OCCUPATIONAL STRESS AND ITS IMPACTS ON EMPLOYEE

PERFORMANCE: A STUDY IN IT SECTOR IN

KATHMANDU VALLEY

BY
Sabnam Buddhacharya
Exam Roll No.: 521/17
TU Registration No.: 7-2-297-340-2012

A Graduate Research Report submitted to in partial fulfillment of the requirements for

the degree of

MASTERS OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION (MBA)

at the
School of Management
Faculty of Management
Tribhuvan University

Kirtipur
June, 2022
RECOMMENDATION

i
CERTIFICATION

ii
 DECLARATION OF AUTHENTICITY

I, Sabnam Buddhacharya, declare that this GRP is my own original work and that it
has fully and specifically acknowledged wherever adapted from other sources. I also
understand that if at any time it is shown that I have significantly misinterpreted
material presented to SOMTU, any credit awarded to me on the basis of that material
may be revoked.

Signature: __________________

Name: Sabnam Buddhacharya

Date:

iii
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This Graduate Research Report entitled “Occupational Stress and Its Impact on
Employee Performance: A study in IT sector in Kathmandu Valley” has been
submitted to School of Management, Tribhuvan University (SOMTU) for the partial
fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters in Business Administration
(MBA). It is indeed a great pleasure to acknowledge and extend my sincere gratitude
to all individuals for their support which helped me to make my research project
fruitful and success.

Firstly, I want to bestow my sincere thanks to my supervisor Dr. Gangaram

Biswakarma, Deputy Director of School of Management, Tribhuvan University for
his constant support, patience and wisdom. His support and efficient guidance made it
possible for me to complete this research and his regular feedbacks and abundant help
turned out to be really helpful for me to learn new things regarding research which
would definitely be fruitful to me in near future.

My heartfelt acknowledgement to faculty of School of Management, Tribhuvan

University, teachers and professors from SOMTU for their tremendous support and
assistance to accomplish this study.

My regards and gratitude to all the respondents who managed time for me despite
their busy schedule during the course of data collection. Similarly, I am really grateful
to my parents who continuously supported me with my works and made me able to
take patience till now. I would especially like to thank my sister and friends for all of
their support and assistance.

Last but not least, I'd like to express my gratitude from core of my heart to all those
well-wishers whose name might have not been mentioned but who have helped me a
great deal.

Sabnam Buddhacharya

June, 2022

iv
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

RECOMMENDATION ................................................................................................... i

CERTIFICATION .......................................................................................................... ii

DECLARATION OF AUTHENCITY ..........................................................................iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ............................................................................................. iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................ v

LIST OF TABLES .......................................................................................................viii

LIST OF FIGURES ....................................................................................................... ix

ABBREVIATIONS ........................................................................................................ x

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ........................................................................................... xi

CHAPTER I .................................................................................................................... 1

INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................... 1

1.1 Background of Study ............................................................................................ 1

1.2 Statement of the Problem ...................................................................................... 3

1.3 Research Question ................................................................................................ 4

1.4 Research Objectives .............................................................................................. 4

1.5 Research Hypotheses ............................................................................................ 5

1.6 Significance of the Study ...................................................................................... 5

1.7 Limitations of the Study........................................................................................ 6

1.8 Structure of GRP ................................................................................................... 7

CHAPTER II ................................................................................................................... 9

RELATED LITERATURE AND THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ........................... 9

2.1 Theoretical Literature Review .............................................................................. 9

2.1.1 Selye’s Stress Theory: General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS) ...................... 9

2.1.2 Occupational Stress Inventory – Revised (OSI -R) Model ............................ 9

2.1.3 TOP (Theory of performance) ......................................................................... 11

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 2.2 Empirical Studies ................................................................................................ 12

2.2.1 Occupational Stress .......................................................................................... 12

2.2.2 Employee performance .................................................................................... 13

2.2.3 Occupational stress and Job performance ........................................................ 14

2.3 Research Gap ...................................................................................................... 18

2.4 Theoretical Framework ....................................................................................... 18

2.5 Operational Definitions ....................................................................................... 19

CHAPTER III ............................................................................................................... 23

RESEARCH METHODS ............................................................................................. 23

3.1 Research Design ............................................................................................. 23

3.2 Population and Sample ................................................................................... 23

3.3 Instrumentation ................................................................................................... 24

3.4 Sources and Method of Data Collection ........................................................ 25

Occupational Stress Factor ................................................................................... 25

Employee Performance ......................................................................................... 25

3.4 Data Analysis Tool ......................................................................................... 26

3.5 Reliability of Data .......................................................................................... 26

3.6 Ethical Consideration ..................................................................................... 27

CHAPTER IV ............................................................................................................... 29

ANALYSIS AND RESULTS ....................................................................................... 29

4.1 Employee Characteristics.................................................................................... 29

4.1.1 Demographic Profile of Respondents .......................................................... 29

4.2 Descriptive Statistic Analysis ............................................................................. 32

4.3 Descriptive Statistics of the Variables ................................................................ 32

4.3.1 Role Overload .............................................................................................. 34

4.3.2 Role Insufficiency ........................................................................................ 35

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 4.3.3 Role Ambiguity............................................................................................ 36

4.3.4 Role Boundary ............................................................................................. 37

4.3.5 Responsibility .............................................................................................. 38

4.3.6 Physical Environment .................................................................................. 39

4.3.7 Fear of Obsolescence ................................................................................... 40

4.3.8 Employee Performance ................................................................................ 41

4.4 Co-relation Analysis ........................................................................................... 45

4.5 Correlation Analysis of Overall Variables .......................................................... 47

4.6 Regression Analysis ............................................................................................ 48

4.7 Summary of Hypotheses Testing ........................................................................ 51

4.8 Major Findings: ................................................................................................... 51

CHAPTER V ................................................................................................................ 58

DISCUSSION, CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS ............................................ 58

5.1 Discussion ........................................................................................................... 58

5.2 Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 60

5.3 Implication and Future Research ........................................................................ 61

5.3.1 Implications.................................................................................................. 61

5.3.2 Future Research ........................................................................................... 62

Bibliography ................................................................................................................. 64

ANNEX I: QUESTIONNAIRES .................................................................................. 71

vii
 LIST OF TABLES

Table 2. 1 Synthesis on key literature review of Occupational Stress and Employee

Performance ............................................................................................ 16

Table 3. 1 Reliability of variable ............................................................................. 27

Table 4. 1 Demographic Profiles of Respondents ................................................... 29

Table 4. 2 Descriptive Statistics related to Occupational Stress ............................. 32

Table 4. 3 Descriptive Statistics of the Variables .................................................... 33

Table 4. 4 Role Overload ......................................................................................... 34

Table 4. 5 Role Insufficiency................................................................................... 35

Table 4. 6 Role Ambiguity ...................................................................................... 36

Table 4. 7 Role Boundary ........................................................................................ 37

Table 4. 8 Responsibility ......................................................................................... 38

Table 4. 9 Physical Environment ............................................................................. 39

Table 4. 10 Fear of Obsolescence .............................................................................. 40

Table 4. 11 Employee Performance: Task Performance ........................................... 41

Table 4. 12 Employee Performance: Adaptive Performance .................................... 42

Table 4. 13 Employee Performance: Contextual Performance ................................. 44

Table 4. 14 Correlation Analysis of Each Variable ................................................... 45

Table 4. 15 Correlation between overall occupational stress factor and employee

performance ............................................................................................ 47

Table 4. 16 Model Summary ..................................................................................... 48

Table 4. 17 ANOVA .................................................................................................. 49

Table 4. 18 Coefficients ............................................................................................. 49

Table 4. 19 Summary of Hypothesis Testing ............................................................ 51

viii
 LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 2. 1 Theoretical Framework .............................................................................. 19

ix
 ABBREVIATIONS

AP Adaptive Performance

ANOVA Analysis of Variance

CP Contextual Performance

FO Fear of Obsolescence

MS Excel Microsoft Excel

PE Physical Environment

R Responsibility

RA Role Ambiguity

RB Role Boundary

RI Role Insufficiency

RO Role Overload

SPSS Special Packages for the Social Sciences

TP Task Performance

x
 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Stress has become a common occurrence in everyday life, the manifestation of which
can be observed at various job levels among employees. Stress is a psychological term
that refers to the sensation of strain and pressure. A healthy level of stress is beneficial
and improves performance. Performance can be described as efficient utilization of
available resources for achieving optimum results. One of the most rapidly growing
business sectors of late, the IT sector, is the workplace where proficiency and aptitude
in skill is highly valued and essential. This requires one to be up to date with the new
and emerging technological stacks. The jobs in such areas are particularly skill-
oriented where employees themselves need to maintain and develop their technical
expertise as required and are also bound to timely deliveries. As a result, such
conditions further add up and stimulate stress in the mindset of the employees, which
ultimately has impact on their behavior, responses, performance and other
organizational dimensions.

This study tries to investigate the connection between occupational stress factors and
employee performance in the IT sector in the Kathmandu valley. It was observed that
there was a moderate level of stress in the IT sector of the Kathmandu valley which
has contributed to negative effect on the performance of the employees. Particularly,
the various stress factors like Role overload, Role Ambiguity, Role Insufficiency,
Role Boundary, Responsibility, and Fear of Obsolescence have a negative and
significant impact on employee performance. However, physical environment has a
positive impact on the employee job performance. The major factor to influence the
employee performance was physical environment. A descriptive and explanatory
study design was used for the study's objectives. The research was quantitative in
nature and convenience sampling was used as a sampling method. A self-
administered closed end questionnaire was used as a data collection tool. A total of
260 employees had participated in the study. The collected data was analyzed and
interpreted using the SPSS version 26. Both descriptive as well as inferential analysis
methodologies were adapted to meet the research objectives.

Keywords: Stress, Occupational Stress, Role Overload, Role Insufficiency, Employee

Performance

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 CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION

This chapter provides a backdrop to the focal point of this study along with the major
objectives, scope and significance. It also illustrates the hypothesis used in this
research and points out any limitations where this study might not be applicable.
Finally, a brief structure for the remaining sections of the report is presented at the
end to highlight major chapters and their contents.

1.1 Background of Study

Stress is a physiological state which has a prevailing effect on how a person reacts,
adapts and responses to the circumstances, surroundings and objects by which one is
surrounded by. This factor has affected human life, wellbeing, health and behavior,
sometimes positively but more often than not, lead to negative consequences.

In recent years, globalization has opened up different means for easy access to capital,
people, technology, knowledge and opportunities, thereby resulting in a more diverse
and inclusive work environment. The expansion of cross-border trade as well as the
proliferation of the digital revolution has resulted in an acceleration of global trade.
Companies, nowadays, seem to have diverse environments from where the employees
can work – from the convenience of their home environment or from the cubicle of
their office. This has led to a distinct separation of the work environments into two
main settings – at the home or office. Companies have also enforced different work
practices accordingly, and are continuously improving them to improve their overall
working culture and environment, which serves as an important factor for retention
and acquisition of highly capable workforce. As various companies accommodate and
bring in these changes in work schedules and patterns, the conventional idea of
"working around the clock" has undergone a paradigm shift. Nowadays, workplace
has become more "outcome oriented" than "people orientated". Highly performing
workforce has become the main focal point for any organization. Employees are
exposed to an increasing level of stress in their job, resulting in various health issues
in their effort to present oneself as suitable for the job (Anu Jossy Joy, 2018). As the
focus of the company and the nature of the work demands for high-performing and
efficient employees, people have been stimulated to work beyond their capabilities

1
and pay grade. Employees also face tremendous pressure to keep themselves updated
to the latest trends and technologies required for their professions. This gap between
the requirement for a well performing and efficient workforce and the limited skills
and capabilities of the employees has pushed them to put extra efforts on their work,
resulting in stress, namely occupational stress.

Occupational Stress or job stress is the stress related to one’s occupation. (McGrath,
1987) defined job stress as “a condition within which employees are needed to satisfy
the duties that exceed the person’s ability, including the resources which are required to
perform these duties and under working conditions where there is a huge difference
between rewards and demands for fulfilling the duties.” (Copper & Catwright, 1994)
recognized that stress is a significant issue in many corporations. In many firms today,
the cost of workplace stress seems to be on the higher side. According to (Rodrigue,
Manshor, & Chong, 2003) , high employee discontent, job mobility, burnout, poor
work performance, and less effective interpersonal connections at work are common
signs of occupational stress.

Occupational stress in the IT sector is becoming a growing concern, and thus it has
become an immense challenge to minimize and deal with stress. Software
professionals, generally, are highly adaptable workers and operate in a highly
fluctuating and transforming atmosphere where technical advancements happen in an
unprecedented rate and manner. Most of their work is project based and time bound.
Thus, on average, they spend about 12 hours per day working remotely or from their
office to ensure that the project goals are achieved and the requirements are fulfilled.
The study conducted by (Latif, Sohail, Ashraf, & Shahid, 1998) emphasizes that The
IT industry exposes software developers to a number of stressors due to the extreme
difficulty of their line of work and the high level of technical skills required.
Workload, time restraints, demands, role ambiguity, skill diversity, role conflict,
strained workplace relationships, accountability to the organization, keeping up with
new technological advancements, job instability, and an unfair incentive system are
some of these stressors.

2
1.2 Statement of the Problem

According to the World Health Statistics 2022, a study for monitoring health for
sustainable development conducted by WHO, 40% of the employees around the globe
were affected by the physical and emotional exhaustion which has led to a high level
of workforce attrition. Among the workforce who quit their job, majority of them had
high stress and burnout (WHO, 2022).

