The Relationship Between Occupational Stress and Organizational Commitment in Nongovernmental Organizations of Pakistan

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN
OCCUPATIONAL STRESS AND

ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT IN NONGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS OF
PAKISTAN
By
Zahir Uddin Butt
NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF MODERN LANGUAGES

ISLAMABAD
April, 2009
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN OCCUPATIONAL STRESS

AND ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT IN NONGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS OF PAKISTAN
By
Zahir Uddin Butt

M.A., Punjab University, 1990
A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF

THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
In Human Resources Development
To
FACULTY OF ADVANCED INTEGRATED STUDIES AND RESEARCH
(Human Resources Development)
NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF MODERN LANGUAGES ISLAMABAD

April, 2009
Zahir Butt, 2009
ii
NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF MODERN LANGUAGES
FACULTY OF ADVANCED INTEGRATED & RESEARCH
THESIS/ DISSERTATION AND DEFENCE APPROVAL FORM

The undersigned certify that they have read the following thesis, examined the defense, are satisfied
with overall exam performance and recommended the thesis to the Faculty of Advanced Integrated
Studies & Research for acceptance:
Thesis Dissertation Title: The Relationship Between Occupational Stress and Organizational
Commitment in Non-Governmental Organizations of Pakistan.________________
Submitted By: Zahir Uddin Butt___________
Name of Student
Registration #. 310-PhD/ HRD /2005(Jan)
Doctor of Philosophy_
Degree Name in Full
Human Resources Development

Name of Discipline
Dr. Zahid Mehmood

____________________________
Name of Supervisor
_____________________________
Signature of Research Supervisor
Dr. Shazra Munnawer

_____________________________
Name of the Dean of (FAIS&R)
__________________________________
Signature of Dean of (FAIS&R)
Brig (R) Dr. Aziz Ahmad Khan

_____________________________
Name of Rector
_________________________________
Signature of Rector
____________________________
Date
iii
CANDIDATE DECLARATION FORM

I Zahir Uddin Butt______________________________
Son of Rashid Uddin Butt___________
Registration # 310-PhD/ HRD /2005 (Jan)_____
Discipline Human Resources Development________
Candidate of Doctor of Philosophy______________ at the National University of Modern
languages do hereby declare that the thesis The Relationship Between Occupational Stress and
Organizational
Commitment
in
Non-Governmental
Organizations
of
Pakistan.__________________________________________________________________________________________________
submitted by me in partial fulfillment of Ph.D. degree, is my original work, and has not been
submitted or published earlier. I also solemnly declare that it shall not, in future, be submitted by
me for obtaining any other degree from this or any other university or institution.
I also understand that if evidence of plagiarism is found in my dissertation at any stage, even after
the award of a degree, the work may be cancelled and the degree revoked.
March28th 2009
_______________________
Date
___________________________
Signature of Candidate
Zahir Uddin Butt___________________

Name of Candidate
iv
ABSTRACT
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN OCCUPATIONAL STRESS AND ORGANIZATIONAL

COMMITMENT IN NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS OF PAKISTAN
The purpose of this research was to extend the existing body of knowledge on the
relationship between occupational stress and employees organizational commitment into the
context of non-governmental organizations of Pakistan, as little research have been conducted on
this relationship in Pakistan.
It was a descriptive correlational study in which scientific methodology was used to answer
the research questions. Based upon the review of the recent literature available on the subject, a
conceptual framework was developed to study the relationship between occupational stress and
organizational commitment in the NGO sector in Pakistan. The framework illustrates three
dimensions of occupational stress including occupational role stress, personal strain and coping
resources and their hypothesized relationship with organizational commitment, as well as the
influence of some major demographic factors including age, experience, job position, gender,
qualification, income and marital status on the relationship between occupational stress and
organizational commitment. Occupational stress inventory-Revised Edition and Organizational
Commitment Questionnaire were used to collect data. The overall response rate from the NGO
employees was 64%. Several statistical techniques, including arithmetic mean, standard deviation,
correlation analysis, percentile analysis and analysis of variance-ANOVA were used to test the
hypotheses of the study.
Consistent with prior research, an inverse relationship was found between occupational stress
and organizational commitment. The level of occupational stress experienced by NGO employees
was found to be high. The occupational roles that employees play were reported as the main source
of stress. The level of employees organizational commitment was generally moderate but with a
tendency towards high. Normative commitment was reported as the strongest form of commitment.
Demographic variables of age, experience, job position and income as well as gender significantly
influenced the relationship between occupational stress and organizational commitment.
This study is significant because of the insights it provides for the NGO managers to better
understand the occupational stressors inherent in the functions of their workforce. Furthermore, this
study develops an understanding of the commitment process and its relationship with occupational
stress to promote commitment among employees and help them achieve their organizational goals
effectively. NGO management can utilize the research findings to formulate appropriate strategies
to address the stress related problems of their employees.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter
Page
DISSERTATION AND DEFENSE APPROVAL FORM..............................
ii
CANDIDATE DECLARATION FORM
iii
ABSTRACT
iv-v
TABLE OF CONTENTS
vi-x
LIST OF APPENDIXES
LIST OF TABLES....
xi-xii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS.
xiii-xiv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT.. .
xv
DEDICATION.
xvi
INTRODUCTION TO THE FIELD OF ENQUIRY
1.0
INTRODUCTION..
1.1
BACKGROUND
1.2
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM..
1.3
RESEARCH OBJECTIVES...
1.4
STUDY QUESTIONS
1.5
INTRODUCTION TO THE CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

OF THE STUDY..
10
1.6
BRIEF INTRODUCTION OF THE METHODOLOGY..
11
1.7
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY .
11
1.8
DESCRIPTION OF CONCEPTS USED IN THE STUDY..
13
1.8.1
Occupational Stress...
13
1.8.2
Organizational Commitment
14
1.8.3
Non-Government Organization-NGO .
14
1.9
STRUCTURE OF THE THESIS..
15
1.10
SUMMARY.
17
vi
2
LITERATURE REVIEW..
18
2.0
INTRODUCTION
18
2.1
STRESS: THE CONCEPT AND PHENOMENON..
18
2.2
DEFINITIONS OF STRESS..
19
2.2.1
Occupational Stress....
22
2.3
THEORIES OF OCCUPATIONAL STRESS.
25
2.3.1
Interactional Theories ....
25
2.3.2
Transactional Theories ....
27
2.4
MODELS OF OCCUPATIONAL STRESS
29
2.4.1
The Person Environment Fit Model.
29
2.4.2
Beehr and Newmans Facet Model
29
2.4.3
Occupational Stress Inventory Model
30
2.5
CAUSES OF OCCUPATIONAL STRESS
37
2.5.1
Organizational Factors ..
38
2.5.2
Job Demands.......
42
2.5.3
Role Stress ....
44
2.5.4
Individual Factors.
47
2.6
EFFECTS OF STRESS ..
49
2.6.1
Effects of Stress on Psychological Functioning.
49
2.6.2
Physiological Effects of Stress
51
2.6.3
Behavioral Effects of Stress .
52
2.6.4
Effects of Occupational Stress on Organization..
53
2.7
GROWING INTEREST IN ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT
57
2.7.1
Background of Organizational Commitment
57
2.7.2
Defining Organizational Commitment
59
2.8
CONTEMPORARY THEORIES OF ORGANIZATIONAL

COMMITMENT.
60
2.8.1
The Beckers Side-Bet Theory (1960)
61
2.8.2
The Mowday, Porter, Steers, and Boulian Model (1974)
62
2.8.3
The OReilly and Chatman Model (1986)
62
vii
2.8.4
The Meyer and Allen Three-Component Model (1984, 1990)
63
2.9
RECENT RESEARCH ON ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT
65
2.10
FORMS OF ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT
73
2.10.1 Affective Commitment ....
73
2.10.2 Continuance Commitment: ......
80
2.10.3 Normative Commitment ..
86
2.11
COMMITMENT.
89
EFFECTS OF LOW ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT
91
2.12.1 Absenteeism..
91
2.12.2 Turnover Intentions
92
2.12.3 Performance
93
2.12
2.13
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS OF ORGANIZATIONAL
OCCUPATIONAL STRESS AND ORGANIZATIONAL

COMMITMENT IN NGOs.....
95
2.14
COMMENTARY ON THE LITERATURE REVIEW..
100
2.15
SUMMARY.
105
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
107
3.0
INTRODUCTION
107
3.1
DESCRIPTION OF THE CONCEPTUAL MODEL ..
107
3.2
HYPOTHESIS OF THE STUDY..
117
3.3
SUMMARY
124
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
125
4.0
INTRODUCTION
125
4.1
BRIEF OVERVIEW OF THE RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
125
4.2
RESEARCH DESIGN
126
4.2.1
Unit of Analysis..
127
4.2.2
Time Frame of the Study
127
4.3
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND JUSTIFICATION
128
viii
4.3.1
The Qualitative Approach..
128
4.3.2
The Quantitative Approach
129
4.4
OPERATIONAL DEFINITION OF VARIABLES
131
4.4.1
Organizational Commitment..
131
4.4.2
Occupational stress
134
4.4.3
Demographic Variables..
136
4.5
THE VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY OF RESEARCH

INSTRUMENTS...
137
4.5.1
Ensuring Validity
138
4.5.2
Ensuring Reliability
138
4.6
THE PILOT TESTING
139
4.6.1
Validity of the Research Instruments
141
4.6.2
Reliability of the Research Instruments
141
4.7
SAMPLING PROCESS....
142
4.7.1
Sampling Population
142
4.7.2
Sample Selection...
143
4.8
DATA COLLECTION
143
4.9
STATISTICAL TECHNIQUES .
144
4.10
LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY..
144
4.11
ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS.
145
4.12
SUMMARY
145
RESULTS
147
5.0
INTRODUCTION.......
147
5.1
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE RESPONDENTS
148
5.2
DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS OF OCCUPATIONAL STRESS

INVENTORY
149
5.2.1
Alpha Reliability Coefficient of OSI-R
148
5.2.2
Inter-Correlation of Subscales of OSI-R..
150
5.2.3
Items Total Correlation of NGO Employees on Occupational

Stress Inventory ..
151
ix
5.2.4
Percentile Ranks of OSI-R.
153
5.2.5
Levels and Percentages of Stress
154
5.3
DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS OF ORGANIZATIONAL

COMMITMENT QUESTIONNAIRE......
155
5.3.1
Alpha Reliability Coefficients of OCQ..
156
5.3.2
Inter-Correlation of Subscales of OCQ..
156
5.3.3
Items Total Correlations of OCQ
158
5.3.4
Percentile Ranks of NGO Employees on OCQ..
159
5.3.5
Levels and Percentages of Commitment ...
161
5.4
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF THE DATA RELATED

TO THE RESEARC HHYPOTHESES
161
5.5
RESULTS RELATED TO UNHYPOTHESIZED VARIABLES
178
5.6
SUMMARY OF THE RESEARCH RESULTS
182
5.7
SUMMARY
184
MAJOR FINDINGS, LIMITATIONS, SUGGESTIONS FOR

FUTURE RESEARCH AND CONCLUSIONS----------------------------
185
6.0
INTRODUCTION
184
6.1
DISCUSSION.
185
6.1.1
Answers to Research Questions..
187
6.2
CONCLUSIONS .
200
6.3
LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
201
6.4
SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH
202
6.5
APPLIED SIGNIFICANCE
204
6.6
MANAGERIAL IMPLICATIONS FOR NGO MANAGEMENT
206
6.7
SUMMARY.....
208
BIBLIOGRAPHY ......
209
WEB REFERENCES... ......
243
UNPUBLISHED DISSERTATION REFERENCES......
246
LIST OF APPENDICES
Appendix
Page
APPENDIX A: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE LETTER
249
APPENDIX B: DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION..
251
APPENDIX C: OCCUPATIONAL STRESS INVENTORY .
252
APPENDIX D ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT
APPENDIX E
QUESTIONNAIRE.
260
LIST OF THE SURVEYED NGOS ..
263
APPENDIX F: DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION OF THE

STUDY SAMPLE....
APPENDIX G: PILOT STUDY REPORT.......
265
267
xi
LIST OF TABLES
Table #
Page
Alpha Reliability Coefficient of OSI
149
Inter-Correlation of Subscales of OSI
150
Items Total Correlation of NGO Employees on Occupational

Stress Inventory
151
Percentile Ranks of OSI..
153
Levels and Percentages of Stress
155
Alpha Reliability Coefficients of OCQ
156
Inter-Correlation of Subscales of OCQ
157
Items Total Correlations of OCQ..
158
Percentile Ranks of NGO Employees on OCQ.
159
10
Levels and Percentages of Commitment 161
11
Correlation of Subscales and Total Scale of OSI with OCQ.
12
Comparison of Mean and SD of NGO Employees on OSI and OCQ for
162
nature of organization. 163

13
Comparison of Mean and SD of NGO Employees on ORQ and PSQ 164
14
Comparison of Mean and SD of NGO Employees on OSI

for Qualification ............. 165
15
One-Way Analysis of Variance of NGO Employees Scores on OSI

for the Variable Qualification
16

Subscales for Experience..
17
168
Comparison of Mean and SD of NGO Employees on OCQ

for Qualification
19
167
Comparison of Mean and SD of NGO Employees on Coping

strategies for the variable Qualification
18
166
169
One-Way Analysis of Variance of NGO Employees Scores

on OCQ for the Variable Qualification.
170
xii
20
Comparison of Mean and SD of NGO Employees on OCQ for Age
21
One-Way Analysis Of Variance of NGO Employees Scores On
171
OCQ for Variable Age.
171
22
Comparison of Mean and SD of NGO employees on OSI for Age
172
23
Comparison of Mean and SD of NGO Employees on

OCQ for Experience ....
24
173
One-Way Analysis of Variance of NGO Employees Scores

on OCQ for the Variable Experience
174
25
Comparison of Mean and SD of NGO Employees on OCQ for Income 174
26
Comparison of Mean and SD of NGO Employees on OSI for Income
27
175
for Job Position ............................................................................... 176

28

and its subscales.. 177
29
Comparison of Mean and SD of NGO Employees on OSI for Gender
30
Comparison of Mean and SD of NGO Employees on OCQ for Gender 179
31

for Marital Status ...........................................................................
32
178
180

for Marital Status 181
xiii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
AC
Affective Commitment
AKF
Aga Khan Foundation
AKDN
Aga Khan Development Network
ANOVA
Analysis of Variance
CC
Continuance Commitment
CHRP
Certified Human Resource Professional
df
Degree of Freedom
F Ratio
Hypothesis
HRD
Human Resources Development
HR
Human resources
HRDN
Human Resources Development Network
Mean
NC
Normative Commitment
NGO
Non Governmental Organization
NGOE
Non Governmental Organization Employee
NGORC
NGO Resource Centre
Number of Items
NIOSH
National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health
OC
Organizational Commitment
OCQ
Organizational Commitment Questionnaire
xiv
OD
Organizational Development
OSI
Occupational Stress Inventory
OSI-R
Occupational Stress Inventory- Revised Edition
ORQ
Occupational Role Questionnaire
ORS
Occupational Role Stress
PV
Probability Value
PRQ
Personal Resource Questionnaire
PR
Personal Resource
PSQ
Personal Strain Questionnaire
PS
Personal Strain
Correlation
SDPI
Sustainable Development Policy Institute
SD
Standard Deviation
TVO
Trust for Voluntary Organizations
UN
United Nations
UNO
United Nations Organization
UNDP
United Nations Development Programme
UNICEF
United Nations Children Emergency Fund
UNV
United Nations Volunteers
WHO
World Health Organization
Number Sign
xv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to extend my sincere appreciation and gratitude to the many people who helped
make this dissertation possible.
I would like to extend my appreciation to Brig (R) Dr. Aziz Ahmad Khan Rector, National
University of Modern Languages and the members of Ph.D. synopsis approval committee, who
kindly reviewed the synopsis of this doctoral research. Special thanks are due to Dr. Shazra
Munnawer Dean of the Faculty of Advanced Integrated Studies and Research, for her guidance
during my research.
I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Zahid Mahmood for his precious
time, valuable insight and expert guidance over the past three years. His patience, encouragement
and faith in my abilities have motivated me and allowed me to grow as a researcher.
A special thank is also due to Dr. Zulkaif, Director Academics of Air University, Brig
Mohammad Yasin, Dr. Fauzia Khurshid and Dr. Khurshid Ahmad for their guidance, support and
encouragement during my research. And finally my wife Amina and daughters Mishaal, Faryal and
Sarah, who have been my constant inspiration and comfort over many years which allowed me to
preserve and accomplish my aim despite many difficulties and challenges. Without their support
this would not have been possible.
xvi
DEDICATION
To my parents, for their unconditional love and prayers to make my dreams a reality.
To my wife, Amina and daughters, Mishaal, Faryal and little Sarah for being an endless source
of love and support throughout this journey.
To my admiring sister Fauzia, who has always been a source of inspiration and support for me.
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION TO THE FIELD OF ENQUIRY
INTRODUCTION
This research investigates the relationship between occupational stress and organizational
commitment in the NGO sector in Pakistan. This chapter introduces the concept, relationship
and factors associated with occupational stress and organizational commitment as they
influence the employees and organizations work performance. The chapter further explains
the statement of problem, research objectives, research questions, brief introduction of the
conceptual framework of the study, significance of the study and introduction of the
methodology. The final part of the chapter presents the structure of the investigation as well as
the definition of key terms including occupational stress, organizational commitment and
NGOs.
1.1 BACKGROUND
Occupational stress and organizational commitment have long been concerns for
employees and employers because of the impact and influence they wield on work
performance. In todays world, stress has become a worldwide phenomenon, which is
virtually there, in some form, in every workplace. In todays work life, employees are
generally working for longer hours, as the rising levels of responsibilities require them to exert
themselves even more strenuously to meet rising expectations about work performance.
Omolara, (2008) described occupational stress as the adverse psychological and physical
reactions that occur in an individual as a result of their being unable to cope with the demands
being made on them.
Before embarking on any study regarding the relationship between occupational stress
and organizational commitment in NGOs in Pakistan, it is important to understand the
organizational structure, issues and problems confronting this sector so that any research or
study done may address them appropriately as occupational stress and organizational
commitment are influenced by the ways in which the organizational structure is established.
The non-governmental organizations have a long history of serving marginalized

communities and helping governments toward achieving their national developmental goals.
The work environment in this sector is multidimensional because of the diverse functions
these organizations perform. Most non-governmental organizations, engaged in the promotion
of developmental initiatives function at the grassroots level, essentially working with the
marginalized sections of society: the rural poor, the urban slum dwellers, women, children and
minorities, the tribal, peasants and labor. Their work encompasses a range of services in the
field of education, health, drinking water, irrigation, sanitation and capacity building of the
poor and marginalized to facilitate them to play a more active role in defining and working
towards their own development (UNDP, 2002, p. 191).
In Pakistan, NGOs have evolved in different directions and they present a wide variety of
programmes and structures. By far the most common activity of NGOs relates to charity,
relief and welfare-oriented provision of services in health, education and financial support for
the under-privileged, handicapped, widows, orphans etc. Some of these activities focus on
provision of basic services where government facilities are either not available or are
inadequate, with an emphasis on critical needs, not on community participation or long-term
sustainability or empowerment for the beneficiary population (Zia, 1996). Some other
activities of NGOs are more developmental in nature and involve attempts to address longerrange issues of community mobilization and organization, participation and empowerment,
while dealing with specific community or sectoral problems.
Nevertheless, despite the fact that the NGO sector in Pakistan is a rapidly growing sector,
it is facing numerous challenges both internally and externally (Andrabi, 2002). Externally,
NGOs have to deal with criticism and occasional hostility for a number of reasons including
their inability to manage or deliver according to expectations, and sometimes they face lack of
credibility because of their foreign and domestic affiliations or exclusive groupings. The
negative media publicity about NGOs and the unfortunate functioning of some opportunistic
elements sometimes further aggravate the negative public impressions (Khan, 2005).
On the other hand, internally, the NGOs, particularly the smaller grassroots level
organizations, are facing problems relating to inadequacies in the areas of management,
capacity building, human resource development, institutional strengthening and sustainability.
Thus, all these challenges and expectations create a high stress environment not only for the
organization as a whole but the individual NGO workers as well, who are expected to show
loyalty and organizational commitment in face of all challenges. However, it is important to
understand that promoting organizational commitment is vital for an improved level of
service. This can be achieved by developing a comprehensive organizational strategy that
should address stress reduction elements by investigating the overall function of the
organization including its climate and values, its provision of social support and rewards and
the relationship of its workers with the organization.
Organizational commitment is widely illustrated in the human resources management

and organizational behavior literature as a key factor in the relationship between individual
and organization. The level of commitment strongly influences the retention level of
workforce and affects employees work performance.
A search of the extensive literature reveals a long list of factors that are related with the
development of organizational commitment. Keeping in view the phenomenon of
organizational commitment, now when we look at the NGO employees we find that they are
expected to show a high level of commitment to the mission, objectives of organizations and
its activities. The traditional image of an NGO worker is that of a selfless and tireless person
and they themselves tend to expect that because their work is for a good cause, they should be
immune to pressures and occupational stress.
Ironically, in Pakistan the people receive services from NGOs but at the same time
considers them as agents of the west, because they receive funding from western donors
agencies, so sometimes the NGO workers have to face a hostile and life threatening work
environment (Zia, 1996). NGO employees are thus expected to have a high level of
organizational commitment to face such a high degree of occupational stress. However, the
salaries and facilities provided to NGO employees are not that attractive compared to
corporate and for-profit organizations of Pakistan (Andrabi, et al., 2002). As mentioned
earlier also occupational stress and organizational commitment are influenced by the ways in
which the organizational structure is established through social support, organizational

policies and relationships at work. Somehow, these factors seem perhaps the most neglected
ones in NGOs in Pakistan. This may be oneof the main reasons for high degree of staff
turnover in the NGO sector of Pakistan (TVO, 2004).
Previous researches have established that occupational stress has a negative relationship
with organizational commitment (Omolara, 2008; Cooper & Bright. 2001), psychological
well-being (Dubinsky, 1998)), and job involvement (Tehrani, 2004). Occupational stress is
positively related to turnover and absenteeism and tension (Van de Ven, 2002). From the
literature, it also seems that the phenomenon of occupational stress directly affects employees
lives and work performance. Although there is an agreement concerning the negative impact
of stress on organizational commitment, there is not enough evidence on the causes and
effects of stress and its influence on employees organizational commitment in the NGO
sector in Pakistan.
It appears that a clear gap exists in the availability of empirical data to understand the
relationship between occupational stress and organizational commitment among NGO
employees in Pakistan. The absence of such knowledge may seriously affect NGO managers
ability to develop appropriate strategies for stress management and promotion of
organizational commitment in NGO sector, which is a major contributor to employment in
Pakistan. The focus of this study is to examine the relationship of occupational stress with
NGO employees organizational commitment in Pakistan.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Several studies point out that the relationship between occupational stress and
organizational commitment has remained a topic of interest ever since it was introduced.
These studies point to that the continued interest is the result of the belief that, if properly
managed, employees organizational commitment can lead to valuable consequences such as
organizational success, reduced employee turnover and non-attendance. This quest to harness
the possible organizational pay back has resulted in a number of researches that focus on the
scenery and relationship between occupational stress and organizational commitment.
An extensive review of the literature revealed that a great deal has been written about the
causes and adverse effects of occupational stress as well as the importance of organizational
commitment for the realization of organizational and professional goals. However, very few
studies ware found which addressed this relationship in the NGO sector in Pakistan. The
previous research has been conducted mostly in the domain of occupational stress related to
dimensions like job satisfaction (Khan, 2005; Haider et al., 1986; Cochinwala & Imam, 1987),
personality characteristics (Khurshid, 2008) and motivation (Andrabi, 2002; Mufti & Hassan,
1965).
The review of the literature also shows some reports on the state of Pakistani NGO
employees occupational stress (TVO, 2004), job satisfaction (UNDP, 2004) and personnel
management related problems (NGORC, 2000). These reports provide a general description of
the issues faced by the NGO sector in Pakistan. However, these reports do not specifically
highlight the factors that caused or contributed to those problems.
In addition, each NGO has its own area of interest and they function in a unique work
environment with their stakeholders. Therefore, such general descriptions about the
employees issues, and problems might not be enough. Empirical evidence is still needed to
unravel the relationship between occupational stress and organizational commitment in the
NGO sector.
The problem to be investigated is to, examine the relationship between occupational
stress and organizational commitment in the NGO sector in Pakistan. Further, this study aims
to explore the level, causes and dimensions of occupational stress and the level and forms of
organizational commitment of the NGO employees in Pakistan.
1.3
RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
The objective of this empirical study was to examine the relationship between
occupational stress and organizational commitment in the NGO sector in Pakistan. The
literature review failed to provide any viable data about the nature and level of occupational
stress and its relationship with the organizational commitment of NGO employees in Pakistan.
Therefore, this study attempts to help fill this vacuum by providing additional information that
might be of interest to the researchers, NGO managers, international donor agencies and
government of Pakistan. The specific objectives of this study are:
1. To determine the relationship between occupational stress and organizational

commitment.
2. To find out the level, causes and dimensions of occupational stress of NGO employees in
Pakistan using appropriate measuring instrument.
3. To explore the level and forms of NGO employees organizational commitment.

