An Evaluation of the Job Stress Questionnaire with a Sample of Entrepreneurs

Author(s): Julie Aitken Harris, Robert Saltstone, Maryann Fraboni

Source: Journal of Business and Psychology, Vol. 13, No. 3 (Sep., 1999), pp. 447-455
Published by: Springer
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25092650
Accessed: 10/10/2009 00:29
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless
you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you
may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use.
Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at
http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=springer.
Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed
page of such transmission.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
Springer is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Journal of Business and
Psychology.
http://www.jstor.org
JOURNAL OF BUSINESS AND PSYCHOLOGY
Volume
13,
No.
3, Spring
1999
AN EVALUATION OF THE JOB STRESS
QUESTIONNAIRE
WITH A SAMPLE
OF ENTREPRENEURS
Julie Aitken Harris
The
University of
Western Ontario
Robert Saltstone
Nipissing University
Maryann
Fraboni
The
University of
Western Ontario
ABSTRACT: A modified version of
Capian's
Job Stress
Questionnaire (JSQ)
was
administered to 169 male and 56 female
entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs
were
found to have
higher
levels of stress associated with workload than with role
ambiguity
and underutilization of skills.
Compared
to scores
reported previously
for various
occupational categories,
the
entrepreneurs
scored
significantly higher
than did white
collar,
blue
collar,
and
professional
groups
on the workload scale
and
significantly
lower on scales
measuring
role
ambiguity
and under-utiiization
of skills. These results
may
be due to the nature of
entrepreneurial activity,
which is often characterized
by heavy workloads, long hours,
and
a self-estab
lished role in the
organization. Additionally,
the factorial
composition
of the
JSQ
and its internal
consistency
were examined. Evidence of
convergent
and discrim
inant
validity
at the item and subscale level confirmed the a
priori
dimensions of
the
JSQ, although
the internal
consistency
of the scales were low to moderate.
The need for various
improvements
in the measurement of
occupational
stress is
briefly
discussed.
INTRODUCTION
Entrepreneurs
are
typically
viewed
as
the
subjects
of
job
stress
brought
on
by heavy workloads, by
the
assumption
of risk in their busi
This research
was
supported by
a
grant
to the second author from the North
Bay
Centre of
Entrepreneurship,
North
Bay,
Ontario: A
joint project
of Canadore
College
and
Nipissing University.
Address
correspondence
to Julie Aitken
Harris, Department
of
Psychology,
The Uni
versity
of Western
Ontario, London, Ontario,
Canada N6A 5C2.
447
? 1999 Human Sciences
Press,
Inc.
448 JOURNAL OF BUSINESS AND PSYCHOLOGY
ness
activities
(although entrepreneurs
do not
appear
to be excessive
risk-takers
(Palmer, 1971)),
and
by higher
than
average
need for achieve
ment
(Brockhaus, 1982; Langan-Fox
&
Roth,
1995).
Some researchers
have found that
entrepreneurs
are
flexible, persistent
individuals with
high
levels of frustration tolerance and a
strong
resistance to standard
operating procedures,
which
might
be viewed
as
representing
a
lack of
role
ambiguity
(Hull, Bosley,
&
Udell,
1980).
Research
by Begley
and
Boyd
(1986)
has shown that business foun
ders have
high
scores on measures of need for
achievement,
risk-taking
propensity,
and tolerance of role
ambiguity. Begley
and
Boyd, however,
found
no differences between business founders and non-founders
on a
measure of
Type
A behavior. Buttner
(1992)
investigated
differences in
sources of
stress,
job satisfaction,
and health
problems
in
entrepreneurs
compared
to
managers.
The results of that
study suggest
that
entrepre
neurs
experience higher
levels of stress due to role
ambiguity,
have
more health
problems,
are
less able to relieve work-related
tension,
and
were
less satisfied with their work in
general
than were
managers.
In
addition, entrepreneurs
were found to
report
less stress from role con
flict than did
managers.
These
findings suggest
that stress
may
be
man
ifested in
unique
ways
for
entrepreneurs, requiring
the need for further
research to be conducted with
specific
measures of work stress with
en
trepreneurs.
The
diversity
of
concepts
and models of
occupational
stress has
made it difficult to summarize or
statistically aggregate
research results
and to draw
on a cumulative
body
of substantiated
theory
in order to set
new
directions for
investigation.
Theoretical
diversity
in stress research
has also fostered the
development
of a
number of
incongruous
research
scales and stress inventories. Available measures differ
according
to
their
applicability
to various
occupations,
their theoretical
basis,
and
their
completeness
in
representing
the domain of environmental Stressors.