Stress is a physiological and psychological factor perceived from human emotions

and responses and reacts to the environmental condition in different ways. It can
affect any category workforce at any given period of time. Employees are regarded as
one of the most valuable resources in any organization as they provide immense
contribution to boost output across the board and help to achieve the goals and
objectives of the organization. Occupational stressors create various positive and
negative effect on different dimensions of the employee and organization operational
factors. This has become a huge concern which needs to be addressed and managed
properly in a timely manner.

As a result, effective stress management brought by incorporating proper policies and

mechanism that are put into place has become essential in any organization. Highly
stressed-out employees cannot perform effectively at work and cannot achieve the
organization's goals. This will result in a negative feedback loop, due to which the
employees will experience further increase in the levels of stress. There are various
factors that causes stress with the positive and negative consequences in the
employees and the organization itself. Stress primarily affects the performance factor
of the employees. In one of the many studies conducted in the IT sector to research
the relationships between stress and employee performance, researchers found that
Role Ambiguity, Workload Salary and Rewards Fear of Obsolescence, Role
Ambiguity, Role erosion, Role Stagnation, Responsibility, Work relationship, career
development had negative impacts on employee performance. (Sunanda, 2018),
(Bhatt & Pathak, 2010)

However, on the contrary, in some of the studies that were done to demonstrate the
association between the Occupational stress and the employee performance, potrays
that the occupational stress and its dimensions does not have significant impact on the

3
employee performance. Stress, whether positive or negative, nevertheless, has greater
impact on the various work dimensions. Therefore, to promote and maintain high-
quality work, stress needs to be taken as a primary factor. Thus, it is imperative that
different management mechanisms for work induced stress are incorporated in the
operational structure of any organization.

In the context of Nepal, there is only a countable number of literatures available for
Occupational stress and employee performance in IT sector. To my knowledge, a
similar study related to Occupational stress was done for the employees of bank by
(Pandey, 2020) to measure the Job stress and its impact on employee job
performance. The employee community people (Panthee & Samson, 2021). This
study aims to fill the gap of previous studies to some extent by assessing occupational
stress and its impact on the performance of employee in the IT sector in the
Kathmandu valley.

1.3 Research Question

The following research questions are intended to be answered by this study:

i. What is the current status of employee performance?
ii. What is the current status of occupational stress?
iii. To what extent has occupational stress impact on the employee
performance in the IT sector in the Kathmandu valley?
iv. Which occupational stress factor has the greatest impact on employee
performance in the IT sector in the Kathmandu valley?

1.4 Research Objectives

The major objective of this research was to measure the impact of occupational stress
on employee performance in IT sector in the Kathmandu Valley. The specific
objectives are outlined below:
i. To explain the current status of occupational stress in IT sector in the
Kathmandu Valley.
ii. To examine the relationship between occupational stress factors and
employee performance in IT sector in the Kathmandu Valley.
iii. To identify the major factor influencing employees’ performance in IT
sector in the Kathmandu Valley.

4
1.5 Research Hypotheses

The study assumes the following hypotheses regarding the relationships between
various occupational stress factors and employee performance:

Hypotheses 1: There is a significant impact of overall occupational stress

factor on employee performance in IT sector in Kathmandu
Valley.
Hypotheses 2: There is significant impact of role overload on employee
performance in IT sector in Kathmandu Valley.
Hypotheses 3: There is significant impact of role insufficiency on employee
performance in IT sector in Kathmandu Valley.
Hypotheses 4: There is significant impact of role ambiguity on employee
performance in IT sector in Kathmandu Valley.
Hypotheses 5: There is significant impact of role boundary on employee
performance in IT sector in Kathmandu Valley.
Hypotheses 6: There is significant impact of responsibility on employee
performance in IT sector in Kathmandu Valley.
Hypotheses 7: There is significant impact of physical environment on
employee performance in IT sector in Kathmandu Valley.
Hypotheses 8: There is significant impact of fear of obsolescence on employee
performance in IT sector in Kathmandu Valley.

1.6 Significance of the Study

For this study, IT sector of the Kathmandu valley is taken as the primary target area of
research. In recent times, IT sector has been the most emerging industry in the IT
sector. Technology revolution and easy access to the knowledge has drawn many
youths to invest themselves to acquire skills required for the job. Thus, many people
are currently working in the IT industry in Nepal. In terms of global scale, IT sector is
one of the main service industries that provides job to millions of the workforce.
Lately, there has been a lot of opportunities and influx of people in the IT sector after
the pandemic, as many industries like restaurants, banks, small business, etc. now
have the necessity and the ease to operate remotely which requires the assistance and
guidance of the IT industry.

5
This study's primary goal is to address the problems mentioned in the problem
statement, which will help to fill some of the gaps in previous researches. After the
completion of this study, any new insights and outcomes will definitely help to
address the relationship between workplace stress and productivity. The primary goal
of the study is to determine how occupational stress, namely role overload, role
insufficiency, role ambiguity, role boundary, responsibilities, physical environment,
and fear of obsolescence affects employee performance in the IT sector of the
Kathmandu valley. From an academic viewpoint, this study will augment existing
management and information literature by supplying empirical evidence from the
perspective of work environment and culture of Nepal after assessing the impact of
occupational stress on employee performance in the IT sector.

This study will also help the managers of different IT companies to understand
several factors and effects of stress and consequently its effect on the employee
performance. It will help psychologist to better understand the occupational stressors
ad its impacts on an individual. Furthermore, it will help to find a proper stress
management mechanism that can be incorporated by IT companies for the wellbeing
of their employee. The study can also be utilized by other fellow researchers and
academicians to supplement their research study.

1.7 Limitations of the Study

 The responses of the sample population to whom the questionnaire was
given form the sole basis of the study's conclusions.
 The data was gathered from a single place, Kathmandu valley and it is
only based on the IT sector.
 Convenience sampling used for the study limits the representation of the
total population.
 The study only examines certain aspects that are creating occupational
stress and does not evaluate all the factors that contribute to
occupational stress.
 The study only considers employee performance as the major factor
affected by employee performance.

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1.8 Structure of GRP

The overall report for the study is divided into following sections:

 Preliminary section

This section includes the title for the study, certification and
declaration of authenticity, acknowledgement, table of contents, list of
tables, list of figures, abbreviations, and executive summary.

 Major Body

This section serves as the key part of the study. It is further divided
into five chapters as given below:
o First chapter
This chapter gives brief introduction about the purpose of the
study. It describes the focal point of the project work. It explains
the statement of problem which the study is trying to address. It
includes other sub-topics -objectives of study, research questions,
and hypotheses, limitations and scope and significance.
o Second chapter
This chapter consists of Literature review and theoretical
framework for the study. Literature review summarizes the
theoretical review, empirical review, any past studies that
supplements the current study and other topics. It represents an
overall picture of the study that relates to the objectives of the
study.
o Third chapter
This chapter describes about the research methodology applied in
this study along with the discussion of the different variables,
statistical tools and techniques that were used and applied to test
the hypotheses. It includes research design, population and
sampling, instruments, sources and methods of data collection
and data analysis.

7
 o Fourth chapter
This chapter explains the overall analysis processes performed on
the data and the outcomes of the analysis. It shows the
methodologies involved in the analysis of the data gathered from
different data sources, tries to define all the relationships
between different variables and present the outcomes of the
study. The result is then presented in a tabular format. It also
evaluates the relationships that were seen between the variables
under study. The chapter sums up all the major finding from the
analysis.
o Fifth chapter
This chapter outlines the findings of the research and comparison
of the results with previously conducted studies. It shows the
outcomes in a logical and rational manner with respect to the
problem area and also shows practical implications of the study
along with areas for further research and improvements.

 Supplementary section

This section includes the references and appendices presented at the

end of GRP report.

8
 CHAPTER II
RELATED LITERATURE AND THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

This chapter includes review of literature on Occupational stress and its influencing
factors, Employee performance, Relationship between occupational stress and
Employee performance. This literature includes theoretical and empirical data which
analyses the impact of dependent variable (Employee performance) and the
independent variable (Occupational stress). It also includes research gap and
theoretical framework that relates to the study.

2.1 Theoretical Literature Review

The theoretical review for this study is based on multiple theories related to stress,
occupational stress and Employee performance.

2.1.1 Selye’s Stress Theory: General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)

Hans Selye, popularly known as “Father of Stress Research” was a first scientist to
identify “stress” as a nonspecific sign of illness. He studied the physiological effects
of stress, which are the body's rapid responses to demands put of it. He defined 3
stage of stress. Any inducement that causes a stress response is what he meant by a
stressor. If the stimulus is not reduced, a stress response is thought to ensue, which
includes multiple stages and is known as the general adaption syndrome (Selye, 1956)

Selye defined alarm reaction as- An organism will react by going through a stage that
is dominated by an upset response when it is exposed to a stimulus to which it has not
yet become accustomed. Finally, stage of exhaustion happens when the stressor has
been very severe and prolonged. Stage of resistance is described as an organism that
adjusts to the stressor stimuli and any sign has improved at stage two of resistance.
Selye defined the concept of stress using the words distress (bad stress) and eustress
(good stress). This theory of stress has served as a foundation for the study of and
definition of numerous models of stress. (Selye, 1956).

2.1.2 Occupational Stress Inventory – Revised (OSI -R) Model

A stressors, stress, and coping model was created by Osipow and Spokane. It has only
6 dimensions of the updated occupational stress assessment were used in this study

9
(OSI-R). This model combines sources of workplace stresses, the stress they cause,
and coping mechanisms. with a classification system that facilitates it to use as a
instrument for research. Three questionnaires make up the tool.
 Occupational role stressors: To measure the stress level in-terms of
role, it has six dimensions Role overload, Role insufficiency, Role
ambiguity, Role boundary, Responsibility and Physical environment
(Dianna, Pamela, & Jenni, 2004)
 Personal strain: To measure the personal strain, Vocational strain,
Psychological strain, Interpersonal strain and Physical strain items has
been used
 Personal resource: Recreation, Self-care, Social support and Rational
/Cognitive dimension to measure the stress level

This study was basically related to the occupational stress so to measure the scale of
stress incurred by Occupational stress. This study has adopted the 6 dimensions (Role
Overload, Role Insufficiency, Role Ambiguity, Role Boundary, Responsibility,
Physical Environment of the Occupational Role Stressor as an independent variable.
The dimension of the Occupational Role stressor has been defined using the different
individual items (Osipow, Spokane, H., & A., 1987)

Employee Performance

Campbell define – “Performance is what the organizations hires one to do, and do
well. “Additionally, only behaviors that can be scaled, or quantified, are thought to be
performance. He has also suggested a construct that measure the performance of the
individual. As a function of three factors—declarative knowledge, procedural
knowledge and skills, and motivation—Campbell characterizes the performance
components.

The theory explains the declarative knowledge as- the knowledge that encompasses
understanding of facts, rules, objectives, and oneself. It is presummit to be a function
of a person's aptitude-treatment interactions, abilities, personality, interests, education,
training, and experience. Physical ability, self-management ability, interpersonal
ability, cognitive and psychomotor abilities. The procedural knowledge and skills are
all included as aptitudes, personality, interests, education, training, experience, and

10
aptitude-treatment interactions—as well as practice—are predictors of procedural
knowledge and skills. And lastly motivation as a choice of action, intensity of effort,
and persistence of effort are all parts of motivation. (Campbell, 1990)

2.1.3 TOP (Theory of performance)

Theory of performance was introduced by Don Elger. He developed a six

foundational concept that can be used to explain the performance or performance
management namely - context, level of knowledge, levels of skills, level of identity,
personal factors, and fixed factors. Three axioms are proposed for effective
performance improvements, that includes- performer’s mindset, immersion in an
enriching environment, and engagement in reflective practice.

Author have defined level of identity as people advance in a field, they adopt the
collective identity of the profession while enhancing their personal individuality.
Similarly, levels of skills ask particular behavior utilized by people, organizations or
groups in a variety of performances. The level of knowledge has been mentioned as a
person or group has knowledge when they have learned facts, information, theories,
or concepts through experience or education. Personal factors majorly include, the
personal situation of the individual and fixed factors includes the unique variable
associate with the personal situation, additionally, three axioms for performance
management was introduced for the performance management technique. This theory
helps to measure the performance using the constructs (Elger, 2021).

The Triarchy Model of Employee Performance

This model was derived from an exploratory factor analysis. The main objective of
this study was to test and validate a new employee performance tool. To measure a
performance, it revealed a three dimension of the performance- ‘Task, Adaptive and
Contextual performance)’ along with 38 dimensions for measurement. A
comprehensive awareness of the nature and dynamics of employee performance is
provided by the recommended framework. It is suggested that in order to establish
and maintain a better work environment, organizational behavior (OB) practitioners
and HR managers must make use of the lessons learned from the elements that were
investigated. From an applied standpoint, the suggested instrument and its associated

11
findings are anticipated to offer guidance for creating organization-specific policies to
enhance employee performance. (Pradhan & Jena, 2017)

This study helps to improves understanding of the behavioral aspects that affect
employee performance. From an applied standpoint, the suggested instrument and its
associated findings are anticipated to offer guidance for creating organization-specific
policies to enhance employee performance.

2.2 Empirical Studies

2.2.1 Occupational Stress

According to WHO, Work-related stress is the response people may have when
presented with work demands and pressures that are not matched to their knowledge
and abilities and which challenge their ability to cope. Stress occurs in a wide range of
work circumstances but is often made worse when employees feel they have little
support from supervisors and colleagues, as well as little control over work processes.
There is often confusion between pressure or challenge and stress and sometimes it is
used to excuse bad management practice.