4. To analyze and ascertain the affects of various demographic variables including, age,
experience, job position, gender, qualification, income and marital status, on the
occupational stress and organizational commitment of NGO employees.
1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

To achieve the specific research objectives, following are the five distinct but related key
research questions:
1.
What is the relationship between occupational stress and organizational commitment?
2.
What is the level and dimensions of NGO employees occupational stress?
3.
What is the overall level of NGO employees organizational commitment?
4.
What forms of organizational commitment are manifested among the NGO employees
and which one is the most dominant?
5.
What is the influence of demographic factors (age, experience, job position, gender,
qualification, income and marital status) on occupational stress and organizational
commitment of the NGO employees in Pakistan?
1.5 INTRODUCTION TO THE CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK OF THE STUDY

A conceptual framework is proposed in this chapter, and elaborated in Chapter 3, to
logically explain the interconnection among variables of the study. A number of hypotheses
about the relationship between occupational stress and organizational commitment were
formulated while developing the conceptual framework. These hypotheses were then tested in
the empirical phase of the research. The proposed conceptual mode in Chapter 3 (Figure 1)
shows three variables including occupational stress, organizational commitment and

demographic variables. It illustrates the stress process including the identification of
occupational role stress, personal strains in the workplace and the coping resources, the three
forms of organizational commitment including affective, normative and continuance
commitment.
To explore the occupational stress of NGO employees, this study treats it as an

independent variable that influences the organizational commitment. An increase in job stress
may lead to augmented strain and decreased organizational commitment, which eventually
results in poor employee work performance. Work experience envelops from a combination of
employees opinions about the work they do; the organization they belong to; and the
interpersonal relations these entities bring together. The employees opinions play an
important role in their decisions to enter, stay with or leave the organization.
In this study, organizational commitment serves as a dependent variable for antecedents

such as age, experience job position, gender, qualification, income and marital status as a
predictor of various outcomes such as turnover, intension to leave, job satisfaction and work
performance. Furthermore, this study aims at investigating how do employees belonging to
different age groups, different experience level, job positions, different genders,
qualifications, income level and different marital status in an organization perceive and
experience occupational stress and how these factors affect
commitment.
employees organizational
10
1.6 BRIEF INTRODUCTION OF THE METHODOLOGY

This is a descriptive correlational research in which scientific methodology was used to
answer the research questions. A random sample of 500 men and women NGO employees
was collected from 37 selected NGOs. The units of analysis was subgroups of NGO
employees based on age, gender, qualification, number of years in profession, marital status
and income. For the purpose of this study, the internationally known instruments including
occupational stress inventory (OSI-R), organizational commitment Questionnaire (OCQ) and
the individual data form were used. A pilot study on a sample of 80 NGO employees was
conducted in order to determine the reliability and validity of OSI-R and OCQ.
1.7 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

Occupational stress and organizational commitment have long been worry for employees
and employers, and it has been deliberate among varied professional groups. In the available
literature, the work of NGOs is portrayed as challenging and intrinsically stressful, even a
high degree of occupational stress may be measured a part of their job. Besides this, the
workers are expected to show a high level of organizational commitment to their job and
organizations at all times.
Studies on occupational stress and organizational commitment have been at length

carried out by past researchers mainly in the western countries. Due to lack of studies
addressing the issue of NGO employees occupational stress and organizational commitment
in Pakistan, it is questionable whether western findings can be applied in the non-western
context, like Pakistan. For instance, people in the western countries have an individualistic
11
direction toward job whereas people in the South Asian countries in general have a collective
direction. Therefore, more studies are needed to erase the doubton the applicability of western
studies in the Pakistan context. The present study is unique as it is an attempt to describe the
relationship between occupational stress and organizational commitment in the context of
NGOs in Pakistan.
In Pakistan, some studies have addressed the causes of occupational stress, but its
relationship with organizational commitment in the NGO sector has not been studied by the
researchers so far. This research is significant because this relationship is being studied for the
first time in the NGO sector in Pakistan.
This study is significant because of the insights and contributions it provides for the
NGO managers to better understand the occupational stressors inherent in the functions of
their workforce through the antecedents including age, experience, job position, gender,
qualification, income and marital status. Furthermore, this study develops an understanding of
the commitment process and its relationship with occupational stress to endorse commitment
among employees and achieve their organizational goals effectively. NGO management can
utilize the research findings to formulate suitable strategies to address the stress related
problems of their employees. Exploration and understanding of this relationship in the NGO
sector in Pakistan is going to be a unique contribution of this study.
This study will be relevant to not only NGO management, but to all the stakeholders of
development including national and international funding agencies and government of
Pakistan for developing policies and programs for addressing occupational stress reduction
12
effectively and for the promotion of widespread organizational commitment for improved
work performance and quality of life.
1.8 DESCRIPTION OF CONCEPTS USED IN THE STUDY

The following key terms have been defined with the support of the literature to serve the
purpose of the study:
1.8.1 Occupational Stress

Stress that happen due to a persons employment is termed occupational stress.
According to Cooper&Bright (2001), the most widespread definitions of occupational stress
may be classified into three types. The first type of definition is stimulus based. It considers
stress as an environmental based stimulus, forced upon the person. The second type of
definition is response based. It defines stress as an individuals psychological orphysiological
response to the situationalforces. The third definition of stress applies an interactive approach
often called the stressor-strain approach.
Keeping in view all the above definitions, for the purpose of this study, occupational
stress is defined as the harmful emotional (that is anxiety and depression), physical (that is
insomnia, headaches, and infections), and behavioral responses (that is job dissatisfaction, low
commitment and poor work performance) that occurs when work necessities do not match the
capabilities, possessions and needs of the worker. The present study treated occupational
stress as an independent variable that could influence the organizational commitment.
1.8.2 Organizational Commitment
13
The focus of the present study is on organizational commitment as a multifaceted concept

that represents the relationship between an employee and his/her employer. The definition of
organizational commitment adopted is that of Allen & Meyer, (1993) which looks at
commitment as a three component thought, which has an attitudinal aspect, a continuance
aspect and a normative aspect.
This approach is relevant to the current research as like in Siu, (2002) it is argued that
different factor s within the organization influence the development of different factors within
the organization that influenc e the growth of different forms of organizational commitment.
In order to further explore the scenery and forms of organizational commitment of NGO
employees, the present study treated it as a dependent variable that could be inclined by
occupational stress.
1.8.3 Non-Government Organization-NGO
The term NGO is used in a variety of ways all over the world and, depending on the
context in which it is used, can refer to many different types of organizations. Generally, an
NGO is an organization that is not part of the governmental structure. The term NGO came
into use with the establishment of the UNO in 1945 with provisions of the UN Charter for an
advice-giving role for organizations that are neither governments nor member states.
Under the law of Pakistan NGOs can be registered under Societies Registration Act,
1860, Voluntary Social Welfare Agencies (Registration and Control) Ordinance.1961, or
Companies Ordinance (Nonprofit Companies: Section 42), 1984. Non-government
14
organization is defined by the Government of Pakistan (2001a: 61) to include privately

owned, charity, trust, foundation or other organization.
1.9 STRUCTURE OF THE THESIS

In achieving the aims of the research, the chapters are presented in the following
sequence:
Chapter 1- Introduction to the Field of Enquiry
This chapter explains the concept, relationship and factors associated with
occupational stress and organizational commitment. The chapter further explains the
statement of problem, research objectives, study questions, brief introduction of the
conceptual framework of the study, significance of the study and introduction of the
methodology. The final part of the chapter presents the structure of the investigation as well as
the definition of key terms including occupational stress, organizational commitment and
NGOs.
Chapter 2 Literature Review

This chapter provides a through review of the relevant literature and a detailed
theoretical assessment of the major concepts of occupational stress and organizational
commitment. In this chapter, relationship between occupational stress and organizational
commitment has been defined; the relevant theories, models and research findings specifically
related to occupational stress and organizational commitment are discussed. The chapter also
discusses the viewpoint on occupational stress and commitment in NGO sector of Pakistan.
Chapter 3 Theoretical Framework
15
This chapter discusses the theoretical framework of the study of the relationship
between occupational stress and organizational commitment in the NGO sector in Pakistan.
The chapter also includes discussion on the relationship of variables, testable hypothesis,
demographic characteristics of NGO employees and summary of the chapter.
Chapter 4 Methodology
The research design is discussed in detail. This chapter includes information pertaining
to the population, sample, choice of measuring instrument, research procedure and
delimitations of the study.
Chapter 5 Results
In this chapter, the results of the empirical research are reported. The sample profile of
the target population are elaborated, determinants of reliability, validity and descriptive
statistics of the research instruments are discussed, and statistical analysis of the data related
to the research hypotheses is reported.
Chapter 6 Discussion, Conclusions, Limitation, Suggestion for Further Research and
Significance of the Study
In the final chapter, discussion on the major findings of the study and related back to
the initial problem statement, hypothesis and findings of previous research, conclusions are
drawn, limitations of the study are explained, the suggestions are made for the future
investigations in this field and finally applied significance of the study is discussed.
16
1.10 SUMMARY
The purpose of this chapter was to provide an overview of this study. The detailed
research objectives, statement of problem and research questions had been delineated in order
to address the problem and the structure of thesis was outlined. In the next chapter, the
findings of the literature review are discussed with the focus on the concept and relationship
of the occupational stress and organizational commitment. Relevant theories, models and
research findings specifically related to the identification of role stressors, personal strains,
and the coping resources and organizational commitment with its three forms including
affective, normative and continuance commitment are discussed.
17
CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
INTRODUCTION
In chapter 2 the most relevant research, theories and models pertaining specifically to
occupational stress and organizational commitment are discussed. This literature review will
provide a theoretical assessment of the major concepts of occupational stress and
organizational commitment to understand their relationship in the NGO sector of Pakistan.
2.1 STRESS: THE CONCEPT AND PHENOMENON

In the past two decades, interest in the concept of stress and research on stress has
reached an all time high (Goldberger & Breznitz, 1993). Originally, stress was seen primarily
as a physical ordeal to which humans take action. More lately, it has been linked to physical
measures, as well as the assessment of actions, which is a cognitive occurrence (Jones et al.,
2001). Stress as a conception gained fame from in 1940s after Second World War onwards.
A large number of soldiers out in the open to battle conditions developed indications of stress,
ranging from mild nervousness to more disorder that is unbearable. As research in the field of
psychology development, there was an advancement of considerate the disorders linked with
battle of stress. The emotional problems that developed were supposed to be due to stress
(Lazarus, 1999).
HansSelye, a biologist, had been lively in the popularization of the stress idea. One of
his most significant modern theories of psychological stress was in print in 1956, in his book
18
TheStress ofLife. The literature pursued on stress indicates that Selye was the first researcher
to make use of the termstressto explain physical and psychological answer to respond to
difficult conditions. Selye explained the concept of stress using the conditions distress (bad
stress) and eustress (good stress). The degree of insist is basic in Seyles clarification of
distress. (Le Fevre, et al., 2003). Distress is stand for by either too much or too little insist. A
moderate level of demand is eustress.
Selye investigated the physiological reactions to stress, as a distracted response of the

body to any insist made upon it. He defined stressor as any incentive that reason a stress
response. If the stimulus does not decrease, a stress-response the supposed general-adaptationsyndrome results, which has three distinct, stages (Selye, 1956):
1. Alarm-reaction - an living being is exposed to a stimulus that it has not modified to. It act
in response by going into a stage dominated by a upset response that finally leads to
another rejoinder in which the organism begins to offset the initial alarmreaction.
2. Stage-of-resistance the organism has made to order to the stressoror stimulus and any
indication improve.
3. Stage-of-tiredness if the stressor has been particularly harsh and long-drawn-out the
symptoms come back and the organism becomes tired.
2.2 DEFINITIONS OF STRESS

Stress is defined as a state of worry that arises from an actual or apparent demand that
calls for an change behavior (Lazarus, 1999). Stress generally has been familiar as an
disagreeable emotional condition, which is said to occur when there have been extended,
19
increasing or new force that are significantly greater than the coping resources (Siegrist,
2001). The penalty of stress include health harms and reduction in work showsuccess.
It pressure negatively on the organization and the individuals physical and mental
system. This could result in summary performance, absenteeism, accidents, unprincipled
behavior, displeasure and sickness.
Physiological responses to stress are referred to as the fight orflight response. The
fight response is the body reacting to the need to cope by reacting. Continued high levels of
stress can direct to serious health circumstances including hypertension cancer, and
psychological illnesses such as sadness or collapse (Palmer, et al., 2003).
Two persons exposed to the similar situation could have dissimilar responses due to
the purpose nature of the variables. The reasons why individuals practice stress differently
may include internal and external factors. The interior factors may be personality, age gender,
and people past experiences. External factors that may influence response to stress include
atmosphere, diet, and drug. Behavioral response to stress also differs, as people choose
behaviors that they think will help them grip stress (Zwickel, 1994).

Stress caused due to a persons work or employment is termed as occupational stress. The
job stress, or occupational stress is used interchangeably (Dollard, 2003). McGrath (1970) has
provided one of the most widely accepted definitions of occupational stress: aapparent,
substantial inequity between demand and response ability, under circumstances where failure
to convene the demands has significant, apparent cost (p.20). Occupational Stress is careful
20
to be a person psychological state, which has to do with the persons perception of the work
environment and the moving practice of it (Cox, et al., 2000). In the past decade, effects of
economic globalization and quick echnical changes have resulted in increased workloads and
a faster pace in the work place. Up to date trends such as organizational downsizing, struggle
for funding, and high insist jobs have led to rising occupational stress (Dollard, 2003).
Jones, et al., (2001) consider that the term work-related stress has in the past been used to
contain a variety of environmental stimuli, stress response and other factors that influence the
association between the two. Unmanaged stress for employees can result in shorthand long
term off-putting health effects including tiredness, bodily pain, depression, sleep turbulence,
and even demise (Brock & Grady, 2002; Le Fevre, et al., 2003).
The basis and characteristics of occupational stress have been the subject of much
research. Sutherland & Cooper (2000, pp.3-23) developed five categories of possible sources
of psychosocial and occupational stress.
Other factors that are potential stressors include live events that may cause stress such as
home, family and demands, matrimonial troubles, and conflicts between job and family
demands (Sutherland & Cooper, 2000).
The above definition highlights three important ideas, namely that (a) situational
demands cause individuals to adapt; (b) individuals be probable to react and adapt in different
ways to stressors, and (c) that some form of responses will occur, be it physical andor
psychological. Furthermore, it can also be incidental that there are two distinct types of
21
stressors; those which are found within the individual, which include personal principles,
attitudes and self-concepts, and those that kick off outside the individual, which include
environmental and workrelated stressors (Kinman & Jones, 2001).
The aforementioned definitions clearly reflect that the researchers have viewed the
concept of occupational stress in numerous ways. It is not just an environmental stimulus or
responseto environmental demands, but also a lively relational concept. There is constant
communication between the person and the environment, which is refereed by a complex set
of ongoing cognitive processes.
2.3 THEORIES OF OCCUPATIONAL STRESS

There are a variety of occupational stress theories. These explanations of occupational
stress differ according to the emphasis for the induction of stress and the different outcomes
for the management of stress (LeFevre et al., 2003; Dollard, 2003). Theories of occupational
stress have been categorized by as either interactional (Cox, Griffiths, & Rial-Gonzalez,
2000).
2.3.1 Interactional Theories
Interactional theories of stress focal point on the structural features of the persons
interface with their work environment (Dollard, 2003). Early researchers used fundamental
input-output or stimulus-response approaches, whereby the scale to which major life events or
features of work design predicted a negative outcome be it, psychological, physsiological or
behavioral ( Jones& Kinman, 2001). In the 1930s and 1940s, Conversely, stimulus-based
definitions of stress deem stress to be an self-regulating variable (generally environmental)
22
that causes an individual to respond. Modern definitions of stress take into account both the
individual and the environment.
More recently, the specific conditions under which stressors lead to nervous tension
have become the predominant focus of research. This focus includes the way in which factors
in the individual or the environmental interact to determine the level of negative effects
practiced as strain (Jones & Kinman, 2001). In the occupational stress literature, the
environmental-stimulus-individual response definition cause what is known as the stressors
and strainapproach. The relationship between stressors and strain is consideration to be causal.
Hence, much of the research focuses on sensing various occupational stressors and examining
their relationship to diverse indices of nervous tension, including measuring individual and
organizational factors that might restrain this relationship (Hart & Cooper, 2001).
Frese, (1999) believe social support as one variable that intercede the relationship
between stressorsand strain. By providing emotional support in the form of loving;
corroboration of the appropriateness of ones accounts; and instrumental support, coworkers
and supervisors support ones sense of fit in the work group. Moreover, such social support is
thought to serve as a buffer-between occupational stressors and adverse effects on health.
Frese also offer data for the buffer hypothesis. He found that the relationship between
occupational stressors and dysfunction changes as a purpose of difference in social support
when social support is lofty, the association is lesser.
2.3.2 Transactional Theories
23
Transactional theoriesof stress focus on the persons touching response related to their
surroundings. The traditional causal model of stress has been prolonged from a uniidirectional
conceptualization to a transactional explanation, whereby stress is entrenched in an ongoing
procedure that involves individuals handle with their environments, making appraisals of
those encounters, and efforts to cope with the issues that arise (Cooper, et al., 2001, p. 12).
At the transactional analysis, strain occurs because of a perception that environmental
demands go beyond personal possessions (Lazarus & Folkman, 1986). Moreover, causation
can be mutual, whereby the level of nervous tension experienced by an individual may
produce a tendency to meet stressors..
According to Folkman and Lazarus (1991), assessment comprises the successive
processes of primaryappraisal continuous-monitoring of environmental-conditions with a
center on whether there are likely to be consequences for the individuals happiness, and
secondary evaluation, what can be done should such cost occur, that is, the identification of a
possible managing strategy. Coping refers to any effortful attempt to vary environmental
circumstances or manage feeling
regardless of outcome (Lazarus & Folkman, 1991).
Following to the operation of a coping plan, reappraisal of the situation, and of the final
effects of the coping response, occurs. The cognitive-nature of the appraisalprocess and the
inevitability of its influence on the success of coping construct evaluation of coping outcomes
largely one-sided and, therefore, very difficult to gauge (Hart & Cooper, 2001).
The discussion on the interactional or transactional theories of occupational stress

exposed that the researchers have conceptualized these theories in more than a few
fundamentally dissimilar ways. The central point of interactional-theories of stress is the
24
structural appearance of the persons communication with their work environment, whereas,
the transactional-theories of stress center on the persons moving reactions and cognitive
development related to their environment.
2.4 MODELS OF OCCUPATIONAL STRESS

Employers and governments around the world have had an increasing interest about
the occupational stress for the last two decades and therefore, a lot of research has been
undertaken in this field. Some of the more popular and widely used models are discussed
below and an attempt has been made to bring to light the commonalities in the research and to
draw a model suitable for the present research. Stress is multifaceted, requiring that more then
one stressor to be focused on at any one time. All the models discussed below take this
complexity into account.
2.4.1 The Person-Environment Fit Model

A review of the literature suggests that researchers have attempted to find a
clarification regarding the possible relations that exist between stress, an individual and the
environment. It has been theorized that if there is not anprecise fit between the person and the
surroundings, nervous tension will occur (French, Caplan, & Harrison, 1982). More
specifically, a person-environment fit suggest that individuals fit positive occupations based
on the communication of a huge number of variables.
Lazarus and Folkman (1986b) believe that the interaction between how an individual
involve the environment is a compound process that is a result of a diversity of factors and not
any singlevariable. The theory has involved researchers who believe there is relationship to
25
stress (Pithers et al., 1995; Sutherland et al., 2000). This theory was lending some empirical
evidence by Sutherland et al. (2000). Their research supported the idea that stress and strain is
related to events of fit (Sutherland et al., 2000, p. 306).
2.4.2 Beehr and Newmans Facet Model

Beehr and Newmans Facet model (1978) future that occupational stress could be
broken down into a number of facets that stand for categories of variables to be studied.
Personal facet refers to the even characteristics that employees bring with them to the work
place, the time facet, which reveals that the process of individuals acuity of stressor in the
environment is embedding with of time context.
2.4.3 Occupational Stress Inventory Model

The study of occupational stress examines stress-strain-coping, and the impact of the
communication of these three elements on the worker. The Occupational Stress Inventorywas developed by Dr.SamuelOsipow to assist vocational behavioralcounselors in working-out
programs to address occupational stress (Osipow & Davis, 1998).
Osipow's model regard as how stress is related to the various aspects of work roles that
have been established in the literature. To determine the level of occupational stress, the
individual's slanted negative response to stress must be measured (Osipow & Davis, 1998).
Thus, psychological strain is also measured, as stress-strain interact (Cartwright & Cooper,
1997; Kahn, 1986). Under the category of psychological strain, the OSI-R looks at emotional
and subjective. Sleeping disarray, eating disorder, useof alcohol, and social removal are also
examined (Osipow & Davis, 1998).
26
Researchers have also looked at the OSI-R scores of Australian workers in a variety of
professions, ranging from general whitecollar jobs, topositions in military, and found that
stress-coping predict variance in strain. The best measures to predict interpersonalstrain were
found to be role-overload, role-boundary, and accountability (Osipow & Davis, 1998). The
OSI-R symbolize a comprehensive model of occupational stress-strain-coping, and is based
upon the research in stress management that established association among these three factors
(Spokane & Ferrara, 2001).
The OSI-R (Osipow & Davis, 1998) explores stressstrain-coping through 140
questions, ten in each of the 14 field, which are contained in the following segments:
Occupational Role
1.
RoleOverload: toomuch to do; not sufficient training; time limit
2.
RoleInsufficiency: underutilization; lack of career advancement
3.
RoleAmbiguity: vague expectations; conflicting demands
4.
RoleBoundary: vague authority lines; conflicting supervisors
5.
Responsibility: bulky decisions; significant results
6.
PhysicalEnvironment: high levels of sound
Personal Strain
1.
VocationalStrain: dread; boredom; problems concentrating
2.
PsychologicalStrain: depression; anxiety; touchiness; lack of comedy
3.
InterpersonalStrain: frequent quarrels at work or home; withdrawn
27
4.
PhysicalStrain: health worries or symptoms (colds, cardiovascular)
Personal Resources
1. Recreation: regular leisure activities
2. Selfcare: regular- exercise program;
3. SocialSupport: one reliance friend for work; one person who afford love; a feeling of
closeness to someone
4. RationalCognitive: systematic approach to problem-solving; ability to set and follow
priorities; ability to stay on task and get work done
Literature on occupational stress inventory indicates that earlier versions have been at
length critiqued and authenticated in over 60 studies (Osipow & Davis, 1998; Spokane &
Ferrara, 2001). In the development of the OSI-R, based upon the OSI, intercorrelations among
each of the total questionnairescores for each segment, and each of the 14-domains were
calculated.
Osipow&Davis, (1998) examined the reliability of OSI-R through testretest and
internal steadiness analysis with the normative sample. On the testretest analysis, all
correlations between two administrations were significant. Several studies have examined the
effectiveness of specific stress interference, and other instruments as outcome measures, such
as the Emotional Exhaustion Frequently segment from the Maslach Burnout Inventory
(Higgins, 1986; Kagan et al., 1994). These studies suggest that definite types of behavioral or
cognitive interference were effective in reducing stress and that the OSI-R part were
responsive measures of behavior effects (Osipow & Davis, 1998, p 21).
28
The occupational stress models demonstrate the stress procedure. The perceived stress
and resultant strain could, among other things, have an effect on work routine. The difference
between perceived stress and experienced strain is considered critical to any successful model.
In addition to the above build, a definition of coping resources is well thought-out vital for
any model of occupational stress.
The objective of this research is to examine the relationship between occupational

stress and organizational commitment of NGO employees in Pakistan. Such examination
requires exploring the nature and overall level of occupational stress of target population.
Based on the review of literature, Occupational Stress Inventory Revised Edition (OSI-R)
(Osipow & Davis, 1998) was found to be most suitable for this study in gauging the level of
perceived occupational stress of NGO employees. Drawing mainly from Osipow research
model; the hypothesized model of research has been developed for this study shown in
Chapter 3 (Figure # 1). The model illustrates three main dimensions of the OSI-R including
occupational role stress, personal strain and coping resources and their hypothesized
relationship with organizational commitment and the demographic factors including age,
experience, job position, gender, qualification, income and marital status, which were
empirically testing in the NGO sector.
2.5
CAUSES OF OCCUPATIONAL STRESS

The causes of occupational stress are many and different for each individual. In
addition, the causesof stress are difficult to analyze. Many studies of stress at work have
29
shown that there is a diversity of organizational factors that are active in causing stress
(Sutherland & Cooper, 2000).
McGrath exposed that there are six possible course of stressors in an organizational
setting including taskbased stress; rolebased stress, stressintrinsic to behavior, stressarising
from the physical environment, stressarising from the social environment, and stresswithin the
person system. Pontage and argue that a shiftneeds to occur in seeing stress from a traditional
point of view as a individual problem positioned in individuals to seeing it as an pointer of the
ineffectiveness of work environments, systems and practices.
2.5.1 Organizational Factors

The following are critical organizational factors which may cause occupation stress:
2.5.1.1 Organizational Structure and Management: Cooper et al., (2001) believes that
psychological damageis often due to the civilization and management style inside an
organization. He highlighted that factors relating to organizational arrangement and climate
that are that allow employees little sharing in decisions touching their work; lack of enough
communication between managerial and non-managerial levels. It indicate that limited chance
for advancement, inadequate performancefeedback, performance appraisal events being too
little and biased be in command of systems and culture within the organization, may be
perceived as stressors.
2.5.1.2 Work Stressors: Warshaw preserve that work stressors can only be fully understand if
the importance of work to the employee is understood. The apparent threat or failure to satisfy
30
these basic needs symbolize a source of stress in the work place. Cheek and Miller conclude
thatnot being concerned in decision-making has been recognized across all occupational
groups to be the most significant source of stress (Steenkamp, 2003).
2.5.1.3 Relationship at work: Sutherland and Cooper (2000, p. 46) preserve poor-workrelations as low levels of supportiveness and low attention in problem-solving within the
organization. Problems of unsteadiness may occur in situations where the relationship
between a supervisor and subordinate are harmful. Opposition amongst contemporaries and
differences in character clashes amongst members can give riseto stress (Cartwright &
Cooper, 1997).
Jarvis (2002) found that issues such as social-support amongst have an impact on levels
of stress amongst teachers. Negative relations and the nonattendance of support from
colleagues can be major stress for employees. Conversely, having right of entry to social hold
up from other people in the organization can reduce strain and ease emotional-exhaustion.
Employees relationships with their greater are found to be affectedby stress, in those workers
who are under-pressure report that their bosses do not give them helpful disparagement, that
perceived discrimination is established and that seniority is apparent negatively under force
(Kinman & Jones, 2001). In the not for profit sector organizations, particularly civil society
organizations, the management style in general is participatory with flat organizational
structures. As a result, there has been an erosion of the formal managerial role and authority in
some organizations, which may create a stressful situation for some managers (Abdelrahman,
2007).
31
According to Sutherland and Cooper (2000), the quality of interpersonal associations

at work is important in that helpful relationships are less likely to create force associated with
competition. In addition, the relationship can be potentially stressful when the leadership style
is demanding and acknowledgment and praise for effort are valuable for bosssubordinate
association. In combination with this, point to that in situation where the relationship between
supervisor and subordinate is harmful, problems of emotional unsteadiness may occur
(Cartwright and Cooper, 1997).
2.5.1.4 Lack of RewardRecognition: Cooper & Bright, (2001) indicatethat one of the major
causal factors to jobstress is lack of rewards and recognition.
2.5.1.5 Negative Publicity: Ongoingpublic criticism, lack of admiration for workers as

professionals by the people they deal with add to workers burnout as one of the most common
and grave afflictions. The NGOs in Pakistan have to deal with criticism and occasional
hostility for a number of reasons including their inability to manage or deliver according to
expectations, and occasionally because of lack of credibility due to their affiliations or
exclusive groupings, which sometimes results in public rage and attacks. The negative media
publicity about NGOs and the unfortunate functioning of some opportunistic elements also
further aggravate negative public impressions (Khan, 2005).
NGOs themselves are confronted with a number of issues, both internally and
externally. The rapidly growing sector of NGOs in Pakistan is facing numerous challenges
(UNDP, 2002). With the fast changing scenario, NGOs, particularly the smaller grassroots
level organizations, are facing problems relating to inadequacies in the areas of management,
32
capacity building, human resource development, institutional strengthening and sustainability.

