Occupational Stressors and Well‐being among Chinese Employees: The Role of Organisational Commitment

Abstract

This paper examines occupational stressors and well-being for blue- and white-collar occupations with Chinese and Hong Kong samples using standardised instruments validated in Western research. The study demonstrates that occupational stressors play a significant role in determining job satisfaction, mental and physical well-being. The reliability of standardised instruments used in Western research (including the Occupational Stress Indicator-2 [Williams & Cooper, 1996] and Organizational Commitment Questionnaire [Mowday, Steers, & Porter, 1979]) is demonstrated. The results of the study show that organisational commitment and well-being are positively related. A number of hierarchical regressional analyses (Cohen & Cohen, 1983) are used to demonstrate the moderating effects of organisational commitment in the stress outcomes that are evidenced in Western societies. The replication of research with Chinese subjects contributes to the generalisability of theories in organisational psychology.

Full text

APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY: AN INTERNATIONAL REVIEW, 2002,
51
(4), 527–544
© International Association for Applied Psychology, 2002. Published by Blackwell Publishers,
108 Cowley Road, Oxford OX4 1JF, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA.
Blackwell Science LtdOxford, UKAPPSApplied Psychology: an International Review0269-994X© International Association for Applied Psychology, 200220025141000Original ArticleStressors and Well-being
Siu
Occupational Stressors and Well-being
among Chinese Employees: The Role of
Organisational Commitment
Oi-ling Siu*
Lingnan University, Hong Kong
Cette recherche examine les éléments occupationnels stressants et le bien-être
pour des occupations de nature manuelles et intellectuelles, avec des échant-
illons provenant de la Chine et de Hong Kong et des instruments standards
validés dans la recherche occidentale. Les résultats démontrent que les élé-
ments occupationnels stressants jouent un rôle significatif dans la détermina-
tion de la satisfaction au travail et du bien-être physique et mental. La fiabilité
des instruments standards utilisés dans la recherche occidentale (incluant le
“Occupational Stress Indicator-2” [Williams & Cooper, 1996] et le question-
naire d’engagement organisationnel [Mowday, Steers, & Porter, 1979]) est
démontrée. Les résultats démontrent aussi que l’engagement organisationnel
et le bien-être sont positivement reliés. Plusieurs régressions hiérarchiques sont
utilisées pour démontrer les effets modérateurs de l’engagement organisation-
nel sur les résultats du stress qui sont mis en évidence dans les sociétés occi-
dentales. L’étude répliquative avec des participants chinois contribue à la
généralisation des théories en psychologie organisationnelle.
This paper examines occupational stressors and well-being for blue- and
white-collar occupations with Chinese and Hong Kong samples using standard-
ised instruments validated in Western research. The study demonstrates that
occupational stressors play a significant role in determining job satisfaction,
mental and physical well-being. The reliability of standardised instruments
used in Western research (including the Occupational Stress Indicator-2
[Williams & Cooper, 1996] and Organizational Commitment Questionnaire
[Mowday, Steers, & Porter, 1979] ) is demonstrated. The results of the study
show that organisational commitment and well-being are positively related. A
number of hierarchical regressional analyses (Cohen & Cohen, 1983) are used
to demonstrate the moderating effects of organisational commitment in the
stress outcomes that are evidenced in Western societies. The replication of
research with Chinese subjects contributes to the generalisability of theories in
organisational psychology.
* Address for correspondence: Department of Politics and Sociology, Lingnan University,
Tuen Mun, N.T., Hong Kong. Email: siuol@ln.edu.hk

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INTRODUCTION
Occupational stress has been noted as an increasing problem for employees.
Evidence has been presented to suggest that occupational stress is related to
mental and physical well-being, job satisfaction, absenteeism, turnover rate
and intent to quit (Ganster & Schaubroeck, 1991; Sullivan & Bhagat, 1992).
One of the most damaging effects of work stress is its impact on the eco-
nomy. It is estimated that US industry loses about 550 million working days each
year due to absenteeism, and 54 per cent of them are in some way stress
related (Elkin & Rosch, 1990). Cooper and Cartwright (1996) estimated
that overall 360 million working days are lost in the UK annually through
sickness; out of which about half are stress related.
Therefore it is important to identify the potential occupational stressors,
and to find variables which have beneficial consequences for both employees
and organisations. Chiu and Kosinski (1995) argued that stress is influenced
by cultural and social variables such as values, attitudes, and perception.
