WORK STRESSORS AMONG RECENT BUSINESS SCHOOL GRADUATES

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1 STRESS MEDICINE, VOL. 14: 83±89 (1998) WORK STRESSORS AMONG RECENT BUSINESS SCHOOL GRADUATES RONALD J. BURKE Faculty of Administrative Studies, York University, North York, Canada SUMMARY This research examined the relationship of contemporary work stressors to work outcomes and measures of psychological well-being among recent business school graduates. Most stress research has considered longer tenured organizational employees. Two hundred and seventeen respondents completed anonymous questionnaires. Three categories of work stressors were studied: job insecurity, underemployment and unmet expectations. Unmet job challenge and job demands expectations and underemployment were consistently related to more negative work outcomes. Work stressors were less strongly related to psychological well-being, however. # 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Stress Med., 14: 83±89, KEY WORDS Ð work stressors; busines; recent graduates; psychological well-being The last two decades have witnessed considerable interest in the experience of workplace stress. 1;2 This has resulted in increased understanding of antecedents as well as consequences of stress at work. During this period of time, speci c work stressors that have been considered have also undergone some change to re ect changing realities of the workplace. Thus the 1980s showed increasing interest in the experiences of job loss, job insecurity and stressors associated with organizational restructuring, merging and downsizing. 2;3 There has also been an interest in work stress research to capture some of the experiences of di erent groups of employees. As the workforce has become increasingly diverse, more research attention has been devoted to understanding the experiences of women 4 and members of other nontraditional employee groups (e.g. members of racial and ethnic groups). Typically, stress research has focused on the experiences of established and long tenured employees. Relatively little attention was paid to particular work stressors associated with early stages of career development. As a result, studies Correspondence to: Dr R. J. Burke, Faculty of Administrative Studies, York University, 4700 Keele Street, North York, Ontario, M3J 1P3, Canada. Tel: Fax: rburke@bus.yorku.ca. of job insecurity and job loss have traditionally focused on men and women fairly established in their jobs and careers. 5 This was realistic, since it was these employees who were impacted rst by organizational responses to the economic realities of the 1980s and 1990s that resulted in downsizing, retrenchment and decline. A decision was made to examine three work stressors believed to have increasing relevance for recent business school graduates' work and career experiences. These were job insecurity, underemployment and unmet expectations. Roskies and her colleagues 6;7 have shown evidence of increasing prevalence of job insecurity as well as its consequences for professionals and managers. Feldman and Turnley 8 studied consequences of underemployment among recent business school graduates. They noted that only about 60 percent of their sample were fully employed in their jobs. Others 9±13 estimate the number of underemployment to be between 20 and 25 percent. Finally, pressures for greater productivity and employee commitment coupled with changes in work values re ecting greater attention to work±family concerns 14 suggest increasing unmet expectations among new workforce entrants. The present investigation considers the e ects of a number of work stressors in a sample of recent business school graduates. Until recently they were CCC 0748±8386/98/020083±07$17.50 # 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

2 84 R. J. BURKE almost assured of some degree of job and career security. Organizations were eager to recruit such individuals into their professional and managerial ranks. Are these individuals immune from work stressors such as insecurity and underutilization which have a ected their longer tenured colleagues? Or do they experience both these work stressors and the negative consequences associated with them? METHOD Respondents Data were obtained from 217 women and men who obtained an undergraduate degree in business from a single Canadian university. The following comments are o ered in summary. The sample included slightly more males than females. Respondents were fairly evenly spread over the seven graduating classes. The majority were between 26 and 30 years of age (60 percent), were single (66 percent) and without children (91 percent). About one-quarter had worked parttime and 15 percent had a break in their career histories. About half were earning between $30,000 and $50,000. Finally, about one-third had MBA degrees and about one-quarter had the CA professional designation. Procedure Names and addresses of all graduates from 1989 through 1995 (7 graduating class) were obtained from a central alumni directory. Each (N ˆ 673) was then mailed a questionnaire. Data collection continued over a 6-week period following the initial mailing. The sample (N ˆ 217) represented a 40 percent response rate when late returns and questionnaires returned because respondents were no longer at the provided address were taken into account. Measures Work Sressors. Six work stressors, falling into three categories (insecurity, underemployment, unmet expectations), were included, each measured by multiple items. Threats to security was measured by four items (a ˆ 0:60). Respondents indicated how likely they were to experience four events in the next year or so: termination, demotion, pay cut and deterioration in working conditions. These items were developed by Roskies and Louis-Guerin. 