Man In India, 96 (9) : 3063-3069 © Serials Publications A STUDY ON SOCIO-ECONOMIC JOB RELATED FACTORS AND ITS RELATIONSHIP WITH LEVEL OF STRESS AMONG THE PUBLIC SECTOR BANK EMPLOYEES IN COIMBATORE DISTRICT S. Pratheep1 and A. Dharmaraj2* The study aims to find out the level of stress faced by the public sector bank employees in Coimbatore district. Various factors like environmental stress, familial and relationship stress, work stress and social stress have been analyzed for this purpose. The main objective of this study is to examine the relationship between the socio economic status and stress level. Primary data was collected using field survey method and personal interview technique. A sample size of 750 has been taken. Chi square test and Multiple regression analysis have been used and the inference has been given in detail. From this study it is found that there is a close relationship between the age of the respondents, gender, qualification, income and dependents of the respondents and the level of stress. It is also found that age, nativity, family members, monthly income, marital status and working experience positively influence the level of stress. Keywords: Level of Stress, Burnout, Factors of stress, Occupational Stress, Multiple Regression Analysis and Public Sector Bank INTRODUCTION The advent of New Economic Reforms in 1991 has been the raise of service sector in India. Globalization and Privatization have compelled the banks to compete in international level and the bank employees are forced to acquire new skills for following new technologies, which leads stress among bank employees. The study attempts to find the level of stress and the factors of stress among the public sector banks in Coimbatore district. REVIEW OF LITERATURE Job stress is the first outcome of organization, where there is a feeling of discomfort and it leads to the second stage (i.e) difference in satisfaction, motivation, organizational commitment and performance. (Parker and Decotics,1983) Apart from which there are few other ways related to stress. Few variables like burnout, role conflict, emotional exhaustion, poor accomplishment and depersonalization are involved. (Jackson et al.,1986) Additionally variable personalities are also considered but it is often poorly assessed. Increased exposure to stress leads to burnout and depression. (Taylor and Cooper, 1989) The effects of stress would 1 2 Ph.D Research Scholar, Department of Management Studies & Research, Karpagam University, Coimbatore – 641 021 Associate Professor, Department of Management Studies & Research, Karpagam University, Coimbatore – 641 021 3064 MAN IN INDIA change from person to person. For some it would be at work and for others it would be at outside. Stress can be distinguished as work stress and domestic stress. (Phelan et.al, 1991) Work stress leads to low task-role clarity. (Revicks et.al.,1993) Especially the macroeconomic causes of stress which is more common among the employed workers which results in recession which in turn to individual stress. (Fenwick and Tausig, 1994) In particular working women face stress due to work overload and family role stressors. (Noor, 1995) Apart from this multiple role, lack of career progress, discrimination and stereotyping. (Gyllensten and Palmer, 2005) It is clear that work related stress is a major cause in the recent years and so many organisations have been introducing measures to mange stress in the workplace. Managers play a key role to minimize stress of the staff. 19 management competencies are framed to prevent and reduce work related stress (Feilder et.al., 2008). K. Umarani (2012) Studied Stress Management among Workers in Garment Industry in Tirpur, the study concluded that majority of workers faced with stressful conditions. Dr. A. Jelince Dhinakar & Ms. S.Mekala (2013) examined the employee’s level of stress due to long working hours, job insecurity, inadequate wages and lack of coordination. Mohsin Aziz (2016) investigated the force of organizational role stress among women professionals in the Indian private IT sector. Resource shortfall has emerged as the most heady role stress, followed by role overload and personal shortage. Stress is one of the foremost health hazards of the modern working environment. Stress and stressful working conditions have been associated to low productivity, increased rates of accidents on and off the job (Nimisha, M and Dharmaraj A, 2016). From the above reviews, 13 socio economic factors have been identified in order to find the relationship between socio economic conditions and level of stress. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY • • • • To explore socio economic conditions of Public sector bank employees To measure stress level among Public Sector bank employees of Coimbatore District To examine the relationship between socio economic conditions and stress level To understand impact of the personal, family related and work related variables on the level of stress. METHODOLOGY This study, examines with different aspects on the stress faced by the bank employees of Coimbatore district. Data regarding the research has been collected by means of field survey method and personal interview technique. A stratified random sampling techniques are adopted in the study. It was found that there are A STUDY ON SOCIO-ECONOMIC JOB RELATED FACTORS... 