One important attitudinal variable as such is organisational commitment.
Sommer, Bae, and Luthans (1996) contended that organisational commit-
ment is one of the important variables in the study of employee behavior
since it is inversely related to employee tardiness and absence (e.g. Cohen,
1993); moreover, highly committed employees have higher productivity and
are willing to assume responsibility (Chow, 1990).
Moreover, organisational commitment has also been found to be a stress
moderator (e.g. Begley & Cazjka, 1993). The mechanism might be that, due to
their positive attitudes, committed employees are less distressed by occupa-
tional stressors and therefore they perceive less stress.
It has been argued that almost all work stress research and theories were
developed and empirically tested in Western industrialised countries (Jamal,
1999; Xie, 1996). It is therefore important to replicate job stress research in
Chinese societies in order to test the generalisability of Western organisa-
tional theories.
Since 1979, China has made great progress in economic reforms, and
the average annual real economic growth in 1979–93 was 9.3 per cent;
in the same period Hong Kong achieved 7.4 per cent growth. More recently,
the GDP annual growth rates of China and Hong Kong in 1997 were
8.8 per cent and 5.3 per cent, respectively. Given this continued rapid
growth it is not surprising that studies have revealed high levels of stress in
Hong Kong and China (Siu, Cooper, & Donald, 1997; Siu & Cooper, 1998;
Siu & Donald, 1996; Yu, Sparks, & Cooper, 1998). These studies demon-
strate the need to examine further occupational stressors and well-being,
and the role of organisational commitment in workers in Hong Kong and
China.
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OCCUPATIONAL STRESSORS AND WELL-BEING AMONG
BLUE- AND WHITE-COLLAR WORKERS
Cooper, Sloan, and Williams (1988) developed the Occupational Stress
Indicator (OSI) and demonstrated that stressful transactions are seen as a
product of two intervening systems: people both exert impact on and respond
to their environments. In other words, the process of stress depends on the
person’s role in appraising the situation which is what determines whether
the situation is a stressor or not. Stress occurs when the magnitude of the
stressor exceeds the individual’s capacity to resist. For instance, workload
is a stressor or something that causes a person to feel stressed when he/she
thinks that he/she is unable to cope with the large workload. Six sources
of stress, or occupational stressors, were categorised in the OSI: factors
intrinsic to the job, management role, relationships with others, career and
achievement, organisational structure and climate, and home/work interface.
Cooper and Cartwright (1996) reiterated that these are the main sources of
stress at work, arguing that they are applicable to different occupations.
It has been argued that factors intrinsic to the job are often included in
blue-collar studies, and extra-organisational sources of stress tend to be
restricted to studies of white-collar managers (e.g. Fisher, 1985). However,
Wallace, Levens, and Singer (1988) concluded that many of the managerial
stressors are relevant to all workers, and therefore are also applicable to
blue-collar workers. Occupational stressors in this study are conceptualised
as the total pressures arising from the proposed six stressors.
Warr (1987) categorised those concepts such as job satisfaction, organisa-
tional commitment, job-related tension, job-related depression, job-related
burnout, and morale as job-related well-being. The variables measuring
well-being in the present study include job satisfaction, physical and mental
well-being.
Some studies using the OSI have demonstrated that stressors at work are
negatively related to workers’ job satisfaction and well-being in Western
and Chinese societies ( Fotinatos-Ventouratos & Cooper, 1998; Lu, Shiau,
& Cooper, 1997; Bogg & Cooper, 1995; Robertson, Cooper, & Williams,
1990; Siu, Cooper, & Donald, 1997; Yu, Sparks, & Cooper, 1998). For
instance, Fotinatos-Ventouratos and Cooper (1998) demonstrated that
“organizational structure and climate” was a significant predictor of job
satisfaction among workers of different social classes. Furthermore, they
found that “factors intrinsic to the job” was a common significant predictor
of mental and physical health among workers from upper-middle-class/
professional occupations, middle-class/professional and semi-professional,
and lower-middle-class/non-manual “white-collar” occupations; whereas
“relationships with others” was a common significant predictor of mental
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and physical health among workers from the skilled working-class/manual
“blue-collar” occupations, or the semi-skilled and unskilled working-class/
manual workers.
