Relationships among Perceived Working Hours, General Stress, Work Centrality, Job Control, Job Demands, and Work Condition Constraints

Date

2014-06-27

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Abstract

Although working hours are generally regarded as a major indicator of stress, little exploration has been done about how working hours influence stress with the relevant individual and job characteristics. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships among perceived working hours, general stress, work centrality, job control, job demands, and work condition constraints for full-time employees in the United States and Korea. A self-administered questionnaire survey approach was used to collect data which were utilized to reflect six variables of this study. The sample size was 805 (U.S.: 397, Korea: 408). As the results from the measurement invariance test indicated that the measurement model was not invariant by country, statistical examinations were conducted separately for each country to test hypotheses.

In the path analysis, for the U.S. sample, Job Demands was significantly associated with Perceived Working Hours. Job Demands and Work Condition Constraints were significantly related to General Stress. There was a significant relationship between Work Condition Constraints and Job Demands. There were significant mediation effects for the relationships between Work Condition Constraints and Perceived Working Hours via Job Demands and between Work Condition Constraints and General Stress via Job Demands. For the Korean sample, in the path analysis, Work Centrality and Job Demands were significantly associated with Perceived Working Hours. Job Demands, Job Control, and Work Condition Constraints were significantly associated with General Stress. There was a significant relationship between Work Condition Constraints and Job Demands. All the hypothesized mediation effects were significant: from Job Demands via Perceived Working Hours to General Stress, from Work Condition Constraints via Job Demands to Perceived Working Hours, and Work Condition Constraints via Job Demands to General Stress.

It was found that this study overall supported the selected theories and related research. The significance of this study includes contributions to work-life/work-family balance studies that are an emerging research area in HRD, practical implications for sound work-settings, and cultural validations of the theories related to working hours and stress. Limitations, implications for theories, research, and practices were also discussed.

Description

Citation