How Personality of Employees Affect Occupational Stress?

Abstract

Occupational Stress has emerged as an issue for many individuals all over the world. According to literature the negative outcomes of the occupational stress hinder the employee work performance and thus directly impact on the organizational performance. Results of the preliminary study revealed that the executive employees in Sri Lanka Tourist Board experienced high level of stress. Based on the current literature the researchers focused on examining how one of the individual differences of employee personality impacts on occupational stress. More specifically, the researchers examined the direct effects of each Big-Five personality trait (Emotional Stability, Openness to Experience, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, and Agreeableness) dimension on occupational stress. This study was conducted based on the quantitative research methodology. Population of this study was all the executives who are currently attached to the Tourist Board and all of them were taken to conduct this study, based on census method. Data were collected through a validated and reliable self-administered questionnaire. Multiple regression analysis was used to analyze the data. The findings of the study revealed that the lower level of conscientiousness, extraversion, and agreeableness directly effect on the increasing occupational Stress. This study provides implications for understanding employee personality differences and tailor-made HR practices, to manage employees’ occupational stress.