In a study using TV employees in Hong Kong, Siu et al. (1997) found that
“relationships with others” and “organisational structure and climate” are
predictors of job satisfaction, and “managerial role” is a predictor of both
mental and physical health. These results are similar to those obtained by
Bogg and Cooper (1995). However, both these studies used white-collar
workers. The present study will replicate the study of the relationship
between occupational stressors and well-being in samples of both white- and
blue-collar workers in Hong Kong and China.
ORGANISATIONAL COMMITMENT AS
STRESS MODERATOR
Organisational commitment is defined as “the relative strength of an indi-
vidual’s identification with and involvement in an organization” (Mowday,
Porter, & Steers, 1982, p. 26). This conception of commitment consists of
three facets: an acceptance of the organisation’s goals, a willingness to work
hard for the organisation, and the desire to stay with the organisation. More
recently, a three-component conception of commitment has been developed,
including affective, continuance, and normative commitment (Meyer &
Allen, 1991). Research with their scale has found support for these three types
of commitment being separate variables (Dunham, Grube, & Castaneda,
1994; Meyer, Allen, & Smith, 1993). It has been argued that the Mowday,
Steers, and Porter (1979) scale assesses mainly affective commitment, which
correlates strongly with the affective commitment subscale but not with the
continuance or normative subscales (Hackett, Bycio, & Hausdorf, 1994).
Recently, organisational commitment has been identified as a significant
moderator of work stress (Begley & Cazjka, 1993; Cohen, 1992, 1993;
Mathieu & Zajac, 1990; Mowday, Porter, & Steers, 1982; Somers, 1995). As
mentioned earlier, the stress process depends on the person’s role in apprais-
ing the stressor, and organisational commitment is a “person” factor. For
instance, Begley and Cazjka (1993) tested empirically the moderating effects
of organisational commitment, and concluded that commitment buffered the
relationship between stress and job displeasure (including job dissatisfaction,
intent to quit, and irritation). That means, stress increased job displeasure
only when commitment was low.
It has been argued that commitment is relevant in China, and therefore
organisational commitment is one of the characteristics of the Chinese work-
force. Chao (1990) suggested that Confucian values of loyalty, paternalistic
authority, cohesion, and altruism are present in Chinese organisations.
He argued that employee commitment to the organisation is the result of a
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paternalistic form of management and cultural norms of trust, subtlety, and
loyalty. Empirically, there is some support for this Confucian value, with
studies finding that the level of organisational commitment reported for
Chinese managers is higher than their counterparts of other nationalities
(Chow, 1990; Perrewe’, Ralston, & Fernandez, 1995).
Given this characteristic of Chinese workers, it would be expected that
organisational commitment has the potential to be a significant moderator
of occupational stressors. Siu and Cooper (1998) demonstrated the moder-
ating effect of organisational commitment in their sample of white-collar
employees in Hong Kong. Yet, research evidence on Chinese blue-collar
workers is rare. Examining such non-Western populations will add to the
generalisability of research findings in the area.
As Akhtar and Tan (1994) argued, continuous commitment is a consequ-
ence rather than a constituent of organisational commitment, and it has been
found that normative commitment has a significant positive effect on experi-
enced burnout (Tan & Akhtar, 1998). Since affective commitment has been
found to be related to managerial effectiveness and organisational effective-
ness (e.g. Luthans, McCaul, & Dodd, 1985; Nyhan, 1999), the present study
will mainly look at the beneficial consequences of affective commitment.
THE PRESENT STUDY
The purposes of the study are: (a) to investigate the relationship between
sources of stress and well-being in a Chinese white- and blue-collar sample;
and (b) to examine the role of organisational commitment as a stress
moderator.
The theoretical framework of the study is modified from the OSI (Cooper
et al., 1988), and is depicted in Fig. 1. In this model, occupational stressors
are related to well-being, and the experience of stress is moderated by
organisational commitment.
FIGURE 1. Theoretical framework for the study.
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Hypotheses
Hypothesis 1.
Workers who report higher levels of pressure arising from
occupational stressors report worse well-being (lower job satisfaction; poorer
mental well-being and physical well-being)
Hypothesis 2.
Highly committed workers report better well-being (higher job
satisfaction; better mental and physical well-being)
Hypothesis 3
. Organisational commitment moderates stressor–well-being rela-
tionships in a positive direction (for committed workers, stressors and well-being
are positively related; and for non-committed workers, stressors and well-being
are negatively related).