6 Danger signs were measured by a six-item scale (a ˆ 0:65). Respondents indicated which signs they had observed indicating that their job could be in danger. Items included: informal rumours, technological changes, business conditions and general policy statements. These items were also developed by Roskies and Louis- Guerin. 6 Insecurity was measured by two items (a ˆ 0:78). Respondents indicated how frequently they thought about their security in their present job and their ability to nd another job should they lose their present one. These items were used previously by Roskies and Louis-Guerin. 6 Underemployment was measured by a two-item scale (a ˆ 0:70). Respondents indicated the extent to which they felt they needed a university business degree to do their job well and the extent to which their current job was related to their eld of interest and university education. These items were used previously by Feldman and Turnley. 8 Unmet expectations were measured by two scales. One, job challenge expectations, had ve items (a ˆ 0:74), the second, job demands expectations, had two items (a ˆ 0:78). Respondents indicated, looking back over their career so far, the extent to which their expectations had been met, not met or exceeded. Job challenge expectations items included salary, career advancement and opportunities to develop new skills. Job demands expectation were stress and required hours. Work outcomes. Five work outcomes were considered, each measured by multiple items. Job satisfaction was measured by a ve-item scale (a ˆ 0:85) developed by Quinn and Shepard. 15 A sample item included, `All in all, how satis ed, would you say you are with your job?' Intention to quit (a ˆ 0:73) consisted of two items. 8 Career satisfaction, developed by Greenhaus, et al., had ve items (a ˆ 0:90). These included, `I am satis ed with the success I have achieved in my career.' Job involvement had three items (a ˆ 0:75) taken from earlier work by Lodahl and Kejner. 17 A sample item was, `The most important things that happen to me involve my work'. Future career prospects developed by Greenhaus, et al. 16 had four items (a ˆ 0:82) which included, `I have very good prospects for promotion in this company'.

3 WORK STRESSORS AMONG RECENT BUSINESS SCHOOL GRADUATES 85 Psychological well-being. Two measures of psychological well-being were used, both having multiple items. Life satisfaction was measured by three items (a ˆ 0:90) taken from Caplan et al. 18 One item was, `I nd a great deal of happiness in life'. Psychological mood was measured by a sevenitem scale used previously by Feldman and Turnley. 8 Respondents indicated how often they felt bored, lonely, helpless and angry with themselves. This scale had an internal consistency reliability, Cronbach's a, of 73. RESULTS Work stressors Before considering the relationship between work stressors, work outcomes and measures of psychological well-being, some discussion of the work stressors used in the study is necessary. This results from their infrequent use with recent university graduates and the need to understand their prevalence in order to put substantive ndings in an appropriate context. Let us rst consider the measure of unmet expectations. Respondents had their expectations met on two of the ve job challenges (status/ prestige, in uence), not met on two (salary, career advancement) and exceeded on one (new skills). Respondents also indicated that both job demands (stress, hours worked) exceeded their expectations. Considering the measure of danger signs, almost 40 percent indicated one or more danger signs. The most common danger signs were business conditions (23 percent), informal rumours (14 percent) and changes in management (13 percent). Finally, considering insecurity, the most common events were a deterioration in working conditions followed in turn by termination, a pay cut and demotion. Relatively few respondents believed they would experience terminations, pay cuts or demotions in the next year, however. Correlations among measures The ve measures of work outcomes were signi cantly intercorrelated, ranging from a low of 0:19 (job involvement and intention to quit, p < 0:01) to a high of 0.80 (career satisfaction and future career prospects, p < 0:001). The average correlation was The measures of life satisfaction and emotional health were signi cantly correlated (r ˆ 0:57, p < 