Individual Differences and Stress at Workplace

Abstract

The potential for increased levels of stress in the contemporary work environment has made work stress a burgeoning area of concern for individuals and organisations. However, the organizational and work related factors do not lead to stress unless perceived as stressful by the individual employees. The literature has underlined the importance of individual differences in explaining the phenomenon of work stress and has strived for convergence of the diversity in the level of work stress on account of the presence of difference in individuals. It is with this background that present composition has been designed to comprehend those individual differences which account for variation in work stress among the employees. Taking the sample of 575 employees working in various sub-sectors of service sector of Jammu & Kashmir (India), the study has documented the existence of significant differences between the level of work stress and personal characteristics like age, gross monthly salary, work experience, marital status and educational qualification besides the personality traits, namely, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and openness to experience. Thus, study recommends that in addition to the stressors in work environment, the organisations should devise and invest in strategies that recognise the individual differences.