Although the organizational structures of most of the NGOs in Pakistan is flat however,
sometimes the decisions are imposed by the international donor agencies without consultation
with the NGO management, which causes them stress. Besides there is a high degree of
uncertainty about the continuance of projects in NGO due to limited funding, which keeps
employees under constant stress of losing jobs (Zia, 1996).
2.5.2 Job Demands
2.5.2.1 Working Conditions: Seyle believes that a positive level of stimulation is needed for
performance, but when the stimulation exceeds overability to meet the demand placed on the
employee, a feeling of suffer exhaustion is experienced. In contrast, when employees are not
confront or stimulatedby a job, or do not believe that their contribution isvalued, and poor
morale are qualified. Working conditions of job have been linked to mental health. It was
found that poor psychological health related directly to disagreeable working conditions,
physical-effort and speed in job performance and extreme, not convenient working hours.
(Osipow & Davis, 1998).
2.5.2.2 Quantitiesand QualitativeOverload: Qualitative excess, as a source of stress, is

linked to low levels of selfesteem, as individualslack the necessary ability to do a new job. In
contrast, qualitative underload is damaging, as the individual is not given the chance to use
acquiredskills and abilities, resulting in feelings of powerlessness to demonstrate talents
Chaka (1998) point to that a persons physical and
psychological wellness could be adversely exaggerated by work that is dull and repetitive.
33
The above research indicates that the work overload is a possible source of occupational stress
that adversely affects both health and job satisfaction.
2.5.2.3 Work EnvironmentalFactors: Environmental factors reason stress are those

universal factors that are not intrinsic to workers, but depend on the environment of the
organization. NGO employees often complain about the lack of management support, lack of
information regarding changes, constant change and the organizational demands as amongst
their greatest source of stress. (Zia, 1996). Cooper and Bright (2001) stated that along with the
workenvironment, the personrole at work has been identified as the major source of stress
because of role conflict, accountability for people and conflict of role border. Career
development is another area having stress impact and lack of safety.
NGOs perform a variety of functions and the working conditions and job demands in
this sector very high in Pakistan. The workers are mostly deployed in field for tasks such as
disaster relief, emergency aid and community support and mobilization. Once deployed,
however, many workers feel dismayed by the lack of on-site support. However, the financial
resources of many NGOs do not permit them to provide adequate home office support and
supervision for workers in the field (Abdelrahman, 2007).
Workers experience feelings of disconnection during their fieldwork from those in

charge and this adds to their job related stress. Separation from family, friends & home;
intense physical labor; severe living conditions; limited communication; potential for injury;
lack of sanitation; risk of illness and the shock of dealing with the values of a different culture
represent commonly reported ground effects problems (Thomas, 2001).
34
2.5.3 Role Stress

The most greatly researched-dimensions of role stress are role vagueness and roleconflict. Stress occurs because of role ambiguity (Jones et al., 2001). Role disagreement
strangeness of the prospect linked with a role has been associated with lowered job approval,
higher jobtension, and physiologicalstress (Sutherland & Cooper 2000; Yousef, 2003). The
extra-facets of role stress the shape and power of load, apparent lack of energetic between a
worker's ability and growth and the supplies of the job and answerability for people for the
happiness of subordinates, generation, or the society have also been connected with strong
welfare (Jones et al., 2001). Roleambiguity, roleconflict and level of answerability for others
are often looked upon as the major sources of stess.
2.5.3.1 Role Ambiguity: Role ambiguity refers to the degree to which employees be short of
clarity about their role or the task stress at work (Spector, 2000). It occurs when an employee
does not know or realize the prospect and demands of the job (Kahn & Cooper, 1993).
2.5.3.2 Role Conflict: According to Lopopolo (2002), role conflict happens when an
employee experiences mismatched stress or incompatiblegoals nearby tasks linked with their
job that can persuade negative emotionalresponse due to apparent inability to be effective on
the job. Furthermore, having to do tasks that are not perceived to be part of one's job role can
potentially lead to stress linked with roleconflict (Cooper & Sutherland, 2000).
2.5.3.3 Role Overload: The number of dissimilar roles an individual has to complete can lead
to extreme demands on the individuals time and may create doubt about the ability to do
these roles adequately (Driscoll & Cooper, 2002).
35
Malik, (2003) carried out a study to explore the occupational role stress, psychological
well-being and motivational orientation of Medical profession in Pakistan. He used
occupational role stress scale by Pareek, work motivation inventory by Amabile and scale of
CPI. The study included sample of both private and public sector doctors. Result indicated
highly significant inverse correlation between the occupational role stress and psychological
well being. The scores of extrinsically motivated medical professional have significantly
inverse correlation with psychological well-being. Study found that high occupational role
stress decreases the psychological well-being.
The highly experienced medical professionals reported lesser magnitude of

occupational role stress, whereas, the younger medical professionals showed low level of
psychological well being. The role overload and changing requirements of job roles are
considered main causes of stress in NGOs (Khan, 2005). There is a high degree of multi
tasking as individuals, in most of the cases are expected to perform both office and field
related tasks.
2.5.4 Individual Factors
O Driscoll and Cooper (2002) affirmed that individual dissimilarity may play a major
role in the affiliation between work-relatedstressors and psychologicalstrain. Internal
distinctiveness are found to be one of the most imperative sources of stress, as it not only put
in to a workers vulnerability to stress, but might also dictate how they switch the stress that
they run into and what they are able to endure (Omolara, 2008). Many factors add to theses
difference, ranging from personality, motivation, incapability to deal with problems in an area
of know-how, fluctuations in facility, to insight into personal motivations and increase areas.
36
2..5.4.1 Self-Efficacy: Brockner et al., (1993) indicates that persons with low selfefficacy tend
to react more to exterior proceedings because they familiarity more hesitation about the
rightness of their perceptions and emotional reactions. These individuals often seek social
approval by conventionality with others expectation, and tend to allow unenthusiastic
feedback on one area of their behavior.
2.5.4.2 Locus of Control: Situational control refers to the scope to which persons believe
they can exert manage over a specific aspect of their job, such as the pace of work or the
events for task conclusion, scheduling of tasks and decision freedom (ODriscoll & Cooper,
2002).
2.5.4.3 Social Support: Stress can be caused, not only by the weight of relationships, but also
by the lack of plenty social hold up in different condition. This may therefore be both a
stressorand a copingstrategy. In studies cited by Osipow & Davis (1998), socialsupport, the
abilitytodraw on friendsand coworkers, reduced the impact of allstressors with the exception
of physicalenvironment. There is consistentevidence that employees with more support from
others experiencelower straint (Lee & Ashforth, 1996), and where an employee is look with
potentially stressful weight and problems in the work-place may reduce the impact of the
force on the individuals wellbeing.
The literature on the reason of occupationalstress has revealed many complex and
wide ranging reason of occupational stress including organizational factors, job stress and
individual factors. However, NGOs work is considered essentially stressful in Pakistan as
37
employees experience it mainly due the complex organizational structures of NGOs, multiple
roles the workers have to play, physical and psychological strains, and lack of security. There
is hardly any focus on the occupational stress of NGO employees as a factor affecting their
work performance, organizational commitment or job satisfaction (Zia, 1996). Since the
complex web of the NGO structures in Pakistan does not seem to consider stress management
an issue to reckon with, therefore minimal professional guidance or support is available to
address this extremely significant factor directly. One of the causes of absence of professional
guidance and support in stress management is mainly due to lack of research in this area in the
NGO sector. Therefore, extensive research is required with focus on identification of various
causes and levels of occupational stress of NGO employees in Pakistan.
2.6 EFFECTS OF STRESS

It has been well-liked in stress writing to categorize the response to stress. There are a
variety of feelings reflecting the individual nature and situationalfactors. These damages are
seen as unwanted consequences of stressors. Apart from their own unwanted nature, some
strains may have additional nega consequences for individual task performance and wellbeing (Cooper, et al., 2000). According to Kyriacou (1989), symptoms of stress in workers are
manifested in frustration, damage performance, and split relationships at work and at home.
Researchers agree that a certain extent of stress is a usual part of life, but prolonged stressors
could lead to signs that are physicalpsychological or behavioral (ODriscoll & Beehr, 2002).
2.6.1 Effects of Stress on Psychological Functioning

Everyday workersencounter stress and most of the stresscomes and goes without
leaving any enduring imprints but when stress is severe and piles up the demands then ones
38
psychological functioning may be affected. Stress has an obvious crash on an individuals

psycholoogical wellbeing. There is evidence that stress has unenthusiastic implications for
organizations, individual workers. According to Maslach, Schaufeli, & Leiter, (2001) a range
of negative ending are also likely for individual workers exaggerated by stress including
health problems, mental complaints and physical problems.
Spector (2000) described that suffer exhaustion is a upset psychological state; a person
pain from burnout is expressively exhausted, has low workmotivation, it involves being
miserable about work and having littleenergy and keenness for the job. suffer exhaustion
contains emotional tiredness, depersonalization and concentrated personal events. High levels
of suffer exhaustion have been associated with low levels of apparent control and high levels
of roleconflict, healthsymptoms, and meaning of give up the job and work-overload
Abdelrahman, (2007) found that 15 to 20 percent of emergency response personnel

working in NGOs suffer from post-traumatic stress disarray, 22 percent of people who
knowledge trauma and don't manage it will still have symptoms up to one year after the event,
two-thirds of NGO employees exposed to trauma have moderate or severe distress.
2.6.2 Physiological Effects of Stress

Cartwright and Cooper (1997) hypothesize that when an individual is faced up to with
a demanding situation, worry or pressure, the anxious system can be triggered to make active
a wide variety of hormonal emission. According to Tucker-Ladd (1996) the hormonal reply
determine the severity of the individualanxiety reactionsmind-set, power level, level of
39
hopelessness, and physicalstate of health after knowledge a stressfulevent. Dollard (2002)

maintains that when the test is short term the bodies firstreaction is adaptive, allow the person
to set in action energy capital to combat the stressor.
Some professional staff such as female social organizers and community workers have
to travel to other villages, which can cause stress and may be considered as an inappropriate
or unacceptable behavior in their familys social setup thus increasing conflict and stress.
Some NGOs in Pakistan work on certain complex and often controversial issues in the
society, such as HIV and AIDs awareness and family planning, so their staff becomes the
victim of negative criticism. For example, women health workers and teachers in the rural
areas often suffer from a high occupational stress because of public image of the organization
they work with (TVO, 2007).
2.6.3 Behavioral Effects of Stress

Tucker-Ladd (1996) explained common behavioral-effects ensuing from occupational
stress includinghyperactivity, eruption of emotions, worry with a certain situation, compulsive
thoughts, holding a complaint, excessive perturbing, tetchiness, extreme sleeping, poor
reminiscence, feeling frightened and annoyance with delays. Some workers face problems
such as lack of social hold up, skepticism of the local the public, exposureto lifethreatening
risks. They feel that in the end they themselves are responsible for their own safety and
security, which add to their increased levels of stress.
For NGO relief workers anger, fear, fatigue, despair and physical stress reactions are
common responses to the realities of humanitarian assistance. Without proper mental health
support, NGO employees may unwittingly add to their problems by seeking relief in stress
40
management strategies that actually create more stress than they resolve (Abdelrahman,
2007). NGOs make provisions for mental health support and other social support activities
depending on their size and resource availability, however, organizational leadership of many
in the development sector NGOs seems least interested in such activities.
For workers it more likely reflects the fear of being supposed as weak or insufficient,
leading to refutation by contemporaries. It is regrettable that the commitment to others and
high values of behavior that force workers to go into the caring aid area can also leave them
susceptible to feelings of disgrace or failure in the face of perturbing but normal affecting
upsets (Cooper et al., 2001).
Both male and female workers unanimously state their apprehension about the long
hours they are expected to put into their work, usually without any financial incentive or
reward. Their long absences from home affect their family life and the quality of their
relationships with their children (Khan, 2005). In Pakistans largely traditional society,
women are expected to fulfill almost all the household duties and to be solely responsible for
child care, but when the female NGO employees have to work long hours as well as most
weekends, not to mention long and frequent field trips all this eventually negatively affects
and disrupts their family life ( Zia, 1996).
2.6.4 Effects of Occupational Stress on Organization

Occupational stress has its cost and it is knowledgeable at both the individual and
organizational level. The wider organizational and financial effects of stress resolution around
the changes in the system in which individual purpose. Individual behavior and its effects on
41
the system can be seen as being a range, with absence due to sickness and taskperformance at
one end, and labour turnover, low group-morale, output and poor labour-relations, at the other.
The latter are less affected by a single individuals behavior (Cooper et al., 2001; Ivancevich
& Matteson, 1980). Job satisfaction and organizational commitment can be damagingly
affected by stressful circumstances, although it should be noted that certain occupations are
considered to be inherently more stressful than others (Cooper et al., 2001). Low selfconfidence amongst employees and managers is normally an organizational strain that
requires an organizationwide process to offset. If an appropriate action is not taken it can
result in reduce productivity and high turnover, resulting in losses in profits anddent in the
bottomline of the organizations.
Absenteeism is a majorcost of stress to theorganization. The problem isuniversal and

go faster rapidly. Analysts have recognized the direct link between employees promptness of
attendance on the job and the common levelof health and wellbeing. Turnover can to some
scope be attributed to expected and stressrelated causes. Retirement and discharge are
encountered in business process. However, stress can lead to near the beginning retirement,
medical boarding and dismissal of often competent employees. The costs of employ and
training new employees reduce in general efficiency and disrupt other workers. The estimated
cost of labour proceeds is five times an employees monthly salary (Jones & Bright, 2001).
Working for NGOs in Pakistan is fraught with insecurity, as employees have no job
security and nor the certainty about their contract extension. In addition, once their contract
ends they do not know how soon they will be able to find another NGO job. These employees
are therefore, constantly changing jobs within the NGO sector, moving frequently from one
42
NGO to another. Most employees find this very stressful, and this insecurity probably
constitutes the main disadvantage of employment within the third sector. Disagreements
between donor agencies and NGO directors or government authorities can render NGO
employees still more vulnerable (NGORC, 2000).
In addition to the sense of insecurity which short-term employment creates, there is

very little space for promotion within NGOs, because of the project-based nature of most of
the jobs. Once a person is hired for a particular project, there is no room for promotion within
the period of this contract. The persons position in the next contract will probably be at more
or less the same level. They feel that they do not need to compete very hard; but it is
frustrating for others, who resent the fact that they cannot advance their careers as they might
have done in the public or private sector, for instance (Abdelrahman, 2007).
In summary, the extensive review of the literature done on causes and effects of
occupational stress clearly indicates that the occupational stress, if not managed well and on
time, can produce devastating results both for the organization as well as for the employee, as
it may lead to lower job satisfactions, low level of organizational commitment, absenteeism
and high turnover. Literature also indicates that occupational stress is a dynamic relational
concept and not simply an environmental stimulus or a response to environmental demands.
There is a constant interaction between the person and the environment, which is
mediated by a complex set of ongoing cognitive processes. An individuals perception and
interpretation of a situation is a key determining factor in regarding a situation as stressful or
43
otherwise. An employees response to stress can be psychological, physiological or both. The

way in which an individual copes with stress has a significant impact on behavior during
performing job duties, because it determines the individuals execution of control over the
demands placed on him/her.
Highly committed NGO employees are rare to find in Pakistan. There are some
professional cadres where qualified and experienced workers are scarce, such as, lady health
workers, community mobilizers, disaster response workers and emergency first aid givers.
Hence, it is the responsibility of NGO management to provide proper work environment to
their professional staff so that they may remain committed to the organization and contribute
towards the organizational objectives in a best possible manner.
It seems that there is greater realization of occupational stress as an important issue to

deal with in the western countries, whereas, very little research has been done on this subject
in Pakistan. Perhaps this important area of research has not yet grabbed the attention of
researchers in Pakistan. There is a serious need to investigate state of NGO employees
occupational stress to understand this phenomenon better and for formulation of appropriate
stress management strategy in the NGOs for enhanced individual and organizational
performance and better quality of life.
2.7 GROWING INTEREST IN ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT

There has been a lot of research take on in the field of organizational commitment in
the developed-countries. Organizational commitment is widely illustrated in the human
44
resources development and behavioral sciences literature as a key subject in the relationship
between individual and organization. It can take a variety of forms and has the potential to
influence organizational efficiency and employee well-being (Simone, 2003). The key issues
discussed in the below section include background of organizational commitment,
contemporary theories of organizational commitment, forms of organizational commitment
and research on the demographic factors and their relationship with organizational
commitment.
2.7.1 Background of Organizational Commitment

A review of the text on organizational commitment exposed that the earliest concept of
organizational commitment originated from research work of Barnard (1938), Simon (1945),
Becker (1960) and Kanter (1979). According to Barnard, an individuals choice to join an
organization is based on the conviction that the organization can fulfill a personal require and
if there is an imbalance between inducements and contributions, the individual may leave the
system. In his opinion, organizational effectiveness is dependent on individuals commitment
to cooperate in furthering the organizational goals. Therefore, maintaining the commitment of
individuals is very important to an effective organization (Barnard, 1938).
Elaborating on Bernardidea, Simon (1945) put down emphasis on the importance of
individuals making decisions based on the organizations best interest. By calling this choice
as recognition, he introduced the idea of Identification and described it as the process
whereby an individual substitutes organizational objectives for his own aims and the value
indices, which determine his organizational decisions. Identification comprised of three
45
elements including personal interest in organizational success, a sense of ownership of the

organization, and focus of thought.
Kanter (1979) widened the idea of organizational commitment by highlighting that

organizational commitment incorporated more than one approach. He identified the
behavioral requirements of organizational commitment as continuance, cohesion and control.
According to Kanter, all three areas of organizational commitment must be maintained
simultaneously (Kanter, 1979).
After reviewing the early definitions of organizational commitment, the common

subject that emerged was that commitment is a psychological state that differentiate the
employees relationship with the organization, and has implications for the decision to
continue membership in the organization. Early researchers of organizational commitment
have provided a foundation for modern theories.
2.7.2 Defining Organizational Commitment

Organizational commitment can take a variety of forms and has the potential to power
organizational effectiveness and employee well-being. Organizational commitment is defined
as an employees level of identification and involvement in the organization (Simone, 2003).
Johns, (2005) defined organizational commitment as the extent that an individual accepts,
internalizes, and views his or her role based on organizational values and goals.
46
Porter et al., (2005) saw organizational commitment as a well-built belief in an

organizations goals, and values, a willingness to put forth considerable effort on behalf of an
organization and a strong desire to stay a member of the organization. They suggested that
employees who exhibit high organizational commitment are better-off at their work, spend
less time away from their jobs and are less likely to leave the organization (p.171).
Meyer and Allen (1987) defined organizational commitment as a psychologicalstate

that distinguish the employee-relationship with the organization with its inference for the
decision to continue association in the organization. The large consequences of organizational
commitment are maintenance, creative behavior, and employee well-being. It is generally
understood that a positive attitude towards the organization is reproduced in a high level of
organizational commitment. It relates to the behavior that is favorable to organizational
effectiveness, for instance higher level of commitment is supposed to be associated with low
turnover, limited tardiness, low absenteeism, and enhanced job presentation. It helps
employees in the acceptance of principles and goals of the organization (Dollard, 2002).
2.8 CONTEMPORARY THEORIES OF ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT

The contemporary theories of organizational commitment came from Beckers sidebet theory (1960), the Mowday, Porter, Steers, and Boulian Model (1974), the OReilly and
Chatman Model (1986) , the Meyer and Allen Three-Component Model (1984, 1990).
2.8.1 The Beckers Side-Bet Theory (1960)

The first modern theory of organizational commitment was the sidebet theory
presented by H.S. Becker in 1960. The side- bet theory believed that commitment comes
47
into life form when a person, by creation a side bet, links extraneous interests with a steady
line of activity (Becker, 1960, p. 32). Becker (1960) concerted on what he termed the sidebet theory, which attempted to give details the process by which employees connect
themselves to organizations through investments such as time, effort, and reward. These
investments, however, have costs, which decrease to some degree an employees
independence in his or her future activity. Through investments, employees are locked into
organizations because of costs associated with leaving the organization (e.g. pension plans,
seniority, and firm specific knowledge).
Education is included as a side-bet based on the idea that the less education one has the
fewer the career alternatives available (O'Reilly and Chatman 1986). A short level of
education increases the number of side-bets an employee must make in the organization and
this should add to his/her commitment. Salary is considered as a side-bet, as those with higher
salaries have more to lose and, therefore, are presumably less likely to leave their
organizations (Ritzer and Trice 1969). Gender is considered as a side-bet variable "because of
its middle relationship with marital status and its attendant role responsibilities" (Alutto,
Hrebiniak and Alonso 1973). Position is considered as an investment "because higher
positions are decision-making positions,
which over an extensive period of time may
result in some loss of professional capability and so limit options and because supervisory
positions are a reward from the organization which should enhance the employee's recognition
(Sheldon 1971).
48
Beckers effort was criticized in that the side-bet model only identified the behavior
of the individual. Commitment was seen as an trade between the individual and organization
for certain rewards or payments (Porter, Steers & Mowday (2005). Research in organizational
commitment embarks on to be distinguished as pertaining to either attitudinalcommitment or
behavioralcommitment. Porter, Steers & Mowday (2005) explained attitudinal commitment as
the degree to which an individual and the organizational goals are matching. Attitudinal
commitment studies measured the past history and consequences of commitment.
The objective of studies on attitudinal commitment was to show that the results of a
strong commitment were lesser absenteeism (Iverson & Buttigeg, 1999; Mathieu & Zajac,
1990; Somer et al 1998), lower turnover (Lee & Maurer, 1999; Somers & Birnbaum, 2000),
and elevated productivity (Angle et al.,1994; Meyer, Allen, and Smith, 1993; Meyer, et al
2002). An additional purpose was to establish what individual characteristics and
circumstances contribute to the growth of high commitment. Behavioral commitment relates
to the process by which individuals turn into locked into a firm organization and how they
deal with this difficulty (Meyer & Allen, 1997, p. 9). The objective of behavioral
commitment research was to find out the circumstances in which individuals be converted into
committed to the organization.
2.8.2 The Mowday, Porter, Steers, and Boulian Model (1974)

Mowday, Porter, Steers, and Boulian began to hypothesize about organizational
commitment in both attitudinal and behavioral contexts. Mowday et al. (1982) described
organizational commitment as the comparative strength of an individuals recognition with
49
and involvement in a particular organization, which is characterized by conviction in and

acceptance of organizational goals and values, willingness to exert effort on behalf of the
organization (p. 27). Organizational commitment as defined by Mowday et al. (1979) has
three major componentsincluding a strong belief in and acceptance of the organizations goal;
a willingness to exert considerable effort on behalf of the organization; a definite desire to
maintain organizational membership. Building on Mowday and his colleagues organizational
commitment theory, OReilly and Chatman reviewed individual psychological attachment to
the organization.
2.8.3 The OReilly and Chatman Model (1986)
OReilly and Chatman (1986) endeavored to clarify the construct of organizational
commitment. Commitment was defined as the psychological addition felt by the individual for
an organization, which reflects the degree to which the individual internalizes or adopts the
distinctiveness or perspectives of the organization. There are three sovereign bases for
psychological attachment: compliance, identification, and internalization.
OReilly and Chatman (1986) believed obedience occurred when an individual to put
on specific rewards adopted the approach and beliefs of an organization.
Recognition
occurred when an individual compliments the beliefs and principles of the organization
without adopting them as their own. Internalization takes place when the attitudes and
viewpoint of an organization are the same as the person. Through criticisms of their work and
sustained research, OReilly and Chatman (1986) restructured their framework to recognize
two dimensions, compliance and normative, a combination of internalization and recognition.
50
During the time OReilly and Chatman commence their effort on organizational commitment,
Meyer and Allen also began their work on organizational commitment. Meyer and Allens
model was conceptualized by the Becker model (cost attachment) and the Mowday, Porter,
Steers, and Boulian model (affective attachment).
2.8.4 The Meyer and Allen Three-Component Model (1984, 1990)
Meyer and Allens (1997) Model of organizational commitment put forward that by
understanding when and how commitments get bigger and how they form attitudes and
behaviors, organizations will be in a better position to anticipate the force that change will
have and to manage it more effectively. Meyer and Allen defined organizational commitment
as a psychological connection between the employee and his or her organization that makes
it less probable that the employee will voluntarily go away the organization (Allen & Meyer,
1991, p. 252).
Meyer and Allen (1984) first recognized two components of organizational

commitment, those of affectiveattachment and costattachment. However, after continued
research, Meyer and Allen (1990) identified a third constituent, that of obligation. The threecomponent model was developed because of three common subject matter within the
commitment literature as noted by Meyer and Allen. Some of the common definitions within
the affective orientation subject comprise an attitude or a way toward the organization which
links or attaches the individuality of the person to the organization (Sheldon, 1971, p. 143)
and the relative force of an individuals recognition with and involvement in a particular
organization (Mowday, Porter, and Steers, 1982, p. 27).
51
Some of the frequent definitions within the cost-based topic are proceeds associated
with continued participation and a cost associated with going away (Kanter, 1999, p. 504)
and commitment comes into being when a person, by building a side-bet, links unconnected
interest with a reliable line of activity (Becker, 1960, p. 32). Definitions within the
compulsion theme include the totality of internalized normative force to act in a way which
meets organizational goals and interest and the committed employee considers it morally right
to stay in the company, regardless of how much status improvement or satisfaction the firm
gives him or her over the years (Wiener & Vardi, 1982, p. 42).
In summary, the theories of organizational commitment explain the large forms and
the individuals relationship with the organization, indicating that it is a complex
phenomenon, which may influence an employees nature of relationship with the
organization. NGO employees operate in high stress work environment and generally assumed
to have a high degree of commitment to their organizations. In order to understand this
dynamic aspect in the NGO sector of Pakistan this study is an attempt to explore various
forms of NGO employees organizational commitment.
Drawing from the Meyer and Allen model, 1997, the research model developed for
this study shown in Chapter 3 ( Figure #1) deems organizational commitment as a dependent
variable for the antecedents together with age, gender, qualification, position, income and
experience of NGO employees. As for a complete understanding of organizational
commitment in the NGO sector, there is a need for an empirical analysis of the system of
values or valuables with which bets can be made and relationship of individual organizational
52
goal congruence can be established in the NGO sector of Pakistan. In order to illustrate the
importance of organizational commitment, the next section will provide an extensive review
of recent studies conducted on organizational commitment.
2.9 RECENT RESEARCH ON ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT

Organizational commitment is one of the most often researched variables in the area of
organizational behavior, since it is assumed to influence just about any employee behavior
that is of benefit to the organization, including performance, attendance, and retention
(Simone, 2003). The studies in the review vary in setting but provide valuable insight into the
relation between the demographic variables and organizational commitment.
Brady (1997) examined the organizational commitment of professional staff in health

and human service organizations. The results of the study revealed that affective commitment
was significantly related to age and annual salary, but not related to years of experience.
Results revealed that persistence commitment was not significantly related to age, years of
experience, or annual salary. Normative commitment was not significantly connected to age,
years of experience, or annual salary. The study also investigated the differences between
organizational commitment and race, marital status, and level of education. Results revealed
no significant dissimilarity between affective commitment and race, marital status, and level
of education. Results also revealed no significant difference between continuance
commitment and race, marital status, and level of education.
King (2002) carries out a meta-analysis to summarize the relations between the threecomponent Organizational Commitment Scale (OCS) and the organizational commitment
53
questionnaire (OCQ) in their antecedents, correlates, and consequences. A meta-analysis is a

quantitative empirical view from the results of a number of studies that will provide evidence
of relationship among the defined variables (Hunter & Schmidt, 1990). There were no
significant correlations between normative commitment and education (-.08), age (.17), and
tenure (.18).
Schneider (2003) examines the relationship of selected demographics to organizational

commitment. The revised OCS was used to assess the commitment rank of managers used in
the study. The results revealed a significant relationship between AC and age and income, and
NC and income. To further investigate if the variables would account for variance of affective
and normative commitment, a stepwise multiple regression was conducted. Results revealed
that income and learning were predictors of affective and normative commitment. Regression
analysis indicted that 6 percent of variance in commitment was accounted for by income alone
and 3 percent when education was added to the equation. A limitation of the study may be
found in the selection of sample from the people. The population consisted of managers who
worked for organizations with a minimum size of 200 employees throughout the United
States. Although exact management titles were coded on the list, signal of type of
organizations was not identified for the sample.
Foosiri (2002) examined the relationship between organizational commitment