Clarifying
the domain of environmental Stressors
has, itself,
been
an
ongoing
and
fragmented process
in the research literature. Multi
dimensional models of stress have been
hypothesized (Caplan, Cobb,
French,
Van
Harrison,
&
Pinneau, 1975; Kahn, 1974; Osipow
&
Spo
kane, 1984; Rizzo, House,
&
Lirtzman,
1970).
However, many
of the
pro
posed
sub-constructs
are
intercorrelated,
thus
reducing
the construct
validity
of instruments. Structural
problems,
such
as
scale
redundancy,
also attenuates obtained
predictive validity
coefficients.
Conversely,
some
authors have constructed instruments that are
only
concerned
with
specific
Stressors,
and
later,
these scales have been
incorrectly
em
ployed
as
global
indicators of
job
stress. This
underrepresentation
of the
domain of
occupational
stress will likewise affect the amount of variance
that can be
explained by
stress in a
dependent
variable.
Another basis for confusion in the measurement of
occupational
stress has been the
confounding
of sources of stress with moderator
J. A.
HARRIS,
R.
SALTSTONE,
AND M. FRABONI 449
variables such as
individual, occupational,
and
organizational variants,
and the
confounding
of sources
of stress with outcomes of
stress,
such as
physical
and
psychological symptoms
and
job
dissatisfaction.
French,
Caplan,
and Van Harrison
(1982)
have
proposed
a model of
occupational
stress named the "Person-Environment
(P-E)
Fit"
theory
which at
tempts
to
clarify
the
interplay
between environmental variables and
properties
of the
person
which determine stress and strain in the
occu
pational setting.
This model evolved
throughout
a decade of work which
attempted
to
quantify occupational
stress in a multidimensional frame
work. French and
colleagues suggest
that stress and strain
are
the
re
sult of a
poor
fit between the characteristics of the
person
and related
characteristics of the
job.
The Job Stress
Questionnaire (JSQ; Caplan
et
al.,
1975)
was devel
oped
for the use in the
ongoing
research of the P-E Fit
theory
and a
modified version of it was
used in the current
study
of
entrepreneurs.
The
JSQ
is a
13-item
questionnaire designed
to reflect
a
four dimensio
nal "Person-Environment Fit" model of
job
stress. Each of the dimen
sions reflects an
aspect
of the
job
environment
which,
in interaction
with a
particular individual,
is
hypothesized
as
being
stress
producing.
These four dimensions
are:
(a)
Workload,
(b)
Role
Conflict,
(c)
Role Am
biguity,
and
(d)
Utilization of
Skills,
which
represent
four common
sources of stress and do not
represent
all
types
of stress.
The Workload items measure the
quantitative aspect
of work-over
load
resulting
from time
pressures.
Role Conflict is defined as
having
logically incompatible
demands made
upon
the individual
by
two or
more
persons
whose
jobs
are
functionally interdependent
with the indi
vidual's
job.
Role
Ambiguity
was considered
as a state in which
a
person
has
inadequate
information to
perform
their role in
an
organization,
and
Utilization of Skills considers a stress factor related to under-utilization
of
previously acquired
skills in
carrying
out tasks
required
on
the
job.
A factor
analysis
of the
JSQ
(Hamel
&
Bracken, 1986), using
three
diverse
occupational groups,
supported
the four-factor model of
job
stress in the total
sample. However, only
one
sample
(blue
collar work
ers),
of the three individual
occupational samples subjected
to
analysis,
yielded
a
four-factor solution. The structure of the
JSQ
was
adequately
described
by
three factors in
samples
of
professionals (university faculty
and
engineers)
and white collar workers
(clerical
and secretarial work
ers), although
these three factors were
comprised
of different items in
each
sample.
Purpose
If the
JSQ
is to be of value in research
(particularly occupational
comparisons),
the
stability
of the scale structure and other scale
proper
ties need further evaluation. The
present study reports
on
the scale
450 JOURNAL OF BUSINESS AND PSYCHOLOGY
structure and internal
consistency (reliability)
of a
modified version of
the
JSQ utilizing
a
sample
of
entrepreneurs.
METHOD
Subjects
Subjects
(N
=
225)
were business
owners from 12 Ontario cities
(populations
less than
300,000),
tested as
part
of another
study
(see
Fra
boni and
Saltstone,
1990).
For the
purposes
of this
study,
an
entrepre
neur was defined as one who both
owns and
operates
a
service, retail,
wholesale,
or
manufacturing
business.