0:001). Considering the six measures of work stressors, only ve of the 15 resulting correlations reached statistical signi cances ( p ˆ 0:05). Three of these ve involved intercorrelations among the measures of insecurity; a fourth involved the measure of underemployment and unmet job challenge; and the fth involved the measure of danger signs and unmet job challenge. These fteen correlations ranged from a low of 0.06 to a high of 0.57, the average correlation being Work stressors and work outcomes Correlations between the six work stressors and the ve work outcomes were then considered. Twenty- ve of the 30 correlations were signi cantly di erent from zero ( p < 0:05). In all cases, recent business school graduates reporting greater work stressors also reported more negative responses on the work outcomes (less satisfaction, greater intention to quit). It should be noted that the signi cant relationships among the work outcome measures undoubtedly contributed to the large number of statistically signi cant correlations. Work stressors and psychological well-being Correlations between the six work stressors and the two measures of psychological well-being were also examined. Seven of the twelve correlations (58 percent) were signi cantly di erent from zero ( p < 0:05). In all cases, business school graduates reporting greater work demands also reported less life satisfaction and poorer psychological mood. Interestingly, the work stressors tended to have a di erent pattern of relationships with the measures of psychological well-being. The three measures tapping insecurity were signi cantly related to the measure of psychological mood, while only one of these measures was related to the measure of life satisfaction. Underemployment was unrelated to either measure of psychological health. The absence of relationships here was likely due to the fact that few business school graduates in the sample were fully underemployed, resulting in restricted variance on this measure and psychological health being in uenced by a number of variables, the work setting being only one of them. Multiple regression analyses Multiple regression analyses were then undertaken in which predictor variables were entered in

4 86 R. J. BURKE blocks in a particular order. Personal demographic characteristics (N ˆ 4) were entered rst. Work stressors (N ˆ 6) were entered next. The important research question was whether the addition of the work stressors would result in an increase in explained variance on the measures of work outcomes and psychological well-being. Table 1 presents the results of these analyses. It shows, for each block of predictors, the amount of explained variance and its statistical signi cance, the increment in explained variance and its statistical signi cance, and within each block of predictors those variables having independent and signi cant relationships with the dependent variable ( p ˆ 0:05). Values in parentheses are bs. The following comments are o ered in summary. Considering career satisfaction, personal demographics accounted for a signi cant amount of explained variance; individuals graduating less recently were more satis ed with their careers. The addition of the second block of predictors, work stressors, resulted in a signi cant increment in explained variance. Four work stressors had signi cant and independent relationships with career satisfaction: job challenge expectations, underemployment, number of danger signs and level of insecurity. Individuals reporting smaller challenge expectations gaps, less underemployment, fewer danger signs and less insecurity were more satis ed with their careers. Moving next to job involvement, the block of personal characteristics failed to account for a signi cant amount of explained variance. The second block of predictors did account for a signi cant increment in explained variance; individuals reporting smaller job challenge and job demands expectation gaps, and less job insecurity, were also more job involved. Let us now consider future career prospects. Personal characteristics accounted for a signi cant increment in explained variance; individuals with less organizational tenure reported more optimistic career prospects. Work stressors accounted for a signi cant increment in explained variance; individuals reporting smaller job challenge expectations gaps and less underemployment also had more optimistic future career prospects. Moving next to job satisfaction, personal demographic characteristics failed to account for a signi cant amount of explained variance. Work stressors did account for a signi cant increment in explained variance; individuals reporting smaller job challenge expectations gaps and less Table 1 Ð Predictors of work outcomes R 2 DR 2 p Career success (N ˆ 195) Personal demographics Graduation year (0.14) Work stressors Job challenge (0.59) Underemployment (0.23) Danger signs (0.17) Insecurity (0.11) Job involvement (N ˆ 192) Personal demographics NS Work stressors Job challenge (0.52) Underemployment (0.17) Career prospects (N ˆ 193) Personal demographics Org. tenure (0.18) Work stressors Job challenge (0.52) Underemployment (0.17) Job satisfaction (N ˆ 190) Personal demographics NS Work stressors Job challenge (0.50) Underemployment (0.18) Intent to quit (N ˆ 191) Personal characteristics Org. size (0.16) Work stressors Job challenge ( 0:30) Insecurity ( 0:23) Life satisfaction (N ˆ 195) Personal characteristics NS Work stressors Job challenge ( 0:24) Job demands (0.18) Psychological mood (N ˆ 194) Personal characteristics Graduation year ( 0:17) Work stressors Job challenge ( 0:25) underemployment were also more satis ed in their jobs. Considering intentions to quit, personal characteristics accounted for a signi cant amount of explained variance; individuals working in smaller organizations reported greater intentions