(affective, continuance, normative) and the antecedents of age, education, and salary of Thai
employees within the American Chamber of Commerce in Thailand. The original
Organizational Commitment Scale using a seven point Likert scale was used to measure
54
organizational commitment among the variables. Results revealed a significant relationship

between affective commitment and education and salary, a significant relationship between
continuance commitment and education, and a significant relationship between normative
commitment and age and education. Results also revealed a positive correlation between age
and affective, normative, and continuance commitment, a positive correlation between salary
and affective commitment, and a negative correlation between education and continuance and
normative commitment.
In a meta-analytic revision, Matthieu and Zajac (1990) identifiedthe following

antecedents toorganizational commitment: personal , role states, jobcharacteristics, groupleader relations, and organizational characteristics. Extending Matthieu and Zajacs (1990)
findings, Meyer, et al. (2002) and Riketta (2002) found through meta-analyses that
demographicvariables of age, gender, job level and organizational tenure had only minor
important relationships with affective commitment. This finding supports the argument that
somewhat than recruiting those who might be predisposed to being affectively committed, it
would be better to manage knowledge following entry to the organization (Meyer et al.,
2002). However, they did find significant correlations between affective commitment and
overall job satisfaction (.65).
On hand, research in organizational commitment literature suggests that affective

commitment correlates significantly with a broader range of result measures, and correlates
morestrongly than persistence and normativecommitment. In a meta-analysis of more than 40
studies exceeding 16,000 employees, Allen and Meyer (1993) found significant positive
55
correlations among affective commitment measured with the independent measures of

compound or overall performance.
Lim (2003) scrutinized the variables of age, education, gender, and years of service in
current organization in relative to organizational commitment by using the Organizational
Commitment Scale. The t-test was used to assess the organization commitment level of
employees at a Korean classified organization. The outcome revealed no significant
differences for age and affective organizational commitment, continuance organizational
commitment, and normative organizational commitment. Results also revealed no significant
differences between educational level and affectiveorganizational commitment, and
continuance organizational commitment. Outcomes revealed no significant difference
between yearsof service in current organization for affective organizationalcommitment,
continuance commitment, and normative commitment. There was a significant difference
found for affective commitment and continuance. A limitation from this study was that the
instrument was interpreted into Korean and a loss of validity or meaning may have occurred
during the process.
Heinzman (2004) examined the relationship between the variables of tenure, and job
satisfaction to organizational commitment. The sample for the learning consisted of
employees at two manufacturing firms. The revised OCS was used to assess the organizational
commitment level of employees. The results of a correlation revealed that affective
commitment has a significant relationship to tenure but not age, continuance the study may be
establish in the population used for the study. Meyer and Allen (1997) hypothesized that
56
organizational characteristics, which include organizational size and structure, has an

influence on affective commitment. The population for the study was include of two separate
organizations of different organizational size (N=50, N=200) which may influence
commitment level.
Huang (2004) investigated the level of organizational commitment among higher

educational institutions. The study assessed the variables of age, marital status, and length of
employment. The original OCS assessed facultys commitment level to the organization. The
results revealed no significant association between age and affective organizational
commitment, continuance commitment, and normative commitment. No significant
relationship wasfound between maritalstatus and affective commitment, continuance
commitment, and normative commitment. Results also revealed no significant relationship
between length of employment and affective commitment and normative commitment. There
was a significant relationship found between length of employment and continuance
commitment. The instruments used in the study were translated to Chinese. After reviewing
the responses to descriptors, the researcher indicated that the translated questions in the
affective commitment portion of the instrument did not suitably measure what was occurring
in the sample (Huang, 2004, p. 88).
Jex, (2002) stated that workerswho have high levels of affective commitment tend to
work harder and exert more effort than employees who possess inferior levels of affective
commitment, in some cases high level of effort will translated into higher levels of
performance. He further found that organizationalcommitment defend individual from
57
negative outcomes experienced at job either because those who are committed to the
organization have connected more closely to the person at work or because they have found
meaning in their work (p. 21).
According to Greenberg and Baron, (2000) when people are intensely committed to
their organizations, they carry out differently. The high level of commitment be inclined to be
associated with lowlevel of absenteeism and voluntaryturnover as more committed individuals
are less likely to look for new jobs than less-committed ones. Zajac, (1999) found that the
corrected between affective-commitment and turnout was .12 and correlation with lateness
was -.11. Findings show that high-level of commitment tends to show lower level of absence.
All forms of commitment are negatively associated with turnover would appear to be a
positive thing for organization.
Lawthom, Patterson, West and Staniforth, (1996) examined the insight of the work
environment of 156 female and 898 male managers in a manufacturing industry in Britain.
Results exposed that women reported the organizational environment as more reflexive,
welfareoriented, focused on excellence, and wellorganized, as well as having clearervision
and being more focused. Women also reported higher levels of effort, performance
monitoring, training and skill development, co-operation, and lower level of employee autonomy. The researchers finished that women had higher levels of organizational
commitment than men. Wahn, (1998) identified that women in human resource positions
reported superior levels of continuancecommitment than male human resource professionals.
The study also revealed a positive relationship between tenure and continuance commitment
58
and a negative relationship between educational , level in ladder and continuance

commitment. In conclusion, women come into view to have the same or greater organizational
commitment to their place of work than men.
In summary, the literature review on organizational commitment clearly reflects that its
influence has far reaching effects; organizational commitment does not only stand for staying
with the organization for along period of time, instead, it is a quite complex phenomena where
many interrelated factors influence the levels of commitment. Organizational commitment is a
very broad concept and it cannot be generalized as its nature and forms vary from profession
to profession. The concept of commitment encompasses multiple factors that contribute in
either promoting or weakening the individuals work performance and relationship with the
organization. The literature review also revealed that a lot of research has been conducted on
organizational commitment and its relationship with occupational stress in the developed
counties, however, not even a singly study describing the state of organizational commitment
and its relationship with occupational stress in Pakistan was found.
It has been discussed in the previous sections that NGO employees in Pakistan work in
a high stress environment and it may influence their physical and psychological functioning.
This study attempts to investigate the level and forms of organizational commitment of the
NGO employees in Pakistan and examines its relationship with occupational stress. It will
help NGO management in understanding the nature and general level of organizational
commitment of NGO employees for managing them more effectively, which may result in
improved performance and reduced employee turnover in NGOs of Pakistan. The forms of
59
organizational commitment and the factors that may influence it are discussed in the following
section.
2.10 FORMS OF ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT

Meyer and Allen (1997) have been at the fore front of the multidimensionalapproach
to organizational commitment. From the three themes, Meyer and Allen identified the three
forms of organizationalcommitment as affective, continuance, and normative. The three forms
were found to be related, but distinguishable from each other (Meyer et al., 2001).
2.10.1 Affective Commitment: According to Meyer and Allen, (1997) Affective
organizational commitment refers to an employees affection to, recognition with, and
participation in the organization (p.11). An employee who has a strong affective
organizational commitment to an organization stays with the organization because he or she
needs to continue working in the organization. Meyer and Allen (1997) found that the best
forecaster of affective organizational commitment was work experience. Employees whose
work knowledge are steady with their expectations and whose basic needs within the
organization are satisfied have a stronger level of affective commitment to the organization.
Employees with strong affective commitment stay with the organization because they have no
wish to leave.
Meyer et al., (2002) dispute that an individual would develop emotional attachment to
an organizationwhen he or she recognize with the goals of the organization and is willing to
assist the organization in achieving these goals. They give details that identification with an
organization happens when the employees possessed values are congruent with organizational
60
values and the employee is able to internalize the values and goals of the organization. With
this, there is psychological recognition with and a arrogance of association with their
organization (p. 12).
Schneider, (2003) suggests that affective organizational commitment is the most

widely discussed form of psychological add-on to an employing organization. This could be
because affective organizational commitment is associatedwith attractive organizational
outcomes. Meyer, (2001) reported that affective commitment hasbeen found to associate with
a wide range of proceeds, absenteeism, job performance and organizational nationalitybehavior. The cost of affective organizational commitment are lower earnings and turnover
intentions, better on-the-job behavior, and betteremployee healthand well-being (Angel &
Lawson, 1994; Meyer et al., 2001).
2.10.1.1 Factors Influencing Affective Commitment

Although numerous things have been hypothesized to be variables linked with
affective commitment, Meyer and contemporaries (Meyer & Allen, 1991; Meyer & Allen,
1997; Meyer & Herscovitch, 2001) suggested that these variables can all be categorized into
two major categories: personalcharacteristics and organizationalcharacteristics.
2.10.1.1.1 Personal Characteristics: An analysis of the organizationalcommitment literature

revealsa long list of demographic that have been associated with organizational commitment.
Variables associated with organizationalcommitment that may be of significance for NGO
employees in general include personal characteristics such as age, experience, job position,
gender, qualification, income and marital status. These variables have been discussed in detail
61
in chapter 3 with reference to the conceptualframework of the study. In this section, only
those characteristics of particular interest related to affective commitment will be reviewed
further.
Age: Allen and Meyer (1993) studied the relationship betweenage and affective
commitment. In a study of librarians and hospital employees, they obtained a statistically
significant positivecorrelation between age and affective commitment. Age has been regarded
as the positivepredictor of organizational commitment for a variety of reasons. Simone (2003)
argues that asworkers age, alternative employment options generally decrease, making their
current jobmore attractive. They furthermore state that older individuals may have more
commitment to the organization because they have a deep investment and greater history with
the organization than younger workers.
Lim (2003) examined the variables of education, gender, and years of service in
current organization in relation to organizational commitment. The Organizational
Commitment Scale assessed the organizational commitment. The statistical t-test was used to
assess the organization commitment level of employees at a Korean private organization. The
results revealed no significant differences for age and affective commitment (.56),
continuance commitment (1.33), and normative commitment (94).
Mohammad et al. (2004) examined the levels of organizational commitment felt by

Jordanian managers in various types of organizations. The survey consisted of 332 supervisors
from the middle management level at ministries, public institutions, nongovernmental
62
organizations and private companies. The study showed a negative relationship between
organizational commitment and age, educational levels and length of service.
Other researchers have not been able to show a significant link between age and
organizational commitment. For example, Hawkins (1998) in a learn of the affective
commitment levels of high school principals established a statistically non-significant
correlation between age and affective commitment. Colbert and Kwon (2000) in a study of
collegeuniversity internalauditors failed to show any reliable relationship between age and
organizational commitment. Overall, age seem to have an inconsistent although moderate
correlation with affective commitment.
Gender: As far as gender is worried, the reports are inconsistent. Mathieu & Zajac,
(1990) in a metaanalytic study of 14 studies with 7420 subjects involving gender and
organizational commitment obtained a mean of correlation of -.089 for organizational
commitment and gender. Although they report a feeble relationship between gender and
attitudinal commitment, they suggest that gender may affect employees insight of their
workplace and attitudes towards the organization. Wahn (1998) on the other hand argues that
a woman can show higher levels of continuance organizational commitment than men can.
She cites causes such as the fact that women face greater barriers than men when, seeking
employment as possible explanations to the high continuance commitment of women. She
argues that having overcome these barriers women would be more committed to continue the
employment relationship.
63
Although the literature quoted here is not comprehensive on the subject of the effect of
gender on organizational commitment, it appears as if gender makes no difference on the
organizational commitment levels.
Tenure: Mathieu and Zajac (1990) reviewed 38samples that included 12290subjects
and established a positive link between organizational possession and affective commitment.
They report an overall weighted mean correlation. Meyer and Allen (1993) indicated that an
analysis of organizational term showed a mild relationship with organizational commitment.
They showed that middle tenure employees exhibited less measured commitment than new or
senior employees did.
In a study of Japanese industrial workers, Tao, Takagi, Ishida and Masuda (1998)
bring into being that organizational term forecast internalization. Dependable with other
researchers, Hawkins (1998) found a statistically significant constructive correlation between
organizational commitment and tenure. They found that employees with a longertenure had a
higher degree of organizational commitment than that of their complement. Taylor, (2003)
found out that commitment augments with the numbers of years spent in an organization. This
is because distance end to end of service suggests the accumulation of the organizational
career. Similarly, it binds one to the organization.
Although the relationship between gender, age and tenure and educational level and
organizationalcommitment hasbeen extensivelystudied, the literature has yet to provide strong
and consistent evidence to enable and unequivocal understanding of the association. However,
Meyer and Allen cautioned that one cannotassume that growing older makes one develop
64
senior affective commitment. They argue that positive friendship might simply be because of
the differences in exacting generational cohorts that were studied. On the other hand, the older
employees might have more positive work know-how than younger employees might.
Overall, empirical evidence suggests that age and affective commitment are significantly
related (Meyer & Allen, 1997).
2.10.1.1.2 Organizational Characteristics: Meyer &Allen (1997) suggest that affective

commitment develops as the result of experiences that satisfy workers need to feel physically
and psychologically ease in the organization. These experiences include those that lead to a
perception of favours from the work place. Employees who perceive a high level of support
from the organization are more likely to feel an obligation to repay the organization in term of
affective commitment.
The above discussion highlights the affective commitment and its correlates. There has
been extensive research work done on this dimension. Every organization desires to have
employees who should be emotionally attached to it and fully involved in what the
organization is doing. Affective commitment seems quite complex as its correlates such as
age, tenure, gender, qualification affect one another. It is influenced by the ways in which the
organizational structure is established, social support, organizational policies and relationships
at work. This study will make a comparative analysis of affective commitment with
continuance and normative commitment in the NGO sector in order to identify the strength of
each form.
65
2.10.2 Continuance Commitment: According to Meyer and Allen (1997), Continuance

organizational commitment refers to the awareness of cost linked with departure from the
organizations (p. 11). Employees with a strong continuance organizational commitment to an
know that leaving the organization may be harmful to them fiscally due to the lack of
employment option and a loss of savings. These investments include jobeffort,
organizationspecific skills that might not be transferable or greatercosts of leaving the
organization that discourage them from seeking option employment, work friendships and
supporting deals. Simone (2003) explains this type of attachment as transactional attachment.
He argues that employeescalculate their savings in the organization bottom on what they put
into the organization and what they place to gain if they stay with the organization. For
example, an individual may decide not to change employers because of the time and money
attached in an organizations departure plan.
In addition to the terror of losing investments, individuals expand continuance

organizational commitment because of a perceived need of alternatives. Meyer and Allen
(1997) argue that such an individuals commitment to the organization would be based on
perception of employment options exterior the organization. This occurs when an employee
starts to believe that his/her skills are notmarketable or that he does not have the skillrequired
to compete for the position in the field. Such an employee would feel joined to his current
organization. People whowork in environment where the skillsand training they get is very
industry precise can possibly develop such promise. As a consequence, the employee feels
bound to commit to the organization becauseof the monetary, community, psychological and
other costs linked with departure the organization. Unlike affective commitment, which
66
involves emotionalattachment, continuance commitment reflects a calculation of the costs of

leaving versus the benefits of continue.
The consequences for continuance commitment are
lower turnover and turnover intention, consequently, there was no of on-the-job behavior and
employee health and well-being.
2.10.2.1 Correlates of Continuance Commitment

Continuance commitment refers to the employees choice to carry on employment
because it would be costly to depart the organization. Continuance commit can develop
because of any deed or event that amplify the costs of leaving the organization, provided the
employee be familiar with that these costs have been incurred. They sum up these actions and
events in the terms of two sets of antecedent variableinvestments and employment alternatives
(Meyer and Allen, 1997).
Investments: In terms of organizationalcommitment, investments are any actions that

would result in substantial possible loss should the individual decide to depart the
organization. Once an employee realizes that moving to a new organization would result in
the penalty of benefits, the employee might make a decision to stay within the current
organization rather than lose the reserves. Such an employee develops continuance
commitment as he stays with the organization as a calculated choice rather than an keenness
to do so.
Taylor, (2003) suggests that organization can easily get employees to feel that they
have made big reserves in the organization. He stated that organizations have only to offer
67
opening and workingconditions that are aggressive with other potential employers. Typically,
asset factors include promotion, advance of work group network presentation bonuses and the
accumulation of vacation, sickleave, family policies, and departure benefits. If these cannot be
easily matched by other employers, the employees might remain attached with the
organization even though they are no longer effectual.
Employment
alternatives:
The
other
theorized
antecedent
of
continuance
organizational commitment is the employment alternatives. Meyer and Allen, (1997) suggest
that an employees awareness of the ease of use of alternatives will be negatively correlated
with continuance organizational commitment. They consider that employees who think they
have viable options will have weaker continuance organizational commitment than those think
their alternatives are limited.
If the employee had functional for work and has not been winning on several
occasions, such an employee might start to think that he has no choices and would rather
continue with the current employer. On the other hand, an employee who hasbeen approached
by other organizations might believe that he has amplealternatives and would not feel tied to
the current employer.
The availability of alternative employment does not power continuancecommitment on

its own (Tiell, 2006). It may often work in combination with the extent to which family
factors permit or enable an employees ability to move or take up a job. Even though an
employee might have a improved paying job offer and it rotate out that there are no schools
68
for his children or his spouse would not be able to find employment in the new town, the
employee might choose to decline the offer and remain with the current employer.
In addition to supposed alternatives, timebased variables such as age and tenure are
also conjecture as factors linked with continuance organizational commitment (Meyer &
Allen, 1997). Studies using these as variables have shown diverse results. For some
employees, the perceived cost associated with departure an organization will add to as they
get elder and increase their organizational term. For others, however, the costs of departure
might actually decrease as knowledge and skills add to. For this reason, they recommend that
age and tenure are best consideration of as substitute variables of build up investments and
professed alternatives and not as direct predictors of continuance organizational commitment.
Associated with timebased investments is the employee perception about the transferabilityof
their skills and their educationto other organizations will determine their ruling of the
availability of alternatives. Those employees who think their educational or training savings
are easily transferable elsewhere would tend to distinguish lack of alternatives and thus
expressed stronger continuance commitment to their organization (Meyer and Allen, 1997).
Meyer and Allen (1997) highlight the fact that neither investments nor option will
have an influence on continuance organizational commitment unless or until the employee is
conscious of them and the insinuation of losing them. Thus, the employees recognition that
investments and/or lack of option make leaving more costly stand for the process that
develops continuance organizational commitment. Recognitionplays a centralrole in this
process raises twopoints. First, it means that people who are in impartially similar state of
69
affairs can have different levels of continuance commitment. Second, for some costrelated
variables to power continuance organizational commitment, a particular activateing event is
required to focus the employees concentration on these variables. The final point to make in
that is the specific set of variables that pressure an employees continuance commitment
might be idiosyncratic to that person. It can include both work-related and non-work related
variables.
The above discussion indicates that the continuance commitment is based on side bets
theory and reflects an employees perception of the loss he or she may suffer if he or she
leaves the organization. This form is quite different from affective commitment and it
describes that the decision of a person to stay with an organization is a calculated one rather
than a wish to do so. The research point to that the employment alternatives obtainable to the
individual are unenthusiastically correlated to the continuance organizational commitment.
The NGO employees many have a stronger continuance commitment and there could be many
reasons for it. For example, as a whole, the employment opportunities in Pakistan low and
there is a high degree of unemployment, therefore, those who get a job in any field would
prefer to stay due to lack of attractive alternative to their current employment. It will be
interesting to empirically test the strength of NGO employees continuance commitment and
to compare it with the other forms of organizational commitment.
2.10.3 Normative Commitment: The third component, normative organizational

commitment, reflects an emotion of obligation to carry on employment (Meyer & Allen,
1997, p. 11). An employee with a strong normative organizational commitment feels he or she
70
has a moral obligation to stay in the organization. Normative organizational commitment was
developed on the basis that the organization made a particular kind of venture in the
employee, which gives the employee a sense of compulsion to the organization. Researchers
have overlooked this view of organizational commitment, as comparatively few studies
openly address normative organizational commitment (Taylor, 2003).
Schneider, (2003) regarded normative organizational commitment in terms of the

ethical obligation the employee develops after the organization has spend in him/her. He
argued that when an employee starts to sense that the organization has spent either too much
timeor money developing and traininghim/her, such an employee might feel an compulsion to
stay with the organization. For example, an employee whose organization paid his tuition
whilehe/she was improving requirement might believe he/she can reimbursethe organization
by counting to work for it. In general, normative organizational commitment is most likely
when individuals find it difficult give in return the organizations investment in them.
Simone, (2003) on the other hand defined and measured normative organizational
commitment in terms of principles. He argued that similarity between an individuals and
organizations values leads to the development of organizational commitment as an
employees receipt of an organizations goals and values. Jarvis, (2002) agree with Allen and
Meyer, (1991) and refer to normative organizational commitment as moral c organizational
ommitment. They highlighted the dissimilarity between this kind of organizational
commitment and affective organizational commitment because normative commitment
reflects a intellect of duty or obligation or calling to work in the organization and not
71
emotional organizational attachment. They described it as the degree to which an individual is

psychologically attached to an organization through internalization of its organizational goals,
values and missions. This type of commitment differs from continuance organizational
commitment because it is not reliant on the personal calculations of hollow costs. The
consequences for normative organizational commitment are lower earnings and turnover
intentions, better on-the-job behavior and better employee health and well-being ( Meyer et
al., 2001).
2.10.3.1 Factors Influencing Normative Commitment

Compared to affective and continuance organizational commitment, very few factors
have been portrayed as variables associated with normative organizational commitment.
According to Meyer and Allen (1997), normative organizational commitment power develop
based on the psychological agreement between an employee and the organization.
Psychological agreement refers to the beliefs of the parties concerned in an exchange
relationship regarding their mutual obligations. Although psychological contracts can take
different shapes, they further suggest that the transactionaland relational might be closely
relatedto continuance organizational commitment. They describe transactionalcontracts as
more point and based on principles of economic swap. Furthermore, they consider relational
contracts more relevant to normative organizational commitment while transactional
agreement might be involved in the development of continuance organizational commitment.
Meyer and Allen (1997) also submit to the possible role that early socialization
experiences might have in the development of normative organizational commitment. They
72
suggest that socialization can carry with it all sorts of messages about the suitability of
particular attitudes and behaviors within the organization. Amongst theseattitudes could be the
idea thatemployees owe it to the organization to carry on employment. They assume
internalization to be the process involved in the development of normative organizational
commitment during the early on days of assuming service with an organization. They reason
that through a multifaceted process involving both conditioning and representation of other,
individuals can develop normative organizational commitment.
Turner & Chelladurai, (2005) suggested that normative organizational commitment

develops on the basis of particular kind of venture that the employees finds difficult to
respond. For example, if an organization support tuition payments on behalf of employees, the
employee might feel painful and grateful. Given the norms of reciprocity, the employee might
expand feelings of obligation to the organization as he/she tries to put right the imbalance.
Cultural and individual differences live in the extent to which people will internalize
reciprocity norms and therefore in the degree to which organizational savings will lead to
feelingsof gratitude
The literature on motivation towork with the not for profit organizations indicate that
the workers have a passion and strong aptitude for the work that they choose for themselves
(Abdelrahman, 2007). They feel that they are working for a cause and enjoy a kind of sense of
accomplishment and pride in their work, therefore, the feeling of obligation to remain with the
organization may develop. It would be interesting to investigate as to which form of
organizational commitment is dominant among NGO employees in Pakistan. In order to
empirically examine the strength of the three forms of organizational commitment, this study
73
hypothesizes that NGO employees have stronger normative commitment than affective and
continuance commitment.
To sum up discussion on the forms of organizational commitment, it can be assumed

that these forms do not exist in isolation among the workers; rather they co-exist and
complement each other where one of the forms might be more dominant than the others at any
particular time evoking work behavior related to any specific form of commitment. It is
important to understand that three different forms of organizational commitment are not
mutually exclusive. An employee can develop one or any combination or none of the three
aspects of commitment. These aspects of organizational commitment differ only because of
their underlying motives and outcomes.
2.11 MEASURING INSTRUMENTS OF ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT

As discussed in the previous sections, organizational commitment may be generally
defined as a strong faith in and acceptance of organizational objective and values, a
willingness to exert effort on behalf of the organization, and a wish to maintain organizational
association (Porter, et al., 1974). Building from this definition, Mowday, Steers, and Porter
(1979) developed the Organizational Commitment Questionnaire (OCQ) as a measure of
employee commitment to work organizations. This instrument became the most widely used
unidimensional measure of organizational commitment (Meyer, et al., 2002). However, the
OCQ was not lacking disapproval. While some researchers found support for the OCQ
measuring a single factor (e.g. Morrow, 1983; Meyer & Allen, 1984), other researchers found
74
support for multidimensionality within the tool (Luthans & Youssef (2007); Koh, Steers, &
Terborg, 1995; Yousef, 2003).
Regular with their understanding of organizationalcommitment as a multidimensional
construct, Meyer and Allen (1987) proposed a ThreeComponent Model, including affective
commitment, continuance commitment, and normative commitment. Meyer and Allen (1997)
recommend that the three components should not be seen as equally restricted, but as
components that can variously coexist. Three scales were constructed to appraise the model:
the Affective (ACS), Continuance (CCS), and Normative (NCS) Commitment Scales (Allen
& Meyer, 1990; Meyer & Allen, 1991; Meyer, et al., 1993).
Responses to each of the 6 items are rated using a 5-point Likert scale with response
options: 5=strongly agree, 4=agree, 3=neutral/undecided, 2=disagree, 1=strongly disagree.
Likert scales are the most ordinary questionnaire plan used to decide the relative strength of
dissimilar substance (Babbie, 2001, p. 6).
The OCQ was found to improved appraisal organizational commitment than the earlier
dimension instruments of organizational commitment. Therefore, the revisedOrganizational
Commitment Questionnaire developed by Meyer and Allen (1997) was selected to assess
NGO employees' perceptions of organizational commitment in this study. In this research the
affective and normative component are of particular interest due to their relevance to not for
profit organizations and employees motivation for work. The OCQ description and its
validity and reliability are further discussed in chapter 4.
75
2.12 EFFECTS OF LOW ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT

Low organizational commitment can bring about numerous undesirable adverse effects
on work outcomes. There have been conclusive evidences provided by numerous past studies
on organizational commitment that associate low commitment with greater than before
absenteeism, augmented intention to give up and poor job presentation (Simone, 2002).
2.12.1 Absenteeism
According to Babbie, 2001, low down organizational commitment results in higher
absenteeism speed. When employeesare not present, employers have to bear the costs linked
with absenteeism at the place of work. According to Zakaria (1988), absenteeism can be
dysfunctional and financially expensive. Firstly, it could distress and disrupt the daily process
of an exaggerated unit or organization. Thenorganizations have to bear the extensive cost of
absenteeism, which includes together direct and indirect price such as lossof output, use of
conditional workers, overtimecost.
Although, there is no estimate on the cost implications of absenteeism in the NGO

sector in Pakistan, however, when employees are absent from work, not only are their
replacement workers sought but these employees have to be burdened with the workload of
the absent workers. Problems also arise when the replacement employees are not skilled or
familiar with the job tasks thus giving rise to frustrations on the part of the clients or
community and the employee concerned.
76
Eventually, they feel angry, exhausted and stressed giving rise to lower motivation,
increased job dissatisfaction and poor job performance. Thus, this kind of escape-avoidance
behavior would not be beneficial to any profession.
2.12.2 Turnover Intentions
Studies seem at turnover meaning and actual turnover as one of the unwanted
outcomes of low organizational commitment (Bishop, et al., 2000; Somers & Birnbaum,
2000). According to some approximation, 50% of the NGO employees leave the profession
within five years (Colbert & Wolff, 1992; Odell & Ferrano, 1992). Abdelrahman, 2008
reports that NGO workers in the sample reported moderately low level of commitment and
one third of the employees surveyed planned to leave their profession to pursue their careers
outside of NGO in order to avoid the job stress.
When NGO employees have the intention or inclination to terminate from their jobs,
commitment to the profession is greatly affected like time spent on seeking employment
elsewhere. The subsequent outcome that most likely would occur when employees have a
strong desire to quit their jobs is actual turnover. Past studies have indicated that turnover
intentions are the strongest predictors of turnover (Tett & Meyer, 1993). Therefore, when
NGO employees indicate intentions to quit, eventually, they would dropout, resulting in
employee attrition.
Over time employees, attrition can give rise to many other effects such as undermining
teamwork, bringing about a demoralizing impact on new hires, creating negative public
reactions, causing disruptions to day-to-day activities, and lowering performance caused by
77
operational disruptions. Therefore, measures should be taken to address the problem of

quitting intention among NGO employees to avoid the adverse effects of NGO workers
attrition or turnover.
High incidence of dropout among NGO employees can greatly affect the effectiveness
and functioning of organizations. NGOs would lose out in terms of expertise, training and
talent that have been invested on them. Thus, valuable human resources are wasted. In order
to avoid the adverse effects of turnover intention and actual turnover, efforts should be taken
to enhance commitment of employees to their jobs and profession.
2.12.3 Performance
Past studies conducted mainly in the western countries have reported a marginally
significant positive interaction of commitment in the prediction of overall job performance
(Richards et al., 2002; Baugh & Roberts, 1994; Mathieu & Zajac 1990). The greater the
commitment level, the greater the performance level. These studies imply that individuals who
are committed to the organization tend to perform better. This is because committed
employees usually put on a better effort in the workplace (OMalley, 2000). High
organizational commitment as opposed to low organizational commitment also entails a
thoughtful attention, stewardship and preciseness towards the relationship that the employee is
in. In the NGO environment, employees who portray such behavior and orientations generally
bring in positive outcomes such as higher quality work performance and achievements.
A study conducted by Khan et al., (2005) found a significant association between

commitment and academic achievements of teachers working in the not for profit rural school
78
in Pakistan. When teachers were committed to their work, the academic achievements of
students tend to be higher. Related to commitment, Khurshid, (2008) also found a positive
relationship between organizational commitment and university teachers work performance.
Although, there might be some intervening factors but all these previous studies have
concluded that there is a positive link between organizational commitment and job
performance. Therefore, having a committed workforce is a worthwhile goal to pursue due to
its potential impact on both individual and organizational performance.
Based on the findings of past studies, the importance of commitment cannot be further
denied. It is something worth developing in employees as the consequences to an organization
or profession with employees displaying low commitment can be extensively and financially
costly. Therefore, it is an issue that deserves serious attention from the management. The
study of NGO employees organizational commitment is important as NGOs receive large
amounts of international funding to prepare and develop a workforce for rendering a vital task
of community development in Pakistan.
Therefore, NGO employees attitudes towards their work and profession are very
important. An NGO workforce with low commitment level can be a major hindrance in
optimal work performance at both the individual and organizational level. A pool of welleducated, highly skilled and strongly motivated and committed NGO employees, displaying
willingness to exert efforts and time on behalf of the profession are crucial for NGO to
achieve its goals. The following section highlights literature review on the state of
occupational stress and organizational commitment of NGO employees in Pakistan.
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2.13 OCCUPATIONAL STRESS AND ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT IN