Operators
of
personal
services
and franchise
operators (many
of whom would be considered to be inves
tors rather than
innovators)
were excluded.
Procedure
Potential
subjects
were
identified
through
the use of Chamber of
Commerce directories and were contacted to obtain their consent to
par
ticipate. Subjects
were
asked to answer 15
demographic questions
in a
telephone
interview and then were mailed
a
questionnaire. Fifty-two
percent
of those who
agreed
to
participate
returned their
completed
questionnaires
in self-addressed
stamped envelopes provided by
the
re
searchers.
Instrumentation
The research
questionnaire
included a modified version of
Caplan's
(1975)
Job Stress
Questionnaire (JSQ),
as
well
as measures of
person
ality,
work
values,
and
questions regarding
business
description
and de
mographics.
It was
necessary
to
modify
the
JSQ
to be used with this
sample.
Three items
(related
to
taking
direction
or
supervision
from someone in
a
higher position)
were
deemed not to
apply
to
entrepreneurs
and were
removed from the 13-item scale. These deleted items were the
original
scale Items 6 and
7,
which
comprise
the Role Conflict
subscale,
and item
8 from the Role
Ambiguity
subscale. This resulted in
a
10-item scale
composed
to three
a
priori
defined subscales:
(a)
Workload, (b)
Role Am
biguity,
and
(c)
Utilization of Skills.
Data
Analysis
JSQ
scale scores were
determined
by adding
item scores and divid
ing by
the number of items in the scale. Scores
on the
JSQ
scales for
J. A.
HARRIS,
R.
SALTSTONE,
AND M. FRABONI 451
entrepreneurs
were
compared
to those obtained for the
occupational
cat
egories reported by
Hamel and Braken
(1986)
using
?-tests. This com
parison
was
undertaken to
explore
the
JSQ's capacity
to differentiate
stress levels in
divergent occupational groups. However,
these
compari
sons are
post
hoc and should be
interpreted
with some
caution.
Following
the
descriptive comparison, psychometric properties
of
the
JSQ
were
examined. Cronbach
alpha
coefficients
were
calculated to
determine internal
consistency.
The intercorrelation matrix of scales
and items was
inspected
for
convergent
and discriminant
validity
evi
dence.
Finally, principal
axis
factoring
of the items with varimax rota
tion was
employed
to further
explore
scale structure.
RESULTS
Table 1
reports
the
JSQ
scale
means,
standard
deviations,
and al
pha
coefficients for the
entrepreneur sample along
with
JSQ
scale
means and standard deviations
provided by
Hamel and Braken
(1986)
for three
occupational groups
which
were used in ?-test
computations
to
provide descriptive comparisons
with the
entrepreneur
sample.
Scores
for males
(N
=
169) and females
(N
=
56)
did not differ
significantly.
The
entrepreneurs
scored
higher
on
Workload than on
the Role Ambi
guity
and Utilization of Skills scales. The
alpha
coefficient for Workload
was
.81,
however the
alphas
for Role
Ambiguity
(.59)
and Utilization of
Skills
(.63)
suggest
low to moderate internal
consistency.
All scale score
differences
were
statistically significant
(Table 1).
The
entrepreneurs
scored
significantly higher
than white
collar,
blue
collar,
and
professional groups
on the Workload
scale,
but
significantly
lower than the three
groups
on
the Role
Ambiguity
and Utilization of
Skills scales. The
largest
difference was found between
entrepreneurs
and
professionals
for Utilization of
Skills,
with
professionals scoring
higher
than the
entrepreneurs.
Pearson
product-moment
correlations between the items and their
provisional
scales and the other
JSQ
scales (see
Table
2)
revealed the
expected convergent
and discriminant
relationships among
the scales.
All items
yielded
correlations
ranging
from .63 to .87 with their
provisio
nal scales. Items were not even
moderately
correlated with their irrele
vant scales. As
well,
intercorrelations of total scale scores
suggested
the
scales were
roughly independent.
A small
positive relationship
was
found between the Utilization of Skills scale and the Role
Ambiguity
scale.
Results of a
factor
analysis
(see
Table
3)
further substantiated the
three
a
priori
defined dimensions of the
JSQ.