Occupational stress is becoming a challenging factor to the management in the day-to-

day running of business organizations globally. This is so because employees tend to
work hard to outstand their competitors for their survival, to be leaders in the market,
and to gain large customer share, under tensed or frequently changing environmental
conditions which create state of depression, tension and emotional exhaustion
(Ahmed, 2011). (Shinde & Anjum, 2014) states that extreme level of stress has an
effect on the employee’s physical and mental health of the employee, which
eventually makes them overwhelmed or unable to cope with the stress a result of
which leads to poor employee performance. When demands or output expected from
an employee far outweighs the available inputs or resources then stress can be
manifested. The negative impact of occupational stress on the organizational
performance and productivity is undeniable.

Occupational stressors contribute to organizational inefficiency, ineffectiveness, job

dissatisfaction, intentions to quit, turnover, absenteeism, low productivity, huge
medical bills on the organization, social vices (alcoholism, and drug abuse) and

12
health-related sickness such as hypertension and cardiovascular problems (Ahmed,
2011). Stress has the positive and negative impact to the individuals and their working
environment. Whether the individual can manage the stress or not depends on their
ability. Although some job stress is normal, but when stress exceed the patience limits
of the employees it can interfere with your productivity and impact the emotional as
well as physical health. The ability to deal with stress can mean the difference
between failure and success. Stress can also bring positive effect on employees of any
organization but it depends on how the employee can handle the stress faced by them,
sometime it crosses the limits and negatively affect the employees.

According to (Bowin & Harvey, 2001), when the individual interacts with the
environment and the individual results in stress, this results into emotional discomfort
which highly affects the physical and mental condition of the person. This tends to
affect the individual and the employees’ performance as well. Occupational stress
needs much attention from management since it has an untold consequence on
employees‟ health mentally and physically. It has become of vital importance to
determine the relationship between workplace stress and workers' performance (Rana
& Munir, 2011)

2.2.2 Employee performance

(Ehsan & Ali, 2018) defined performance as the ability of the employee to provide
work, goods, and services that meet or exceed the expectations established by the
employers, or above the minimum requirements. It is also the evaluation of the
amount and quality of work completed while considering the resources' cost. From a
managerial perspective, it is helpful to consider a number of behaviors that are known
to occur when stress is present for an extended period of time. (Bennet, 1994) thinks
that contemporary explanations of the stress "process" frequently follow the idea that
stress results from a misfit between a person and their environment, where internal or
external forces push the person's adaptive capacities to their maximum, notably when
it comes to job stress. However, because personal characteristics also affect stress, no
two people will necessarily respond to the same work in the same manner. Individuals
with certain personality types, such as those who feel pushed to work nonstop, they
typically put themselves under more stress than others because they are always on
time and meet deadlines.

13
(Carlson, 1988) Differentiate between task-specific and contextual performance in the
workplace. While contextual performance refers to actions that are not directly related
to a person's core task but yet influence the organizational, social, and psychological
perspective, task performance refers to actions that are directly involved in providing
goods or services. Employees are performing contextually, for instance, when they
assist one another, collaborate with their superiors, or offer proposals for
organizational policy.

2.2.3 Occupational stress and Job performance

When someone realizes their circumstances may be beyond their capacity to handle
them, stress sets in. It is the result of an imbalance between supply and demand for
resources. Because so many firms now demand a lot of their employees in order to
outperform their rivals, job stress has become a widespread issue across all
professions and jobs. This has resulted in the accumulation of multiple stresses, which
further puts people in difficult and stressful situations.

According to (Selye, 1956) not all stress is harmful to workers. To a certain extent,
job stress benefits employees' performance. There is a large body of research that
supports the idea of "good stress". As evident by a research by (Weiss, 1983),
Occupational stress does not necessarily negatively impact both individual and
organizational performance. He claims that while some stress at work is good for
performance, excessive stress can occasionally hurt workers' output unless it exceeds
their threshold for tolerability. The length of time that the effects of stress last and
individuals' capacity for recuperation determine how stressful the workplace
environment is. This could be temporary or permanent, short-term or long-term, and
mild or severe. (Chappell & Schermerhorn, 2004). (Ashforth, 1996) claimed that
there is a negative correlation between two major workplace stressors, namely role
ambiguity and role conflict, and organizational outcomes. It was discovered that role
ambiguity and conflict could have a significant impact on the unfavorable reactions.
There is a negative and significant relation between occupational stress and job
satisfaction as well as organizational productivity.

Similar study by (Imtiaz & Ahmad, 2009) It was demonstrated that employees
perform worse whenever there is stress at work. He demonstrated it using correlation

14
analysis and discovered a substantial inverse association between occupational stress
and work output. Using stresses like interpersonal conflicts and relationships with
supervisors, he demonstrated how an increase in these stressors results in a decline in
performance. A similar survey of managers in firms was conducted in Nigeria in 2010
The Z score test was used, and it created a bad association between the managers'
performance and it. (Ashfaq & Ramzan, 2013)in their hypothesis work, argued when
stress reaches a particular unfavorable point, work-related stress has a detrimental
effect on employee performance.

Accordingly, (Fonkeng, 2018)who conducted a research in a microfinance institution

in to investigate the impact of job stress on worker performance in Cameroon. The
research showed that the individuals experienced significant stress, which had a
negative impact on their performance. (Ajayi, 2018) stated that job stress significantly
reduced the performance of an individual. The result showed that stress was caused by
all the factors of stress in Nigerian bankers and negatively impacts their performance.
In addition, (Pandey, 2020)conducted a study on 200 Nepalese employees working in
the banking sector and found that all the stress factors significantly but negatively are
associated with employees’ performance. His result also showed that overall stress
level decreased the employees’ performance.

(Lavuri, 2018) found a significance impact of Role Ambiguity on Bank employees

towards their job performance. According to a Malaysian study (June & Mahmood,
2011), discovered a negative correlation between role ambiguity and employee
performance in Malaysian SMEs. However, a study carried out in Pakistan in 2011
discovered an intriguing fact that job uncertainty did not matter in this scenario and
rather demonstrated a positive link with employee performance since modern
employees are multitasking and more eager to handle one or two tasks at the same
time.

15
Table 2.1 Synthesis on key literature review of Occupational Stress and Employee
Performance
Author Variables Key Findings
(Ongori & 1. Independent variable , Low/Inadequate The findings of the study revealed that the
Agolla, 2008) salary, unfair treatment by supervisor, outcomes associated with the occupational
work overload, Inadequate resources, stress adversely affect the organization,
Uncertainty about promotion, especially in reducing efficiency in
Independent variable organization operations, increasing
Low/inadequate salary, Unfair treatment employee turnover, and the expenditure of
by superiors, Work overload, Inadequate health costs of
resources, Uncertainty about promotion employees, low motivation and accidents.
,Work/family conflict, Lack of superior
interest in personal problems, High
responsibility, Excessive supervision and
criticism, Rigid/authoritative system,
Competition with co-workers
, Need to make fast decisions, MS
implementation
2. Dependent variable:
(Organizational performance)
1. Independent variables The study showed that the role conflict,
(role conflict, relationship with others, role ambiguity, and performance pressure
(Rana, & Munir, workload pressure, homework interface, role positively affect employee performance
2011) ambiguity and performance pressure) whereas the homework interface,
2. Dependent variables relationship with others, and workload
(employee motivation and employee pressures have negative impacts on
performance) employee performance.
(Sajuyigbe, Madu Explanatory variable The results indicated that job-stress
– Igwe, & a. Constraint, Workload, Time pressures, dimensions independently and jointly
Babalola, 2015) Student indiscipline, Conduct of examination, influenced job performance adversely. It
Compilation of Results, Lack of infrastructure also stated
that lack of infrastructure has a more
decisive influence on an individual’s job
performance while students’ indiscipline
has less influence on an individual’s job
performance.
( Amoako, 1.Independentvariables The study found that the stress among
Gyamfi, Occupational Stress employees does enhance their job
Emmanuel, & (poor working conditions, long working performance in a positive manner. It also
Batola, 2017) hours, risk and danger, new technology, work indicates that an employee's
under-load, role over-load, role in the stress increases and their job performance
organization, role ambiguity, role conflict, also tends to increase and vice-versa.
relationship at work, career development, and
physical environment)

16
 2. Dependent variables
(Job performance of employees)
(Anu Jossy Joy, 1.Independent Variable (Job performance) The study revealed that sources of job
2018) 2. Dependent Variable stress are inversely related to job
(Role Ambiguity, Workload, Salary and performance and role ambiguity exerts a
Rewards, Fear of Obsolescence) great impact on job performance.
(Pandey, 2020) 1. Independent variable The findings and interpretations revealed
(Work Stress, Work type, Salary pay scale, that employment overload was the most
Job insecurity, Poor communication, Work important reason behind stress among the
overload, Lack of motivation, Lack of staff, which was followed by a lack of job
Management support, Poor performance security, poor communication, and work
evaluation and appraisal system) type.
2. Moderating variable
Gender
3. Dependent variable
Employees' performance
(Prasad & 1. Independent variables (Occupational stress The findings showed that the Covid-19
Vaidya, 2020) and COVID 19 parameters) parameters workplace
2. Moderating variables isolation, lack of communication, family
(Age and gender differences) distractions, role overload, and
3. Dependent variables occupational stress
(employees’ performance) factors role ambiguity, role conflict,
career, Job-control are statistically
significant and are
good predictors of the performance.
(Yobaoh - 1. Independent variables (occupational stress The findings demonstrated a favorable
Kordee, and coping strategy) relationship between occupational role and
Amponsah - 2. Dependent variables (job performance) worker performance. According to the
Tawiah, Adu, & study, bankers' personal stress was
Augustina, 2018) identified as a potential source of
occupational stress that affected their
performance.
(Kumar, Kumar, 1. Independent variable The study stated that role overload and
& Aggarwal, (Role overload, change in lifestyle choices, change in lifestyle choices had no
2021) Occupational discomfort and distress) significant impacts on job performance. It
2. Dependent variable also found that family distraction,
(Employee performance) occupational discomfort, and distress were
significant in impacting job performance,
with distress being the most significant
one.
(Jamal, 1984) 1. Independent variables (role ambiguity, role The study exhibited that there was a
overload, role conflict, and resource negative linear relationship between stress
inadequacy) and performance. As per the results,
2. Dependent variables (Employees' employees' professional and organizational
performance) commitment were proposed to moderate
the stress performance relationship.

17
2.3 Research Gap

In today’s globalized market, Occupational Stress has been one of the emerging
concerns for the organization and an individual itself. It has a direct and indirect
impact on the performance leading the effect on organization’s productivity.
Occupational Stress has two sides of effect, positive and negative. These sides are
totally dependent and can vary on various different variables depending on the
occupation and individual traits. The positive or negative impact of stress is
determined by the level and the ability to cope with them. As a preventive measure,
various researchers have developed a tool to measure the stress level. To have an
expected result out of the people resource, and fulfil the company’s objectives, the
organization have to manage the occupational stress of the employees. Number of
research study has been conducted to learn about the stress level, causes and sources
of stress and it’s affecting area. Occupational stress is high and mostly unpredictable
in the dynamic industry who have to juggle up on regular basis for the skills and
performance update.

This study focuses on the impact of occupational stress on employee performance.

Multiple research has been conducted to learn on the occupational and employee
performance around the globe. The major study has been conducted on the different
sector. In context of Nepal, the researcher was unable to locate studies that looked
into how occupational stress affected workers' performance in IT-related industries.
This is the area of information that needs more study. Also, the whole Occupational
Role Stressor and Fear of Obsolescence of full dimension at once has not been studied
which my current study will fulfill the gap.

2.4 Theoretical Framework

This study aims to determine how workplace stress affects workers' performance in
the IT sectors. The theoretical framework created for this study is depicted in the
image below. Employee performance is the dependent variable, whereas the
independent variables are Role Overload, Role Insufficiency, Role Ambiguity, Role
Boundary, Responsibility, Physical Environment, and Fear of Obsolescence.

18
Independent Variable Dependent Variable

Occupational Stress

 Role Overload
 Role Insufficiency Employee Performance
 Role Ambiguity
 Role Boundary  Task performance
 Responsibility  Adaptive performance
 Physical Environment  Contextual performance
 Fear of Obsolescence

Figure 2. 1 Theoretical Framework

Source: (Sunanda, 2018) and (Anu Jossy Joy, 2018)

2.5 Operational Definitions

Independent Variables

The variables that have an impact on the dependent variable are known as
independent variables. It is described by the independent variables.

 Role Overload
When a person is managing many roles and has a tight deadline, the scenario
is known as role overload.
Role overload is simply the opposite of role overload and is described as a
social circumstance in which the focal person is faced with commitments that,
when taken as a set, demand him to perform more than he can in a given
amount of time. Because of the enormous amount of work that is required and
the failure that overload primarily entails, role overload appears to be a
difficult condition to the overloaded focus person. Due to its ostensibly dull
and uninteresting characteristics, role under load might be unpleasant for its
target folks. Despite the fact that one could be certain that overloading an
organization would result in a more stressful situation (BEXTON, HERON, &
SCOT, 1954)

19
 Role Insufficiency
People anticipate and feel role insufficiency during role changes with
consequences for developmental, situational, and health-illness issues.
(Meleis, 1975). Role insufficiency is the defined by few the dimensions like
feeling stagnant in current job, feeling well situated to execute tasks in current
job as per qualifications and skills, can make full use of talents and skills
during performing job, have good future prospects in current job, get to learn
and acquire new skills in my job, unenthusiastic about my job, perform tasks
that not situated and trained for.