NGOs
NGO sector in Pakistan is growing rapidly and playing a vital role in complementing
the efforts of government in the development of Pakistan. The work environment in this sector
is multidimensional because of the diverse functions these organizations perform. The staff is
expected to show a high degree of flexibility and rigor at all times. At an internal level, NGOs,
particularly the smaller grassroots level organizations, are facing problems relating to
inadequacies in the areas of management, capacity building, human resource development,
institutional strengthening and sustainability, which are affecting their organizational system
and structure resulting in occupational stress.
With government bodies experiencing a decline in fiscal support and public credibility,
NGOs are being pushed into a developmental role, without always having sufficient capability
to handle the tasks, resultantly some of the roles assumed by NGO employees were
traditionally of government departments, e.g., health care, disaster relief, emergency medical
care (Zia, 1996). Some opportunistic elements have emerged to take monetary advantage from
the organizations; and some elements within government have been instrumental in trying to
discredit many of the established NGOs and setting up alternative structures, controlled or
patronized by them (Edwards & Hulme, 1995).
Occupational stress and organizational commitment are influenced by the ways in

which the organizational structure is established, social support, organizational policies and
80
relationships at work. These factors are perhaps the most neglected ones in NGOs. This may
be one of the main reasons for high degree of staff turnover in the NGO sector of Pakistan. It
is increasingly acknowledged that NGO employees often experience high levels of workrelated demands and stress, and are therefore particularly at risk of stress and burnout
(Abdelrahman, 2005; Khan et. al. 2005; Dollard el al., 2003). NGO employees face many
significant challenges related to (Knudsen, Johnson, & Roman, 2003; Pierce & Long, 2002;
Freeman et al., 2003) the client population (complex circumstances, reluctance to engage,
stereotype image of NGOs), community attitudes towards NGO workers and working
conditions (e.g., remuneration, availability of professional development, job security, social
support, heavy workloads).
Demanding workloads are common in the NGO sector organizations. Indeed, working
long hours in high pressure environments is considered appropriate and acceptable in many
areas of the workforce. However, it has been well established that a heavy workload and
work-related pressures are key factors in the development of work-related stress (Dollard et
al., 2000; Lee & Ashforth, 1996). High workloads have also been linked with lower job
satisfaction (Brown & Mitchell, 1993; Ellickson & Logsdon, 2002; Muchinsky, 1993),
increased anxiety and frustration, depression and low organizational commitment (Beehr et
al., 1992; Spector, 2000).
Anecdotal evidence suggests that stress is a significant issue for the NGO employees
in Pakistan and therefore identification of factors that can prevent stress is a high priority. No
studies were identified that could provide an estimate of the level and dimensions of NGO
employees occupational in Pakistan. Some evidence was provided by international research.
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Shoptow, Stein, & Rawson, (2000) found that higher levels of emotional exhaustion of NGO
employees were linked with less workplace support and lower levels of self confidence
concerning work-related skills. Farmer (2002) found that the major stressors for NGO workers
in working in drug treatment clinics were organizational and client-related factors. High
workloads, staff shortages, unsupportive work relations, poor physical work conditions and
difficult patients featured as the main sources of stress for workers and more than half the
workers also experienced high levels of emotional exhaustion (Farmer, 2002).
Lopopolo, (2002) found that employees who experienced more conflicts were less
committed to the organization. Individuals who participated in and enjoyed extra-mural
activities were more committed to their organization. Employees who participated in decision
making authority reported a relatively higher level of organizational commitment. The final
relationship found was that individuals using rational/cognitive coping skills were highly
committed to their organization.
Laschinger et al, (2001) found workplace autonomy to be positively related to staff

nurses organizational commitment. Individuals displaying higher level of affective
commitment were more resistant to job strain and burnout. Lopopolo, (2002) conducted a
study on occupational stress and organizational commitment of staff nurses in Community
Hospitals and found that workload, time pressure, poor relationship with staff, pressure from
patients, organization management problems and career issues had a negative correlation
between source of occupational stress and organizational commitment. The research indicates
that understanding the above relationship led to beneficial consequences such as
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organizational effectiveness, improved performance, reduced turn over and reduced

absenteeism.
Schabracq and Cooper, (2000) believe that occupational stress at work is a well known
factor for low motivation and morale, decrease in performance, high turnover and sick-leave,
accidents, low organizational commitment, low quality products and services, poor internal
communication and conflicts. Moreover, Chusmir and Franks, (1988) argued that all the
aforementioned problems are related, directly or indirectly, to stress and they have an effect
on overall organizational efficiency and effectiveness.
Organizational commitment as an experiential construct is generally regarded as a

psychological state characterizing an employees relationship with the organization that has
implications for the employees decision to remain with or leave the organization. (Kendall et
al., 2000) Furthermore, commitment reflects employees acceptance of the goals of the
organization and willingness to engage in behavior that is specified in the job description, as
well as those that are considered to be beyond the job expectations. As to the cause and effect
relationship between organizational commitment and job satisfaction, it is likely that a giveand-take relationship exists (Varca, 1999). Thus, an organizational stressor may first affect
commitment, but as commitment continues to decrease, it is difficult to picture a scenario
where satisfaction will stay at the same level (Elizur & Kosloswsky 2001). Similarly, an
individual stressor that elicits dissatisfaction from the job will eventually loosen the
employees ties to the organization.
83
It has been argued that employee attitudes, beliefs and values vary across countries
(Clark, 1990), and since the studies on occupational stress and organizational commitment
have been conducted mainly in the western countries the applicability of their results can be
questioned in non-western context like Pakistan, where there is a lack of empirical evidence
on the subject to allow comparative analysis. Moreover, working in the NGO sector
organizations in Pakistan is not without substantial challenges. It involves dealing with a host
of issues, includes managing the systemic obstacles that surround the NGO wok, the diverse
nature of the professions involved, whilst not always having the optimum resources to deliver
quality services to the community (Khan, el al. 2005).
The literature pursued on occupational stress and organizational commitment

established that both are widely accepted as two major issues in organizational life.
Occupational stress has a negative relationship with organizational commitment (Omolara,
2008; Dollard et al., 2002). Although there is an agreement concerning the negative impact of
occupational stress on organizational commitment, there is not enough evidence on how stress
influences commitment as the adverse effects of occupational stress on the level of
commitment in the NGO sector of Pakistan have not been studied by the researchers so far, as
empirical evidence directly addressing this relationship in the context of NGOs in Pakistan
has not been found.
In order to promote commitment for an improved service rendering in the NGO sector,
an organizational strategy seeking to address stress reduction effectively will need to
investigate the overall function of the organization including its organizational climate and
84
values, its provision of social support, rewards and the relationship of its workers with the
organization. Thus, the present study is unique in the context of NGOs in Pakistan as it is an
attempt to describe the correlation among variables of the study. A number of hypothesis
about the levels, dimensions and relationship between occupational stress and organizational
commitment have been developed and hypotheses will be tested in the empirical phase of the
research. The findings of this research will help NGO managers to understand the above
issues well and to address them to subsequently reduce workers stress. Study also focus on
stress coping resources and strain that will help understand how people deal with stress. It is
hoped that the outcomes of this study will help NGO management in developing policies and
programs by addressing occupational stress reduction effectively and by promoting
widespread organizational commitment for improved work performance and quality of life.
2.14 Commentary on the Literature Review
The purpose of the literature review was to scrutinize the research objectives and to
have a clear perspective of concept of occupational stress and organizational commitment;
their interrelationship and how other theorists and researchers looked at this relationship. The
first objective of the research was to determine the relationship between occupational stress
and organizational commitment. For this purpose, the literature on both occupational stress
and organizational commitment was examined. The definitions reviewed on occupational
stress highlighted that situational demands cause individuals to adapt. Individuals tend to react
and adapt in different ways to stressors either through physical and or psychological response.
It can also be inferred that there are two distinct types of stressors, those which are found
within the individual and those that originate outside the individual. The definitions of
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occupational stress reflect that this concept has been conceptualized in several fundamentally
different ways. It is not simply an environmental stimulus or a response to environmental
demands, but a dynamic relational concept. There is a regular interaction between person and
the environment, which is mediated by a complex set of ongoing cognitive processes. The
theories and models of occupational stress have also been discussed at length in the literature
review.
The review of interactional and transactional theories of occupational stress revealed

that the previous researchers have conceptualized these theories in several fundamentally
different ways. The emphasis of interactional theories of stress is the structural features of the
persons interaction with their work environment, whereas, the transactional theories of stress
focus on the persons emotional reactions and cognitive processes related to their
environment. The models explained the stress process and the consequences experienced by
individuals as strain in one form or the other. The models elaborated the effects of perceived
stress and resulting strain on the work performance.
The second objective of the research was to find out the level, causes and dimensions of
occupational stress of NGO employees in Pakistan using appropriate measuring instrument. In
order to examine the second objective of the research, the literature on the causes and
dimensions of occupational stress was reviewed and it has exposed many intricate causes of
occupational stress such as organizational factors, job demands, occupational roles and
individual factors. These causes have been discussed with reference to the NGO employees in
Pakistan. The review of the research literature indicated that the NGO employees experience a
86
high degree of occupational stress mainly due the complex organizational structures of NGOs,
multiple roles the workers have to play, physical and psychological strains, and lack of
security. There seems a serious lack of interest on the part of NGO management and a
minimal professional guidance or support is available to address this extremely significant
issue.
It seems that there is greater understanding of occupational stress as an important issue

to deal with in the western countries, whereas, very little research has been conducted on this
subject in Pakistan. Work of NGO employees is generally considered a high stress job and
there are numerous organizational, roles related, environmental and individual causes of stress
affecting both the individual and organizations. Perhaps this important area of research has not
yet grabbed the attention of researchers in Pakistan as hardly any research was found on the
NGO employees occupational stress in Pakistan. There is a serious need to investigate the
various dimensions and the level of occupational stress among NGO employees in Pakistan to
understand this phenomenon better and for better stress management which will lead to
improved quality of life and enhanced work performance.
The literature on the choice of measuring instruments of occupational stress was also
reviewed. The occupational stress inventory model has been discussed in detail. The
measurement of occupational stress, consisting of the three domains of occupational stressors,
occupational induced psychological strain and coping resources available to counteract the
effects of stress were elaborated. The underlying factors for each of the domains were used to
develop the scales on which the measurements would be based. After the review of various
87
theories and models, the Occupational Stress Inventory Revised Edition (OSI-R) developed by
Osipow was found to be most appropriate for this study in measuring the level of perceived
occupational stress, resulting strain and coping resources of NGO employees.
The third objective of the research was to explore the level and forms of NGO
employees organizational commitment. The concept of organizational commitment was
reviewed in detail in the literature review. The key issues discussed were background,
definition, contemporary theories and forms of organizational commitment as well as recent
research on organizational commitment. Organizational commitment is a very broad concept
and it cannot be generalized as its nature and forms vary from profession to profession. The
literature clearly reflects that organizational commitment has far reaching effects.
Organizational commitment does not only stand for staying with the organization for a long
period of time, instead, it is a quite complex phenomenon where many interrelated factors
influence the levels of commitment. The concept of commitment encompasses multiple
factors that contribute in either promoting or weakening the individuals work performance
and relationship with the organization.
The theories of organizational commitment elucidate the broad forms and the
individuals association with the organization, demonstrating that it is an intricate
phenomenon, which may influence an employees nature of relationship with the
organization. The literature review also included detailed elaboration of the forms of
organizational commitment including affective commitment, normative commitment, and
continuance commitment. It is important to understand that three forms of organizational
commitment are not mutually exclusive. These forms co-exist and complement each other
88
where one of the forms might be more dominant than the others at any particular time evoking
work behavior related to any specific form of commitment. An employee can develop one or
any combination or none of the three aspects of commitment. These aspects of organizational
commitment differ only on the basis of their underlying motives and outcomes.
The present study focuses mainly on affective and normative commitment as these are
more relevant to not for profit organizations and employees.
The choice of research
instrument to measure organizational commitment was also discussed in this chapter.

Organizational Commitment Questionnaire-OCQ developed by Meyer and Allen (1997) was
found to better assess organizational commitment than the earlier measurement tools. Based
on the findings of past research studies it was concluded that organizational commitment is
something worth developing in employees as the consequences to an organization or
profession with employees displaying low commitment can be extensively and financially
costly. Therefore, it is an issue that deserves serious attention from the NGO management.
The fourth objective of the research was to analyze and ascertain the affects of various
demographic variables including, age, experience, job position, gender, qualification, income
and marital status, on the occupational stress and organizational commitment of NGO
employees. The literature pursued on the affects of various demographic variables on
occupational stress and organizational commitment highlighted interesting facts about the
demographic variables. The role of demographic characteristics and their effect on both
occupational stress and organizational commitment is discussed in detail in Chapter 3.
89
This study also attempted to review the available literature on the state of NGO
employees in Pakistan, which revealed that NGO employees mostly work in a high stress
environment and it can influence their physical and psychological functioning. They are
generally expected to show a high degree of commitment to their profession and
organizations. Their attitudes towards work and organization are very important. An NGO
workforce with low commitment level can be a major hindrance in optimal work performance
at both the individual and organizational level. A pool of well-educated, highly skilled and
strongly motivated and committed NGO employees, displaying willingness to exert efforts
and time on behalf of the profession are crucial for an NGO to achieve its goals.
The NGO sector in Pakistan has not received the attention of Pakistani researchers,
despite the fact that this sector plays a major role in the developmental process of the country.
The present study is unique as it is an attempt to describe the relationship between
occupational stress and organizational commitment in the context of NGOs in Pakistan. This
study also focuses on stress coping resources and strain that will help understand how people
deal with stress. The outcomes of this study will help NGO management in developing
policies and programs by addressing occupational stress reduction effectively and by
promoting widespread organizational commitment for improved work performance and
quality of life.
2.15 SUMMARY
This chapter introduced the concept of occupational stress and organizational
commitment and various popular definitions, theories and models pertaining to this research
90
were identified and discussed. It provided an overview of the literature regarding variables
associated with both the occupational stress and organizational commitment at both the
individual and organizational level and their relationship in the NGO sector in Pakistan. The
OSI-R and OCQ and their scales were defined with relevant research discussed. Demographic
variables have also been examined with an emphasis on the importance of an analysis of the
defined variables. The literature indicates that there is an inverse relationship between
occupational stress and organizational commitment and this may affect the individuals
working in NGOs. It was noticed that many studies were conducted on this subject in various
settings in the western countries; however, there is a serious lack of studies addressing the
issue of NGO employees occupational stress and organizational commitment in Pakistan.
The next chapter discusses the conceptual framework and the testable hypothesis of the study.
The dependent and independent variables of the study are operationally defined and discussed
and the antecedents including NGO employees age, tenure, income and qualification, gender,
job position and marital status are elaborated.
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CHAPTER 3
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
INTRODUCTION
This chapter discusses the theoretical framework of the study. The main objective of this
chapter is to build a conceptual model, which would encapsulate the available knowledge and
describe the relationship between occupational stress and organizational commitment for
enhancing the organizational effectiveness in the NGO sector in Pakistan. The key issues
discussed in this chapter are; the stress process including the identification of role stressors;
personal strains in the workplace; the coping resources; the three forms of organizational
commitment including affective, normative and continuance commitment; the antecedents
including NGO employees age, tenure, income and qualification, gender, job position and
marital status and the testable hypothesis of the study.
3.1 DESCRIPTION OF THE CONCEPTUAL MODEL
The hypothesized relationship between occupational stress and organizational
commitment and each of the selected demographic characteristics is discussed below. The
proposed conceptual model illustrates three variables including, occupational stress,
organizational commitment, and demographic characteristics of NGO employees. At this
stage, it is appropriate to integrate the foregoing discussion into the conceptual model, as
depicted in the following figure:
92
93
The review of the literature reveals that both occupational stress and organizational
commitment are multifaceted, consistent and unified variables. In order to further explore the
occupational stress of NGO employees, this study treats it as an independent variable that can
influence the organizational commitment.
The occupational stress part of the model presented in this research will draw primarily
from the Occupational Stress Inventory Model of Osipow (1998) as discussed in Chapter 2.
This study views stress as an interaction between the NGO employees and their work
environment. This contact between the stressors and the strains, both inclined by the personal
perception the individual has as to the fit between himself and the environment. Finally if the
result of the stressors leads to strain then there are cost for the person psychologically,
physically and behaviorally.
Coping stress means, psychological and physical resources used by the NGO employees
to oppose the effects of occupational stress.
Commitment in the place of work can take a variety of forms and has the possible to
power organizational efficiency and well-being of employees. The three forms of
organizational commitment recognized by Meyer and Allen were affective, continuance, and
normative commitment. In general, there is a negative relationship between organizational
commitment and occupational stress (Omolara, 2008).
Work experience develops from a mixture of employees insight about the work they
do, the organization they fit in to and the interpersonal relationships these entities bring
94
together. Therefore, an increase in job strain may lead to increased occupational stress,
decreased organizational commitment, and eventually result in poor service delivery by the
organization.
In this study, organizational commitment had been defined as overall commitment of

NGO employees to their organization. It served as a dependent variable for antecedents such
as age, tenure, income and qualification and as a predictor of various outcomes such as
turnover, intension to leave, job satisfaction and work performance.
NGOs have been the subject of numerous academic and policy studies over the past 30
years. There is now a substantial literature that discusses their actual and potential role in
development, democratization, poverty alleviation and relief and rehabilitation work
(Abdelrahman, 2005). Much of this literature tends to present NGOs as the main agent of
change, third sector or a sector that supplements the efforts of governments in the state-led
development. NGOs have evolved in different directions and they now present a wide variety
of programmes and structures around the world.
For the purpose of this study, the term NGO is defined as an independent voluntary
association of people acting together on a continuous basis, for some common purpose, other
than achieving a government office, making money or illegal activities. NGO employee is
defined as employee of a registered non-governmental organization working at any level
including junior staff, middle and senior management level, working both in the office and
field based work environment.
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The demographic characteristics included in this research are age, experience, marital
status, qualification, position, income and gender. In chapter 2, the research regarding certain
demographic factors influencing certain forms of organizational commitment have been
discussed. However, in this section the role of demographic characteristics (age, experience,
marital status, qualification, position, income and gender) are discussed specifically with
reference to the conceptual framework of the study, showing their effect on both occupational
stress and organizational commitment.
Age: According to the previous research, older workers spoken decreased amounts of
environmental stress but increased amounts of Role excess and liability than younger workers
(Osipow et al., 1984).
From the above research examining age as a variable in the communication of stress,
strain, and coping it seems that the findings are inconsistent as overall, age as an important
variable has mixed consequences and is of interest in this study. The wide research review has
revealed a positive correlation between age and organizational commitment (Mathieu &
Zajac, 1990). One of the possible causes of this relationship is assumed to be the shortage of
alternatives for the older employees whose options are further undermined by the financial
loss the move might incur. Thus, in this research, a positive relationship between age and
commitment is foreseen.
Experience: The work experience of an NGO worker may influence his aptitude to cope
with occupational stress. A general assumption is that more knowledge the workers have less
stress they might experience. As mentioned in the research propositions of this study also
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there can be a number of reasons for this assumption. It is possible that since an individual
becomes recognizable with the organization and develops relations he becomes more
comfortable in the work environment thus experiencing less stress contrast to a new or entry
level employee.
Job position: Job position has been conceptualized and used in this study as an
individual NGO workers place in the organization. The workers holding mid or senior level
management positions in NGOs interact with the community much less than the lower level
and field staff. Therefore, the nature of sources of occupational stress at each level of
authority may be considerably different. Thus, in this study, a important positive relationship
between job position and organizational commitment is expected.
Gender: In the NGO sector of Pakistan, there is a fair degree of gender representation in
all respects. This may not be the NGOs own choice but in some cases a condition imposed by
the international donor agencies (Khan, 2005). It is important to study the way in which both
male and female NGO employees behave in a similar situation. There is incessant debate
concerning the role that gender plays in relation to occupational stress and organizational
commitment. Studies investigative various types of respondent groups had mixed results,
making gender a variable of curiosity for this study.
Educational Qualification: In this study, the educational qualification of NGO

employees is given great importance. The way in which qualified people handle stress and
show their commitment towards their organization is different than less qualified workers, and
97
this aspect needs to be studied. Previous researches indicate that higher education correlates
with a significant reduction in stress. Sowa et al. (1994) also found that 82% of respondents in
their study reported that training helped them deal with stress. (Sowa et al., 1994, p. 26). This
research hypothesizes that higher educational qualification and training may serve as an
effective coping resource and it could be assumed that highly qualified and trained NGO
employees would experience less job strain than workers who are less qualified.
However, the level of education is predictable to have a negative relationship with

organizational commitment. The rationale for this forecast is that people with low level of
education in general have more difficulty changing jobs and, therefore, demonstrate a greater
commitment to their organizations (Steers, 1977).
Income: Income is measured as an important factor responsible in determining the
peoples lifestyle and socialstatus in any society. In the NGO sector in Pakistan, the salary
structures are vague and the level of pay is based on negotiations done at the time of hiring.
Sometimes employees working even at the same level, receive considerably different pay
packages. There a common impression in the NGO sector that senior management skims the
cream, meaning they receive very high salaries compared to the mid and lower level
employees. Moreover, there is a sizeable difference in the salary structures of national and
international NGO in Pakistan.
Marital Status: Married people have more family household tasks and need more
stability and safety in their jobs; and therefore, they are likely to be more committed to their
existing organization than their unmarried counterparts are. In addition, married people have
98
different coping strategies for stress than the single ones. It is assumed that married people are
able to handle stress in a better way than the unmarried employees are.
Marital status of an NGO worker has also come out as a dependable predictor of
organizational commitment. Findings reported by Hrebiniak and Alutto (1972), John and
Taylor (1999), and Tsui, Leung, Cheung, Mok, and Ho (1994) indicate that married people are
more committed to their organization than unmarried people. Therefore, this study assumes
that marital status is positively related to commitment.
3.2 HYPOTHESIS OF THE STUDY

The literature review presented in chapter 2 clearly indicates that both the occupational
stress and organizational commitment are complex and interrelated concepts and may affect
individual and organizational work performance. However, this relationship has not been
empirically examined in any of the previous studies in the NGOs sector in Pakistan. Hence, it
becomes significant as well as interesting to study this relationship exclusively in the NGOs in
Pakistan, which are working in a large number to supplement the efforts of government in
development by providing a variety of services to the poor and marginalized community. In
addition, the diverse socio-political setup of this sector lends itself for comprehensive research
opportunities for studying the relationship between occupational stress and organizational
commitment.
The purpose of this section is to elaborate a series of research hypothesis, which will lead
to the formation of the conceptual framework. The hypotheses formulated for this research are
as following:
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H1: There is an inverse relationship between occupational stress and organizational

commitment.
This research treats the relationship between occupational stress and organizational
commitment as inverse for NGO employees. It means, higher the occupational stress the
lower will be the organizational commitment of NGO employees and vice versa. Therefore,
an increase in occupational stress may lead to decreased level of organizational commitment,
and eventually result in lower work performance.
Cooper, et al., 2001; Murphy, 1995 believe that occupational stress at work is a well
known factor for retreating in performance, high turnover, low organizational commitment,
poor internal communication and conflicts. Moreover, Chusmir and Franks (1988) argued that
all the aforementioned problems are linked, directly or indirectly, to stress and they have an
result on overall organizational competence and success.
As to the cause and effect relationship between organizational commitment and

occupational stress, it is likely that an inverse relationship exists (Varca 1999). Thus, an
organizational stressor may first affective organizational commitment, but as commitment
organizational continues to decrease, it is difficult to imagine a situation where satisfaction
will stay at the same level (Elizur & Kosloswsky 2001). Similarly, an individual stressor that
elicits dissatisfaction from the job will eventually release the employees ties to the
organization. The literature perused on the relationship between occupational stress and
organizational commitment in the context of NGOs in Pakistan revealed no results, therefore,
100
in order to test this relationship empirically, this study hypothesizes that there is an inverse
relationship between occupational stress and organizational commitment.
H2: NGO employees experience stress mainly due to their occupational roles which leads to
high personal strain.
From the literature review, it appears that NGO employees suffer occupational stress
more due to occupational roles, which manifests into strain like vocational strain,
psychological strain, interpersonal strain, and physical strain (Osipow 1998) which in turn
affect them physically, psychologically and behaviorally. NGO employees occupational roles
are multidimensional. However, the work environment in this sector is highly unstable,
particularly the staff deployed in the field such as teachers, lady health workers, social
organizers, disaster relief, emergency aid workers and community support workers who
receive minimal support from their organization while they play their occupational roles in the
field.
Workers may experience feelings of disconnection during their fieldwork from those in
charge and this adds to their occupational role stress. Separation from family, friends & home;
intense physical labor; severe living conditions; limited communication; potential for injury;
lack of sanitation; risk of illness and the shock of dealing with the values of a different culture
represent generally reported ground effects problems (Thomason, 2003). It would be
interesting to examine the nature of occupational stress and its affects on NGO employees
working both in office and field based work environment in Pakistan. Therefore, for this study
101
it is hypothesized that NGO employees experience stress mainly due to their occupational
roles which leads to high personal strain.
H3: Highly qualified and experienced NGO employees experience less occupational stress
than the less qualified and less experienced employees.
The literature indicates that enhancement in education and training correlates with a
significant reduction in stress. Sowa found that 82% of respondents in their study reported that
training helped them deal with stress (Sowa et al., 1994, p. 26). Cooper & Bright, (2001)
found that length of service was positively correlated with job satisfaction. In addition, it can
be expected that the longer an individual is with an organization, more comfortable the
individual becomes with the organization probably because of the number of trainings they
receive, either through on the job or off the job, thus, they may experience less stress
compared to that of an entry level employee (Tyler and Blender, 2002). This research
hypothesizes that the highly qualified and experienced NGO employees experience less
occupational stress than the employees with less qualification and experience.
H4: Highly educated NGO employees are more capable of coping with occupational stress
than the less educated ones.
This research hypothesizes that higher education may serve as an effectual coping
resource for occupational stress. It means that educated employees of NGOs may be able to
make better use of psychological and physical resources such as self-care behavior, seeking
social support from family and peers, cognitive skills, and recreational activities to counter the
102
effects of occupational stress. Therefore, this study hypothesizes that highly educated
employees are more capable of coping with occupational stress than the less educated ones.
H5: NGO employees have stronger normative commitment than affective and continuance
commitment.
The concept of organizational commitment has been examined in detail in chapter two
in terms of affective, continuance and normative organizational commitment. It has been
discussed that the affective organizational commitment is a positive feeling of identification
with, attachment to, and involvement in the work of organization. Whereas, continuance
organizational commitment is the extent to which employees feel committed to their
organizations by virtue of the costs that they feel are associated with leaving (e.g., investments
or lack of attractive alternatives). And normative organizational commitment is employees
feelings of obligation to remain with the organization (Meyer and Allen, 1997).
As a whole, the employment opportunities in Pakistan and in the NGO sector in
particular are very less and overall there is a high degree of unemployment in the country.
People in any field in general and staff working on entry and lower level positions in
particular, usually lack attractive alternatives to their current employment. Consequently, they
are left with no choice but to stay with their existing employers for a long period. However,
for working in the development sector a certain type of passion and aptitude is required. The
workers enjoy a kind of sense of accomplishment and pride in their work itself and therefore,
the feeling of obligation to remain with the organization may develop. It may not be because
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they have a high level of normative or affective commitment, but because of lack of attractive
alternatives available.
It would be interesting to investigate as to which form of organizational commitment is
dominant among NGO employees in Pakistan. In order to empirically test it, this study
hypothesizes that NGO employees have stronger normative commitment than affective and
continuance commitment.
H6: NGO employees with higher qualification have lower organizational commitment than
NGO employees with lower qualification.
The literature on organizational commitment indicates that the education and experience
of workers influence their level of organizational commitment. It is interesting to note that the
level of education is expected to have a negative relationship with organizational commitment
(Cooper et al., 2000). The rationale for this prediction is that people with higher qualification
have more employment opportunities and may switch jobs easily, whereas, staff with low
levels of education generally have more difficulty changing jobs and therefore show a greater
commitment to their organizations. Khurshid, (2008) and Siu, (2002) have reported findings
consistent with this justification. However, it is still to be seen how this link operates
particularly in the NGO sector of Pakistan. Therefore, this study hypothesizes that there is an
inverse relationship between NGO employees qualification and their organizational
commitment.
H7 The level of organizational commitment of NGO employees increases with age,
experience, income and job position.
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Research has shown that age is positively linked to organizational commitment (Siu,
2002; Cooper et al., 2001). One possible explanation for this relationship is that there are few
employment options available to older employees and older and experienced employees
realize that leaving may cost them more than staying (Mowday, et al., 1998). Biggs, et al.,
(1995) found that age for health care workers was completely correlated with job satisfaction.
The individuals with more job experience working on the high-level positions and
receiving higher salaries identify with, care about their jobs, and are thus less likely to quit
their jobs. However, this assumption still empirically needs to be tested in the NGO sector.
Thus, in this research, a positive relationship between organizational commitment and age,
experience, income and job position is predicted.
3.3 SUMMARY
The conceptual framework developed and presented in Figure 1 depicts hypothesized
relationship between occupational stress and organizational commitment in the NGO sector of
Pakistan. It illustrates the stress process including the identification of role stressors, personal
strains in the workplace, and coping resources. The theoretical model treats occupational
stress as an independent variable. The three forms of organizational commitment shown in the
model are affective, normative and continuance commitment. Organizational commitment has
been treated as a dependent variable for antecedents of NGO employees age, tenure, income
and qualification, gender, job position and marital status. It serves as a predictor of various
outcomes such as turnover, intension to leave, job satisfaction and work performance.
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Finally, based on the theoretical model, specific testable hypothesis related to