The intercorrelation ma
trix of the 10 items was
subjected
to a
principal
axis
factoring using
Table 1
Means
(M), SD,
and Values of t for
Comparisons
Between
Entrepreneurs
and Three
Occupational Groups1
on
Scales of the Job
Stress
Questionnaire
Sample
N
Workload
M SD M
Ambiguity
SD t M
Skills
SD t
Entrepreneur
225 4.94 1.07 3.10* 2.66 1.29 14.20** 2.73 1.24 16.69**
White Collar 268 4.63 1.16 4.08 .90 4.90 1.53
Entrepreneur
225 4.94 1.07 7.20* 2.66 1.29 10.30** 2.73 1.24 15.46**
Blue Collar 178 4.22 1.01 3.90 .97 4.74 1.46
Entrepreneur
225 4.94 1.07 2.18* 2.66 1.29 12.54** 2.73 1.24 18.46**
Professional 157 4.70 1.12 4.04 .81 5.13 1.49
HDccupational group means, SD,
and N obtained from Hamel and Bracken
(1986).
*p
< .05
**p
<
.001
J. A.
HARRIS,
R.
SALTSTONE,
AND M. FRABONI 453
Table 2
Correlation of Job Stress
Questionnaire
Items and Scales
Workload Role
Ambiguity
Utilization of
Variable
(WL) (RA)
Skills
(US)
WL1 .77* -.03 -.09
WL2 .79* -.02 .01
WL3 .73* .05 .09
WL4 .76* -.04 .03
WL5 .72* -.06 -.10
RA? -.12 .82* .15
RA2 .06 .87* .17
US1 .01 .18 .81*
US2 -.02 .20 .63*
US3 -.02 .06 .82*
Role
Ambiguity
-
.02
Utilization of Skills
-
.01 .19
*p
<
.001
estimates of the communalities in the
diagonal.
An
eigenvalue
of 1.0
was
specified
as the minimum value for factor
retention,
and three fac
tors were extracted. The factors
were
rotated to varimax criterion and
the factor matrix was
examined. A value of .30
was
adopted
as the mini
mum to be considered for a
factor
loading.
All items
belonging together
in
a
scale loaded
highly
(median
value
.62)
on
their
respective
factors. The values of the
loadings
across factors
and within factors was consistent with Thurstone's criteria for
simple
structure
(Thurstone, 1947, p.
335).
The three factors accounted for
a
TableS
Factor
Loadings
for the Job Stress
Questionnaire
Items After Varimax Rotation
Item1 Factor I Factor II Factor III
WL1 .71 -.10 .00
WL2 .75 .00 -.01
WL3 .60 .09 .08
WL4 .70 .05 -.05
WL5 .64 -.09 -.07
RA? -.12 .08 .72
RA2 .08 .12 .58
US1 .02 .59 .13
US2 -.02 .41 .22
US3 -.02 .85 -.06
*WL
=
Workload,
RA
=
Role
Ambiguity,
US
=
Utilization of Skills.
454 JOURNAL OF BUSINESS AND PSYCHOLOGY
total of 45.5% of the variance. Factor I
(Workload),
Factor II
(Utilization
of
Skills),
and Factor III
(Role
Ambiguity)
accounted for
23.5, 14.1,
and
8% of the
variance,
respectively.
DISCUSSION
The
sample
of
entrepreneurs
used in this
study
obtained
scores on
the
JSQ
scales which
suggested they
found their workload to be a
greater
source of
on-the-job
stress than
problems
associated with under
utilization of their skills
or
with
ambiguity
about their role in the busi
ness.
These
entrepreneurs
indicated that
they spent
an
average
of 56.74
hours
(SD
=
12.66)
directly
on their
business,
a
greater
amount of time
spent
on
work-related activities than
may
be found in
samples
of em
ployees
whose workload is structured
by clock-punching.
The
large
differences between
entrepreneurs
and the white
collar,
blue
collar,
and
professional groups
for Utilization of Skills can be
partly
explained by
the
entrepreneurs* ability
to choose
(within
some
limita
tions)
their activities.
Thus,
the extent to which
they
exercise their skills
is self-determined.
Also,
the other
occupational groups, particularly pro
fessionals, may
have a
greater degree
of
specific training
and education
and
consequently
more skills to
potentially
under-utilize. This is not to
suggest
that the
entrepreneurs
were less educated
or skilled. In the
pre
sent
study, only
15% of the
sample
had not obtained
a
high
school di
ploma,
and 40% who had
completed high
school had continued to com
plete
a
post-secondary
education
program. Although only
18% of the
subjects
had attended business
school,
73% indicated
they
had
acquired
skills relevant to their business from
prior employment.
Therefore,
it is
more
likely
that education and number of
specific
skills
may vary
more
within the
entrepreneur group
and
entrepreneurs
may
have less emo
tional investment in their education and skills than
groups
of individ
uals who have studied
or
trained for
particular
trades and
occupations.
