator affecting the degree of affective commitment. Because, in Rodriguz and Brewer (2005) and Balay(2007) studies, both studies concluded that the males employees are much higher than females in experiencing sensitively levels of job stress and affective commitment in the organizations. Different educational backgrounds of people produce the variances of analysis when they felt different levels of stress in their job positions (Brewer and McMahon, 2003). Michael et al. (2009) observed that junior employees perceived more work loading than senior employees. Therefore, because there are several inconclusive and complicate relationships of demographic characteristics affecting the employees’ level of job stress and affective commitment, the researcher wants to restrict these demographic characteristics which can reduce uncertainties at the end of research, including age, gender, and education level and seniority of work experience.. Job Stress, Social Support and Affective Commitment When the employees experience much stress from the tasks in NPOs, from employees’ working experiences, this is so important for those employees who attain the mental and physical requirements to improve their quality of working environments in order to fulfill the levels of affective commitment to the organizations (Robbins, 1988). House (1981) indicated that the organizations can build the connection of social conditions to decrease the psychological pressures. Person (1990) also said that it is important for organizations to develop the social support systems which are associated with social networks to improve the potentially harmful effect of environmental stress. Also, from Harvey et al. (2003) study, employees who have a greater relationship with supervisors can 23.

(32) lead to less stress and burnout. Also, from Brewer and McMahon (2003) study, they found that perceived organization support was the greatest indicators of stress and commitment. Fontaine (1986) said that “Social support is to help in mobilizing psychological resources and. serves. to. provide. feeling. of. reinforcement,. recognition. and. affirmation”. (pp.362-363).Therefore, the employees of working behavior can get the perceptions of supports from organizations through the organizational and situational factors. Different sources of support were influenced to the employee’s working environment in the workplace. First of all, employees who perceived the professional support and organizational support can improve the negative feeling from work-related stress (Frost, 2003). Secondly, Caligiuri and Lazarova (2002) study, there are three types of social support associated with individual overall support networks, including emotional support, informational support and instrumental support. The same perspectives to Schaufeli and Bakker (2004) study, they indicated coworkers supports is an important resource for employees in the organizational environments, including emotional concerns, work supports and informational supports. It is not only helping employees to acquire practical assistances, but also satisfying their needs of belonging and esteem (Chang et al., 2011; Dick, 1986; Dollard et al., 2000). According to Ashcraft and Kedrowicz (2002) study, they indicated that “social support as a communication process in which participants aid each other with the struggles of organizational life” (p.91) in the nonprofit organizations. They also combined four various types of social supports for explaining how greatly influence employees to their employments as follow:. 24.

(33) Table 2.3 Various Types of Social Support in the Organizations Types of Social Support Informational Support. Content It refers to sharing knowledge, and often in an effort to reduce uncertainty. Emotional Support. It ranges from listening to giving advice, and it is offered to help another cope with life experience.. Instrumental (Tangible) Support. It involves the provision of concrete aid that produces more defined outcomes, such as shouldering the tasks of a coworker.. Appraisal Support. It refers to performance-centered feedback, which means that organizations can provide affirmation and opportunity for development.. Note: Adapted from “Self-direction or social support? Nonprofit empowerment and the tacit employment contract of organizational communication studies.”Communication Monographs, 69(1), 92.. Finally, through the daily support, the supervisor can understand the employees’ working situations, and then provide the minor adjustments to increase the affective commitment in the organizations (Kim & Stoner, 2008). Some studies observed the relationship among the job stress, social support and affective commitment. According to Wayne et al. (1997), the mediator of Perceived Organizational Support (POS) in the relationship between situational factors, employee attitudes and behaviors can affect the employees’ commitments from their 25.

(34) organizations. Also, Moideenkutty et al. (2001) and Whitener (2001) indicated that there is a positive relationship between organizational supports and affective organizational commitment. But, Rousseau and Aube (2010), found that even though previous studies showed that supervisor and coworker supports are positively associated with affective commitment to the organizations, the environmental conditions are also needed to be included into a variable of effect. The study also found that ambient conditions moderate the relationship between supervisor support and affective commitment. Employees can strength affective commitment when organizations have favorable atmospheres in the working environment. From Alatrstra and James (2004) study conducted qualitative method to interview 8 employees and used the in-depth case study to observed “Premier Trust” where includes 500 employees for knowing how to manage employee commitment in the organization. They found that the main problems are contract culture environment and permissive management style with the organization. Therefore, to improve this problem, organizations need to appropriately provide trainings, communication and consultation to underpin employees’ commitment and relief their pressures The researchers also use the other Muse et al. (2003) study’s perspective to explain that employees who feel optimum levels of job stress can improve the job performance and organizational identifications (Brannon & Teist, 2000). For employees, this stress is functional standard under this level of stress. Because, Chang et al. (2011) said that the social supports from organizations have some buffering effect on connection between role stressors and stressful reactions. When employees with social supports feel much work loading, they can better deal with their heavy works, Job stress could become benign pressure for organizations to push employees’ hearts improving and performance and quality of works at that time.. 26.