3065 totally 287 branches of banks are available in Coimbatore district. From this, 20 per cent of the branches have been selected randomly. This gave sample bank branches of 57 have been distributed proportionately. Again from this, to give fair representativeness, 30 per cent of the employees have been selected as samples which gave a sample size of 750. The study makes use of 750 selected samples. Data have been analysed by using Chi-Square and Multiple Regression Analysis with the help of SPSS software. ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK The composed data have been organized in simple tables and analyzed with the help of suitable statistical tools – Chi-Square test for rational interpretation of the data. Apart from this, Multiple Regression Analysis has been used to ascertain the level of stress among the bank employees. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION With the introduction of New Economic Reforms, Indian market has liable with global market is identical with banking sector. To measure the relationship stuck between socio-economic conditions and level of stress among the bank employees Chi-Square analysis have been used. Following hypothesis was tested. H0 - There is no significant relationship between socio-economic conditions and level of stress. TABLE 1: SOCIO- ECONOMIC CONDITIONS AND LEVEL OF STRESS Socio Economic conditions Age Gender Marital status Qualification Family type Income Dependents Chi Square value Table Value Remarks* 98.232 29.977 4.379 55.573 3.626 75.604 71.986 12.592 5.991 5.991 9.488 5.991 15.507 9.488 Significant Significant Not Significant Significant Not Significant Significant Significant Source: Computed from Primary Data, * at 5 per cent level It is divulged from the above table that the calculated Chi-Square value is greater than the table value and the result is significant at 5 per cent level. Hence, the hypothesis, “Age, Gender, Qualification, Income and Dependents of the respondents and their level of stress are not associated”, does not hold good. In this way, it is concluded that there is a close relationship between the age of the respondents, Gender, Qualification, Income and Dependents of the respondents and the level of stress perceived by them. It is also observed from the above table that the calculated Chi-Square value is less than the table value and the result is not significant. Hence, the hypothesis, 3066 MAN IN INDIA “Marital status and Family type of the respondents and their level of stress are not associated”, holds good. From the analysis, it is concluded that there is no relationship between the marital status and family type of the respondents and the level of stress perceived by the sample bank employees. MULTIPLE REGRESSION ANALYSIS From the above it is clear that there is a close affinity between the level of stress and the socio economic factors. However, extent of impact of the internal and external factors on the level of stress has not been considered. To fill this gap and to understand the impact of the personal, family related and work related (independent) variables on the level of stress (dependent variable) a multiple regression technique has been used. To estimate the impact, utmost care has been taken in identifying the independent variables. Various earlier studies measuring impact have been referred and thirteen independent variables influencing the level of stress among the sample bank employees and factors have been identified. The 13 independent variables include: 1) Age, 2) Sex, 3) Marital Status, 4) Educational Attainment, 5) Family system, 6) Monthly Income, 7) Number of dependents, 8) Nature of work, 9) Designation. 10) Years of Experience, 11) Location of work, 12) Working time and 13) Working overtime. The results of multiple regression analysis are shown in table 5.67. From the table 2 it was found that, out of thirteen, eleven factors are closely associated with the level of stress towards their job by the selected sample respondents. The multiple linear regression co-efficients (dependent variable) is found to be statistically good fit as R2 is 0.837. It shows that independent variables contribute 83.7 per cent of the variation in the level of stress felt by the selected sample respondents and this is statistically significant at 1% level and 5% level respectively. The table 2 indicated that the co-efficients of Age, Nativity, Family Members, Monthly Income, Marital Status and Working Experience positively influence the level of stress. This means, in the case of age, higher level of age, more is the level of stress. In the case of nativity, the respondents who are from outside of Coimbatore district have more level of stress than the respondents who are from Coimbatore district. Similarly, the year of experience is more, the level of stress is high. On the other hand, the co-efficients of Sex, Family System and Designation are negatively associated. It is indicated that the contribution of Age, Nativity, Family Members, Monthly Income, Marital Status and Working Experience are statistically significant implying that their influence on level of job satisfaction is stronger than the other variables. From Multiple Regression Analysis shows level of stress towards their job is positively associated with their Age, Nativity, Family Members, Monthly Income, A STUDY ON SOCIO-ECONOMIC JOB RELATED FACTORS... 