occupational stress and of organizational commitment and their relationship in the NGO
sector have been developed. The next chapter presents the research methodology to be
employed in the current study and outlines the manner in which data will be analyzed.
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CHAPTER 4
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
INTRODUCTION
This chapter describes the research methodology and the process of data collection
needed to empirically test the conceptual framework developed in the previous chapter. This
study explores the relationship between occupational stress and employees organizational
commitment in the NGO sector in Pakistan. To ensure the accuracy of results it is therefore
important to choose an appropriate research methodology. Before discussing the research
design and methodology, the next section presents a brief overview of the research objectives,
which have already been discussed in detail in Chapter 1.
4.1 BRIEF OVERVIEW OF THE RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
The main objective of this pragmatic study was to contribute to a superior understanding
of the relationship between occupational stress and organizational commitment in the NGO
sector in Pakistan. As indicated in the literature review in chapter 2, occupational stress and
organizational commitment have received a lot of attention of researchers and writers in the
West, but this relationship has not been studied in the NGO sector in Pakistan. This study,
therefore, attempts to help fill this gap by providing empirical information that might be of
interest to researcher and the stakeholders of NGOs. The objectives of this study are restated
here more specifically, which are:
1. To determine the relationship between occupational stress and organizational
commitment.
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2. To find out the level, causes and dimensions of occupational stress of NGO employees in
Pakistan using appropriate measuring instrument.
3. To explore the level and forms of NGO employees organizational commitment.
4. To analyze and ascertain the affects of various demographic variables including, age,
experience, job position, gender, qualification, income and marital status, on the
occupational stress and organizational commitment of NGO employees.
4.2 RESEARCH DESIGN
The aim of a research design is to provide a intended and prepared way of achieving
the research objectives and to augment validity and reliability. The present study is a
descriptive correlational study that seeks to explore the relationship between occupational
stress and organizational commitment in NGOs of Pakistan. This type of study requires a
research that does an in-depth investigation and description of phenomena, and systematically
classifies the variables of a construct and describes the attributes as accurately and precisely as
possible. In order to attain the aim of the research design, it should address the serious
questions including the unit of analysis, time frame of the study and the method of data
collection. All these components are therefore discussed in the following section .
4.2.1 Unit of Analysis

In this study, the unit of analysis is NGO employees of Pakistan. Most nongovernmental organization employees, engaged in the promotion of developmental initiatives,
function at the grassroots level, essentially working with the marginalized sections of the
Pakistani society: the rural poor; the urban slum residents; women, children and minorities;
the tribal, peasants and labor. Their work encompasses a range of services including
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education, health, provision of clean drinking water, irrigation, disaster response, relief and
rescue, sanitation, as well as organizational and capacity building of the poor and
marginalized community to facilitate them to play a more vigorous role in defining and
working towards their own development (UNDP, 2002). Taking into account the nature of
work NGO employees are engaged in, occupational stress is considered to be a part of their
jobs and they are anticipated to show a high level of organizational commitment at all times.
The participants identity was kept confidential and their privacy was strictly maintained in
the study.
4.2.2 Time Frame of the Study

While the best alternative would be to follow a longitudinal study involving detailed
records of behavior over an extended time period and to observe organizations in as much
detail as possible and for as long as possible, and to survey or interview different participants
at a series of intervals but the limits of resources, organizations privacy and time constraints
preclude such an approach. However, the quantitative research method adopted for this study
as it aimed at maximizing the informative power of the data gathered to gain insights about
the organizations and individuals. The following section provides a detailed justification for
the research methodology used in this study.
4.3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND JUSTIFICATION

Research method refers to the means of bring together and examine empirical proof.
To make sure validity and reliability a research should make use of both quantitative and
qualitative methods where it come into view appropriate (Allan, 1998).
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In the following sub-sections, both the qualitative and quantitative approaches are
briefly evaluated:
4.3.1 The Qualitative Approach

Qualitative methods are more effective for seeking a through description within a
limited area, but they are not appropriate for detection of co-variance between variables, in
difference to quantitative methods (Thompson, 2003). The qualitative research method may
be helpful for understanding the relationship between occupational stress and organizational
commitment if the purpose of the research was to study the impact of this relationship on few
individuals over a period of time in any one particular NGO.
Qualitative methods provide less clarification of variance statistical terms than

quantitative methods, they can give way data from which process theories and rich
explanations of how and why procedure and outcome crop up can be developed (Marcus and
Robey 1988) taking all of the above into account it was decided to adopt an approach for this
research which can be called the quantitative method.
4.3.2 The Quantitative Approach

According to Garber (1999), Quantitative research methods put importance on the
making of detailed and generalizable statistical conclusion. The data composed by using the
quantitative techniques be likely to be numerical and are open to explanation by use of
statistics: thus the data are said to be quantitative and there is certain impartiality about
actuality, which is quantifiable(p.28).
110
Quantitative methodologies, however, have been criticized for their lack of notice to
procedure aspects, for frequently meeting data only from the top of an organization, and for
their failure to find significant relationships (King, 1990).
The quantitative research method was selected for this study for the following specific
reasons:
Firstly, the researcher believed that quantitative move toward would be more suitable
to understand in detail the nature of dealings among major variables and to provide a rich
relative basis for interpreting and validating the results.
Secondly, because in quantitative research draw near which consists of techniques,
methodologies and activities which permit the observation account of organizational
phenomena in such a way that the relationship among major variables can be identified and
empirically documented;
Thirdly, collecting a large amount of data from structured questionnaire survey will
provide a wide reporting that may result in a real picture of the entities and observable fact
under study.
And finally, examination of the literature on occupational stress and organizational
commitment also provides a strong support of the empirical quantitative method as the most
productive research approach in the studies of the present kind.
4.4 OPERATIONAL DEFINITION OF VARIABLES

The main aim of this research was to examine the relationship between occupational
stress and organizational commitment in the NGO sector in Pakistan. The variables which
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have been identified in this study included organizational commitment, occupational stress
and demographic factors. Occupational stress is viewed as an independent variable and its
interaction with organizational commitment is taken as a dependent variable. The interaction
with the antecedence of NGO employees age, experience, job position, gender, qualification,
income and marital status is hypothesized to be a cause-effect relationship. The operational
definitions of the study variables, description and justification of the use of the measurement
instruments are discussed below:
4.4.1 Organizational Commitment

For the purpose of this study, organizational commitment has been operationalized and
refers to an overall commitment of NGO employees towards their organizations. This study
examines organizational commitment in terms of affective, continuance and normative
commitment.
4.4.1.1 Development and Rationale of the Organizational Commitment Questionnaire OCQ

The organizational commitment questionnaire developed by Meyer and Allen (1987)
was used to measure the dependent variable organizational commitment (Appendix D).
Organizational Commitment Questionnaire- OCQ is based on the Three-Component Model of
Meyer and Allen (1991) including affective commitment, continuance commitment, and
normative commitment.
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The OCQ statements represent possible feelings that an individual might have about
his/her work place. The respondents were asked to rate each of the statements on the
following 5-point Likert scale:
1. strongly disagree
2. disagree
3. undecided
4. agree
5. strongly agree
Stress refers to any professed job related, environmental, social, or internal insist
which requires the individual to readjust his /her usual behavior patterns scope of the job
related stress.
For the purpose of the present study the operational definition of occupational stress is
that: Occupational stress refers to intrinsic and extrinsic stressors of NGO employees in
Pakistan which are related to their job including; Stress associated with various work roles;
personal strains due to physiological, psychological and behavioral processes that occur under
the influence of stress and disrupt the normal functioning of NGO employees.
4.4.2.1 Development and Rationale of the Occupational Stress Inventory Revised

Edition- OSI-R
The Occupational Stress Inventory Revised Edition- OSI-R (Appendix C) developed by
Osipow & Davis (1998) was used to measure occupational stress. The decision to use the OSI-
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R was largely because of its numerous applications as an instrument and availability of

reliability information.
4.4.2.2 Description of Occupational Stress Inventory Revised Edition- OSI-R

The OSI-R is a self-report inventory consisting of three questionnaires covering all three
dimensions of occupational stress. Each of the three is composed of five-point Likert scale
items. The questionnaire takes about thirty minutes to complete. The three dimensions can be
used together, like in this study, or individually based on the research questions. The three
dimensions are further divided into the following scales:
1. Occupational Roles Questionnaire (ORQ) The occupational roles questionnaire (ORQ)
measures the amount of stress provoked by the employment roles.
2. Personal Strain Questionnaire (PSQ) The personal strain questionnaire (PSQ) is
separated into four subscales measuring the results of the occupational stressors, as
manifested in personal strain.
3. Personal Resources Questionnaire (PRQ) The personal resources questionnaire (PRQ) is
comprised of four sub scales and it measures coping instrument utilized by the subject.
The subscales calculated comprise exercise, self-care, community support, and
impartial/cognitive coping.
The respondents were asked to rate each of the 60 items on the following 5-point Likert
scale:
1. strongly disagree
2. disagree
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3. undecided
4. agree
5. strongly agree
4.4.3 Demographic Variables
The NGO employees include individuals working at any level, performing any type of
work assignment in the office or field environment. The demographic variables of age,
experience, job position, gender, qualification, income and marital status were selected for the
present study and the same have been elaborated at length with valid references in Chapter 3.
An Individual Data Form (Appendix B) was utilized to gather information regarding
demographic variables directly related to this study. The data form consisted of questions
related to individuals organization, job title, qualification, work experience, monthly income,
age, marital status, gender and nature of job contract.
4.5 THE VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY OF RESEARCH INSTRUMENTS

Examining the validity and reliability of research instruments is a prerequisite for any
empirical study. The following section explains measures taken by the researcher to ensure
validity and reliability of both Occupational Stress Inventory-OSI and Organizational
Commitment Questionnaire-OCQ:
4.5.1 Ensuring Validity

In the literature review validity is promoted by formulating hypothesis which describe
the goal of the research, providing conceptual descriptions of all the relevant concepts and
115
constructs that are used in the research, as they are seen theoretically and used empirically in
the research.
4.5.2 Ensuring Reliability

In order to promote the reliability of the research, the following controls were incorporated
in the research design:
The individuals anonymity was ensured, as they were not required to write down their
name on the questionnaire.
The attempt was made to establishing rapport with the respondents as a note explaining
the reason and purpose behind the questionnaire and how the results were be used was
given along the questionnaire ( Appendix A).
As discussed in the pervious sections of the literature review, both OSI and OCQ have
been used in a number of other research projects with similar goals.
The occupational stress inventory and organizational commitment questionnaire, both

comply with the stringent validity and reliability requirements, were tested for reliability
before use and the results are discussed in the following section.
Before employing the research instruments for the present study, a pilot study was
conducted to assess the validity and reliability of the both OSI and OCQ.
4.6 THE PILOT TESTING

The main purpose of pilot-testing of scales was to ensure the general feasibility of the
data collection method, and specifically to assess the validity and reliability of the research
instruments including OSI and OCQ. The pilot test involved the administration of survey
116
instruments, which guided in the formation of the final questionnaire, to a convenience sample
of respondents who were employed at various levels in NGOs.
From the NGO directory maintained by NGO Resource Centre (2000), a

convenience sample of six NGOs was drawn. The population of the pilot study consisted of
eighty managers and staff who were working in offices and field. The respondents selected for
the pilot study were as similar as possible to the target respondents of the main study. They
were approached at their workplace and were asked to fill out the questionnaires in the
presence of the researcher.
4.6.1 Validity of the Research Instruments

The pilot study assisted in the analyzing the validity of both OSI and OCQ. It helped
in identification of redundancies in both OSI and OCQ, in rewording and re-sequencing
questions and in estimating the time required for completion of the questionnaire. The
statistical reliability analysis of both instruments was done by employing Alpha Reliability
Coefficient and Split half Reliability Analysis. The construct validity was examined by
computing items total correlation and inter-scale correlation and cutoff scores table was
developed with the help of percentile ranking. The results of statistical analysis for both OSI
and OCQ reflected that both the instrument were internally consistent.
Based on the responses and comments from the pilot study respondents, and feedback
from the panel of experts the items of OSI were reduced to 60 items from 97and of OCQ were
also reduced from 24 items to 15 items. The face validity of the research instruments was
judged through the written and verbal comments of the respondents regarding the clarity of
117
questions and instructions. In addition to the pilot testing of the research instruments, these
instruments were also reviewed by a panel of experts at Human Resources Development
Network (HRDN). The valuable feedback received from the experts was taken into
consideration in preparation of the final version of the questionnaires (Appendix G).
4.6.2 Reliability of the Research Instruments

In the present study, the reliability of OCQ was measured in two ways. The split half
reliability of OCQ was computed. The results indicated the reliability coefficient for part 1 (11
items) was .75 and for part 2 (13 items) .60. The results reflected that the instrument was
internally consistent (Chapter # 5 Table 8). The alpha reliability coefficient of OCQ figure
was .55, which reflected that the instrument was internally consistent (Chapter # 5 Table 6).
The inter-correlations of OCQ with its subscales and total scale of OCQ were computed. The
results revealed that all the scales had positive correlation with each other and with the total
scale of OCQ. The highest inter correlation existed between Normative and Affective
commitment. R= .59 (Chapter # 5 Table 7).
The reliability of OSI-R was measured in two ways. The split half reliability of OSI-R
was computed. The results indicated that the reliability coefficient for part 1 (49 items) was
.4346 and for part 2 (48 items) .4471, which reflected that the tool was internally consistent
(Table 3). The alpha reliability coefficient of OSI-R yielded a reliability coefficient figure of
.66 for the entire .97, which indicates that the instrument is internally consistent (Chapter # 5
Table 1).
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The detailed report of pilot study including the research instruments used for pilot
testing, results of the statistical analysis can be seen at Appendix (G).
4.7 SAMPLING PROCESS

Sampling is a fundamental method of inferring information about an entire population
instead of measuring every member of the population. Developing the proper sampling
technique can greatly affect the authenticity of the results. The number of informants from
each organization was not pre-determined, a questionnaire was then distributed to the
respondents and they were also given detailed instructions for completing the survey in the
covering letter accompanying the questionnaire (Appendix A).
4.7.1 Sampling Population

The population of the study included all NGO employees in Pakistan. Since it would
be almost impossible to reach all the employees of NGOs all over Pakistan, it was, therefore,
necessary to sample the population. The planned sample size was 37 NGOs based in eight
major cities of Pakistan (Appendix E).
The selection of the NGOs was therefore, done on the basis of the following criteria:
the organization must be registered as an NGO with the government of Pakistan; the NGO
must have a minimum staff of at least 30 members; the NGO should be working in Pakistan
for more than 5 years. No specific sample size of employees from each organization was predetermined but the process of judgment sampling was adopted. However, it was decided to
include only those employees within NGOs who have some professional status in the
119
organization. Workers involved in unskilled labour such as cleaners, loaders and office
attendants were excluded.
The employees included in the sample frame were office and field staff including
senior executives, professional staff like health workers, teachers, IT persons, librarians,
vaccinators, community mobilizers, researchers, campaign managers, social organizers, field
coordinators, and administrative support staff like admin officers, office secretaries, accounts
officers, coordination officers and other similar positions. As the results will be generalized, it
is essential that the sample should be the representative of all the employees of NGOs.
4.7.2 Sample Selection

In Pakistan, most of the head offices of NGOs are based mainly at the provincial
headquarters level. As their presence at the district and community level is through loosely
organized networks which are difficult to approach due to their scattered operations and lack
of communication in the field, therefore, both national and international NGOs who met the
criteria and also gave consent to approach their staff to administer the research questionnaire
were selected. The sample of thirty-seven NGOs whose head offices were based in the eight
major cities of Pakistan were selected (Annex E). A sample of 500 NGO employees was
randomly collected from the selected NGOs.
4.8 DATA COLLECTION

For data collection, the staff was approached in their job settings and was briefed
about the nature and purpose of the research. The respondents were assured of the
confidentiality of the results. After their willingness, the occupational stress inventory and
120
organizational commitment questionnaires were handed over to them to complete the scales in
one session. A soft copy of the research questionnaire was also provided to some of the
respondents on request. Also to internally circulate the research questionnaires in some
organizations, the web administrators of their organizations were contacted with the soft copy
of the questionnaires in simple MS word and PDF format, which was circulated among the
staff members via e-mail.
During the survey a total of 689 NGO employees of the selected NGOs were given the
research questionnaires. The total number of responses received was 64% (N=443). Also 300
HRDN members belonging to the NGO sector were contacted via email to and the response
received was 11.4% (N= 57).
4.9 STATISTICAL TECHNIQUES

The statistical package for social sciences (SPSS-13th Edition) was used to conduct the
analysis of the collected data. Various statistical techniques were employed to examine the
data such as arithmetic mean, standard deviation, correlation analysis, percentile analysis and
analysis of variance. As these techniques are appropriate to test the internal consistency,
construct validity, average, dispersion, determination of cut off scores, variance and
relationship among different variables.
4.10 LIMITATIONS OF THE METHODOLOGY
The research methodology adopted for this research has certain limitations which
should be taken into consideration if any generalizations or conclusions are to be drawn from
the research findings. The data was collected through survey questionnaires using the
121
quantitative approach. This approach has some limitations including the fact that standardized
questionnaires impose restrictions on the depth of data, which can be collected about the
phenomenon under investigation. Moreover, standardized questionnaires reflect the opinions
and perceptions of only those who choose to respond.
The study was delimited to eight major cities of Pakistan and the data was collected
from both male and female NGO employees with a minimum of one year work experience.
The minimum educational qualification of the employees who could participate in this
research study was graduation. The limitations of the research have been discussed further in
chapter 6.
4.11 ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS
The ethical integrity is very important in any research because it is a probing process
with the potential to infringe on participants rights; therefore, this study has been conducted
in conformity with the informed consent and concern for participants anonymity. The
necessary permissions from the management of NGOs were obtained before data collection.
The participation in the study was purely on a voluntary, anonymous and confidential basis,
and the privacy was strictly guarded because of the sensitivity of the nature of topic. The
participants were explained about the confidentiality verbally and in writing through the
survey questionnaire cover letter (Appendix A).
4.12 SUMMARY
This chapter presented the research methodology used in this study and its
justification. It illustrates research design of the study, the unit of analysis and operational
122
definition of organizational commitment, occupational stress and demographic variables

included in the study, details about research instruments including OSI, OCQ and individual
data form used for data collection, the procedure of data collection and data analysis, details
about pilot study for measuring of the reliability and validity of the instruments and ethical
considerations. The next chapter presents results of the empirical research, results related to
the research hypothesis and a summary of the results.
123
CHAPTER 5
RESULTS
INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this research study was to examine the relationship between
occupational stress and organizational commitment in the NGO sector in Pakistan; to explore
the level, causes and dimensions of occupational stress and the level and forms of
organizational commitment of the NGO employees in Pakistan. In the previous chapters the
theoretical concepts related to occupational stress and organizational commitment were
reviewed; a conceptual framework of the study was proposed; and research methodology and
design was developed. The main objective of this chapter was to report the results of data
analyses performed to examine the validity and reliability of the research instruments and the
results of empirical research undertaken. The instruments were developed and used for the
collection of data from a sample of 500 respondents working in various NGOs of Pakistan.
In order to test the hypotheses of the study various statistical analyses were carried out
including percentile analysis, correlations analysis, split-half reliability analysis, mean,
standard deviation and analysis of variance. The reliability of each scale and subscale of
Occupational Stress Inventory Revised Edition - (OSI-R) and Organizational Commitment
Questionnaire- (OCQ) were computed. Mean and standard deviation of respondents scores on
all subscales and total scale of OSI-R and OCQ were computed. The correlation matrixes were
computed to examine the inter-relationships of OSI-R and OCQ. Inter-scales correlations and
124
items-total correlations were computed to verify the internal consistency. Coefficient of

correlations was calculated to define the scale reliability and validity.
The relationships of demographics variables with occupational stress and

organizational commitment was examined by computing the mean and standard deviation.
Analysis of variance was also computed to measure the differences in responses of the NGO
employees on different work related variables.
5.1 CHARACTERISTICS OF THE RESPONDENTS
The target population for this study was NGO employees working at all levels. A total
of 37 organizations were contacted. The questionnaires were handed over to respondents by
visiting their organizations. A soft copy of the research questionnaire was also provided to
some of the respondents on request. Also to internally circulate the research questionnaires in
some organizations, the web administrators of their organizations were contacted with the soft
copy of the questionnaires in simple MS word and PDF format, with the request to circulate
them among the staff members via e-mail.
During the survey, 689 NGO employees of the selected NGOs were given the research
questionnaires. The total number of responses received was 64% (N=443). However, 26
participants indicated that they were not eligible to participate because their work experience
was less than a year so they did not provide any information, 6 individuals sent back e-mails
refusing to participate.
125
Human Resources Development Network (HRDN) reported that their network

membership from the development sector of Pakistan comprised of primarily NGO employees
(HRDN, 2007). Since that was the target population, an e-mailing list consisted of 300 HRDN
NGO sector members was obtained from HRDN Pakistan. The representative of HRDN
circulated the research questionnaires and individual data form via email to all NGO sector
members (N=300) on behalf of the researcher. The response received was 11.4% (N= 57), 12
respondents returned the questionnaire stating that they were no more employed in the
development sector and hence they did not qualify for the study. A total of 80 e-mails were
bounced back stating reasons including, permanent fatal error in the e-mail address, e-mail
address permanently blocked or client left the organization.
Finally a random sample consisting of 5% NGO employees (N=25) of individuals who
did not respond to the survey was contacted by phone. Despite the assurance to maintain the
privacy of their responses, some of the staff members showed reluctance in filling up the
questionnaire citing the common excuses of the lack of time or ineligibility to participate
because of not associated with the development sector anymore.
The following sections illustrate the results of statistical analysis done to examine the
validity and reliability of OSI-R and OCQ.
5.2 DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS OF OCCUPATIONAL STRESS INVENTORYREVISED EDITION
Scale and subscales reliabilities of OSI-R were determined on the main sample by using
the statistical procedures including Alpha Reliability Coefficients, Inter-Correlation of the
Subscales of OSI, Items Total Correlations, Percentile Ranks, Levels and Percentages of
Occupational Stress.
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5.2.1 Alpha Reliability Coefficient of OSI-R

Alpha reliability coefficient of OSI-R and its subscales were determined on a sample
of 500 NGO employees.
Table 1
Alpha Reliability Coefficient of OSI-R (N=500)
Subscales
Alpha coefficient
ORQ
.73**
PSQ
.48**
PRQ
.69**
Total
.90**
*P <0.05 **p <0.01

Table 1 portrays the Alpha reliability coefficients of OSI-R for its subscales of ORQ,
PSQ and PRQ. It ranges from .48 to .90, which indicates that all the subscales of OSI-R are
internally consistent with each other and correlated with total scale.
5.2.2 Inter-Correlation of Subscales of OSI-R
Inter-correlations of the subscales of OSI-R were calculated.
Table 2
Inter-Correlations of the Subscales of OSI-R-R (N=500)
Subscales
ORQ
PSQ
PRQ
ORQ
PSQ
PRQ
.54**
.62**
.32**
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Total
.84*
.86**
.60**
**p < 0.01

Table 2 indicates inter-correlation of the subscales and total scale of OSI-R. Result
shows that all subscales have positive correlation with each other and with total scale of OSIR. The highest correlation exists between PSQ and total scale of OSI-R (r = .86**) because
they are measuring the same construct.
5.2.3 Items Total Correlation of NGO Employees on Occupational Stress Inventory
Items analysis was performed on OSI-R, and items total correlation was calculated on
a sample of 500 NGO employees.
Table 3
Items Total Correlations of NGO Employees on OSI-R (N=500)
Items
Correlations
Items
Correlations
29
31
.27
.28
32
.17
.28
33
.51
.29
34
.67**
.23
35
.63**
.40
36
.61**
.41
37
.22
.35
38
.31
.36
39
.25
128
10
.39
40
.53
11
.32
41
.37
12
.27
42
.45
13
.28
43
.57**
14
.27
44
.40
15
.29
45
.53
16
.24
46
.33
17
.34
47
.53
18
.20
48
.32
19
.23
49
.25
20
.44*
50
.30
21
.33
51
.59**
22
.53
52
.20
23
.78**
53
.59**
24
.19
54
.20
25
.44
55
.69**
26
.23
56
.29
27
.33
57
.27
28
.39
58
.21
29
.37
59
.16
30
.27
60
.20
*p <0.05, **p <0.01
129
Table 3 describes the item total correlations of OSI-R. The result reveals that all the
selected 60 items have positive correlation with the total scale of OSI-R. It indicates that all
60 items of OSI-R are significant for measuring the occupational stress of NGO employees.
The correlations ranged from .16 to .78.
The analysis of results of alpha reliability coefficient, inter-correlation of subscales of

OSI-R, items total correlation of Occupational Stress Inventory indicate that it has enough
reliability, content and construct validity to measure the occupational stress in the present
sample, therefore, it could be considered as a valid and reliable research instrument for the
present sample.
5.2.4 Percentile Ranks of OSI-R

In order to determine the overall stress level of NGO employees, the percentile rank of NGO
employees scores on OSI-R were calculated
Table 4
Percentiles Ranks of OSI-R (N=500)
Percentiles
OSI-R
136
10
142
15
148
20
151
130
25
154
30
156
35
159
40
161
45
163
50
165
55
167
60
171
65
173
70
180
75
187
80
190
85
193
90
197
95
207
*p <0.05, **p <0.01
Table 4 shows the percentile ranks of NGO employees score on OSI-R. The
percentile ranks were calculated in order to identify the levels of occupational stress among
the Ngo employees. The three percentile ranks including mild, moderate and high on OSI-R
were calculated. The scores ranged from 136 to 207. The score of 154 falls on 25th percentile,
illustrating mild occupational stress. Score of 165 falls on 50th percentile characterizing
131
moderate occupational stress, whereas, score of 187 falls on 75th percentile demonstrating
high occupational stress.
5.2.5 Levels and Percentages of Stress