 Role Ambiguity
Role ambiguity is the belief that one lacks the knowledge required to carry out
a task or job, which makes the perceiver feel incompetent (Onyemah, 2008).
To minimize confusion and increase productivity, every formal position
should have clear task requirements. Even so, in some structures task
requirements are found to be ambiguous (Hamilton, 2002) When people
understand about their role in position in the organization, they find it
comfortable to take obligations (Jundt, Mindy, & Jason, 2014).

 Role Boundary
The duties, rights and limitation of the job is defined as Role Boundary. Stress
is felt when one’s role is not fixed. When a person has to report to the multiple
person, he/she lack the person fit job model, and have inefficient relationship
with the supervisor, it means that he has undefined boundary of the work.
Defining the Job description and career path will help to mitigate this problem.
(James, 2011)

 Responsibility
Responsibility at work basically includes not only caring responsibilities of
own but also have to take the responsibility of other team members or
colleagues. Responsibility can be defined by four dimensions, how many
people a person have to look after to deal and mentor many people during the
day, have to take responsibilities for the activities of team members and is
responsible for the welfare of subordinates and worried about fulfilling job

20
 responsibilities. The increase of decrease in responsibility might increase or
decrease the performance.

 Physical Environment
The physical work environment in workplace refers to the arrangement of all
the material objects and stimuli that people encounter in their workplace life
While the physical work environment has adverse impact on employee stress,
these aspects are often not considered when undertaking workplace design.
Slight Changes in such can result implications of stress on employees. The
dimensions of the physical work environment include lack of access to views,
higher temperature, noise disturbance, poor office structure, and a lacking of
nature-like surroundings, which may cause stress. Research has shown that
physical environmental stress can result in reduction of work performance by
2.4–5.8%, reducing motivation, and increasing distractibility (Lamb & Kwok,
2016).

 Fear of obsolescence
(Jones & Cooper, 1980) According to the definition, Obsolescence is the
degree to which an employee's knowledge and skills have not kept up with the
current and expected future demands of his position, according to definition.
(Mahler, 1965) defined obsolescence as the failure of the once capable
employee to attain achievements that are today required of. Ability
obsolescence and attitudinal obsolescence that Mahler distinguished. Ability
obsolescence occurs when a manager's skills and talents are insufficient to stay
up with previous jobs. While attitude obsolescence describes a manager's
inability to remain adaptable and deal with challenges and circumstances that
are always changing (Chauhan & Chauhan, 2008).

21
Dependent Variable

The dependent variables are the variables that depend on the independent variables.

 Employee Job Performance

o Task performance
The term “task performance” denotes the essential technical actions and
conduct required for the job. It is multi-dimensional and related to ability.
(Jose, 2021)As businesses place a larger emphasis on customer service,
innovation and customer-focused behavior become more crucial. (Pradhan
& Jena, 2017)

o Adaptive performance
Adaptive performance occurs when employees “To respond to actual or
projected changes in the workplace that are important to your goals, you
may need to learn new skills, take on new roles, or change your current
work habits (Lalatendu, 2021) Adaptive performance is described as a
collection of actions meant to keep performance levels steady or prevent
performance declines brought on by change. Both anticipatory and reactive
components can be included in adaptive performance (Chan, 2000).

o Contextual performance
Contextual performance can be defined as actions that support the setting
in which the basic cognitive processes take place (Borman & Motowidlo,
1993) technical behaviors operate. Examples of such performance
behaviors include volunteering for tasks, helping coworkers, and
defending the organization (Borman &Moto widlo, 1993). These behaviors
play significant role in achieving organizational outcomes and for
supporting long-term success (Allen & Rush, 1998).

22
 CHAPTER III
RESEARCH METHODS

This chapter covers describes the research procedures and methodologies that were
used to gather and analyze data. Research design, population and sample, sources and
methods of data collecting, instrumentation, data analysis method, and instrument
reliability and validity are just a few of the subtopics that have been used to break
down and explain the entire procedures.

3.1 Research Design

Research design serves as a roadmap to the study. It clarifies the purpose of study,
method of data collection, profile of the respondents and data analysis. This study is
based on the descriptive and explanatory research design. Closed end questionnaire
was designed and distributed to the respondents via Google Forms. As the data was
collected at a certain period of time, the collection method was cross sectional.

3.2 Population and Sample

This primary target audience for this study was the group of people employed in the
IT sector in Kathmandu valley. Pandemic has globalized the scope of work for IT
professionals, thereby promoting remote working. Due to this, the exact number of
employees working in the IT sector is unknown; as a result, non-probability sampling
method was used for this study for the one willing to participate in the research.

The study's sample population consisted of those employed in the Kathmandu

Valley's IT sector. The sample size to be taken was determined by the number of
samples required to estimate a proportion with an approximate 95 percent confidence
level, which is corresponds to the sample size of 384 (Godden, 2004).

According to (Godden, 2004), the sample calculation formula is given by:

SS = Z ^ 2∗ p∗ (1−p) /M ^ 2

Where,
SS = Sample size for infinite population
Z = Z value (95% Confidence interval, 1.96 standard value)

23
 p = Population proportion expressed as decimal, 0.50)
M = Error margin (5%)

Calculation:

SS = 1.96 ^ 2 ∗ 0.50 ∗ (1-0.50)/0.05^2

= 384

Hence, for the study, sample size of 384 employees working in the IT sector of
Kathmandu valley was considered. However, only 260 usable responses were
received from the questionnaire distributed to the sample population in total.
Therefore, 67.70% was the response rate out of 100 % which is suitable enough to
conduct the research as per the previous studies considered.

The study done previously has also used the sample size of 150 by (Pandey, 2020), to
assess the work stress and its impact on the employee performance of banking sector
of Nepal. The study done in Bangalore by (Sucharitha & Amzad Basha, 2020) with
the sample size of 200 to investigate the impact of the work stress on employee
performance.

3.3 Instrumentation

The questionnaire was analyzed using the quantitative analysis. The responses for
different independent variables in the study - Occupational Role Stressors (Role
Overload, Role Insufficiency, Role Ambiguity, Role Boundary, Responsibility,
Physical Environment and Fear of Obsolescence) were mapped to a 5-point Likert
scale. Likewise, the responses for the dependent variable - Employee performance
(Task performance, Adaptive performance and Contextual performance) were also
charted in the same scale.

The first section of demographic questions composes of gender, age, marital status,
work level, highest education level, level of experience and income level. Whereas,
the second section includes the 5 - Likert scale questionnaire adapted from the
theoretical framework for occupational role stressors and employee performance
dimensions.

24
3.4 Sources and Method of Data Collection

The responses that were collected from the respondents via a questionnaire created
using Google Forms and Microsoft Word was the major primary source of data. The
survey was self-administered and was distributed to the employees of the IT sector in
Kathmandu valley via online medium. The questionnaire consisted of closed ended
questions and were mandatory. Closed-ended questions have a list of possible options
listed, from which the respondents must choose. However, few of the questions were
left blank in the printed form of questionnaire. Out of the 384questionnaires sent to
different IT professionals via different online mediums, 260 valid responses were
received. The data was then processed into the MS Excel and subsequently to SPSS
for the further analysis.

Occupational Stress Factor

The questionnaire for the Occupational Role Stressors (Role Overload (RO), Role
Insufficiency (RI), Role Ambiguity (RA), Role Boundary (RB), Responsibility (R),
Physical Environment (PE) was referred from Occupational Stress Inventory Revised
(OSI- R), a stressor model developed by Samuel Osipow (Osipow S. &., 1987). The
stressor factor, Fear of Obsolescence, was adopted from the research study conducted
in Kerala among the software professionals by Anu Jossy Joy and Dr. G.S. Gireesh
Kumar, where the researchers found that this factor has a major impact on employee’s
performance (Anu Jossy Joy, 2018).

These variables - Occupational Role Stressor (Role Overload (6), Role Insufficiency
(7), Role Ambiguity (8), Role Boundary (5), Responsibility (4), Physical Environment
(3), Fear of Obsolescence (3) were assessed using a five-point Likert scale ranging
from 1 (Strongly Disagree) to 5 (Strongly Agree). The respondents were required to
indicate to what degree of Occupational Stress they had been subjected to or shown
themselves.

Employee Performance

The questionnaire for the Employee Performance was adopted from the empirical
research study conducted to investigate potential areas for expanding the focus of
employee performance as a key area of successful use of human resources (HR)

25
(Rabindra Kumar Pradhan, 2017). The framework suggested three dimensions of the
Task Performance (TA), Adaptive Performance (AP), and Contextual Performance
(CP). The responses for the employee performance were assessed using the 23 valid
items proposed by the aforementioned study. The ratings for each individual item
range from 1 (Strongly Disagree) to 5 on a five-point scale (Strongly Agree).

3.4 Data Analysis Tool

Various statistical methods and software were used to analyze, evaluate, and verify
the primary data source. For the ease of data visualization, different inbuilt tools
present in the software were used to present data in tabular form as well as
figuratively. The data for the final 260 responses was downloaded as csv. files and
then imported into SPSS. IBM SPSS Version 26 was used for the primary data
analysis and other statistical calculations on the data. The obtained results and
interpretations were presented in a written form using Microsoft Word.

The data analysis for this study can be divided into two types: Descriptive analysis
and inferential analysis. Frequency, percentage, and mean analysis were used for
descriptive analysis. For inferential analysis, multiple regression and correlation
analysis were used.

3.5 Reliability of Data

Reliability defines the degree to which we can rely on the data and its sources. It helps
to measure how the consistency and steadfastness of the data. This analysis also helps
to add the validity and accuracy to the researcher’s data interpretation. High-quality
tests are essential for determining the dependability of data provided in an
examination or research study (Mohsen Tavakol, 2011).

Cronbach Alpha was used to test the reliability for the data. Generally, the value
above 0.70 in this scale is considered to be the reliable. Pre-test was done with the
population sample of 40 respondents to check the reliability of the questionnaire and
the study variables.

26
Table 3. 1 Reliability of variable
Variables Cronbach’s alpha Number of items
Role Overload 0. 936 6
Role Insufficiency 0.972 7
Role Ambiguity 0.954 8
Role Boundary 0. 937 5
Responsibility 0.933 4
Physical Environment 0. 676 3
Fear of Obsolescence 0.905 3
Employee Performance 0.952 23

Source: Field Survey (2020)

Table 3.1 shows the different variables used in this study along with their Cronbach
alpha. The table shows that Role Overload, Role Insufficiency, Role Ambiguity, Role
Boundary, Responsibility has 6, 7, 8, 5, 4 factors with reliability statistics of 0.936,
0.972, 0.954, 0.937 and, 0.933 respectively. The Cronbach alpha for Physical
Environment was 0.676 and Fear of Obsolescence was 0.905, each of these variables
having 3 factors each. Similarly, Employee Performance has 23 factors with
reliability statistics of 0. 952.Thus, the figures for different variables and the factors
falls within the acceptable scale of the Cronbach Alpha, signifying that there is an
acceptable degree of reliability.

3.6 Ethical Consideration

Research ethics constitutes ethical guidelines that guide us on how scientific research
should be conducted and disseminated. It defines different criterion for responsibly
conducting the research.

Ethics and norms were upheld and maintained while conducting the survey as well as
during the preparation of the report.
 The study was limited to IT sector, thus making it dubious to be
generalized as a whole.
 Ethical considerations were taken from the authorized personnel of the
company to conduct the study.

27
 Participants received assurances that the data would only be utilized
for this study's purposes and that respondent and subject confidentiality
would be upheld.
 Withdrawal of participant from the study at any time was acceptable.
 Proper citation and references for the sources of information used in
this study has been done to give proper credit and acknowledgement
to the work of the original researchers and authors.

28
 CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS AND RESULTS

This chapter provides description of data analysis process, interpretation of results and
findings of the study. All of the collected data was analyzed and the results are
presented in tabular form. The tables show the demographic profile of respondents,
descriptive analysis of the impact of stress in the employee performance, analysis that
determines the relationship between occupational stress factors, the dominant factor
of occupational stress impacting employee performance and their interpretations.

4.1 Employee Characteristics

Employee traits constitute features like gender, age, highest education level, marital
status, work experience, work level and monthly income.

4.1.1 Demographic Profile of Respondents

The table below displays the analysis of employees of IT sector of Kathmandu valley
according to various demographic factors.

Table 4.1 Demographic Profiles of Respondents

Factors
(Demographic Variables) No. of respondents (N) Percentage (%)
Gender
Male 178 68.5
Female 81 31.2
Prefer not to say 1 0.4
Age (in years)
18 - 24 50 19.2
25 - 31 170 65.4
32 - 38 30 11.5
39-45 10 3.8
Highest Education Level
Intermediate (10+2) 4 1.5
Bachelor's level 202 77.7
Masters and above 54 20.8

29
Marital Status
Married 58 22.3
Single 200 76.9
Divorced 2 0.8
Work Experience
Less than a year 29 11.2
1 - 3 years 101 38.8
4 - 6 years 77 29.6
7- 9 years 27 10.4
10 years and above 26 10
Work level
Associate 74 28.5
Mid 99 38.1
Senior 87 33.5
Monthly Income (Rs.)
Below 50,000 92 35.4
50,001 – 1,00,000 88 33.8
1,00,001 – 1,50,000 41 15.8
1,50,001 – 2,00,000 19 7.3
2,00,000 and above 20 7.7
Total 260 100

Source: Field Survey (2022)

Table 4.1 exhibits the demographic information of the respondent which includes
gender, age, marital status, highest education level, work experience, work level and
monthly income.