Methodology
Participants.
The sample for the study included 158 white-collar and
138 blue-collar workers in Hong Kong, and 372 blue-collar workers in
China. The white-collar sample for the study was drawn from employees
from the property management field, computer professionals, and a com-
mercial bank in Hong Kong. The rationale for choosing subjects from these
occupational groups is that since Hong Kong is a commercial and financial
center, these occupational groups are therefore quite representative.
Manufacturing industry once comprised the largest blue-collar workforce
in Hong Kong. In the last decade or so this industry group has suffered a
steep decline as many factory owners have moved their businesses to cities
in southern China, especially in Guangdong Province. It is estimated that
there are now more than 3 million workers in the manufacturing sector
around the Pearl River Delta area, which is far greater than the manufac-
turing workforce of Hong Kong which had declined to barely 250,000 by
1998. Thus, the author had to draw a higher proportion of blue-collar
workers from China than from Hong Kong.
It must be stressed that the present study is not a comparison study
between Hong Kong and China, but rather a study conducted in both
places in order to yield international replications, so as to generate conver-
gent validity.
Procedures
The self-administered questionnaire survey method was employed to collect
the data. A more detailed description of the data collection procedure in
each occupational group is provided in the following paragraphs.
White-collar Group.
The data were collected from May to June 1996. A
total of 65 completed questionnaires were collected from staff working in
four property management companies in Hong Kong through a designated
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STRESSORS AND WELL-BEING
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manager in each company, with a response rate of 60 per cent. In the sample
of computer professionals, a total of 51 completed questionnaires were col-
lected from three companies through a designated person in each company,
yielding a 69 per cent response rate. Further, a total of 44 questionnaires
were collected from one commercial bank in Hong Kong through a desig-
nated manager, with a response rate of 88 per cent. These three subgroups
make up a total sample of 158 employees in the white-collar group.
Blue-collar Group.
The data were collected from four sites in China
from May to July 1996. The data collection in a garment factory in Xiaolan
was achieved by delivering the questionnaires to a designated supervisor of
the chosen factory by the author. Briefing on the questionnaire administra-
tion was also conducted by the author, and the completed questionnaires
were collected one week later. Data collection in a textile factory in
Hangzhou, a textile factory in Zhanjiang and a garment factory in Panyu,
China, was conducted in the same way by a colleague of the author. The
response rates were 100 per cent, 93.7 per cent, 88.8 per cent, and 50 per
cent, respectively. These four subgroups make up a total sample of 372
employees in the blue-collar group in China.
For the blue-collar sample in Hong Kong, data were collected from eight
factories through a designated person in each chosen factory from June to
August 1996. The factories were chosen by a convenience sampling method,
from different industrial areas in Hong Kong. For some small factories, all
of the workers in the factories were invited to participate in the study. The
response rates ranged from 40 per cent to 100 per cent. A total of 138 blue-
collar workers in Hong Kong was achieved.
Instruments
The Occupational Stress Indicator-2 (OSI-2) (Williams & Cooper, 1996)
and Organizational Commitment Questionnaire (OCQ) (Mowday et al.,
1979) were used as the main instruments for the study.
The OSI-2 is a shortened version of the OSI. The OSI has obtained
established reliability and validity in previous studies in Western (Cooper &
Williams, 1991; Robertson et al., 1990) and Chinese societies (Siu et al.,
1997; Lu et al., 1997). The reliability and validity of the OSI-2 have also
been demonstrated in Western and Chinese societies (Spector et al., 2001;
Siu & Cooper, 1998). Four parts of the OSI-2 were used to measure sources
of stress, job satisfaction, and both mental and physical well-being in
this study. Recently, Williams and Cooper (1998) have demonstrated that
their Pressure Management Indicator, which consists of these four scales,
is a standard, reliable, compact, and comprehensive second-generation
instrument.
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There are many ways to measure organisational commitment. As organ-
isational commitment is conceptualised as an affective attitude to work in
this study, the Organizational Commitment Questionnaire (OCQ) (Mowday
et al., 1979) which gives a global measure of affective commitment is
adopted for the study. The OCQ is a very frequently used scale and it has
a great deal of construct validation evidence in some Western (e.g. Sommer
et al., 1996) and Asian societies (Leong, Furnham, & Cooper, 1996; Siu &
Cooper, 1998).
Measures
Independent Variables. Occupational Stressors.