The levels and percentages of stress were determined on the main sample of the study.
To determine the stress scores on the OSI-R, the percentages for three levels including mild,
moderate and high level of occupational stress were computed.
Table 5
Level and Percentages of Stress on OSI-R (N=500)
Levels of Stress
Percentages
Mild Stress
77
15%
Moderate Stress
188
38%
High Stress
235
47%
Table 5 portrays levels of occupational stress of NGO employees. It indicates that 15 %

employees experience mild occupational stress, 38% have moderate occupational stress,
whereas, 47% have high level of occupational stress. The results indicate that the majority of
NGO employees experienced a moderate or higher level of occupational stress. As indicated
in the literature review that working environment in NGOs in Pakistan is stressful with
minimal organizational support. Working in a high stress environment may result in negative
physical, psychological and behavioral job strain. This issue is further discussed in chapter 6.
132
5.3 DESCRIPTIVE
STATISTICS
OF
ORGANIZATIONAL
COMMITMENT
QUESTIONNAIRE -OCQ
The statistical procedures used to determine the scale and subscales reliability of OCQ
on the main sample included: Alpha Reliability Coefficients, Inter-Correlation of the
subscales of OCQ, Item Total Correlations, Percentiles Ranks and Levels and Percentages of
organizational commitment.
5.3.1 Alpha Reliability Coefficients of OCQ
Alpha reliability coefficients of OCQ were determined on a sample of 500 NGO
employees.
Table 6
Alpha Reliability Coefficients of OCQ (N=500)
Subscales
Alpha coefficients
NC
.65**
AC
.84**
CC
.59**
Total
.87*
*p <0.05, **p <0.01

Table 6 describes the Alpha reliability coefficients of OCQ. It ranges from .59 to .87,
indicating that the subscales of OCQ including NC, AC, and CC have enough reliability with
the total scales of OCQ, meaning thereby that all subscales of OCQ are internally consistent
for measuring organizational commitment.
133
5.3.2 Inter-Correlation of Subscales of OCQ

For the determination of the validity of OCQ, inter-correlation of subscales and total
scale of OCQ were calculated.
Table 7
Inter-Correlation of Subscales of OCQ (N=500)
Subscales
NC
AC
CC
NC
AC
.67**
CC
.70**
.57***
Total
.85***
.53***
.56***
**p < 0.05, ***p < 0.01
Table 7 describes the inter-correlation among the subscales and total scale of OCQ. The
result revealed that the subscales NC, AC and CC have positive correlation with each other
and with total scale of OCQ.
134
5.3.3 Items Total Correlations of OCQ

For the determination of item analysis, items total correlation was computed on the
respondents scores.
Table 8
Items Total Correlation of OCQ (N=500)
Items
Correlations
Items
Correlations
.46 **
.33**
.56 **
10
.32**
.65 **
11
.33**
.59 *
12
.56**
.61 **
13
.41**
.61 **
14
.45**
.25 **
15
.25**
.38**
*P<0.05 **p<0.01
Table 8 describes the results of the items total correlation of scores of NGO employees on
OCQ. The correlation ranges from .25 to .65 and indicates that all fifteen items of the
questionnaire are positively correlated with the total score of OCQ.
135
The above analysis of results for measuring the validity and reliability OCQ indicates
that the scale has enough reliability and validity and could be considered as suitable research
instrument for measuring the organizational commitment for the present sample.
5.3.4 Percentile Ranks of NGO Employees on OCQ

The percentile ranks were determined on the main sample of NGO employees for OCQ.
Table 9
Percentiles Ranks of OCQ (N=500)
Percentiles
OCQ
38
10
39
15
41
20
42
25
43
30
45
35
46
40
46
45
47
136
50
48
55
49
60
50
65
50
70
52
75
53
80
54
85
56
90
57
95
59
Table 9 reveals percentiles rank of respondents scores on OCQ. It describes three

levels of organizational commitment including, low, moderate and higher organizational
commitment. The scores for OCQ ranged from 38 to 59. The score of 43 falls on 25th
percentile indicating low organizational commitment score of 48 falls on 50th percentile
indication moderate organizational commitment and the score of 53 falls on 75th percentile
rank indicating high organizational commitment.
137
5.3.5 Levels and Percentages of Commitment

Table 10
Levels and Percentages of Commitment (N=500)
Levels
Percentages
Low Commitment
113
23%
Moderate Commitment
190
38%
High Commitment
197
39%
Table 10 shows the frequencies and percentages for the three levels of organizational
commitment on a sample of 500 NGO employees. It illustrates 23% respondents fall in the
category of low organizational commitment, 38% moderate and 39% respondents fall in the
category of high organizational commitment. The results of all adopted statistical procedures
indicate that OCQ has enough reliability and validity to measure organizational commitment
for the present sample
The following section shows the results of statistical analysis of the data performed to
test the hypothesis of the study.
5.4 STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF THE DATA RELATED TO THE RESEARCH

HYPOTHESES
H1: There is an inverse relationship between occupational stress and organizational
commitment.
138
Table 11
Correlation of Subscales and Total Scale of OSI-R with OCQ
Scales
ORQ
PSQ
PRQ
OSI
NC
AC
CC
OCQ
TOTAL
TOTAL
ORQ
.548**
.320**
.840**
.296**
.098*
-.021
-.179**
PSQ
.548**
.410**
.863**
.268**
.205**
.108*
-.075
PRQ
.320**
.410**
.629**
.228**
.290**
-.030
-.062
.840**
.863**
.629**
.337**
.226**
.034
-.40**
NC
-.296**
-.268**
-.228**
-.337**
.171**
.263**
.859**
AC
.098*
.205**
.290**
.226**
.171**
.101*
.530**
CC
-.021
.108*
-.030
.034
.263**
.101*
.568**
-.179**
-.075
-.062
-.140**
.859**
.530**
.568**
OSI
TOTAL
OCQ
TOTAL
139
Table 11 describes the inter-correlations among subscales and total scales of OSI-R
and OCQ. It illustrates that as a whole there is a negative correlation between subscales of
OSI-R with OCQ (-.40**), meaning that higher score on occupational stress leads to lower
score on organizational commitment of the employees. The results reflect that there is an
inverse relationship between occupational stress and organizational commitment.
Table 12
Comparison of Mean and SD of NGO Employees on OSI-R and OCQ for nature of
organization (N=500)
Scales
Office Based
Service Delivery
(n=231)
(n=269)
SD
SD
OSI-R
155.96
20.95
170.24
21.94
OCQ
57.97
6.54
48.26
6.912
Table 12 shows the scores of OSI-R and OCQ on the variable nature of organization.
The mean score of employees working in service delivery organizations is higher on OSI-R
and lower on OCQ (OSI-R M= 170.24, OCQ M= 48.26) compared to the scores of employees
in the office based organizations. It means that employees working in service delivery
organizations have higher occupational stress and resultantly have lower organizational
commitment. These results further validate the results shown in table 11 that higher score on
occupational stress will lead to lower score on organizational commitment.
140
Therefore, the statistical results shown in table # 11 and 12 confirm H1 that there is an
inverse relationship between occupational stress and organizational commitment in the NGO
sector in Pakistan.
H2: NGO employees experience stress mainly due to their occupational roles which leads to
For testing the second hypothesis of this study, the mean and standard deviation on the
subscales of OSI-R were calculated.
Table 13
Comparison of Mean and SD of NGO Employees on ORQ and PSQ (N=500)
Subscales
Officer Based
Service Delivery
Total
(n=231)
(n=269)
(N=500)
SD
SD
SD
ORQ
79.39 10.11
88.72 18.75
168.11 28.86
PSQ
47.73 9.9
49.68 10.80
97.41 20.7
Table 13 portrays the results of the OSI-R for the second hypothesis of the study. The
result illustrates that NGO employees have more role related stress (ORQ M 168.11, PSQ M=
97.41). It further describes that the employees working in service delivery organizations have
higher scores on ORQ than office based employees (ORQ Service Delivery M= 88.72, Office
Based M= 79.39).
141
It was pointed out in the literature review in chapter #2 that NGO employees have high
occupational role stress and some of the main reasons cited were the nature of jobs, work
environment and lack of enough organizational support. High occupational role stress
manifests into strain like vocational strain, psychological strain, interpersonal strain, and
physical strain (Osipow 1998) which may affect them physically, psychologically and
behaviorally. Thus, the research results confirm this assumption. The research results of ORQ
and PSQ confirm that NGO employees have high occupational role stress which results in
The results also reflect that the occupational role stress and personal strain level among
field based NGO staff is higher compared to the office based staff. The field environment for
NGO employees is highly unstable and they receive minimal support from their organization
while they perform their duties in the field. Thus, the above results confirm the research H2
that NGO employees experience stress mainly due to their occupational roles which leads to
H3: Highly qualified and experienced NGO employees experience less occupational stress
than the less qualified and less experienced employees.
Table # 14, 15 and 16 have been developed to test H3 and the details are as follow:
Table 14
Comparison of Mean and SD of NGO Employees on OSI-R for the variable
Qualification (N=500)
142
OSI Total
OSI Total
Graduate
Master
Above Master
(n=112)
(n=356)
(n=32)
M
173.25
SD
22.35
SD
167.39 20.85
SD
160.62 23.68
Table 14 describes the scores of NGO employees on OSI-R for the variable
qualification, illustrating that employees with less qualification experience more occupational
stress (Graduate M= 173.25, Above Master M= 160.62). The mean and standard deviations of
employees based on qualification of graduate, master and above master degree revealed that
the NGO employees with less qualification experienced more occupational stress compared to
the highly qualified employees. Thus, these findings support the research hypothesis that the
highly qualified employees experience less occupational stress compared to the less educated
employees.
Table 15
One-Way Analysis of Variance of NGO Employees Scores on OSI-R for the Variable
Source
df
Job Title
499
5.382
.005*
***P<0 .01
143
Table 15 shows the analysis of variance performed on the responses of NGO

employees for the variable qualification. It shows a significant difference between the scores
of NGO employees with different qualification levels, F (3, 497) = 5.382, P< .005**.
Table 16
Comparison of Mean and SD of NGO Employees on OSI-R Subscales for Experience
(N=500)
OSI Total
3 Years
3-7 Years
7 and Above
(n=116)
(n=205)
(n=179)
SD
SD
SD
ORQ
85.55 11.77
80.31 10.04
80.44 10.20
PSQ
50.39 9.07
49.24 10.03
48.49 11.33
PRQ
42.44 5.77
38.90 5.95
39.37 5.98
Total
178.39 21.86
168.46 19.94
167.31 23.19
Table #16 presents the analysis of the second component of the hypothesis #2 related
to the NGO employees work experience. It reveals that the level of occupational stress is
more among the employees with less work experience compared to the employees with more
work experience (3 years M= 178.39, 7 and above years M= 167.00). It further describes the
stress is highest among less experienced employees due to occupational roles, which supports
the findings of the research hypothesis #2 as well.
144
It seems from the results that qualification and work experience are important variables
in determining the level of occupational stress. Employees with higher qualification and with
longer stay at a workplace feel more comfortable and confident in meeting their job demands
and may effectively cope with the occupational stress. Thus, the empirical results presented in
table # 14, 15 and 16 validate H3 that highly qualified and experienced NGO employees
experience less occupational stress than the less qualified and less experienced employees.
H4: Highly educated NGO employees are more capable of coping with occupational stress
than the less educated ones.
Table 17
Comparison of Mean and SD of NGO Employees on Coping strategies for the variable
OSI Sub Scale
PRQ
Graduates
Master
Above Master
(n=112)
(n=356)
(n=32)
SD
SD
32.71
5.91
28.84
6.00
SD
39.90 5.75
Table 17 shows the results of respondents scores on OSI-R subscale PRQ. The results
indicates that NGO employees with higher qualification have low mean score on PRQ as
compared to employees with less qualification (M=28.84), which means that the level of
education is an important factor in handling the stressful situations. Qualified employees can
145
manage stressful situations by using effective stress coping techniques. The above results
support the H4 that highly educated employees are more capable of coping with occupational
stress than the less educated ones.
H5: NGO employees with higher qualification have lower organizational commitment than
NGO employees with lower qualification.
To examine the H5 the mean and SD and analysis of variance of NGO employees
responses on OCQ for qualification was performed. Table # 18 and 19 show the results.
Table 18
Comparison of Mean and SD of NGO Employees on OCQ for Qualification (N=500)
OCQ
Graduate
Master
Above Master
(n=112)
(n=356)
(n=32)
SD
SD
SD
NC
19.95 4.38
22.42 4.75
20.68 5.40
AC
15.43 2.40
12.03 2.60
13.44 2.01
CC
15.30 2.18
12.54 2.33
13.18 2.64
Total
50.61 6.57
47.00 6.66
44.12 6.74
Table 18 reflects the results of NGO employees on OCQ for the variable qualification.
The results show that the employees with higher qualification have low level of organizational
commitment (Graduate M= 50.61, Above Master= 44.12).
146
Table 19
One-Way Analysis of Variance of NGO Employees Scores on OCQ for the Variable
Source
df
Qualification
499
4.018
.012**
**P < 0.05

Table 19 indicates a significant difference in the response of NGO employees for the
variable of qualification. It is in line with the results of the previous table showing that
employees with lower qualification have higher scores on OCQ.
The discussion in the literature review indicated that the level of education was
negatively related to organizational commitment as greater number of job options that may be
available to employees with higher levels of education. It was expected that the NGO
employees with higher qualification may report lower organizational commitment, as they
might have more opportunities in the job market, consequently, resulting in their lower
continuance commitment and higher turn over. Thus, the above results support the research
hypothesis # 5 that employees with higher qualification have low organizational commitment
than employees with less qualification.
H6: The level of organizational commitment of NGO employees increases with age,
experience, income and job position
The results for analysis of the relationship of age, experience, income and job position
with organizational commitment are shown in tables 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26 and 27.
147
Table 20
Comparison of Mean and SD of NGO Employees on OCQ for Age (N=500)
OCQ
20-30 Yrs
30-40 Yrs
40 and Above
(n=169)
(n=214)
(n=117)
SD
SD
SD
NC
19.84 4.91
20.10 4.15
22.01 5.20
AC
15.27 2.64
15.13 2.17
16.90 2.94
CC
12.49 2.33
14.90 2.93
14.42 2.38
Total
47.62 7.11
47.86 6.04
53.35 7.28
Table 20 illustrates the results for OCQ on the variable age. It indicates that age
influences the level of employees organizational commitment as the older NGO employees
are more committed towards their organization than the younger ones (20-30 years M= 47.62,
40 years and above M= 53.35).
Table 21
One-Way Analysis Of Variance of NGO Employees Scores On OCQ for Variable Age
(N=500)
Source
df
Age
499
5.082
.002**
**P < 0.01
148
Table 21 indicates that there is a significant difference in the commitment level of

employees on the variable age, F = (3,497) = 5.082, P < .002**.
Table 22
Comparison of Mean and SD of NGO employees on OSI-R for Age (N=500)
OSI
20-30 Yrs
30-40 Yrs
40 and Above
(n=169)
(n=214)
(n=117)
SD
SD
SD
ORQ
80.47 11.36
80.72 10.13
80.74 9.99
PSQ
49.25 10.30
49.35 10.30
47.05 10.47
PRQ
39.04 5.88
38.81 5.91
38.58 6.04
Total
168.77 20.86
168.90 21.44
166.38 22.85
Table 22 shows the results of OSI-R for and its subscales on age. The results indicate
that younger employees experience more occupational stress than older ones (20-25 years M=
168.77, 40 years and above M= 166.38). The mean scores of PSQ and PRQ are lower for
older employees (PSQ M=47.05, PRQ M= 38.58).
The results related to the variable age indicate that age is an important factor in
determining the level of organizational commitment because the level of commitment
increases with age. Moreover, in the NGO sector, the opportunities may diminish with
149
increase in age. That is why the older workers, due to their stronger investment may prefer to
stay with an employer for a longer period. The results related to age and OSI-R indicate that
younger employees experience more occupational stress compared to older ones. The older
NGO employees experience less personal strain and have better coping resources in dealing
with strain than the younger employees.
Table 23
Comparison of Mean and SD of NGO Employees on OCQ for Experience (N=500)
OCQ Total
3 Years
3-7 Years
7 and Above
(n=116)
(n=205)
(n=179)
SD
SD
SD
NC
19.37 4.55
20.51 4.45
24.11 5.08
AC
15.41 2.10
14.72 2.62
16.41 2.62
CC
12.51 2.34
12.49 2.34
15.58 2.31
Total
47.29 8.99
47.72
56.1
9.41
10.01
Table 23 describes the results for OCQ on the variable experience. It shows that the
employees with more work experience have higher organizational commitment as compared
to employees with less work experience (3 years M= 47.27, 7 years and above M= 56.1). The
literature pursued on the relationship of experience and organizational commitment suggested
a positive link between them, as for an employee the cost of leaving an organization after a
longer stay may be very high, which may result in stronger continuance commitment.
150
Interestingly the above results indicate that both the continuance and normative types of
organizational commitment get stronger with more experience.
Table 24
One-Way Analysis of Variance of NGO Employees Scores on OCQ for the Variable
Experience (N=500)
Source
df
Experience
499
3.137
.044*
**P < 0.01

Table 24 shows that variable experience shows significant difference on NGO
employees commitment level, F = (3,497) = 3.137, P < .044**. The results related to the
variable experience show that it is positively associated with organizational commitment.
Employees with more work experience develop higher organizational commitment may be
because of reasons such as emotional attachment, satisfaction resulting from the use of their
skills and contributions made towards building the organization.
Table 25
Comparison of Mean and SD of NGO Employees on OCQ for Income (N=500)
________________________________________________________________________
OCQ
up to 10000
10000-20000
20000 and above
(n=81)
(n=169)
(n=250)
151
SD
SD
SD
NC
15.54 5.24
19.49 4.19
21.42 4.76
AC
15.72 2.31
15.01 2.50
17.00 2.59
CC
12.74 2.01
12.54 2.33
12.46 2.42
Total
44.00 9.56
47.07 9.02
50.88 9.77
Table 25 describes the results for variable income on organizational commitment. It

indicates that NGO employees with high-income level have a higher score on the total scale of
OCQ (up to 10000 M= 44.00, 20000 and above M= 50.88). Income seems positively
associated with the organizational commitment because it directly affects an individuals
lifestyle and status.
Table 26
Comparison of Mean and SD of NGO Employees on OSI-R for Income (N=500)
OSI
up to 10000
10000-20000
20000 and above
(n=81)
(n=169)
(n=250)
SD
SD
SD
ORQ
83.97 12.19
82.09 10.87
78.59 9.20
PSQ
49.22 8.8
50.43 11.09
47.52 10.31
PRQ
39.82 5.63
39.05 6.11
38.37 5.86
Total
173.02 21.18
171.58 22.58
164.48 20.37
152
Table 26 shows results for variable income on occupational stress. It indicates that
employees with lower income level have higher occupational stress than employees with
higher income. (up to 10000 M= 173.02, 20000 and above M= 164.48). From the results,
employees income level seems positively associated with the occupational stress.
Table 27
Comparison of Mean and SD of NGO Employees on OCQ for Job Position (N=500)
OCQ
Managers
Office Staff
Field Staff
(n=168)
(n=256)
(n=76)
SD
SD
SD
NC
25.05 4.17
17.93 4.70
20.13 5.25
AC
12.37 2.23
14.87 2.76
12.44 2.23
CC
12.56 2.18
12.45 2.39
11.71 2.43
Total
50.00 6.07
45.27 7.01
45.29 6.35
Table 27 illustrates results for variable of job position on organizational commitment.

It shows that the employees holding senior positions have a higher level of organizational
commitment than others (managers= 50.00, field staff= 45.29).
The results shown in table # 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26 and 27 endorse the research H6
that the level of commitment increases with age, experience, income and job position. All
these factors are found to be positively related with organizational commitment. An
employees age, experience, income and job position all may contribute in strengthening
153
his/her position and enhancing the status in an organization, which consequently influences
his/her level organizational commitment.
H7 :
NGO employees have stronger normative commitment than affective and continuance
commitment.
Table 28
Comparison of Mean and SD of NGO Employees on OCQ and its subscales (N=500)
NC
OCQ
AC
SD
23.05 4.17
CC
SD
19.93 4.70
SD
19.13 5.25
Table 28 shows the results of OCQ on its subscales of NC, AC and CC. The results
indicate that the normative commitment is stronger than affective and continuance
commitment among employees (NC M=23.05, AC M= 19.93, CC M= 19.33).
The reasons for NGO employees strong organizational commitment and particularly
normative commitment have been discussed in the literature review. Since most of the NGOs
in Pakistan are involved in developmental, social welfare, relief and community development
work, NGOs may possibly create a feeling of pride among their employees, resulting in a
sense of emotional attachment to the organization. It seems that NGO employees may feel that
it is their moral duty to stay with the organization and to help achieve its mission that
promotes a sense of normative commitment among them. The above results corroborate the
154
H7 that NGO employees have stronger normative commitment than affective and continuance
commitment.
5.5 RESULTS RELATED TO UNHYPOTHESIZED VARIABLES

In the present study, seven hypotheses were formulated to measure the objectives of
the research and to answer the research questions. However, based on the data trends two unhypothesized variables, worthwhile to mention, namely gender and marital status were
included. The findings related to these variables are shown in tables # 29, 30, 31, 32 below.
Table 29
Comparison of Mean and SD of NGO Employees on OSI-R for Gender (N=500)
OSI
Male
Female
(n=275)
(n=225)
SD
SD
ORQ
79.53 10.35
84.00 10.56
PSQ
48.77 10.37
48.79 10.52
PRQ
38.91 5.8
38.75 6.09
Total
167.21 20.99
171.56 22.23
Table 29 shows the scores of NGO employees on OSI-R for the variable gender. The
results reflect that female NGO employees have higher occupational stress than the male
employees (Female M=171.56, Male M= 167.21). The mean scores on ORQ is the highest for
females which indicates that female employees experience more occupational role stress
(Female M=84.00, Male M= 79.53).
155
One possible explanation for higher female occupational role stress may be the
multiple roles that females play in their life in Pakistani society. Balancing between their work
and domestic roles might lead to higher occupational role stress.
Table 30
Comparison of Mean and SD of NGO Employees on OCQ for Gender (N=500)
OCQ
Male
Female
(n=275)
(n=225)
SD
SD
NC
20.38 4.77
20.63 4.71
AC
15.13 2.46
17.12 2.60
CC
12.47 2.24
14.60 2.43
Total
47.94 6.82
52.35 6.66
Table 30 indicates the scores of NGO employees on OCQ for the variable gender,
showing that female employees are more committed towards their organization than the male
employees. The mean scores on OCQ are the highest for female staff (Female M=52.35, Male
M= 47.94).
156
Table 31
Comparison of Mean and SD of NGO Employees on OSI-R for Marital Status (N=500)
OSI
Married
Unmarried
(n=112)
(n=356)
SD
SD
ORQ
79.64 10.45
81.85 10.47
PSQ
48.64 10.61
48.94 10.23
PRQ
38.68 5.84
39.02 6.03
Total
166.98 21.75
169.82 21.29
Table 31 explains the scores of NGO employees on OSI-R for marital status. The
results show that unmarried employees have higher occupational stress than the married
employees (Unmarried M= 169.82, Married M= 166.98). The mean scores on ORQ are
highest for unmarried employees (M=81.85) which indicate that unmarried employees receive
highest stress from the occupational roles.
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Table 32
Comparison of Mean and SD of NGO Employees on OCQ for Marital Status (N=500)
OCQ
Married
Unmarried
(n=112)
(n=356)
SD
SD
NC
24.00 4.97
20.83 4.52
AC
14.93 2.80
15.28 2.26
CC
18.43 2.25
12.60 2.39
Total
52.36 10.02
48.71 9.17
Table 32 shows the scores of NGO employees on OCQ for marital status. It illustrates
that married employees are more committed towards their organization than the unmarried
employees (Unmarried M=48.71, Married M= 52.36). The mean scores on NC are the highest
for married employees (M= 24.00) showing that they have a strong normative commitment
towards their organization.
The above results shown in tables # 29, 30, 31, 32 related to the two un-hypothesized
variables, which are gender and marital status indicate some interesting findings. The results
indicate that female employees experience more occupational stress, particularly occupational
role stress at work. However, their level of commitment is higher compared to the male
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employees. It was also seen that unmarried employees experience more occupational stress,
however their level of commitment is lower compared to the married employees.
5.6 SUMMARY OF THE RESEARCH RESULTS

This study contributes to the literature on the relationship between occupational stress
and organizational commitment in the NGO sector of Pakistan. It provides empirical evidence
to the theoretical model that links occupational stress with organizational commitment. It was
found that there is an inverse relationship between occupational stress and organizational
commitment, and though majority of NGO employees experience high or moderate
occupational stress, NGO employees working in service delivery organizations are found to
have overall higher occupational stress which, therefore, manifests itself in the form of lower
organizational commitment. It is interesting to observe that NGO employees have more role
related stress.
One significant finding is that younger employees experience more occupational stress
than the older ones, showing that age and experience contribute significantly in improving the
ability to cope with stress. But on the other hand it is also noted that the employees with more
work experience have higher occupational stress as compared to employees with less work
experience.
Another notable finding is that female NGO employees have higher occupational stress
than the male employees. Particularly, they experience higher level of occupational role stress.
The level of education also shows its impact in determining the level of occupational stress.
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The NGO employees with a higher level of education are observed to have better occupational
stress coping tendencies than those having lesser qualification.
Most of the NGO employees are able to maintain a moderate or high level of overall
organizational commitment. The normative commitment among employees is higher than
affective and continuance commitment. Age seems to have a statistically significant
relationship with organizational commitment of employees working in the NGO sector of
Pakistan. As older NGO workers are found to be more committed towards their organization
than the younger ones. NGO employees with higher level of income have higher
organizational commitment. Whereas, the experienced NGO employees reported stronger
normative and continuance commitment on the subscale of OCQ.
More experienced employees are found to be more committed towards their

organization than the less experienced ones. Compared to the other NGO employees, NGO
managers have a higher level of organizational commitment and stronger normative
commitment. Female employees are more committed towards their organization than the male
employees. They have stronger affective and continuance commitment than their male
colleagues. NGO employees with higher qualification have a lower level of organizational
commitment as compared to the staff with less qualifications. Unmarried employees have
higher occupational stress, whereas married employees are more committed towards their
organizations than the unmarried ones.
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5.7 SUMMARY
In this chapter, the results of the empirical research were reported. The
characteristics of the respondents of the study were elaborated, determinants of reliability,
validity and descriptive statistics of both OSI-R and OCQ were discussed, statistical analysis
of the data related to the research hypotheses was reported and summary of key research
findings was presented. The next chapter covers further discussion and interpretation of the
study results, conclusion, recommendations and suggestions for the future research.
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CHAPTER 6
DISCUSSION, CONCLUSION, LIMITATIONS AND
SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH
INTRODUCTION
This chapter provides the discussions and interpretations of the results of this study.
Furthermore, this chapter also discusses the conclusions drawn as well as the limitations of the
study followed by the suggestions and propositions for the future research.
6.1 DISCUSSION
The purpose of this study, primarily, was to examine the research objectives, which
included; firstly, to determine the relationship between occupational stress and organizational
commitment in the NGO sector in Pakistan; secondly, to find out the level, causes and
dimensions of NGO employees occupational stress; thirdly, to explore the level and forms of
NGO employees organizational commitment; and finally, to analyze and ascertain the affects
of various demographic variables including, age, experience, job position, gender,
qualification, income and marital status, on the occupational stress and organizational
commitment of NGO employees. In order to examine the research objectives, the following
study questions were developed:
1. What is the relationship between occupational stress and organizational commitment?