A
comparative
lack of role
ambiguity
for the
entrepreneur sample
may simply
be inherent in the
entrepreneur's position
within the
orga
nizational
hierarchy. Seventy percent
of the
subjects
considered them
selves to be the
primary
decision-maker in the business.
This, along
with
having
initiated the business
themselves,
would
suggest
that the
entrepreneur's
role within the business is
largely
self-established and
this
might
lead to less
ambiguity.
The modified version of the
JSQ
used in this
study
was found to
have
a
high degree
of
convergent
and discriminant
validity
evidence at
the item
level,
and scales demonstrated
appropriate independence,
al
though
the scales had low to
moderate internal
consistency
values. The
three
a
priori
determined dimensions of
job
stress
were
evident in the
J. A.
HARRIS,
R.
SALTSTONE,
AND M. FRABONI 455
analyses.
Factor
analysis
of the full
JSQ (including
the Role Conflict
scale), using
a
sample
drawn from
a
population
to which all items would
apply,
may
not
produce
such concise structure. Role
Ambiguity
and Role
Conflict
seem
conceptually related,
and the items
designated
for these
scales
may
not
produce
distinct factors.
Internal
consistency
for the
JSQ
is
relatively
low but not unex
pected given
the small number of items
per
scale. It is
unlikely
that the
content domains for these sub-constructs are
adequately represented
in
the
items, especially
in the Role
Ambiguity
and Utilization of Skills
scales. Future measures of
job
stress would be
improved
if the
degree
of
structural
fidelity exemplified
in
measures,
like the
JSQ,
could be ac
companied by
a
greater representation
of
orthogonal
Stressors
as
scales
and
through sampling
of the content domain.
REFERENCES
Begley,
T.M. &
Boyd,
D.P.
(1986).
Psychological
characteristics associated with
entrepre
neurial
performance.
In R.
Ronstadt,
J.A.
Hornaday,
R.
Peterson,
and K.A.
Vesper
(Eds.),
Frontiers
of entrepreneurship
research
(pp.
146-165). Massachusetts: Babson
College.
Brockhaus,
R.H. (1982). The
psychology
of the
entrepreneur.
In CA.
Kent,
D.L.
Sexton,
and K.H.
Vesper
(Eds.),
Encyclopedia of entrepreneurship (pp.
39-71).
Englewood
Cliffs,
NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Buttner,
E.H.
(1992).
Entrepreneurial
stress: Is it hazardous to
your
health? Journal
of
Managerial Issues, 4,
223-240,
Caplan,
R., Cobb, S,, French, J.,
Van
Harrison, R.,
&
Pinneau,
S.
(1975). Demands and
worker health: Main
effects
and
organizational differences. Washington,
DC: U.S. Gov
ernment
Printing
Office.
Fraboni,
M. &
Saltstone,
R.
(1990). Measurement and evaluation of work stress and values
in male and female
entrepreneurs.
Journal
of
Small Business and
Entrepreneurship,
7,
23-30.
French, J.P.R., Caplan, R.D.,
& Van
Harrison,
R.
(1982).
The mechanisms
of job
stress and
strain. New York:
Wiley.
Hamel,
K. &
Bracken,
D. (1986). Factor structure of the
job
stress
questionnaire (JSQ)
in
three
occupational groups.
Educational and
Psychological Measurement, 46,
777-786.
Hull, D.L., Bosley,
J.J.,
&
Udell,
G.G.
(1980).
Renewing
the hunt for the
heffalump:
Identi
fying potential entrepreneurs by personality
characteristics. Journal
of
Small Busi
ness
Management, Jan.,
11-18.
Kahn,
R.L.
(1974).
Conflict,
ambiguity,
and overload: Three elements in
job
stress. In A.
McLean
(Ed.), Occupational
stress
(pp.
47-61).
Illinois: Thomas.
Langan-Fox,
J. &
Roth,
S. (1995). Achievement motivation and female
entrepreneurs.
Journal
of Occupational
and
Organizational Psychology,
68,
209-218.
Osipow,
S.H. &
Spokane,
A.R. (1984).
Measuring occupational
stress.
Applied
Social
Psy
chology Annual, 5,
67-86.
Palmer,
M.
(1971).
The
application
of
psychological testing
to
entrepreneurial potential.
California Management Review, 13,
32-38.
Rizzo, J.R., House, R.J.,
&
Lirtzman,
S.L.
(1970).
Role conflict and
ambiguity
in
complex
organizations.
Administrative Science
Quarterly,
15,
155-163.
Thurstone,
L.L.
(1947).
Multiple factor analysis, Chicago,
IL:
University
of
Chicago
Press.