There are 40 items in the
Sources of Stress Scale of the OSI-2. To avoid a too lengthy questionnaire,
the number of items of this scale was reduced. Twenty items were extracted
for use from this scale which measured the six sources of stress. They were
items 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 25, 31, 34, 37, 39, 40 of
the original scale. The rationale for choosing these items is that they are
applicable to both blue-collar and white-collar employees in the Chinese
context. Example items are: factors intrinsic to the job (e.g. having to work
long hours), management role (e.g. conflicting job tasks and demands in the
role I play), relationships with others (e.g. lack of social support by people
at work), career and achievement (e.g. under promotion—working at a level
below my level of ability), organisational structure and climate (e.g. morale
and organisational climate), home/work interface (e.g. demands my work
makes and its conflicting demands on my relationship with spouse/children).
Respondents were asked to indicate whether an item was a source of pres-
sure on a 6-point scale ranging from “very definitely a source” (6) to “very
definitely not a source” (1). The score of the index for occupational stressors
is the summation of scores of all six stressors (high score
=
higher level of
pressures that arise from occupational stressors).
Moderator Variables. Organisational Commitment.
The 9-item Organ-
izational Commitment Questionnaire (OCQ) (excluding the negative items)
(Mowday et al., 1979) consists of a 7-point scale ranging from “strongly
agree” (7) to “strongly disagree” (1) (high score
=
high commitment). The
rationale for using the 9-item OCQ is based on two reasons: (a) to reduce
the length of the questionnaire, ( b) the negatively worded items lack stabil-
ity ( Tetrick & Farkas, 1988). Example items are: “I am proud to tell others
that I am part of this organisation”; “I really care about the fate of this
organisation”.
Demographics factors.
The demographic variables under study included
age, gender, and marital status.
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Dependent Variables.
Three parts of the Occupational Stress Indicator-2
(OSI-2) ( Williams & Cooper, 1996) were used to measure well-being.
Job satisfaction.
Job satisfaction refers to a pleasurable emotional state
resulting from the appraisal of one’s job or the organisation. This was
measured using the Job Satisfaction Scale of the OSI-2. This is a 12-item
scale. Only the first 11 items were used because item 12 was very similar to
item 9 after being translated into Chinese, so item 12 was deleted. Each
item is rated on a 6-point scale ranging from “very satisfied” (6) to “very
dissatisfied” (1) (high score
=
high satisfaction). Example items are: “The
actual job itself”; “The degree to which your job taps the range of skills
which you feel you possess”.
Mental well-being.
Mental well-being refers to psychological health,
including contentment, resilience, and peace of mind. Part A (How you feel
or behave) of Section 2 (How you assess your current state of health) of the
OSI-2 was used to measure mental health. It consists of 12 items scoring from
6 to 1, in which numbers 3, 5, 8, and 11 are negative items. An example of a
positive item is: “Would you say that you tended to be a rather over con-
scientious person who worries about mistakes or actions that you may have
taken in the past, such as decisions?” (from “very true” to “very untrue”)
(High score
=
better mental well-being). An example of a negative item is:
“When the pressure starts to mount at work, can you find a sufficient store
or reserve of energy which you can call upon at times when you need it that
spurs you into action?” (from “lots of energy” to “not much energy”).
Physical well-being.
Physical well-being refers to physical state of health,
including calmness and energy. Part B (Your physical health) of Section 2
of the OSI-2 was used to measure physical health. There are 6 items in this
scale scoring from 6 to 1 ( High score
=
better physical well-being). Example
items are: “Feeling unaccountably tired or exhausted”; “Shortness of breath
or feeling dizzy”.
The questionnaire was originally developed in English in the UK and US.
All of the items in the questionnaire were translated into Chinese by the
author and back-translated into English by a professional translator to
assure equivalence. Words that were improperly translated were retrans-
lated and retested until the Chinese version matched the original English.
ANALYSIS AND RESULTS
Sample Characteristics
For the Hong Kong white-collar group, there were more males than females,
with a mean age of 33 years (SD
=
12.96 years). About 89 per cent of this
group had secondary or above education. There were almost equal numbers
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of single and married employees. The mean current job experience was
about 3 years; and the mean total working experience was about 11 years.
For the Hong Kong blue-collar group, there were almost equal numbers
of males and females, with a mean age of 33 years (SD
=
14.47 years).