5 WORK STRESSORS AMONG RECENT BUSINESS SCHOOL GRADUATES 87 to quit. Work stressors accounted for a signi cant increment in explained variance; individuals reporting greater job challenge expectations gaps and greater insecurity were more likely to quit. Additional regression analyses were then undertaken in which the two measures of psychological well-being (life satisfaction, psychological moods) were regressed on three blocks of predictors: personal characteristics (N ˆ 4), work stressors (N ˆ 6) and work outcomes (N ˆ 5). These results are shown in Table 2. The following comments are o ered in summary. Let us rst consider life satisfaction. Personal characteristics failed to explain a signi cant amount of variance. Work stressors accounted for a signi cant increment in explained variance; individuals with smaller job demands expectations gaps were more satis ed with their lives. Work outcomes also accounted for a signi cant increment in explained variance; individuals who were more job involved were more satis ed with their lives. Finally, considering psychological mood, personal characteristics explained a signi cant amount of variance; individuals having longer organizational tenure had more positive psychological moods. Work stressors, as a block, accounted for a signi cant increment in explained variance, though none of the work stressors had a signi cant and independent relationship with this dependent variable. Work outcomes also showed a signi cant increment in explained variance; individuals who were more job involved and less job satis ed reported more negative psychological moods. At a more general level, personal characteristics tended to have weak and inconsistent relationships with all dependent variables. Work stressors had stronger and more consistent relationships. In this regard, three work stressors Ð job challenge expectations gaps, feelings of underemployment and felt insecurity Ð stood out. DISCUSSION The ndings of this study will be organized around two questions. First, do recent business school graduates report job insecurity, underemployment or unmet expectations? Second, does the experience of these work stressors translate into negative work and health consequences? The three areas of work stressors considered in this research appeared to be relevant to business school graduates in the early career stage. Only Table 2 Ð Predictors of psychological well-being R 2 DR 2 p Life satisfaction (N ˆ 183) Personal characteristics NS Work stressors Job demands (0.15) Work outcomes Job involvement (0.19) Psychological mood (N ˆ 182) Personal characteristics Org. tenure (0.20) Work stressors Work outcomes Job involvement (0.16) Job satisfaction ( 0:24) 60 percent were fully employed in their jobs; respondents were working harder with fewer rewards than they had expected and though not likely to lose their jobs within the next year, many thought about their security. It should not be surprising that work stressors associated with restructuring, retrenchment and downsizing would be reported by recent business school graduates in their early career stages as well as by their longer tenured colleagues. 19;20 In addition, consistent with the larger body of work stress ndings, recent business school graduates reporting higher levels of work stress also reported less positive work outcomes and poorer emotional well-being. Feldman and Turnley 8 reported that underemployment was associated with poor psychological mood and less job satisfaction in their study of recent business college graduates. These ndings have several practical implications. Organizations are increasingly searching for ways to become more productive. Since only 60 percent of the respondents reported being fully employed and utilized in their current jobs, organizations have considerable leverage in increasing productivity by demanding more from their employees. One way to accomplish this is to enlarge their jobs, increase their responsibility and heighten pressure for results. Bardwick 21 o ers a variety of suggestions on how these e orts might be undertaken. The unmet expectations gap might be addressed in several ways. First, recent business school graduates, in the recruiting process, might be given a more realistic job (work, organization) preview. In addition, e orts could be made to help

