Factors affecting job stress among IT professionals in apparel industry: a case study in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Occupational stress is the physical and emotional response which occurs when the requirements of the job do not match the capabilities, resources or needs of the worker. Stress affects the employee productivity and the quality of results. Work related Stress is one of the significant issues in IT industry. The concerned problem has been narrowed down by considering only IT professionals in a leading apparel manufacturing company of Sri Lanka. This paper aims at gaining an in-depth understanding of occupational stress among IT professionals in Apparel Industry addressing the questions what causes work related stress and how it affects IT professionals. Contingent upon the fluctuated way of the exploration, a blended philosophy including both subjective and quantitative strategies has been utilized. From the literature review and with the consultation of psychology experts, eight variables were chosen for this research study. A survey was conducted to gather the primary data and SPSS software was utilized to quantify and analyze the factors affecting to the stress of IT professionals of the concerned company. Statistical measures such as mean, standard deviation and regression analysis were applied to measure the relationship among the variables. Three Hundred and Fourteen IT employees responded to the survey who were selected using convenience sampling method. Regression Analysis was applied to identify a relationship between work related stress and stressor variables under 95% level of significance. The outcomes propose that Work load, Work Environment and Work-Family interaction are exceptionally influencing to create stress in IT professionals.