Out of the total 260 respondents, there was comparatively a greater number of male
respondents with a value of 68.5 percent. Female respondents accounted for 31.2
percent of the respondents and others were about 0.4 percent. Even though there is a
widespread knowledge of the disproportionate gender ratio of men to women in the
tech industry, the gender gap still persists in IT sector. According to the data of
National Institute for Women & Information Technology, in past 12 years, women
workers in IT industry has increased by 2% (Koehn, 2022).

30
In terms of age, nearly two-thirds of the respondents in my study were of the age
group 25- 31 years, (around 65.4 percent) with a small share of people of age group39
- 45 years (around 3.8 percent). Thus, from these figures, we can say that people of
mid age group are more involved in the IT sector than other age groups.

Similarly, 77.7 percent of the people have completed their Bachelor’s degree and 20.8
percent have completed Masters and above degree. Only a few numbers of the
respondents (about 1.5 percent) have only completed their Intermediate (+2) level.
Basically, education level has never played a crucial role to start a profession in IT
sector. This profession requires and focuses on the individual skills rather the
education level. Hence, we can derive that most of the employees working in IT
industry are skill competent.

In terms of service provided by the employees in their company, 11.2 percent had
worked for less than a year, 38.8 percent worked between 1 - 3 years, 29.6 percent
worked between 4 - 7 years, 10.4 percent employees worked between 8 – 10 years
and only one tenth of them worked above 10 years, illustrating that employees
generally work mostly up to 4 – 7 years in a company. This is due to the fact that IT
industry has greater demands in the market with competitive salaries and flexible
working environments, which permits employees to switch between different
companies and roles.

Similarly, while categorizing the employee data in terms of the work level, 28.5
percent of employees are of Associate level, 38.1 percent of employees are of Mid-
level and about a third of employees are of senior level. This means that the
companies have proper career paths and growth opportunities for their employees.

Furthermore, in terms of the monthly wages paid to the employees, IT industry is one
of the highest paying industries among the IT sector. 35.4 percent employees were
paid below Rs. 50,000, 33.8 percent of employees received pay between Rs. 50,000
and Rs. 1,000,000. 15.8% of employees received pay in the range of Rs. 1,00,001 to
Rs. 1,50,000, 7.3% received pay in the range of Rs. 1,51,001 to Rs. 2,00,000, and
7.7% received pay above Rs. 2,000,000.

To summarize the above findings, majority of respondents fall in the age group of 25-
31 years with majority of them being male workers and are employed in the mid-level

31
positions in their companies. Most of them have working experience of around 1 – 3
years and have monthly earnings figures at around Rs. 50, 000.

4.2 Descriptive Statistic Analysis

Awareness and perception level of occupational stress

To determine the awareness level of the occupational stress and perceived

occupational stress among the employees of the IT sector of Kathmandu Valley,
respondents were asked to answer the questions -Have your heard about the
occupational stress and have you ever felt occupational stress.

Table 4. 2 Descriptive Statistics related to Occupational Stress

Variable (N= 260) No. of responses Percentage
(N) (%)
Have you heard about Occupational Yes 233 89.6
Stress? No 27 10.4
Have you ever felt Occupational Stress? Yes 218 83.8
No 42 16.2

Source: Field Survey (2022)

Table 4.2 Exhibits the awareness level and perceived Occupational stress by the
employees of IT sector. As per the result, the majority of the employees in the IT
sector of Kathmandu valley have heard and experienced occupational stress in their
workplace. A whopping 89.6 percent employee agreed that they are mindful about the
occupational stress while 10.4 percent employees think otherwise. Similarly, 83.8
percent respondents agreed that they have sensed occupational stress and 16.2 percent
people have not.

4.3 Descriptive Statistics of the Variables

Some of the major sources of Occupational stress, Occupational Role Stressor defined
by OSR- Revised version are - Role Overload, Role Insufficiency, Role Ambiguity,
Role Boundary, Responsibility and Physical Environment. In addition to these, Fear
of Obsolescence factor has also been considered to analyze its effect in the employee

32
performance. Mean and Standard Deviation is used to analyze the result as presented
below:

Table 4. 3 Descriptive Statistics of the Variables

Variables (N= 260) Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation
Role Overload 1.5 5 3.27 0.55
Role Insufficiency 1.57 5 3.26 0.68
Role Ambiguity 1.38 5 3.28 0.63
Role Boundary 1.8 5 3.1 0.49
Responsibility 2 5 3.26 0.67
Physical Environment 1.67 4.33 2.91 0.58
Fear of Obsolescence 1.33 5 3.27 0.53

Source: Field Survey (2022)

Table 4.3 displays the descriptive analysis of the different status or level of stress
incurred by the different occupational stress factor. The mean derived for the Role
Overload is 3.27 with a Standard Deviation of 0.55 which was measured using the
five- point scale. Role Overload's mean value demonstrates that the average of
respondents concur that they face role overload at work, and the standard deviation
shows that respondent responses varied by roughly 72%.

Role Insufficiency was measured on the 5-point scale and the mean value is 3.26
which indicate that the

33
4.3.1 Role Overload

Table 4. 4 Role Overload

Std.
N Minimum Maximum Mean Deviation
I often have to switch 260 1 5 3.28 0.863
between different tasks in a
short time frame
The responsibilities 260 1 5 3.3 0.957
associated with my job
increases with time
I often have to perform tasks 260 1 5 3.27 0.821
on my job in which I have
never been trained
I often have strict deadlines 260 1 5 3.28 0.791
I often have to work at home 260 2 5 3.21 0.793
after my office hours.
I often need guidance to deal 260 2 5 3.27 0.732
with requirements related
with my job

Source: Field Survey (2022)

Table 4.4 shows the mean and standard deviation for the following statements: have
to frequently switch of task in a short time frame, responsibilities associated with job
increases with time, perform tasks having to work from home beyond office hours in
a capacity for which they have never received training, have strict deadlines and often
need guidance to deal demands related with job.

Overall, we can see that the respondents seem to be having consensus on the
statements that measure the role overload. The need to switch between different tasks
is 3.28 and the standard deviation signifies the variation from the responses shared by
the respondent is 86.3%. Among the 6-statements measured, the factor for
responsibilities increasing with time has the highest mean value of 3.30 that leans to
agreement on having increasing responsibilities with the standard deviation of 95.7%

34
of variation in the responses. This indicates that the respondents have considerably
excessive workload and responsibilities in their current job.

4.3.2 Role Insufficiency

Table 4. 5 Role Insufficiency

Std.
N Minimum Maximum Mean Deviation
I feel stagnant in my current 260 1 5 3.1 0.815
job.
I feel that I am well situated 260 1 5 3.23 0.943
to execute tasks in my
current job as per my
qualifications and skills.
I can make full use of my 260 1 5 3.28 0.972
talents and skills during
performing my job.
I have good future prospects 260 1 5 3.23 0.959
in my current job.
I get to learn and acquire new 260 1 5 3.28 0.956
skills in my job.
I am unenthusiastic about 260 1 5 3.11 0.771
my job.
I have to perform tasks that I 260 1 5 3.12 0.818
am not situated and trained
for.

Source: Field Survey (2022)

Table 4.5 demonstrates mean and standard deviation for the following statements:
feeling stagnant in my current job, feeling well situated to execute tasks in my current
job as per qualifications and skills, can make full use of talents and skills during
performing job, have good future prospects in current job, get to learn and acquire
new skills in my job, unenthusiastic about my job, perform tasks that not situated and
trained for.

35
On the whole, the respondents seem to be having a general unison on the dimensions
that measure the role insufficiency. The number of respondents feeling stagnant about
the current job has the mean value of 3.10 with the standard deviation of 81.5%.
Similarly, the highest mean among the seven dimensions, is for the statements- “I can
make full use of my talents and skills during performing my job” and “I have good
future prospects in my current job”, both with a value of 3.28. Standard deviations for
the above statements are 97.2% and 95.9% respectively.

4.3.3 Role Ambiguity

Table 4. 6 Role Ambiguity

Std.
N Minimum Maximum Mean Deviation
I usually get useful feedback 260 1 5 3.29 0.986
from my supervisors.
I am full aware of what is 260 1 5 3.28 1.04
required of me.
I know my responsibilities in 260 1 5 3.33 1.054
my job.
I know how to undertake and 260 1 5 3.31 1.064
perform any tasks associated
with my job.
I usually have to take on plans 260 1 5 3.28 0.914
and actions that are vaguely
described.
I have little understanding of 260 1 5 3.16 0.71
the task that has to be
performed.
I have a clear understanding of 260 1 5 3.3 1.014
my priorities on my job.
I know the basis on which I am 260 1 5 3.31 0.982
being evaluated on my job.

Source: Field Survey (2022)

36
Table 4.6 exhibits mean and standard deviation for the given statements: usually get
useful feedback from supervisors, know exactly what is expected in job, know
responsibilities in job, know how to undertake and perform any tasks associated with
job, usually have to take on plans and actions that are vaguely described, have little
understanding of the task that has to be performed, have a clear understanding of my
priorities on job, know the basis on which evaluation of job is done.

Overall, the respondents seem to be more inclined towards agreement on the

statement related to role ambiguity. The number of respondents that usually get useful
feedback from supervisors has the mean value of 3.29 with the standard deviation of
98.6%. Similarly, the highest mean among the seven statement, is for- “I know my
responsibilities in job” with the mean value of 3.33and standard deviation of 105%.

4.3.4 Role Boundary

Table 4. 7 Role Boundary

Std.
N Minimum Maximum Mean
Deviation
I have to report to more than 260 1 5 3.12 0.877
one person.
I know my role and value 260 1 5 3.26 0.967
within the organization.
My supervisors have little to 260 1 5 2.98 0.678
no idea of the work I am
currently doing.
I have clear idea of the roles 260 1 5 3.18 0.914
and responsibilities of other
individuals in the
organization.
I have frequent argument 260 2 5 2.99 0.74
with other individuals in the
organization.

Source: Field Survey (2022)

37
Table 4.7 Exhibits mean and standard deviation for the following statements: have to
report to more than one person, knows one’s role and value within the organization,
supervisors have little to no idea of the work currently being done, have clear idea of
the roles and responsibilities of other individuals in the organization, have frequent
argument with other individuals in the organization.

The mean of 2.98 is for the statement that the supervisor has little to no idea of the
work that the individual is currently doing which shows respondent’s answer varied
from 67.8%. This shows that they agree with the statement and have a good amount
of supervision. The mean of the statement, have frequent argument with other
individuals in the organization, is 2.99 and the standard deviation signifies the
variation in the responses shared by respondents is 74%. This shows that the
respondents have a good relationship with their colleagues. The respondents
moderately agree with the statement that they have to report to more than one person,
know my role with mean values of 3.12, 3.26, and 3.18 and standard deviations of
87.7 percent, 96.7 percent, and 91.4 percent, respectively, people in the organization
have a clear understanding of the roles and responsibilities of other people in the
organization.

4.3.5 Responsibility

Table 4. 8 Responsibility
Std.
N Minimum Maximum Mean
Deviation
I have to deal and mentor many 260 1 5 3.27 0.773
people during the day.
I have to take responsibilities for 260 1 5 3.25 0.88
the activities of my team
members.
I am in charge of my team 260 2 5 3.27 0.795
member’s welfare.
I am worried about carrying out 260 2 5 3.26 0.791
my duties at work.

Source: Field Survey (2022)

38
Table 4.8 Exhibits mean and standard deviation of the given statement: have to deal
and mentor many people during the day, have to take responsibilities for the activities
of my team members, responsible for the welfare of my subordinates and worried
about fulfilling job responsibilities.

The mean for the statement, have to deal and mentor many people during the day, is
3.27 with the standard deviation of 77.3% which shows that respondents are
moderately agreeing on mentoring their subordinates. For the statement have to take
responsibilities for the activities of my team members, the mean value is 3.25 with the
Standard deviation of 88%. Also, respondents somewhat agree on the statement being
responsible for the welfare of my subordinates with the standard deviation of 3.27 and
standard deviation of 79.5% and for the statement, am worried about fulfilling my job
responsibilities, the mean value is 3.26 with the standard deviation of 79.1%.

4.3.6 Physical Environment

Table 4. 9 Physical Environment

Std.
N Minimum Maximum Mean Deviation
I have an inconsistent work 260 1 5 2.99 0.751
schedule.
I have to work all by myself. 260 1 5 2.95 0.667
I have a proper working 260 1 5 2.79 0.889
environment.

Source: Field Survey (2022)

Table 4.9 Exhibits mean and standard deviation for the given statements: have an
inconsistent work schedule, have to work all by myself and have a proper working
environment.

The mean value is 2.99 for the statement having an inconsistent work schedule with a
variation of 75.1%. This shows that they disagree with the statement and they have a
consistent work schedule. The mean of the statement, have to work all by myself, is
2.95 and the standard deviation signifies the variation in the responses shared by
respondents is 66.7%. Similarly, the mean of the statement, have a proper working

39
environment, is 2.79 and the standard deviation signifies the variation in the responses
shared by respondents is 88.9%. This indicates that the respondents disagree on
having a good physical environment.

4.3.7 Fear of Obsolescence

Table 4. 10 Fear of Obsolescence

Std.
N Minimum Maximum Mean Deviation
I constantly have to learn and 260 1 5 3.32 0.939
improve my skills to perform
well at my job.
I have minimal access to the 260 1 5 3.28 0.987
platform and resources to
improve and acquire new skills.
I am often guided by my 260 1 5 3.23 0.956
supervisors when I am learning
any new skills relevant to my
job.