6 88 R. J. BURKE professionals and managers work smarter, not harder. Finally, a range of non-monetary rewards and recognition initiatives could be promoted. Feelings of insecurity must also be addressed. It has been suggested by some 19;22;23 that organizations are in the middle of a shift in the nature of the employment contract. 24 Some have suggested that job security is dead; the `old' career rules have been replaced by `new' career rules. Organizations can help employees in this period of stressful transition. They can do this by highlighting the need for change; minimizing losses to employees as a result of change, articulating the new employment contract and supporting acceptance of this new contract (see references 19, 23 and 24 for speci c initiatives). In the not-too-distant future, security will not be given by an organization but rather experienced by employees as a result of valueadded contributions to their organization and possessing marketable skills. It is also important that individual professionals and managers realize their responsibility and roles. Individuals feeling underemployed must understand that this condition will likely hinder peak performance and, as a result, they had better proactively seek out greater challenge. Similarly, individuals have a responsibility Ð and a stake Ð in maintaining their employability. There are no more guarantees! Schools of business have a potentially important socialization role to play here as well. It is critical that business students come to grips with the new organizational order, understand the `new' career rules, and the implications these have for their own professional development. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This research was supported in part by the Faculty of Administrative Studies, York University. Graeme MacDermid assisted in data collection, Cobi Wolpin helped with data analysis and Louise Coutu prepared the manuscript. REFERENCES 1. Cooper, C. L. and Payne, R. Causes, Coping and Consequences of Stress at Work. Wiley, New York, Schabracq, M. J., Winnubst, J. A. M. and Cooper, C. L. Handbook of Work and Health Psychology. Wiley, New York, Burke, R. J. Sources of managerial and professional stress in large organizations. In: Causes, Coping and Consequences of Stress at Work, Cooper, C. L. and Payne, R. (Eds.), Wiley, New York, 1988, pp. 77± Burke, R. J. Work experiences, stress and health managerial and professional women. In: Schabracq, M. J., Winnubst, J. A. M. and Cooper, C. L. (Eds.) Handbook of Work and Health Psychology. Wiley, New York, 1996, pp. 205± Leana, C. R. and Feldman, D. C. Coping with Job Loss: How Individuals, Organizations and Communities Respond to Layo s. Macmillan/Lexington, New York, Roskies, E. and Louis-Guerin, C. Job insecurity in managers: antecedents and consequences. J. Org. Behav., 1990; 11: 345± Roskies, E., Louis-Guerin, C. and Fournier, C. Coping with job insecurity: How does personality make a di erence? J. Org. Behav., 1993; 14: 617± Feldman, D. C. and Turnley, W. H. Underemployment among recent business college graduates. J. Org. Behav., 1995; 16: 671± Newman, K. S. Declining Fortunes: The Withering of the American Dream. Basic Books, New York, Khan, L. J. and Morrow, P. C. Objective and subjective underemployment relationships to job satisfaction. J. Bus. Res., 1991; 22: 211± Sargent, J. An improving job market for college graduates: The 1989 update of projections to Occupat. Outlook Quart., 1986; 30: 2± Feather, N. T. and O'Brien, G. E. A longitudinal analysis of the e ects of employment, di erent patterns of employment and unemployment on school/leavers. Brit. J. Psychol., 1986; 77: 459± Wine eld, A. H., Wine eld, H. R., Tiggemann, M. and Goldney, R. D. A longitudinal study of the psychological e ects of unemployment and unsatisfactory employment on young adults. J. Appl. Psychol. 1991; 76: 424± Bailyn, L. Breaking the Mold. Free Press, New York, Quinn, R. P. and Shepard, L. J. The 1972±73 Quality of Employment Survey. University of Michigan, Institute for Social Research, Ann Arbor, Greenhaus, J. H., Parasuraman, S. and Wormley, W. Organizational experiences and career successes of black and white managers, Acad. Manage. J., 1990; 33: 64± Lodahl, T. and Kejner, M. The de nition and measurement of job involvement. J. Appl. Psychol. 49: 24± Caplan, R. D., Cobb, S., French, J. R. P., Harrison, R. V. and Pinneau, S. R. Job Demands and Worker Health. Research Report. NIOSH, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1975.

7 WORK STRESSORS AMONG RECENT BUSINESS SCHOOL GRADUATES Noer, D. Healing the Wounds: Overcoming the Trauma of Layo s and Revitalizing Downsized Organizations. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, Marks, M. L. From Turmoil to Triumph. Lexington, New York, Bardwick, J. M. Danger in the Comfort Zone. AMACOM, New York, Hall, D. T. The Career is Dead: Long Live the Career. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, Noer, D. M. Breaking Free. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, Rousseau, D. M. Psychological Contracts in Organizations. Sage, Newbury Park, Ca, 1995.