About 72 per cent of this group had secondary or above education. There
were more married than single workers in this group. The mean current job
experience was about 5 years; and the mean total working experience was
13 years.
For the China blue-collar group, there were far more females than males,
with a mean age of 25.5 years (SD
=
12.24 years). About 73 per cent of this
group had secondary or above education. There were more single workers
than married workers in this group. The mean current job experience was
about 4 years; and the mean total working experience was about 7 years.
Reliability of Measures
The reliabilities for all measures in all samples are acceptable except mental
well-being for the China blue-collar group (see Table 1). It seems that the
internal consistencies were maintained across most translations. These pro-
vide evidence of scale equivalence of measures across cultural groups
(Riordan & Vandenberg, 1994). So all measures are generally reliable; it
seems that the alphas for the well-being variables are lower for both the
blue-collar samples. It is possible that these scales, particularly the mental
well-being measures, include higher level of vocabulary. This might explain
why the results produced are more random for less educated blue-collar
workers.
Relationships between Occupational Stressors
and Well-being
Table 1 depicts the correlation coefficients between the stressors and well-
being (including job satisfaction, physical and mental well-being) in the
three national and occupational groups. It can be seen from Table 1 that
occupational stressors were negatively related to physical well-being (in all
groups), mental well-being (except in the Hong Kong blue-collar group),
and job satisfaction (in the white-collar group only). Therefore the first
hypothesis can be partially supported.
Organisational Commitment and
Employee Well-being
Table 1 presents the correlation coefficients between organisational commit-
ment and well-being. Organisational commitment was found to be positively
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TABLE 1
Means, Standard Deviations, Reliabilities, and Inter-correlations for All Measures
Mean SD Alpha OS M P JS OC
Hong Kong White-Collar Workers (
N
=
158):
Occupational Stressors (OS) 65.80 14.71 0.93 –
Mental well-being (M) 47.11 9.32 0.77
−
0.39*** –
Physical well-being (P) 22.91 5.97 0.85
−
0.37*** 0.62*** –
Job Satisfaction (JS) 38.77 10.71 0.95
−
0.42*** 0.54*** 0.60*** –
Organisational Commitment (OC) 36.85 10.69 0.93
−
0.20** 0.35*** 0.52*** 0.70*** –
Hong Kong Blue-Collar Workers (
N
=
138):
Occupational Stressors (OS) 59.08 12.47 0.80 –
Mental well-being (M) 43.79 6.55 0.62
−
0.05 –
Physical well-being (P) 23.00 4.95 0.71
−
0.17* 0.46*** –
Job Satisfaction (JS) 38.05 9.10 0.90
−
0.13 0.14 0.21* –
Organisational Commitment (OC) 37.74 9.39 0.87 0.04 0.14
−
0.01 0.61** –
China Blue-Collar Workers (
N
=
372):
Occupational Stressors (OS) 57.81 11.75 0.82 –
Mental well-being (M) 46.78 8.69 0.57
−
0.17*** –
Physical well-being (P) 24.54 4.49 0.61
−
0.14*** 0.37*** –
Job Satisfaction (JS) 44.63 8.94 0.86 0.04 0.27*** 0.15** –
Organisational Commitment (OC) 44.77 8.09 0.76 0.01 0.30*** 0.17*** 0.49*** –
Note
: *
P
<
0.05; **
P
<
0.01; ***
P
<
0.001.
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538
SIU
© International Association for Applied Psychology, 2002.
related to physical well-being (except in the Hong Kong blue-collar group),
job satisfaction, and mental well-being (except in the Hong Kong blue-
collar group). Therefore the second hypothesis is partially supported.
Moderating Effects of Organisational Commitment
To examine the moderating effects of organisational commitment in the
stressor–well-being relationships, the hierarchical regression procedure sug-
gested by Cohen and Cohen (1983) was used to test the significance and
form of the main and interaction terms. To determine the joint contribution
of stressors and organisational commitment on three outcome variables,
occupational stressors were entered first into the regression equation, fol-
lowed by organisational commitment, and then stressors
×
organisational
commitment (see Table 2).
The results obtained in Table 2 show that, in the Hong Kong white-collar
group, occupational stressors (OS) was a significant predictor of job satis-
faction, mental well-being, and physical well-being; and organisational com-
mitment (Com) contributed significantly to all regressions. Organisational
commitment interacted with stressors to determine job satisfaction and
physical well-being.