Source: Field Survey (2022)

Table 4.10 Displays mean and standard deviation for the statements: constantly have
to learn and improve skills to perform well at my job, have minimal access to the
platform and resources to improve and acquire new skills and is often guided by
supervisors when learning any new skills relevant to job.

The mean for the statement having to learn and improve skills to perform well at job
schedule is calculated to be 3.32with a standard deviation of 75.1%. The mean of the
statement, have minimal access to the platform and resources to improve and acquire
new skills, is 3.28 and the standard deviation signifies the variation in the responses
shared by respondents is 98.7%. Similarly, the mean of the statement, is often guided
by supervisors when learning any new skills relevant to job, is 3.23 and the standard
deviation signifies the variation in the responses shared by respondents is 95.6%. This
indicates that the respondents moderately agree that they have fear of obsolescence.

40
4.3.8 Employee Performance

Task performance, adaptive performance, and contextual performance were the three
latent characteristics used to evaluate employee performance at work as per (Mayda,
Fatimah, Amani, & Nuha , 2022). The questionnaire was adapted from the conceptual
module suggested by Rabindra Kumar Pradhan and Lalatendu Kesari Jena in the
research - Employee Performance at Workplace: Conceptual Model and Empirical
Validation (Rabindra Kumar Pradhan, 2017), which provides a thorough
understanding of both the determinants of improving employee performance and the
structure and dynamics of employee performance.

Table 4. 11 Employee Performance: Task Performance

Std.
N Minimum Maximum Mean Deviation
I used to maintain high standard 260 1 5 2.87 1.173
of work.
I am capable of handling my 260 1 5 2.85 1.129
assignments without much
supervision.
I am very passionate about my 260 1 5 2.83 1.342
work.
I know I can handle multiple 260 1 5 2.86 1.214
assignments for achieving
organizational goals.
I used to complete my 260 1 5 2.85 1.239
assignments on time.
My colleagues believe I am a high 260 1 5 2.85 1.112
performer in my organization.

Source: Field Survey (2022)

Table 4.11 Exhibits mean and standard deviation for the following statements: I am
very passionate about my work, I used to maintain a high standard of work, I can
handle my assignments without much guidance, I know how to handle multiple
assignments for achieving organizational goals, I used to finish my assignments on

41
time, and my coworkers think I am a high performer in my organization. (Olaoluwa,
Stephen, & Mathias, 2020)

The mean of 2.87 corresponds to the statement used to maintain high standard of
work, with the answer variation of more than 100%. The mean of the statement, am
capable of handling my assignments without much supervision, is 2.85 and the
standard deviation signifies the variation in the responses shared by respondents is
more than 100%. similarly, the mean of the statement, very passionate about my
work. is 2.83 and the standard deviation signifies the variation in the responses shared
by respondents is more than 100%.

Table 4. 12 Employee Performance: Adaptive Performance

Std.
N Minimum Maximum Mean
Deviation
I used to perform well to 260 1 5 2.87 1.018
mobilize collective intelligence
for effective team work.
I could manage change in my job 260 1 5 2.87 1.048
very well whenever the situation
demands.
I can handle effectively my work 260 1 5 2.87 1.065
team in the face of change.
I always believe that mutual 260 1 5 2.81 1.484
understanding can lead to a
viable solution in organization.
I used to lose my temper when 260 1 5 3.13 1.37
faced with criticism from my
team members.
I am very comfortable with job 260 1 5 2.86 1.214
flexibility.
I used to cope well with 260 1 5 2.89 0.932
organizational changes from time
to time.

Source: Field Survey (2022)

42
Table 4.12 exhibits mean and standard deviation of the given statement: used to
perform well to mobilize collective intelligence for effective team work, could
manage change in my job very well whenever the situation demands, can handle
effectively my work team in the face of change, always believe that mutual
understanding can lead to a viable solution in organization, used to lose my temper
when faced with criticism from my team members, very comfortable with job
flexibility, used to cope well with organizational changes from time to time.

The statement of mean having 2.87 for used to perform well to mobilize collective
intelligence for effective team work, could manage change in my job very well
whenever the situation demands, can handle effectively my work team in the face of
change, which shows respondent’s answer varied from more than 100%. The mean of
the statement, always believe that mutual understanding can lead to a viable solution
in organization, is 2.81 and the standard deviation signifies the variation in the
responses shared by respondents is more than 100%. similarly, the mean of the
statement, used to lose my temper when faced with criticism from my team members
is 2.83 which indicate that, the respondents is neutral on losing the temper when faced
with criticism from team members.

43
Table 4. 13 Employee Performance: Contextual Performance
Std.
N Minimum Maximum Mean
Deviation
I used to extend help to my co- 260 1 5 2.81 1.4
workers when asked or needed.
I love to handle extra 260 1 5 2.91 1.004
responsibilities.
I extend my sympathy and 260 1 5 2.82 1.354
empathy to my co-workers when
they are in trouble.
I actively participate in group 260 1 5 2.83 1.276
discussions and work meetings.
I used to praise my co-workers 260 1 5 2.83 1.357
for their good work.
I derive lot of satisfaction 260 1 5 2.86 1.213
nurturing others in organization.
I used to share knowledge and 260 1 5 2.83 1.259
ideas among my team members.
I used to maintain good 260 1 5 2.81 1.264
coordination among fellow
workers.
I used to guide new colleagues 260 1 5 2.84 1.237
beyond my job purview.
I communicate effectively with 260 1 5 2.81 1.347
my colleagues for problem
solving and decision making.

Source: Field Survey (2022)

Table 4.13 Exhibits mean and standard deviation of the given statement: used to
extend help to my co-workers when asked or needed, love to handle extra
responsibilities, extend my sympathy and empathy to my co-workers when they are in
trouble, actively participate in group discussions and work meetings, used to share
knowledge and ideas among my team members, used to maintain good coordination

44
among fellow workers, used to guide new colleagues beyond my job purview and
communicate effectively with my colleagues for problem solving and decision
making.

The mean for statement used to extend help to my co-workers when asked or needed,
used to maintain good coordination among fellow workers, communicate effectively
with my colleagues for problem solving and decision making, is 2.81and also, the
deviation shows that the respondent’s answer varied from more than 100%. Overall,
the respondents disagree on most of the given statements.

4.4 Co-relation Analysis

Co-relation analysis measures the relationship between the two or more than two
independent variables. It helps to measure to what extent the variables are related to
each other. Study's dependent variable (employee performance) and independent
variables (occupational role stressor and fear of obsolescence), Pearson’s correlation
analysis was used. This analysis defines the relationship in three measures;
 A positive and direct co- relation between the variables (Value = 1)
 A negative and inverse co- relation between the variables (Value =
-1)
 No co- relation between the variables (Value = 0)

4.4.1 Correlation Analysis of variables

Table 4. 14 Correlation Analysis of Each Variable

RO RI RA RB R PE FO EP
RO 1
RI .932** 1
RA .913** .932** 1
RB .915** .955** .924** 1
R .913** .916** .897** .907** 1
PE -.571** -5.63** -.546** .584** .554** 1
FO .881** .900** .940** .885** .857** .515** 1
EP -.948** -.975** -.958** -.958** -.931** .574** -.931** 1
*. Correlation significance at the 0.05 level (2- tailed)
**. Correlation significance at the 0.01 level (2- tailed)

45
Table 4.14 displays the correlation value between each occupational stress factors
(Fear of Obsolescence, Physical Environment, Role Boundary, Role Insufficiency,
Responsibility, Role Overload, Role Ambiguity) and employee performance. Since
there exists a negative impact of occupational stress on employee performance, so is
the case with the individual occupational stress factors and employee performance.
However, each factor has different correlation values.

This is the same for the individual occupational stress factors and employee
performance. However, each factor has different correlation values.

The result shows that role overload and employee performance are negatively related
with a correlation value of -.948, indicating a strong negative correlation. Similarly,
Role insufficiency and Role ambiguity also has a strong negative relationship with
employee performance with the correlation value of -.975 and -.958 respectively. This
negative relationship with employee relationship also holds true for, Role Boundary,
Responsibility and fear of Obsolescence with the correlation value of -.958, -.931 and
-.931. On the contrary, Physical Environment showed a positive relationship with
employee performance with correlation value of .574.

Among the negatively correlated occupational stress factors with employee

performance, role insufficiency has a higher correlation value in comparison with
other factors as it has a correlation value of -.975.

The negative impact of role insufficiency on employee performance tends to be strong

in comparison to other factor which shows that with every one unit increase in role
insufficiency, employee performance tends to decrease by .975. The negative
relationship between role ambiguity, role boundary and fear of obsolescence and
employee performance is moderate in comparison to other occupational stress factors.
With every one percent increase in these stress factors, the employee performance is
decreases slightly. Thus, it can be concluded that the role insufficiency plays a major
role in employees’ performance, while other factors have a minimum role on
employee performance.

Hence, the occupational stress factors namely, role overload, role insufficiency, role
ambiguity, Responsibility and Fear of Obsolescence showed a negative relationship
with employees’ performance. However, Physical Environment showed a positive

46
relationship with employees’ performance. This indicates that the physical
environment and employee performance move in the same direction with positive
feedback to each other. With better physical environment, employees’ performance
tends to increase and vice-versa.

4.5 Correlation Analysis of Overall Variables

Occupational stress and employees’ performance have significant impact on the

organizational productivity and success. Considering the impact of occupational stress
on employees’ performance, the study on the concerned subject is gaining popularity
throughout the world. In general, occupational stress is related more to the employee’s
performance and the employees’ performance is related with the organizational
productivity. Employees that face occupational stress are not motivated to perform
better. This situation may display a low consistent level of employee performance
which will lead the employee to be less productive at work.

This study's overarching goal is to quantify how Occupational stress affects

employees' performance in the IT industries. The occupational stress one of the key
elements for identifying the employees’ performance, is determined by the seven
factors, with a total of thirty-six statements, each is measured by a five point Likert
scale 1 (strongly disagree) and 5 (strongly agree). The measure of the occupational
stress is based on the average score of all the thirty-six statements. Thus, it is termed
as a summated scale. Similarly, employee performance is also based on summated
scale from twenty-three statements. If we consider other studies in this area, different
researchers have found out that there is negative impact of occupational stress on
employees’ performance. In other words, the when the employee will face more
occupational stress the employee performance will be poorer. The results presented in
this study also supports this finding.

Table 4. 15 Correlation between overall occupational stress factor and employee

performance
OSF EP
OSF 1
EP -.982** 1

**. Correlation significance at the 0.01 level (2- tailed)

47
Table 4.15 displays the correlation value between overall occupational stress and the
employee performance. It shows a negative correlation between overall occupational
stress factors and employee performance (r = -.908, p<.01). This implies that
employees having higher occupational stress have a strong level impact on
employees’ performance of IT Sectors in a negative manner. Negative correlation
between the overall occupational stress and the employees’ performance is consistent
with the finding of previous researches.

4.6 Regression Analysis

This study employed a multiple linear regression model. The three sections of the
regression analysis are Model summary, ANOVA, and Coefficients.

The R-squared and modified R-squared, which are crucial for estimating the variation
in dependent variables brought on by or explained by the independent variable, are
displayed in the model summary section.

The null hypothesis is accepted or rejected in the ANOVA section. If the null
hypothesis is true, it means that none of the independent variables can be used to
predict the dependent variable. The null hypothesis is rejected and the regression
model is inferred to be a good fit for the data if the F-test is greater than 0 and the p-
value is less than 0.05 (p-value is in the Sig column).

Major factors of Occupational Stress that influence Employee Performance

Table 4. 16 Model Summary

Model R R Square Adjusted R Square Std. Error of the Estimate
1 .989a 0.978 0.977 0.14884
a. Predictors: (Constant), Fear of Obsolescence, Physical Environment,
Responsibility, Role Boundary, Role Overload, Role Ambiguity, Role Insufficiency

The table 4.16exhibits the model summary presented on the table above presents the
value of Coefficient of determination (R square) as 0.978 or 97.8%. It indicates that
97.8% variation in dependent variable i.e. Employee Performance is explained by the
independent variable i.e. Occupational Stress. Furthermore, it also indicates that the
remaining 2.02% is explained by other factor(s) not included in the model.

48
Table 4. 17 ANOVA
Sum of Mean
Model df F Sig.
Squares Square
1 Regression 242.541 7 34.649 1564.12 .000b
Residual 5.582 252 0.022
Total 248.124 259
a. Dependent Variable: Employee Performance

From the table 4.17we get the F-value and p-value as F(7, 252)= 1564.12, p<0.05 (p-
value< α). This implies that the overall regression model is a good fit and statistically
significance.

Table 4. 18 Coefficients
Unstandardized Standardized
Coefficients Coefficients
Model t Sig.
Std.
B Error Beta
1 (Constant) 6.809 0.108 62.839 0
Role Overload -0.18 0.04 -0.133 -4.456 0
Role Insufficiency -0.437 0.046 -0.37 -9.482 0
Role Ambiguity -0.191 0.041 -0.166 -4.627 0
Role Boundary -0.166 0.045 -0.127 -3.655 0
Responsibility -0.115 0.035 -0.087 -3.269 0.001
Physical Environment 0.015 0.023 0.008 0.641 0.522
Fear of Obsolescence -0.148 0.031 -0.134 -4.719 0
a. Dependent Variable: Employee Performance

The regression equation is therefore

Y = B0 +B1X1+B2X2 +B3X3+B4X4 + B5X5+B6X6+ B7X67 + e

i.e. Y = 3.3834 -.300 X1 -.187 X2 -.213 X3– .234 X4 +.023X5 -.037 X6 -.208 X7 + e

Where Y = Employee Performance,

B0 = Constant;
B1, B2, B3, B4, B5, B6, B7 = the coefficient of the variables;

49
 X1 = Role Overload;
X2 = Role Insufficiency;
X3 = Work Ambiguity;
X4 = Work Boundary
X5 = Responsibility;
X6 = Physical Environment;
X7 = Fear of Obsolescence
e = the error or the difference between the predicted and the observed value of
Y.