(35) The Model Affecting Job Stress, Social Support and Affective Commitment To date, there are some models explaining the impact of job stress and social support. Therefore, this research uses two models to explain impact of adjusting job stress and social support, including the Job Demand- Control Model (Karasek, 1979) and the Job Demand-Control-Support (JDCS) model (Johnson & Hall, 1988).The action can affect employees’ affective commitment to the organizations. Moreover, two models on area of occupational stress have conducted by several scholars for last 20 years. Job Demand- Control Model (JDC) Model In Karasek (1979) study, the researcher found that employees who work in a high-strain job (High demands and low control) and experience the lowest well-being when staying in the workplace. There are two contributions as follow: (1) The combination of low decision latitude and heavy job demands which is associated with mental strain and job dissatisfaction (2) The model indicated mental strain results from the interaction of job demands and job decision latitude when testing workers in Sweden and United States (p.285) Job Demand-Control-Support (JDCS) Model The JDCS model has dichotomized into isolated or collective conditions, which depends on the degree of acceptance of job strain and social support. Sanne et al. (2005) observed the JDCS model has three factors affecting simultaneously the qualities of workplace, including job demands (psychological), control (decision latitude) and social support. Thereby, the demand-control model has been redefined by the addition of work related social support. This is because social support may serve to modify the impact of psychological demands both on and off the job. The model also indicated that employee will face with the strongest job stress when facing with highest job demands, lowest control and social support.. 27.

(36) Therefore, this research infers that employees who perceived the different social supports have an impact on decreasing the spiritual burdens in order to promote their psychological attachments to their organizations. In summary of this section, previous studies indicated that the social support is hypothesized to have a buffering effect on employees of nonprofit organizations between the job stress and affective commitment.. Based on above literature reviews, therefore, the hypotheses 2 and sub-hypotheses (2a, 2b and 2c) of this study are set as follow: Hypotheses 2: There is a moderate effect of social support on the relationship between job stress and affective commitment. Hypotheses 2a: There is a moderate effect of social support on the relationship between role ambiguity and affective commitment. Hypotheses 2b: There is a moderate effect of social support on the relationship between role conflict and affective commitment. Hypotheses 2c: There is a moderate effect of social support on the relationship between role overload and affective commitment.. 28.

(37) CHAPTER III. RESEARCH METHODS In Chapter three, the content was composed of research framework, research hypothesis, research sample, research method, validity, reliability, instrumentation, data collection and data analysis.. Research Framework and Hypothesis The conceptual model was listed in this study according to literature review. Therefore, the research framework of this research was depicted in figure3.1:. Social Support. Job Stress (1)Role Conflict (2)Role Ambiguity (3)Role Overload. Control Variables 1. Age 2.Gender 3 Educational Level 4 Seniority of Working Experience. H2. Affective Commitment H1. Figure 3.1 Research framework. There are independent variable (job stress), dependent variable (affective commitment) and moderator (social support) in this research framework (See figure 3.1). For independent variable, it is divided into role ambiguity; role conflict and role overload (Kahn & Byosiere, 1992). For dependent variable, according to Allen and Meyer (1991) study, organizational commitment was divided into three component model of commitment, including affective, continuance, and normative commitment. But, this study focuses on affective commitment. On the other hand, the study investigates the relationship between the job stress and affective 29.

(38) commitment. On the other hand, through the moderator of social support, the study also explores the relationship among the job stress, social support and affective commitment. The relationship among three was described in figure 3.1 and research hypotheses were listed below: Table 3.1 Research Hypothesis Research Hypothesis Hypothesis 1. Job stress is significant negatively related to affective commitment Hypothesis 1a – Role ambiguity is negatively related to affective commitment Hypothesis 1b- Role conflict is negatively related to affective commitment Hypothesis 1c - Role overload is negatively related to affective commitment. Hypothesis 2. There is a moderate effect of the social support on the relationship between job stress and affective commitment. Hypothesis 2a –There is a moderate effect of the social support on the relationship between role ambiguity and affective commitment. Hypothesis 2b –There is a moderate effect of the social support on the relationship between role conflict and affective commitment. Hypothesis 2c –There is a moderate effect of the social support on the relationship between role overload and affective commitment.. 30.