In the Hong Kong blue-collar group, occupational stressors (OS) was
not a significant predictor of job satisfaction or mental well-being, but was
a significant predictor of physical well-being. Organisational commitment
contributed significantly to job satisfaction only, but not to other health
effects. Further, organisational commitment only interacted with stressors
to determine physical well-being.
In the China blue-collar group, occupational stressors (OS) was a
significant predictor of mental and physical well-being, but it was not a
significant predictor of job satisfaction. Organisational commitment con-
tributed to all regressions. Concerning its moderating effects, organisational
commitment did not interact with stressors to determine any health out-
comes. Therefore the third hypothesis can only be partially supported.
DISCUSSION
Stressor–Well-being Relationships
The aim of examining the relationships between occupational stressors and
well-being ( job satisfaction, mental and physical well-being) that have been
evidenced in Western societies using different national and occupational
groups of Chinese subjects, is to verify findings that have been demonstrated
in Western countries, so as to contribute to the generalisability of theories
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STRESSORS AND WELL-BEING
539
© International Association for Applied Psychology, 2002.
TABLE 2
Hierarchical Regression Analysis with Organisational Commitment as
Moderator (with Occupational Stressors as Independent Variable)
Health effects Step Entered variable
R
2
∆
R
2
df
F
-ratio beta
Hong Kong White-Collar Group (
N
=
158):
Job Satisfaction 1 OS 0.173 0.173 156 32.63*** −0.42***
2 Com 0.564 0.391 154 99.47*** 0.65***
3 OS × Com 0.616 0.052 153 81.91*** 1.24***
Constant = 70.03***
Mental Well-being 1 OS 0.156 0.156 156 28.80*** −0.39***
2 Com 0.230 0.074 154 22.99*** 0.29***
3 OS × Com 0.239 0.009 153 16.00*** 0.51
Constant = 66.95***
Physical Well-being 1 OS 0.139 0.139 156 25.15*** −0.37***
2 Com 0.335 0.196 154 38.85*** 0.47***
3 OS × Com 0.379 0.044 153 31.08*** 1.12***
Constant = 41.55***
Hong Kong Blue-Collar Group (N = 138):
Job Satisfaction 1 OS 0.018 0.018 136 2.44*** −0.13
2 Com 0.391 0.373 135 43.28*** 0.61***
3 OS × Com 0.396 0.005 134 29.31*** 0.41
Constant = 33.26**
Mental Well-being 1 OS 0.000 0.000 125 0.30 −0.05
2 Com 0.020 0.020 124 1.29 0.13
3 OS × Com 0.026 0.006 123 1.07 0.39
Constant = 49.51***
Physical Well-being 1 OS 0.028 0.028 135 3.91* −0.17*
2 Com 0.028 0.000 134 1.94 −2.71E-04
3 OS × Com 0.063 0.035 133 2.96* 1.03*
Constant = 41.71***
China Blue-Collar Group (N = 372):
Job Satisfaction 1 OS 0.001 0.001 369 0.55 0.04
2 Com 0.237 0.236 366 56.94*** 0.49***
3 OS × Com 0.239 0.002 365 38.23*** 0.31
Constant = 29.35**
Mental Well-being 1 OS 0.028 0.028 348 9.84** −0.17**
2 Com 0.120 0.092 346 23.54*** 0.30***
3 OS × Com 0.121 0.001 345 15.78*** −0.23
Constant = 32.46*
Physical Well-being 1 OS 0.020 0.020 368 7.57** −0.14**
2 Com 0.052 0.032 365 9.98*** 0.18***
3 OS × Com 0.054 0.002 364 6.97*** 0.37
Constant = 29.29***
Note: OS – occupational stressors; Com – organisational commitment;
*P < 0.05; ** P < 0.01; *** P < 0.001.
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540 SIU
© International Association for Applied Psychology, 2002.
in psychology. Further, since research on work stress in the past has mostly
used white-collar or professional people as subjects, the rationale of using
Chinese blue-collar subjects is again to contribute to theories in organisa-
tional psychology.
The reliabilities of the scales, including the four subscales of the OSI-2,
were acceptable (see Table 1). These results provide support to a previous
study done in Hong Kong using the OSI-2 with samples of white-collar and
professional employees (Siu & Cooper, 1998). This study then demonstrates
that the OSI-2 ( Williams & Cooper, 1996) is also a reliable instrument for
Chinese blue-collar workers.