3067 TABLE 2: MULTIPLE REGRESSION ANALYSIS Sl. No. Variables 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8. 9 10 11 12 13 Unstandardized coefficients (Constant) Age Sex Marital Status Educational Attainment Family system Monthly Income Number of dependents Nature of work Designation Years of Experience Location of work Working time Working overtime R-Value 0.915 Standardized coefficients B Std. Error Beta 2.215 0.678 -0.213 0.238 0.180 -0.382 0.000 0.164 -0.116 -0.502 0.321 0.156 0.094 0.239 0.419 0.072 0.054 0.036 0.089 0.135 0.042 0.071 0.070 0.053 0.066 0.050 0.035 0.085 0.389 -0.162 0.297 0.104 -0.134 0.000 0.093 -0.069 -0.411 0.232 0.151 0.120 0.148 T Sig. 5.286 9.410 -3.925 6.544 2.033 -2.839 -0.002 2.310 -1.647 -9.388 4.848 3.138 2.663 2.803 1% 1% 1% 5% 1% NS 5% NS 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% R2 -Value Degree of freedom – V1 Degree of freedom – V2 F Value Significance 0.837 12 737 278.78 1% Level Source: Computed from primary data Marital Status and Working Experience among the banking sector employees in the study area. FINDING It is found from Chi-Square analysis that Socio Economic factors like Age, Gender, Marital Status, Qualification, Family type and Income have been analyzed. From Multiple Regression Analysis shows level of stress towards their job was positively associated with their Age, Nativity, Family Members, Monthly Income, Marital Status and Working Experience among the banking sector employees in the study area. SUGGESTIONS Stress is found high among the respondents with more number of dependents compared to those with less number of dependents. The reason for this variation could be attributed to accumulate responsibilities, which increases about the size of the family. Hence it is suggested that the respondents should have a control over their family size which shall benefit the society at large, other than for the individual benefits it brings to the respondents. Jogging, Meditation or Yoga are 3068 MAN IN INDIA great for some but can actually prove stressful when arbitrarily imposed to others. Hence it is suggested that everyone should be able to decide as to what is the best coping strategy that will work out for him/her and accordingly adopt the same. CONCLUSION This study has been carried out in order to understand the stress faced by the employees in nationalized banks. The public sector banks should protect their employees from the negative effects of stress. The implications of the study are essential to promote work values among banking employees and grow their obligation to their banks. However, in very high stress situations, it is more suitable to alter the work environment to reduce stress at work to boost job performance. Banks have realized that stress management is necessary for both the well-being of the individuals and for the success of the banks. References Parker, Donald F.; and DeCotiis, Thomas A. (1983). “Organizational Determinants of Job Stress”, Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, Vol. 32, No. 2, pp. 160-177. Jackson, S.; Schwab, R.; and Schuler, R. (1986). “Toward an Understanding of the Burnout Phenomenon”, Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 61, pp. 630-40. Taylor, H.; and Cooper, C.L. (1989). “The Stress-prone Personality: A Review of the Research in the context of Occupational Stress”, Stress Med, Vol. 5, pp. 17-27. Phelan, J.; Schwartz, Je; Bromet, E. J.; Dew, M.A.; Parkinson, D.K.; Schulberg, H.C.; Dunn, LO; Blane, H.; and Curtis, E.C. (1991). “Work Stress, Family Stress and Depression in Professional and Managerial Employees”, PsychosomMed, Vol. 21, No. 4, pp. 999-­1012. Revicks, D.A.; Whitley, T.W.; Gallery, M.E.; and Allison, E.J. (1993). “The Impact of Work Environment Characteristics on Work-related Stress and Depression in Emergency Medical Residents: A Longitudinal Study”, Journal of Community Applied Social Psychology, Vol. 3, No. 4, pp. 273-84. Fenwick, Rudy; and Tausig, Mark (1994). “The Macroeconomic Context of Job Stress”, Journal of Health and Social Behaviour, Vol. 35, pp. 266-282. Noor, N.M. (1995). “Work and Family Roles in relation to Women’s Well-being: A Longitudinal Study”, British Journal of Social Psychology, Vol. 34, No.1, pp. 87-106. Gyllensten, Kristina; and Palmer, Stephen (2005). “The Role of Gender in Workplace Stress: A Critical Literature Review”, Health Education Journal, Vol. 64, No.3, pp. 271-288. Feilder, Emma Donaldson; Yarker, Jo; and Lewis, Rachel (2008). “Line Management Competence: The Key to Preventing and Reducing Stress at Work”, Journal of Strategic HR Review, Vol. 7, No.2, pp. 11-16. Dr. A. Jelince Dhinakar & Ms. S.Mekala (2013). Organisational Stress: a Study with Special Reference to Tirupur Knitwear Industry, International Journal of Scientific Research, Vol.2, Issue. 6. Pp. 352 – 355. K. Umarani (2012). A Study on Stress Management among Workers in Garment Industry at Tirupur, RVS Journal of Management, Vol. 5, 1, Pp. 19- 26. A STUDY ON SOCIO-ECONOMIC JOB RELATED FACTORS... 3069 Mohsin Aziz (2016). Role stress among women in the Indian information technology sector, Women in Management Review, Vol.19, Issue 7, Pp 356 – 363. Nimisha, M and Dharmaraj A. (2016). “Emotional Intelligence of Entrepreneurs’ Stress with Special Reference to Plastic Industry in Coimbatore District”, Bonfring International Journal of Industrial Engineering and Management Science, Vol.6;Issue.1; Pp 72-77, February 2016.