(39) Research Sample According to the “Taiwan NPO Information Platform”, there are 6013 NPOs registered in this platform. The researcher collected the data of participants from varies of NPOs including 17 social welfare service foundations, four environmental protection foundation and one cultural education foundation. For sampling method, the study used a non-experimental quantitative method (John & Christensen, 2004). In order to examine the hypotheses, the respondents need to meet the following requirement: The respondent has at least six months working experiences in nonprofit organizations in Taiwan Based on above requirement, for pilot study, the study collected 30 copies of questionnaires from employees who have experienced working in the Taiwan’s nonprofit organizations. For the research sample, the study targeted to collect data from 156 employees who have at least six months working experiences in nonprofit organizations in Taiwan. The respondents would assure of confidentiality and informed that the important information would be used for research only.. Research Approach The quantitative approach was used in the study. Except background information, all items in the questionnaire were adopted by previous studies (Meyer & Allen, 1991; Pineda, 2011; Zhao & Rachid, 2010; Zimet et al. 1988 ). This questionnaire was divided into three scales: job stress, social support and affective commitment. Moreover, before conducting the formal study, the researchers have implemented the pilot study to make sure the quality of the instrument.. Control Variables The study selected control variables from background information, including age, gender, and educational level and seniority of work experience. The purpose of using control variables is to better understand NPOs’ employees of relationship among job stress, social support and affective commitment,. Demographic Information All items in the first part were divided into organizational and personal demographic information. The content of background information included the type and location of 31.

(40) organizations. organizational size, age , gender,. job position, educational level, seniority of. work experience, job content that employees are responsible for in the organizations, and what kind of training had received before in the organizations. Control variables were included within the background information.. Job Stress The job stress (role ambiguity, role overload and role conflict) items in questionnaire were adopted from study conducted by Zhao and Rachid’s (2010) study. The part Ⅱ of the questionnaire was consisted of 16 items.The scale was rated from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strong agree) (See table 3.2) .Reliability coefficient of job stress measure was also shown in table 3.2 (See table 3.2).. Table 3.2 Items and Reliability Coefficient of Job Stress Measure Construct. Item Code. Role RA1 Ambiguity RA2 RA3 RA4 RA5 RA6 Role Overload. RO7 RO8 RO9 RO10 RO11. Question Item. I feel certain about how much authority I have. I know that I have divided my time properly. I know that I have my responsibilities are. I know exactly what is expected of me. I know what the critical factor is in getting promoted. I know how I should handle my free time on the job. There is a need to reduce some parts of my role. I feel overburdened in my role. I have been given too much responsibility. My workload is too heavy. The amount of work I have to do interfere with quality I want to maintain.. Number of Items. Cronbach Alpha Value. 6. 0.79. 5. 0.75. (Continued). 32.

(41) Table 3.2 (continued) Construct. Role Conflict. Item Code. Question Item. RC12 RC13 RC14. I have to do things that should be done differently. I work under incompatible polities and guidelines. I receive an assignment without the resources to complete it. I have to buck (bend) a rule or policy in order to carry out an assignment. I receive incompatible requests from two or more people.. RC15 RC16. Number of Items. Cronbach Alpha Value. 5. 0.78. Note: Adapted from The mediating role of work-leisure conflict of job stress and retention of it professionals by Zhao, L & Rashid, H (2010), Academy of Information and Management Sciences Journal, 13 (2), 31.. Social Support. All the social support 15 items in questionnaires were adopted from Zimet et al. (1988) and Pineda (2011). The part Ⅲ of the questionnaire was consisted of 12 items (See table 3.3). Moreover, the study found that Pineda (2011) study additionally increase one dimensions (organizational support) in her questionnaire. Therefore, the other 3 items also included into the part III of questionnaire. Both Reliability coefficient of social support measure was also shown in table 3.3, table 3.4 and table 3.5. The scale was rated from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree).. 33.