In the Hong Kong white-collar sample, workers who reported more
sources of stress at work (a combination of the six stressors) had lower job
satisfaction, worse mental and physical well-being. The stressor–well-being
relationships which were verified by this sample have provided substantial
support to the data obtained from Western countries (Bogg & Cooper,
1995; Robertson et al., 1990). The results obtained from this study also cor-
roborated previous studies in Chinese societies—Hong Kong (Siu et al.,
1997; Siu & Cooper, 1998), China (Yu et al., 1998), and Taiwan ( Lu et al.,
1997).
But among the blue-collar workers, the perception of more sources of
stress only related to worse physical well-being for the Hong Kong blue-
collar workers, and worse mental and physical well-being for the China
blue-collar workers. Occupational stressors had no relationship with job
satisfaction. One possible explanation may be that the blue-collar workers,
in particular the China blue-collar workers, were overwhelmed by the tedi-
ous nature of their job, and accepted that life is as it is in the factory. This
is supported by the long working hours reported by the workers in China,
and the monotonous nature of the jobs in the factories in both Hong Kong
and China.
It can be concluded that the usual patterns of stressor–well-being relation-
ship were partially verified in the Chinese blue-collar group. As the results
obtained from the Hong Kong white-collar workers are similar to those
obtained from Western societies, the differences between the white- and the
blue-collar workers revealed from this study are perhaps due to white/blue-
collar occupational division, not culture.
ROLE OF ORGANISATIONAL COMMITMENT
One of the aims of this paper was to consider the role of organisational
commitment using Chinese white-collar subjects, and to see if similar results
were obtained in blue-collar subjects, and to compare these with findings
obtained in Western countries, so as to contribute to the generalisability of
theories in organisational psychology.
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STRESSORS AND WELL-BEING 541
© International Association for Applied Psychology, 2002.
The results showed that organisational commitment was related to most
of the physical and psychological outcomes among workers (see Table 1).
It was positively related to job satisfaction, mental and physical well-being
in Hong Kong white-collar workers and China blue-collar workers. Fur-
ther, organisational commitment was positively related to job satisfaction
in the Hong Kong blue-collar group. These results corroborated previous
studies (Mathieu & Zajac, 1990). Mathieu and Zajac (1990) argued that
employees’ level of commitment makes them more eligible to receive psy-
chological rewards such as intrinsic job satisfaction. What this means is
that an employee’s level of commitment to an organisation may make him/
her more eligible to receive both extrinsic (e.g. wages and benefits) and
psychological (e.g. intrinsic job satisfaction and relationship with co-
workers) rewards associated with membership (see Mathieu & Zajac, 1990,
p. 171).
Since some of the findings of this study using Chinese white- and blue-collar
subjects are consistent with previous studies using Western white-collar
subjects and blue-collar Asian workers, the present study contributes to the
generalisability of findings in this area.
Organisational commitment was also found to have moderating effects
on the stressor–health relationships in this study, as indicated by the pos-
itive beta values in all significant interactions. Organisational commitment
interacted with sources of stress at work to determine job satisfaction in the
Hong Kong white-collar group; it even moderated the stressor–physical
well-being relationship among Hong Kong white-collar and blue-collar
workers (though only mildly) (see Table 2). These results corroborated pre-
vious studies in Western societies (Begley & Cazjka, 1993) and Chinese
societies (Siu & Cooper, 1998). The explanations offered by previous
researchers can help to attribute this indirect or moderating effect of com-
mitment. For instance, Kobasa, Maddi, and Kahn (1982) argued that com-
mitment protects individuals from the negative effects of stress because it
enables them to attach direction and meaning to their work. Mowday et al.
(1982) also explained that organisational commitment can provide people
with stability and a feeling of belonging.
The implications of these results are twofold: first, top management
officials should pay attention to workers’ affective organisational commit-
ment, as this attitudinal trait could have both direct and indirect effects on
workers’ job satisfaction and well-being. Second, sources of stress at work
exist in most organisations nowadays. Top management officials can make
more effort to increase affective organisational commitment among em-
ployees, say through trust (e.g. Nyhan, 1999). This commitment may then
interact with stressors to determine better job satisfaction and physical well-
being, and in turn create better performance and productivity, and mitigate
the turnover rate.
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542 SIU
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