There are seven significant factors in the coefficient test. Here, Role overload (Beta
value = -.180, t-value = -4.456, and p-value<.05) had a negative and statistically
significant impact on employee performance. Role Insufficiency (Beta value= -.437,
t-value = -9.482. Role Ambiguity (Beta value = -.191, t-value = -4.627, and p-
value<0.05) had a negative and statistically significant impact on employee
performance. Responsibility (Beta Value = -.115, t-value = -3.269, and p-value<0.05)
and Role Boundary (Beta Value = -.166, t-value = -3.655, and p-value<0.05) had a
negative and statistically significant impact on employee performance. Physical
Environment (Beta value = .015, t-value =.641, and p-value>0.05) had a positive but
statistically insignificant impact on employee performance. Lastly, Fear of
Obsolescence (Beta Value = -.148, t-value = -4.719, and p-value<0.05), had a
negative but statistically significant impact on employee performance.

The unstandardized coefficient determines the strength and direction of influence

occupational stress factors have on employee performance. The beta value of -.180
value in role overload explain that for every one unit of change in role overload,
employee performance decreases by .180. Likewise, beta value of -.191 in role
ambiguity also indicate that for every one unit of change in role ambiguity, employee
performance decreases by.191. For every one unit of change in responsibilities,
employee performance decrease by .115. In case of role boundary, one unit of change
in role boundary will decrease employee performance by .166. Lastly, for every one
unit of change in physical environment, employee performance increases by .015.

50
Regarding the major factor influencing employee performance, physical environment
followed has the highest t-value of .641 with beta coefficient of .015. Thus, physical
environment is the one having major influence on employee performance.

4.7 Summary of Hypotheses Testing

The results of the hypotheses of the study listed in chapter first are listed below:

Table 4. 19 Summary of Hypothesis Testing

Hypothesis P- value Result
H1 There is a significant impact of overall P<0.05 Supported
occupational stress on employee performance.
H2 There is a significant impact of role overload P<0.05 Supported
on employee performance.
H3 There is a significant impact of role P<0.05 Supported
insufficiency on employee performance
H4 There is a significant impact of role ambiguity P<0.05 Supported
on employee performance.
H5 There is a significant impact of responsibility P<0.05 Supported
on employee performance.
H6 There is a significant impact of role boundary P<0.05 Supported
on employee performance.
H7 There is a significant impact of physical P>0.05 Not Supported
environment on employee performance. (P= 0.522)
H8 There is a significant impact of fear of P<0.05 Supported
obsolescence on employee performance

4.8 Major Findings:

After the quantitative analyses of the study, following part of the chapter points out
the major findings for the current research which are as follows:

Demographic data:

This section highlights the major findings on the descriptive statistics of the
respondents.

51
 i. The research was conducted among the employees in the IT sector in
Kathmandu valley, out of which68.5 percent were male and 31.2
percent were female which clearly states that the majority among them
are male.
ii. 19.2 percent of the respondents belonged to the age group of 18 -24
years, 65.4 percent belonged to the age group of 25-31 years, 11.5
percent belonged to 32 - 38years of age, and 3.8 percent belonged to
the age group of 39 – 45 years of age. The majority of respondents are
between the age of 25 -31 years.
iii. Regarding the educational qualification of the respondents, 1.5 percent
had the qualification of intermediate level, 77.7 percent had Bachelor’s
level qualification and 20.8 percent had qualification of above master’s
and above level. Majority of the respondents were well-qualified
having a Bachelor’s degree.
iv. It was found that 22.3 percent of the respondents were married and
76.9 percent were found to be single and 0.8 percent were divorced.
Majority are single in terms of the marital status of respondents.
v. In terms of the service tenure, 11.2 percent had been working in the IT
sector for less than a year, 38.8 percent for 1-3 years, 29.6 percent for
4-6 years, 10.4 percent for 7-9 years and 10 percent had a tenure of
more than 10 years.
vi. The nature and degree of work was divided into three levels:
Associate, Mid and Senior level. As per the level of work, 28.5 percent
were working in the Associate level, 38.1 percent were working in the
mid-level and 33.5 percent were working in the senior level. Therefore,
it can be inferred that the companies have a well-planned career path
and processes for employee growth.
vii. In terms of income level, 35.4 percent earn below Rs. 50,000, 33.8
percent earn from the range Rs. 50,000 to Rs. 1,00,000, 15.8 percent
earn from the range Rs. 1,00,001 to Rs. 1, 50, 000, 7.3 percent earn
from the range Rs. 1,50,001 to Rs. 2,00,000 and 7.7 percent had
earnings above Rs. 2,00, 000.Thus, majority of the employees had
earnings up to Rs. 50, 000.

52
Awareness level of occupational stress

This section highlights the major findings on the awareness level and perceived
occupational stress of the respondents
viii. The study shows that the majority of the respondents, about89.6%
employees, have agreed that they are aware and have heard about
occupational stress whereas 10.4% of the employees have responded
that they have not heard about occupational stress. This shows that
most of the people have knowledge about the stress factors.
ix. In terms of the perceived occupational stress, 83.8% of the employees
have agreed that they have perceived occupational stress and 16.2% of
the employees have responded that they have not perceived
occupational stress. Thus, it can be inferred that majority of the people
have felt occupational stress in some ways.

Descriptive statistics
x. Overall, it was found that there is moderate level of occupational stress
with a smaller variation among the employees working in the IT
sectors as the mean value is 3.60 with the standard deviation of .59.
xi. The Descriptive analysis shows that the mean value of the Role
Overload is 3.27 (S.D = 0.55) which indicates that the respondents, to
some extent, agree that they have to switch between the multiple roles
and different tasks in a short time period. This means that more people
are likely to work on weekends and have to go through the tight
deadlines. In addition, they need continuous assistance to deal
demands. The work of IT professionals is multi-tasking by nature.
However, as most of the respondents showed neutral support to the
statement, they might be individuals who can handle the multiple tasks
well and have good support from the company.
xii. The Descriptive analysis of Role insufficiency has the mean value of
3.26 (S.D = 0.68), which indicates that the respondents slightly agree
that they have to deal with the feeling of being stagnant, job matches
my interests and skills, I'm bored at work, my talents are utilized well,
the job has a bright future, I'm learning new skills, and I'm performing

53
 duties below my level. This shows that the respondents are highly
involved in their work, with the majority of them having positions that
are a good fit for their skill set.
xiii. The Descriptive analysis of Role Ambiguity shows the mean value of
3.28 (S.D = 0.63), which indicates the respondents somewhat agree
that supervisor provides useful feedback Priorities are obvious, and
they are aware of the criteria used to evaluate them. They also know
which activities should be completed first and where to start the
project. This indicates that the respondents are majorly getting the
support from the company and have a reasonable knowledge of the
work.
xiv. The Descriptive analysis of Role Boundary shows the mean value of
3.10(S. D = 0.49), which indicates the respondents are mostly neutral
but slightly agree that they have There are multiple people instructing
people what to do, everyone knows their place in the company, and the
supervisor often disagrees with people in other departments about the
need.
xv. The Descriptive analysis of Responsibility shows the mean value of
3.26 (S.D = 0.67), which indicates the respondents are neutral on their
agreement or disagreement with the statements: have to report to more
than one person, know one’s role and value within the organization,
supervisors have little to no idea of the work currently being done,
have clear idea of the roles and responsibilities of other individuals in
the organization, have frequent argument with other individuals in the
organization.
xvi. The Descriptive analysis of physical environment shows the mean
value of 2.91 (S.D = 0.58), which indicates the respondents disagree
on the statements: have to report to more than one person, know one’s
role and value within the organization, supervisors have little to no
idea of the work currently being done, have clear idea of the roles and
responsibilities of other individuals in the organization, have frequent
argument with other individuals in the organization.
xvii. The Descriptive analysis of fear of obsolescence shows the mean value
of 3.27 (S.D = 0.53), which indicates the respondents are neutral and

54
 slightly agree on the statements: have to report to more than one
person, know one’s role and value within the organization, supervisors
have little to no idea of the work currently being done, have clear idea
of the roles and responsibilities of other individuals in the organization,
have frequent argument with other individuals in the organization.
xviii. The Descriptive analysis of task performance shows the mean value of
2.85 (S.D = 100 %), which indicates the respondents disagree to the
statements: have to report to more than one person, know one’s role
and value within the organization, supervisors have little to no idea of
the work currently being done, have clear idea of the roles and
responsibilities of other individuals in the organization, have frequent
argument with other individuals in the organization and results in low
task related performance.
xix. The Descriptive analysis of adaptive performance shows the mean
value of 2.85 (S.D = 100 %), which indicates the respondents disagree
with the statement have to report to more than one person, know one’s
role and value within the organization, supervisors have little to no
idea of the work currently being done, have clear idea of the roles and
responsibilities of other individuals in the organization, have frequent
argument with other individuals in the organization and results in low
adaptive performance.
xx. The Descriptive analysis of contextual performance shows the mean
value of 2.85 (S.D = 100 %), which indicates the respondents disagree
with the statements: have to report to more than one person, know
one’s role and value within the organization, supervisors have little to
no idea of the work currently being done, have clear idea of the roles
and responsibilities of other individuals in the organization, have
frequent argument with other individuals in the organization, which
then shows that their contextual performance are low.
xxi. In general, performance of the respondents tends to be lower side as
agreed upon by them. This might be the reason that there are other
factors that lead towards the low performance.
xxii. Among the six occupational stress factors, Role ambiguity has the
highest value of mean i.e., 3.28. Role overload has mean value of 3.27.

55
 Role Insufficiency has 3.26mean value. Role boundary has the mean
value of 3.10 and this value for responsibility was 3.26. Similarly, the
mean values of2.91 and 3.27were for physical environment and fear of
obsolescence.

Co-relation analysis
xxiii. According to the result of correlation data, employee performance has
significant relationship with role overload, role insufficiency, role
ambiguity, role boundary, responsibility and fear of obsolescence and
insignificant relationship with physical environment.
xxiv. The result of regression analysis also shows that employee
performance is linked to the role overload, role insufficiency, role
ambiguity, role boundary, responsibility and fear of obsolescence.
xxv. Hypotheses 1: overall occupational stress had a significant impact on
employee performance, was accepted at the (p-value<0.05). It indicates
that there is negative relationship between the occupational stress and
employee performance.
xxvi. Hypotheses 2: Role overload had a significant impact on employee
performance, was accepted at the (p-value<0.05).It implies that there is
negative relationship between the occupational stress and employee
performance.
xxvii. Hypotheses 3: Role Insufficiency had a significant impact on employee
performance, was accepted at the (p-value<0.05). It shows that there is
negative relationship between the occupational stress and employee
performance
xxviii. Hypotheses 4: Role Ambiguity had a significant impact on employee
performance, was accepted at the (p-value<0.05). It reveals that there
is negative relationship between the occupational stress and employee
performance.
xxix. Hypotheses 5: Role Boundary had a significant impact on employee
performance, was accepted at the (p-value<0.05). It denotes that there
is negative relationship between the occupational stress and employee
performance

56
 xxx. Hypotheses 6: Responsibility had a significant impact on employee
performance, was accepted at the (p-value<0.05). It indicates that there
is negative relationship between the occupational stress and employee
performance
xxxi. Hypotheses 7: Physical Environment had an insignificant impact on
employee performance, was accepted at the (p-value>0.05). It shows
that there is positive relationship between the occupational stress and
employee performance
xxxii. Hypotheses 8: Fear of Obsolescence had a significant impact on
employee performance, was accepted at the (p-value<0.05). It signifies
that there is negative relationship between the occupational stress and
employee performance
xxxiii. Among the six different occupational stress factors, physical
environment has the major impact on employee performance with the
highest t-value and beta coefficient (t-value = 0.641 and Beta = 0.15).

57
 CHAPTER V
DISCUSSION, CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS

In this chapter, the conclusions of the study are discussed. The entire investigation is
summed up, and judgments are made in light of the data. offered a further implication
for further study.

5.1 Discussion

The primary goal of this study was to determine how occupational stress affected
employees' performance in the IT industry. Furthermore, the research was conducted
to access the current status of occupational stress and employee performance, to
examine the relationship between occupational stress factors and employee
performance and to identify the major factor influencing employees’ performance of
the IT sectors.

The concept of work stress is dynamic and complicated. Unwanted levels of stress
have an impact on both employees' and an organization's performance in general.
Occupational stress was measured as a summation of the facets: role overload, role
insufficiency, role ambiguity, role boundary, responsibility and fear of obsolescence,
and physical environment. A moderate level of occupational stress was found with a
greater variation among the employees working in IT Sectors. Employee performance
among the employees was found to be at a low level as it had the mean value of 2.87.

According to the study, there is a negative correlation between employee performance

and occupational stress (r = -.982). This finding was consistent with the study (Imtiaz
& Ahmad, 2009) It was demonstrated that employees perform worse whenever there
is stress at work. He demonstrated it using correlation analysis and discovered a
substantial inverse association between occupational stress and work output. Finally,
the study findings corroborate (Ijaz & Khan, 2015), who also stated that the adverse
and severe effects of occupational stress on employee performance were observed in
Pakistan's industrial sector.