(42) Table 3.3 Items and Reliability Coefficient of Social Support Measure Construct. Item Code. Question Item. Number Cronbach of Items Alpha Value. Social SOSC1 Support (Significant SOSC2 Others) SOSC3 SOSC4 Social Support (Family). FMSC5 FMSC6 FMSC7 FMSC8. Social Support (Friends). There is a special person who is around when I am in need. There is a special person with whom I can share my joys and sorrows. I have a special person who is a real source of comfort to me. There is a special person in my life that cares about my feelings.. 4. 0.91. 4. 0.87. 4. 0.85. I get the emotional help and support I need from my family. My family really tries to help me. I can talk about my problems with my family. My family is willing to help me make decisions.. FRSC9 I can talk about my problems with friends. FRSC10 I have friends with whom I can share my joys and sorrows. FRSC11 I can count on my friends when things go wrong. FRSC12 My friends really try to help me.. 34.

(43) Table 3.4 Items and Reliability Coefficient of Social Support Measure Construct. Question Item. Number Cronbach of Alpha Items Value. Social Support. All three dimensions of question items. 12. 0.88. Note: Adapted from: “The multidimensional scale of perceived social support” by Zimet, G., Dahlem, N., Zimet, S. & Faley, G. (1988), Journal of Personality Assessment, 52(1), 30-41.. Table 3.5 Items and Reliability Coefficient of Social Support Measure Construct. Item. Question Item. Number Cronbach. Code. Social Support. OSC13. (Organizational). of. Alpha. Items. Value. I know that I can count on my school /company/ organization’s support. OSC14. I feel that I can talk freely with my coworkers. OSC15. If I face any difficulties with my students I can. 3. 0.826. depend on my school/organizations/company for help Note: adapted from” The relationship of previous international experience, pre-departure cross cultural preparation, personality, social support and multicultural competence” Pineda, A. (2011), (Unpublished Master’s thesis), Graduate of IHRD, Taipei, 64-65.. 35.

(44) Affective Commitment The affective commitment items in questionnaire were adopted from study conducted by Zain and Gill’s (1999) study, which included 8 items. The scale was rated from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree) (See table 3.6). Reliability Coefficient of Organizational Commitment Measure was also shown in table 3.6. Table 3.6 Items and Reliability Coefficient of Affective Commitment Measure Construct. Item Question Item Code. Affective commitment. AC1 AC2 AC3 AC4. AC5 AC6 AC7 AC8. Number Cronbach of Alpha Items value. I would be happy to spend the rest of my career with this organization. I enjoy discussing my organization with people outside it. I feel as if this organization’s problems are my own. 8 I do not think I could become as attached to another organization as I am to this one. Organization I feel like “part of the family” at any organization. I feel emotionally attached to this organization. This organization has personal meaning to me.. 0.89. I feel a strong sense of belonging to my organization.. Note: Adapted from : “A psychometric assessment of Malay version of Mayer and Allen’s organizational commitment measure” by Zain, A. & Gill, R (1999), Malaysian Management Review. Retrieved from: http://www.eurojournal.com/ejss_13_4_12.pdf.. 36.

(45) Instrument Design of Questionnaire Quantitative method was conducted in this research to investigate the relationship among job stress, social support and affective commitment. Questionnaires were used to obtain the data from the different areas of employees in Taiwan’s nonprofit organizations. The research selected three variables of questionnaires which were developed by previous studies, and then revised them for this study. A job stress (role ambiguity, role overload and role conflict) items were adopted from study conducted by Zhao and Rachid (2010). The role ambiguity and role conflict items were initially developed by Glazer & Beehr’s (2005) study , and the role overload items were initially developed by Peterson et al. (1995). The affective commitment items were adopted from study conducted by Zain and Gill (1999). The instrument of affective commitment was adopted from organizational commitment developed by Meyer and Allen (1991). The social support items were adopted from Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MAPSS; Zimet et al., 1988). This questionnaire includes three dimensions of perceived social support (1) Significant others (2) Family (3) Friends. Also, Pineda (2011) adopted this questionnaire and added the fourth dimension (Organization support). Therefore, the study will adopt fourth dimension of perceived social support to the questionnaire. Five-point Likert scale was applied. The scale was from 1 (Strongly disagree), 2(Disagree), 3 (Neural), 4 (agree) to 5 (strongly agree). In addition to background information, in this study, the questionnaire included three parts, job stress, social support and affective commitment. Then, the researcher adopted three steps to build the final version of questionnaire. First of all, all items in the questionnaire were revised based on literature reviews in the study. Secondly, in order to test the content validity, expert reviews (expert validity) and peer reviews would be conducted in this study;. 37.