In this study, Role Ambiguity had the highest mean value and role ambiguity had the
lowest. This indicates that employees of IT sector are satisfied with the physical
environment they are getting. The study conducted by (Vischer, 2007)showed that

58
physical environment significantly impacts on the employee performance. Many
employees agreed that it reduces the work lord and error rate as well as it increases
the employees’ satisfaction and motivation.

Regarding the relationship between the six occupational role stress factors and fear of
obsolescence and employee performance, role overload, role ambiguity, role
insufficiency, responsibility, fear of obsolescence had negative relationship with
employee performance. The findings support the first hypothesis (H1) i.e. there is
significant impact of role overload on employee performance. This finding is
consistent with the findings of (Sunanda, 2018). Similarly, H2 was supported i.e.
there is significant impact of role insufficiency on employee performance which is
consistent with the findings of (Lavuri, 2018)found a significance impact of role
ambiguity on bank employees towards their job performance. However, this finding
contradicts with the findings of a study conducted in Pakistan in 2011 It was
discovered that role uncertainty has a favorable correlation with employee
performance because modern employees are more adept at multitasking and more
eager to complete one or two activities concurrently. Thus, H3 is supported i.e. There
is significant impact of role insufficiency on employee performance. Thus, H4 is
supported i.e. there is significant impact of role boundary at work on employee
performance. H5, is supported i.e. There is insignificant impact of physical
environment on performance. The findings support the H6 i.e. there is significant
impact of physical environment on employee performance which is consistent with
the study of (Vischer, 2007)where the result showed that physical environment
insignificantly impact on the employees’ performance. Lastly, the findings support the
H7 i.e. there is significant impact of fear of obsolescence on employee performance.
In the study most of the respondents were neutral to slightly agree on the fact that they
are affected by occupational role stressor. Whereas, the employee performance seems
to be low though there was moderate effect of occupational stress on performance.
This indicate that, there must be other stress factor that are causing effect on
employee performance.

Physical Environment proved to be the major factor that have significant impact on
employee performance. Physical Environment increase the employees’ performance
as the good working environment aids in focusing and tend to work faster and

59
accurately which reduces the employee’s distraction as it helps to minimize the
possible errors. Hence, from the articles reviewed and the findings of the research, it
can be seen that there is a significant impact of occupational stress on employees’
performance. As such, the organization need to focus on the occupational stress
management to enhance the employee performance.

5.2 Conclusion

Workplace stress is a critical concern that adversely affects employee performance

and ultimately the productivity of the company. Employee performance can be
affected by occupational stress in both positive and negative ways. Employees in any
firm can also be benefited from stress, but it depends on how the person manages it.
When an employee's capacity for handling stress exceeds the limit, the stress may
have a detrimental effect on their performance. In order to lessen workplace stress and
enable the IT sectors to fulfill their goals, stress management must be given top
priority.

The study's stated goal was to first explain the current status of occupational stress in
the IT sector of the Kathmandu valley, secondly to examine the relationship between
the Occupational Stress and the employee job performance of the IT sector of the
Kathmandu valley, and thirdly to identify the major factor influencing the employee’s
performance in IT sector in Kathmandu valley. The conclusions drawn from the
results and findings have been presented in Chapter IV with the highlights like
Employees in IT sector perform with a moderate level of occupational stress.
Employee performance and occupational stress are negatively correlated. Role
Insufficiency had an adverse effect on employee performance, which was statistically
significant. On the other hand, Role overload had a bad but statistically negligible
impact on worker performance. Role boundary and fear of Obsolescence have a
statistically significant detrimental influence on employee performance. Physical
environment had a favorable but statistically significant impact on employee
performance. The six main occupational stress variables all affect employee
performance differently, but Physical Environment has the most effect. We must
consider the managing as we determine the outcome.

60
5.3 Implication and Future Research

5.3.1 Implications

This research will contribute for the further studies and to the researcher to aid in
having in-depth knowledge on occupational stress and its impact on employee
performance.

The IT sector contributes majorly in the economy of the company. The advantage of
remote working globally has expanded its scope to the comfort and privilege of the
people to choose the working location. Hence, due to the cultural diversity that the
company practice, the employees might have various level of stress at work. As we
learn about the various dimension of the stress, it is important to learn on the stress
management techniques and mechanism to help the employees in large.

Implications for employees

As the study identified that there are still a group of people who are completely
unaware of the stress factors and its prevalence. Hence this study will help the
employees working in IT sector, to learn about the stress and its management
technique. This will also affect less on the performance and keep one aware on self.

Implications for organizations

As we learn about the impact of occupational stress on the employee performance, the
findings will help the organization as a whole to be alert on the mental, emotional and
spiritual wellbeing. Occupational stress has a significant factor to impact the
performance. The supervisor can look for the stress management and awareness plan
and programs like counseling, yoga, paid vacations. The findings will help to improve
the performance of the employees by studying the current work division.

The results generated from this study can be used to enhance theoretical
understanding and to guide management policies. Organization can also survey to find
out the level of Eustress a Distress in the work stations.

61
Implications for academicians

This study will help the researchers, medical health professionals to learn about the
factor impact on the employee performance. It will also help scholars and
practitioners better understand how workplace stress impacts worker performance and
how crucial it is for businesses to find solutions to reduce and support workers in
overcoming job stress in the context of the IT sectors. It will also serve as a
foundation for future researchers to include additional variables and conduct rigorous
research on similar topics. From an academic perspective, the study adds to the
literature on occupational stress and its impact on employee performance.

5.3.2 Future Research

Finding the effects of occupational stress on employee performance in the Kathmandu

valley's IT sector was the main goal of the research project. Similarly, it also
highlights the relationship pf different variables studied and its effect on the
employees of IT sector. Among the few researches conducted in the Nepal in the
different field or industry, to my knowledge, this research is the first one conducted
specifically in the IT sector to impact of occupational stress on thein employee
performance. The constructs, contents have been adapted from various similar studies
to that support the objectives. The findings of this study are similar with most of the
available literatures. The results of this study can therefore be used to inform future
investigations into the effects of occupational stress on worker performance. The
implications of this research for future researches are:
 The study had measured only the specific factor that causes the stress
based in the IT sector in Kathmandu. This study with the same
measures can be conducted all over Nepal to compare the results
obtained.
 To determine the most common source of stress, exploratory or
qualitative research can be conducted in the future. This will aid the
research and, through its theoretical conclusions, cover a wide range of
study dimensions.
 As many researchers have suggested various constructs and variables
which are well tested, a comparison study in different sector with same
sets of constructs related to Occupational stress can be conducted.

62
 The study hasn’t studied the moderating variable. The future researcher
can include the moderating variable like levels and personality of the
individual. This will help to identify the core causes of stress on
different work level.

63
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 ANNEX I: QUESTIONNAIRES

Hello,

Greetings of the Day!

I, Sabnam Buddhacharya, s t u d e n t of MBA, am doing this survey for my

Graduation

Research project.

The purpose of this questionnaire is to assess and examine Occupational Stress

and its impact on employee performance in the IT sector based on Kathmandu
Valley.

I would really appreciate it if you could set aside some of your precious time to
complete this questionnaire. I can ensure you that the data you supply will be kept
private and utilized solely for this research project.

SECTION A: BASIC DEMOGRAPHIC DATA (Place a tick mark “√” inside the
box.)

Gender Male Female

Prefer not to say

Age (in years)

18 - 24

25 - 31

32 – 38

39 - 45

46 and above

Marital status Married Single Divorced

71
Work experience

Less than 1 year

1 - 3 years

4 - 7 years

8 - 10 years

10 years and above

WorkLevel Associate Mid Senior

Monthly Income

Below Rs. 50,000

Rs. 50,000 - Rs. 1, 00,000

Rs. 100001 - Rs. 1, 50,000

Rs. 1, 50,001 - Rs. 2, 00,000

Rs. 2, 00,001 and above

72
 SECTION B: Awareness on occupational stress

Place a tick mark “√” on one of your answer. There are no right or wrong
answers. Have you heard about occupational stress?

Yes

No

Have you ever felt occupational stress?

Yes

No

Please rate on the basis of your thought to agree or disagree with the following
statements:
Strongly disagree = 1 Disagree = 2 Neutral = 3
Agree = 4 Strongly Agree = 5

Occupational Stress Factors (0SF)

Occupational Questions/Descriptions 1 2 3 4 5
Stress
Factors
Role I often have to switch between different
overload tasks in a short time frame.
The responsibilities a s s o c i a t e d w i t h
m y j o b increases with time.
I often have to perform tasks on my job in
which I have never been trained.
I often have strict deadlines.
I often have to work at home after my
office hours.
Ioften need guidance to deal with
requirements related with my job.

73
 I feel stagnant in my current
job.
I feel that I am well situated to execute
tasks in my current job as per my
Role qualifications and skills.
Insufficiency I can make full use of my talents and skills
during performing my job.
I have good future prospects i n my
current job.
I get to learn and acquire new skills in my
job. I am unenthusiastic about my job.
I have to perform tasks that I am not
situated and trained for.
I usually get useful feedback from
my supervisors.
I am full aware exactly what is required of
me.
I know my responsibilities in my job.
Role I know how to undertake a n d perform
Ambiguity an y tasks associated with my job.
I usually have to take on plans and actions
that are vaguely described.
I have little understanding of the task that
has to be performed.
I have a clear understanding of my
priorities on my job.
I know the basis on which I am
being evaluated on my job.
I have to report to more than one
person.
I know my role and value within the
Role Boundary organization.
My supervisors have little to no idea of

74
 the work I am currently doing.
I have clear idea of the roles and
responsibilities of other individuals in the
Role organization.
Boundary
I have frequent disagreement with other
individuals in the organization.
Responsibility I have to deal and mentor many people
during the day.
I have to take responsibilities of the activities
of my team member.
I am in charge of my team members’ welfare
I am worried about carrying out my duties at
work.

I have an inconsistent work

Physical schedule.
Environment I have to work all by myself.
I have a proper working environment.

I constantly h a v e to learn and improve

m y skills to perform well at my job.
I have m i ni m al a c c e s s to the platform
Fear of a n d resources to improve and acquire new
Obsolescence skills.
I am often guided by my supervisors when
I
am learning any new skills relevant to my
job.

75
SECTION C: Employee Performance

Please rate on the basis of your thought to agree or disagree with the following
statements:
Factors Questions/Descriptions 1 2 3 4 5
I used to maintain high standard of work.
Task I am capable of handling my assignments
Performance without much supervision.
I am very passionate about my work.
I know I can handle multiple assignments for
achieving organizational goals.
I used to complete my assignments on time.
My colleagues believe I am a high performer
in my organization.
I used to perform well to mobilize collective
intelligence for effective team work.
I could manage change in my job very well
whenever the situation demands.
Adaptive I can handle effectively my work team in the
Performance face of change.
I always believe that mutual understanding
can lead to a viable solution in organization.
I used to lose my temper when faced with
criticism from my team members.
I am very comfortable with job flexibility.
I used to cope well with
organizational changes from time to time.

76
 I used to extend help to my co-workers
when asked or needed.
I love to handle extra responsibilities.
I extend my sympathy and empathy to my
co- workers when they are in trouble.
I actively participate in group discussions
and work meetings.
Contextual I used to praise my co-workers for their
Performance good work.
I derive lot of satisfaction nurturing others
in organization.
I used to share knowledge and ideas
among my team members.
I used to maintain good coordination
among fellow workers.
I used to guide new colleagues beyond my
job purview.
I communicate effectively with my
colleagues for problem solving and
decision making.

77
ostress
ORIGINALITY REPORT

10%
SIMILARITY INDEX

PRIMARY SOURCES

1 www.researchgate.net
Internet 290 words — 2%
2 etd.aau.edu.et
Internet 215 words — 1%
3 pu.edu.pk
Internet 168 words — 1%
4 www.mdpi.com
Internet 103 words — 1%
5 www.krishisanskriti.org
Internet 67 words — < 1%
6 www.indusedu.org
Internet 62 words — < 1%
7 ijmr.net.in
Internet 46 words — < 1%
8 Ilbasan, Dilek. "orgutsel Guven, Sosyal Sermaye
Ve İs Performansi İlİskİsİ: It Sektorunde Bİr Alan
44 words — < 1%
Uygulamasi.", Marmara Universitesi (Turkey), 2021
ProQuest

9 globalacademicgroup.com
Internet 31 words — < 1%
10 www.cbmsbm.com
Internet 31 words — < 1%
11 www.techopedia.com
Internet 30 words — < 1%
12 pdfs.semanticscholar.org
Internet 28 words — < 1%
13 su-plus.strathmore.edu
Internet 28 words — < 1%
14 docplayer.net
Internet 27 words — < 1%
15 www.eajournals.org
Internet 27 words — < 1%
16 Phong D. Nguyen, Chuong X. Dang, Lam D.
Nguyen. "Would Better Earning, Work
26 words — < 1%
Environment, and Promotion Opportunities Increase Employee
Performance? An Investigation in State and Other Sectors in
Vietnam", Public Organization Review, 2014
Crossref

17 www.abacademies.org
Internet 26 words — < 1%
18 www.ipindexing.com
Internet 26 words — < 1%
19 researchbank.swinburne.edu.au
Internet 25 words — < 1%
20 repository.embuni.ac.ke
Internet 24 words — < 1%