2. What is the level and dimensions of NGO employees occupational stress?
3. What is the overall level of NGO employees organizational commitment?
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4. What forms of organizational commitment are manifested among the NGO employees and
which one is the most dominant?
5. What is the influence of demographic factors (age, experience, job position, gender,
qualification, income and marital status) of occupational stress and organizational
commitment on the NGO employees in Pakistan?
To answer the research questions, an extensive review of the literature was undertaken
highlighting different theories, models and recent research work in the area of occupational
stress and organizational commitment. The literature reveals that there are multiple factors
that contribute to occupational stress which, therefore, makes it a complex phenomenon to
study and its significance is all the more because it directly affects or influences an
employees organizational commitment. Though the relationship between occupational stress
and organizational commitment has been studied in various settings, however, no study
directly addressing this issue in the NGO sector in Pakistan was found.
Most of the previous researches conducted in the domain of occupational stress and
organizational commitment in Pakistan were related to dimensions like role stress and work
environment (Khan, 2005), job satisfaction (Cochinwala & Imam, 1987; Haider & Najam,
Shah & Syed, 1990; Khan, 1973) and motivation (Mufti & Hassan, 1965). Present research,
therefore, intends to create an empirical evidence to unravel the relationship between
occupational stress and organizational commitment in the NGO sector in Pakistan. The
answers to the above research questions are discussed in detail in the following sub section.
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6.1.1 Answers to Research Questions

Based on the empirical results of this study, following are the answers to the research
questions:
Research Question 1: What is the relationship between occupational stress and
organizational commitment?
In order to answer the first research question it was hypothesized that there was an
inverse relationship between occupational stress and organizational commitment. To analyze
this relationship inter-correlation between total scales and subscales of OSI-R and OCQ were
calculated. The results illustrated that as a whole there was a negative correlation between the
total scale of OSI-R with OCQ (-.40**), which meant that higher score on occupational stress
led to lower score on organizational commitment of the NGO employees (Chapter #5 , Table
11).
It was also found out that the nature of organization also affected the relationship
between occupational stress and organizational commitment. The mean score of employees
working in service delivery organizations was higher on OSI-R and lower on OCQ compared
to employees working in the office work organizations (OSI-R M= 170.24, OCQ M= 48.26),
which meant that employees working in service delivery organizations have higher
occupational stress and resultantly have lower commitment (Chapter #5, Table 12). These
results validated that there is an inverse relationship between occupational stress and
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These results are consistent with the results of numerous studies cited by Siu (2002),
Omolara (2008) and Jex (2002) who proposed that there is a negative relationship between
occupational stress and organizational commitment. Khurshid, (2008) carried out a study on
the relationship of personality characteristics with occupational role stress and organizational
commitment among the university teachers in Pakistan. A significant negative correlation was
found between occupational role stress and organizational commitment. Demographic
variables of age, gender, marital status, qualification, income, type of employment,
experience, and working extra hours significant correlated with personality, stress and
organizational commitment and contributed significantly to stress and commitment.
Altaf (1999) studied the relationship between organizational commitment and

occupational stress on doctors and teachers in Pakistan. He used organizational commitment
questionnaire- OCQ for measurement of organizational commitment and scale of Rizzo for
stress, anxiety measurement. The result indicated a significantly negative relationship between
the organizational commitment and occupational stress. The result also revealed that teachers
are more committed towards their organization as compared to doctors. The level of stress
was also high among teachers as compared to doctors.
Moore and Chawla, (1994) did a study on law enforcement and health care
professionals on organizational commitment and occupational stress. They found a significant
relationship between occupational stress and organizational commitment. Individuals who did
not have sufficient training or education to perform their jobs were less committed to their job.
Individuals, who had problems with work quality, had poor attitudes towards work or showed
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lower organizational commitment. Individuals who experienced a high level of role conflict
and ambiguity also decreased their level of organizational commitment.
The possible reason for the large turn over of employees in NGOs in Pakistan
(NGORC, 2000) could be the result of the highly stressful work environment, which puts
strain on the employees leading consequently to lower organizational commitment and high
turnover. Therefore, the study results establish that there is an inverse relationship between
occupational stress and organizational commitment in the NGO sector in Pakistan.
Research Question 2: What is the level and dimensions of NGO employees occupational
stress?
To answer the second research question the overall occupational stress level of
respondents was measured. For the purpose of analysis, the levels of occupational stress
including mild, moderate and high were determined and the percentages of NGO employees
scores on OSI-R were calculated. The OSI-R scores ranged from 136 to 207 (Chapter # 5,
Table 4). The levels and percentages of stress were determined on the main sample. The
analysis indicated that 15 % NGO employees had mild stress, 38% had moderate stress,
whereas, 47% NGO employees experienced high level of occupational stress (Chapter #5,
Table 5).
The results revealed that the majority of NGO employees experienced a moderate or
higher level of occupational stress. Previous research studies by Khan (2005), TVO (2004)
and Uddin (2004) showed that working environment in NGOs in Pakistan is stressful;
particularly fieldwork puts workers in many kinds of physical and psychological hazards with
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minimal organizational support. Working in a high stress environment may eventually result
in negative physical, psychological and behavioral job strain. Moreover, most NGO jobs are
temporary and based on project funding from the international donor agencies and these
international agencies strictly fund the staff salaries for the duration of the project only. There
is hardly any NGO in Pakistan, which provides organizational support and professional help
to its employees to effectively deal with occupational stress (TVO, 2007). Hence, the lack of
stress coping resources could also be one of the main causes of high occupational stress in
NGOs in Pakistan.
The results of the OSI-R for the second hypothesis of the study showed that NGO
employees experience high occupational role stress (ORQ M 168.11, PSQ M= 97.41)
(Chapter #5, Table 13). The results also show that the occupational role stress experienced by
NGO employees working in service delivery organizations is higher than the office based
employees (ORQ Service Delivery M= 88.72, Office Based M= 79.39).
The literature perused on NGOs indicates that NGO employees often have conflicting
job demands and the role conflicts are caused by the inadequate information and authority
with which to perform a job, such role ambiguity leads to confusion and/or consequent role
stress (Abdelrahman, 2007). Nasir & Haq, (1995) examined the relationship between job
stress, job satisfaction and the level of job commitment among the government officials in
Pakistan. The result indicated a significant but negative correlation between job induced stress
and job satisfaction i.e., higher the stress, lower the job satisfaction. The job-induced stress
also indicates a significant negative correlation with the organizational commitment. Thus, the
167
above results confirm that NGO employees experience a moderate to high level of
occupational stress mainly due to their occupational roles.
Research Question 3: What is the overall level of NGO employees organizational

commitment?
To answer the research question, the level of organizational commitment was
determined and the percentages of NGO employees scores on OCQ were computed. To
determine the cutoff scores for OCQ, percentile ranks were calculated. The cutoff scores
ranged from 38 to 59 (Chapter #5, Table 9). The levels, frequencies and percentages of
organizational commitment on the main sample of NGO employees indicated that 23% of the
respondents fell in the category of low organizational commitment, 38% in moderate and 39%
of the respondents fell in the category of high organizational commitment (Chapter #5, Table
10). The results indicated that the majority of NGO employees had a moderate or higher level
of organizational commitment.
Chughtai & Zafar, (2006) studied the influence of organizational commitment on two
organizational outcomes including job performance and turnover intentions among the
university teachers in Pakistan using OCQ. The results of the study indicated that the personal
characteristics, facets of job satisfaction and two dimensions of organizational justice as a
group were significantly related to organizational commitment of teachers. Organizational
commitment level of teachers was found as high and negatively related to turnover intentions
and positively related to a self-report measure of job performance.
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Thus, despite working in a high stress environment, it is significant to note from the
results of this study that the overall level of organizational commitment of NGO employees is
moderate to high.
Research Question 4: What forms of organizational commitment are manifested among

the NGO employees and which one is the most dominant?
The three forms of organizational commitment have been discussed in detail in chapter
#2. The results of OCQ indicated that the NGO employees have a positive organizational
commitment on all the three subscales NC, AC, and CC (NC M=23.05, AC M= 19.93, CC
M= 19.33) (Chapter # 5, Table 28).
An important hypothesis of the research was that the normative commitment was
stronger than affective and continuance commitment among NGO employees. The results on
the subscales of OCQ showed that normative commitment was higher than affective and
continuance commitment among the NGO employees (Chapter # 5, Table 28). A possible
explanation for stronger normative commitment could be a sense of emotional attachment to
the organization, as explained in answer to research question three and the satisfaction of
serving the community in a tangible way.
Thus, the results showed that out of the three forms of organizational commitment
manifested by NGO employees, normative commitment was found to be the most dominant
form of organizational commitment.
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Research Question 5: What is the influence of demographic factors (age, experience, job
position, gender, qualification, income and marital status) on occupational stress and
organizational commitment of the NGO employees in Pakistan?
Following is the discussion on the influence of each demographic factor on NGO
employees occupational stress and organizational commitment in the NGO sector of Pakistan:
Age: One of the hypotheses was that the level of commitment increases with age,
experience, income and job position. The results illustrated that older workers were more
committed towards their organization than the younger ones. The analysis of variance
indicated that there was a significant difference in the commitment level of workers on the
variable age. F = (3,496) = 5.082, P < .002** (Chapter#5, Table 21). It can be assumed that
after an employee has worked for an organization for an extended period of time they become
emotionally attached. With age comes experience and opportunities for better position within
the organization, which can increase an employees desire to remain with the organization.
Moreover, by leaving the organization the employee has to surrender financial rewards,
personal relationships and retirement benefits. The above results confirm the research
hypothesis that level of commitment increases with age, experience, income and job position.
Experience: It was assumed that highly experienced employees go through less
occupational stress than the less experienced ones. The results show that the employees with
more work experience have higher occupational stress as compared to employees with less
work experience. The results related to organizational commitment on experience illustrated
that experienced employees were more committed towards their organization than the less
experienced employees (Chapter#5, Table 21). The experienced NGO employees reported
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higher normative and continuance commitment on the subscale of OCQ. Analysis of variance
for experience also showed that there was a significant difference in the responses of
employees. F (2, 499) = 3.137 p<.044 (Chapter#5, Table 24).
Job Position: Job position is an important factor in order to see the difference in responses
that an employee gives in a situation as a manager, staff or a field worker. The results
illustrated that as employees become more experienced and are promoted to the higher
positions they experience more occupational stress as compared to workers with less work
experience and working on a lower level (Chapter#5, Table 27). Seniority level is an
important contributor to the different perceptions of stress, Senior NGO managers perceived
higher levels of occupational role stress. Moreover, employees holding management positions
in NGOs have a higher level of organizational commitment than others, particularly normative
commitment (Chapter#5, Table 27). A previous research indicates that NGO managers feel
stronger commitment due to the feeling of serving the community in tangible ways and the
experience of working with the likeminded people (Abdelrahman, 2007). Holding a
management position also means higher income and status in their organizations.
Gender: Gender was found to be a contributing factor affecting the differ rences in the
level of occupational stress. The female NGO employees reported higher level of occupational
role stress than the male employees. The mean and standard deviation scores for OSI-R total
and its subscales for gender were calculated. The results indicated that the female NGO
employees had higher occupational role stress than the male employees. The mean scores on
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ORQ were the highest for female staff (M=84.00), indicating that the females experience
more occupational role stress than male employees (Chapter#5, Table 29).
Comparison of mean and standard deviation of employees on OCQ for gender
highlighted that female employees were more committed towards their organization than the
male employees were. The mean score for female employees on AC (M=17.12 and CC
(M=14.60) were higher showing that female NGO employees have stronger affective
commitment than their male colleagues (Chapter#5, Table 30).
This finding is supported by Colbert and Kwon (2000) and Boezeman, (2007) who
reported that women had higher organizational commitment compared to men and that there is
a statistically significant relationship between gender and organizational commitment. Altaf
(1999) explored the relationship of organizational commitment and occupational stress on
doctors and teachers and reported that females were more committed to their organization and
experienced more occupational stress as compared to the males.
Researchers who have reported differences in the organizational commitment of men

and women have argued that women tend to have stronger continuance commitment because
they find it difficult to obtain employment and therefore would hold on to it once they have
found it. However, the women in the present study, probably, do not have lack of alternatives
as they are qualified professionals and most NGOs in Pakistan try to ensure the equal
employment opportunity for both men and women in their employments (TVO, 2007).
Qualification: One of the hypotheses of the research was that highly qualified and
experienced employees experiences less occupational stress. The mean and standard
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deviations of employees based on qualification of graduate, master and above master degree
revealed that those who were less qualified experienced more occupational stress. The results
illustrate that highly qualified staff have lower mean score (M=28.84) on OSI-R subscale PRQ
(Chapter#5, Table 14).
The findings also support the research hypothesis that the individuals with a higher
level of education have better coping tendencies than those having lesser qualification
(Chapter#5, Table 17). It was assumed that employees with higher qualification have low
organizational commitment than employees with less qualification. The results showed that
the staff with higher qualification had a lower level of organizational commitment as
compared to the staff with lower qualification (Chapter#5, Table 18). The analysis of variance
of NGO employees for the variable qualification indicated a significant difference in the
response of NGO employees F (2, 499) = 4.018 p < .012 (Chapter#5, Table 19).
In general the level of education of respondents of this study was high, as out of the
(N=500) total population, (N= 112) respondents had a graduate degree, (N= 335) master
degree and (N=53) above master degree. It was expected that employees with higher
education level would report lower organizational commitment, as they would perceive
themselves as marketable with more alternatives. This difference could be because people
with better qualification have more opportunities in the job market, consequently, resulting in
their higher turn over.
Income: The mean and standard deviation results of OSI-R for income show that the
stress level is higher among the employees with low-income level and least reported stress
173
was found among the higher income group of NGO employees (Chapter#5, Table 26). The
statistical analysis results of OCQ for income indicated that NGO employees with highincome level have a higher score on the total scale of OCQ, meaning that income is positively
associated with the employees organizational commitment (Chapter#5, Table 25).
Marital Status: The mean and standard deviation results on OSI-R for marital status
revealed that the unmarried employees have higher occupational stress than the married ones
(M=169.82) (Chapter#5, Table 31). The possible explanation for high occupational stress
among unmarried employees could be lack of family support and inadequate coping
tendencies. The mean and standard deviation results on OCQ for marital status illustrated that
the married NGO employees were more committed towards their organizations than the
unmarried ones (Chapter#5, Table 32).
A possible reason for married employees high organizational commitment can be that
married employees have more family responsibilities and their family liabilities demand more
financial stability and security, therefore, married employees are more committed than the
unmarried ones.
Hence, the above results indicate that the demographic factors including age,
experience, job position, gender, qualification, income and marital status significantly
influence NGO employees occupational stress and organizational commitment.
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6.2 CONCLUSION
The present study provides an insight into level and dimensions of occupational stress
and its relationship with organizational commitment in the NGO sector in Pakistan. The
results of this investigation support this conjecture that there is an inverse relationship
between occupational stress and organizational commitment, which means that a high level of
stress may inversely influence organizational commitment. A majority of NGO employees
reported experiencing high or moderate occupational stress, mainly caused by the
occupational roles that they play. NGO employees working in service delivery organizations
reported higher overall occupational stress and lower organizational commitment compared to
the employees working in the office environment. Interestingly, most of the NGO employees
have reported moderate or higher level of overall organizational commitment; particularly the
normative form of organizational commitment was higher than the affective and continuance
commitment.
The results of this study also provide insights into the demographic variables that may
influence or relate to the occupational stress and organizational commitment of NGO
employees. Age and job position seemed to have a statistically significant relationship with
occupational stress and organizational commitment. It was interesting that NGO employees
who had a scope of promotional opportunity showed increased level of organizational
commitment. The strongest form of commitment manifested by NGO employees was
normative commitment. Besides enhancing the level of commitment, age and experience also
contribute significantly in improving the ability to cope with stress and in building a stronger
relationship with the organization.
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The study found that the highly qualified employees had better occupational stress
coping tendencies. Interestingly, NGO employees with higher qualification manifested a
lower level of organizational commitment as compared to the staff with less qualification.
Female NGO employees reported higher occupational stress mainly due to the occupational
roles, than the male employees. However, their level of organizational commitment was
stronger than the male employees. The strongest form of commitment manifested by females
was affective commitment. The unmarried employees experienced higher occupational stress
but their organizational commitment level was lower than the married employees.
Taking the literature and empirical study into account, it is evident that the theoretical
and empirical findings largely correspond and the results were in line with the stated
hypotheses. The above results of this study also concur with the findings of the other similar
researches discussed in the literature review.
6.3 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

The following limitations of the present investigation are to be kept in mind when
interpreting the results.
Causal relationship between occupational stress and organizational commitment could

have been inferred more effectively if additional information such as performance
ratings, absenteeism records and medical records of the respondents would have been
provided or some other objective measures and not simply relying on self-report results.
However, it was not possible to gain access to employees personal information, as the
NGO management was reluctant to share such information considering it as an intrusion
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into both employees and organizations privacy as well as a hindrance in their routine
work.
The respondents may have completed the questionnaires during a part of the year that
was overwhelming, during a heavy season, or during a down time. The time in which
the respondent completed the questionnaires may have influenced their occupational
stress level and commitment to their organization.
The responses to the self-reported questionnaires may have been subject to social
desirability, which may have occurred when participants responded to questions the way
they thought the researchers wanted them to respond.
NGOs experience ongoing restructuring due do the funding shortages and demands from
the donor agencies which may influence the employees organizational commitment and
stress level. If respondents experienced a recent or current restructuring in their
organization, that may have influenced their responses regarding organizational
commitment.
6.4 SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH

The results of this study suggest several avenues for future research. Occupational stress
and organizational commitment appear to be useful areas for continued examination. To
explore the influence of various demographic variables like age, experience, salary, years in
job position in relation to occupational stress and organizational commitment, the researcher
suggests longitudinal studies as these kinds of studies can provide a better insight into the
effects of these variables on various forms of occupational stress and organizational
commitment for enhancing effectiveness of the NGO sector.
177
Similarities and differences across occupational groups also need further investigation.
There was a significant difference in the level of occupational stress of employees working in
service delivery areas and employees working in the offices. Given the results of this study, it
would be of value if, besides variables suggested earlier, additional studies investigate the role
of psychological resilience of NGO employees working in fields.
A difference was found in the level of organizational commitment of males and females.
Here also additional research on differences in working environment or working conditions,
pattern of employment, advancement within organizations and occupations, and benefits
among different genders and occupational groups may give a valuable insight into the
antecedents, correlates and consequences of occupational stress and organizational
commitment of the diverse occupational groups working in the NGO sector of Pakistan.
Qualitative studies are needed in all fields to explain or give meaning to results. Because
the nature of NGOs working in Pakistan varies considerably, therefore, their working
environments are different from each other. Hence, a qualitative study will give a better
indication of the employees level and dimensions of occupational stress and organizational
commitment. Similarly, the strong influence of moderating and mediating variables factors
outside of work should also be addressed when performing future research in this field.
In the future studies, quantitative statistical methods such as regression analysis can also
be used to establish the relationship between key variables. Further research may also look
into the nature and pattern of employee turnover intensions and related constructs.
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6.5 APPLIED SIGNIFICANCE

The current study builds upon previous researches that examine the causal relationship
between occupational stress and organizational commitment by incorporating the correlational
survey design, a diverse sample of NGO employees from all over Pakistan, and appropriate
statistical techniques in order to strengthen the findings. Thus, this research attempts to be
thorough in its methodological design, statistical procedures and theoretical ideas. This
research is unique in that this relationship has been studied for the first time in the NGO sector
in Pakistan. This study includes both insights and contributions for the NGO managers and
their donors to better understand the occupational stressors and commitment process in order
to develop committed employees and achieve their organizational goals effectively.
Lack of commitment to the organization is one of the major negative consequences of
occupational stress. This study found that a majority of NGO employees reported
experiencing high or moderate occupational stress, mainly caused by the occupational roles
that they play. It is a serious concern because of the negative effects that occupational stress
can have on employees physical and psychological health, which can consequently lead to
productivity and performance problems for organizations. Thus, it becomes imperative for
NGO managers to formulate a comprehensive strategy for stress management that will address
the stress related problems of the NGO employees, which can eventually lead to an improved
level of organizational commitment.
Most of the NGO employees have reported moderate or higher level of over all
organizational commitment particularly the normative commitment, which reflects employees
obligation rather than desire to contribute to the organization. NGO management should
179
create a supportive work environment and should look into ways to foster and strengthen the
affective and continuance commitment of their employees by providing comprehensive
training, growth opportunities, and by providing equitable rewards and market related
incentives for employees at all levels. The results of the study also indicate that demographic
factors, both personal and organizational factors do have a statistically significant role in the
understanding the relationship between occupational stress and organizational commitment in
the NGO sector.
Organizations that require their employees to develop organizational commitment

may have to work on the factors causing occupational stress, especially role stress. NGO
management should utilize the information about the levels and dimensions of occupational
stress and formulate appropriate strategies and intervention programme to address the stress
related problems of their employees. NGO management should demonstrate their commitment
to the employees and create a supportive work environment, which will be mutually
beneficial.
This study has significantly contributed to the scarce literature available on the
relationship between occupational stress and organizational commitment in the context of
NGOs in Pakistan The strategic nature of the human resources function requires continuous
research. Therefore, there is a strong need in Pakistan to continue both qualitative and
qualitative research in this sector so that ample empirical data is available for NGO decision
makers to effectively manage the human resources and improve work performance of
individuals as well as organizations.
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6.6 MANAGERIAL IMPLICATIONS FOR NGO MANAGEMENT

It is imperative for an organization to recognize that both individual and organizational
level interventions are required to ensure an effective stress management for achieving a
stronger organizational commitment. The following recommendations are made based on the
study findings:
It is important to formulate a comprehensive strategy for stress management. This may

provide a more effective, broad- based intervention programme that will address the stress
related problems of the NGO employees, which can eventually lead to an improved level
of organizational commitment.
NGO management needs to devise regular stress management programs tailored to meet
the need of employees. It may include workshops on life skills and stress coping
techniques. Such programs need to be customized to provide for both the field based and
the office based NGO employees and not solely for the senior level managers. Such
programs should be evaluated based to measure the effectiveness. The process should be
well documented and monitored, with periodic follow-up.
Employee assistance programs, with the necessary access to counseling and therapy
should be made available to all NGO employees. This type of employee service would
help to deal with stress related to work, family and trauma, which may influence the
individuals ability to perform optimally.
Further research on the occupational stress and organizational commitment in the NGO
context in Pakistan should be encouraged. As it will provide useful empirical data to the
181
NGO managers, HRD practitioners and donor agencies for better management of their
organizations and human resources.
NGO management should share all information openly and accurately with employees and
provide explanation of managerial decisions that affect employee welfare, the future of the
organization and other employee related issues.
The NGO project proposals for funding should have an elaborate HRD component and the
funding agencies should assist more for HRD initiatives.
Select and adopt appropriate HRM practices that would contribute to the perception of the
organizations commitment to its employees and indirectly to the development of
As shown in the findings of this research, female field-based workers and young NGO
employees suffer from occupational stress the most. NGO management should carefully
design the tasks related to female and field based employees and remove the role
ambiguities from their jobs. The roles and responsibilities should be assigned keeping in
view the socio-cultural environment of the area.
Provide a more supportive work environment to help perform their jobs effectively. Field
based employees should be supported by establishing effective communication links and
enhanced field operational support.
Ensure clarity in the roles and responsibilities of the employees, which in turn will help in
coping with the occupational role stress and reducing turnover intentions of NGO
employees in Pakistan.
Provide a reasonably comfortable work environment to all employees.
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6.7 SUMMARY
In this chapter, the research question were answered in the light of the results of the
empirical research. The conclusion, recommendations of the study, suggestions for the future
research, applied significance of the study and managerial implications for NGO management
were discussed.
BIBLOIGRAPHY
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Stress. Unpublished M. Phil thesis, Quaid -e-Azam University Islamabad.
Chaka, L. T. (1998). An Investigation into perceived sources of stress and coping amongst
correctional officers of the Department of Correctional Services: Pietermaritzburg,
Kwazulu/Natal, South Africa. Unpublished M.Ed dissertation, University of Natal.
Chang, S. H. (1990). The effect of stress management intervention on job stress in child case
workers (Doctoral dissertation, Drake University, 1990). Dissertation Abstracts
International, 52, 202 7.
39
Foosiri, P. (2002). An empirical study of organizational commitment and antecedents of Thai

employees within the American Chamber of Commerce in Thailand. Dissertation
Abstracts International, 63(11), 3998A. (UMI No. 3069475)
Garbers J ed. (1999). Effective research in the human sciences: research management for
researchers, supervisors and masters and doctoral candidates. Pretoria: Van Schaik.
Heinzman, J. (2004). The relationship of age, tenure and job satisfaction to organizational
commitment: A study of two mid-western firms. Dissertation Abstracts International,
65(9), 4882B. (UMI No. 3144702)
Heydarifard, R., (2001). Evaluation of organizational commitment relationship with efficacy of
principals of high schools of Kermanshah within 2000-2001. Dissertation of Msc.
Tarbiat-e-Moallem University.
Huang, Y. (2004). Job satisfaction and organizational commitment among faculty at Taiwan's
higher education institutions. Dissertation Abstracts International, 65(8), 2849A. (UMI
No. 314333)
Ik-Whan G. Kwon, Doyle W. Banks, (2000). The Role of Job Control as a Moderator of
Emotional Dissonance and Emotional Intelligence Outcome Relationships. The Journal
of Psychology, 70. 606-622.
Johns, R. (2005). Determinants of organizational commitment among U.S. workers. Masters
Abstracts International, 43(6), 2039. (UMNI No. 1426620)
Khurshid, F. (2008). The relationship of personality characteristics with occupational role
stress and organizational commitment among the university teachers in Pakistan.
40
Unpublished doctoral dissertation, National University of Modern Languages,

Islamabad.
Kruger, A. C. M. (1992). Identification of stress in adolescents: A psycho-educational
Perspective. Unpublished Doctoral Thesis. Pretoria: University of South Africa.
Malik, N.I. (2003). Occupational Role Stress, Psychological Well- Being and Motivational
Orientation of medical Professionals. Unpublished Research Report. Quaid-e- Azam
University Islamabad.
Ryan, R. R. (1996). A survey of occupational stress, psychological strain and coping
resources in licensed professional counselors in Virginia. Doctoral dissertation,
Virginia, Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1997.
Schneider, S. (2003). Organizational commitment, job satisfaction and job characteristics of
managers: Examining the relationships across selected demographic variables.
Dissertation Abstracts International, 64(4), 1331A.
Simone, A. (2003). The effects of gender and marital status on simulated hiring decisions.
Masters Abstract International, 42(3), 1067. (UMI No. MQ84581)
Steenkamp, C. (2003). Stress in a medium and awaiting trial correctional environment.
Unpublished Masters Dissertation, University of the Western Cape.
Trivette, P. S. (1993). A national survey of occupational stress, psychological strain and
coping resources in elementary school counselors. Doctoral dissertation, Virginia
Polytechnic.
41
Appendix A
Survey Questionnaire Letter

Dated: M/D/YY
Title, First name, Last Name

Postal Address
Subject: Occupational Stress and Organizational Commitment in NGO Pakistan
Dear------:
We have asked you that you fill out the questionnaire because of your involvement and
experience of working in the NGO sector in Pakistan.
This study aims to investigate the relationship between occupational stress and
organizational commitment in NGOs of Pakistan as they relate to workers performance and
quality of life. This survey consists of two, relatively simple questionnaires, copies of which are
attached. We estimate it will take under 20 minutes to complete in most circumstances. We
realize that your time is a very scarce resource, and appreciate your devoting time to this study.
42
We assure you that your name and response will remain strictly confidential and will not
be used for anything other than this study. If you have any questions or concerns regarding this
matter, please fell free to contact us at the below mentioned numbers.
Thank you for your attention and your cooperation.
Yours Sincerely
Zahir Uddin Butt
Dr. Zahid Mahmood
Doctoral Candidate
NUML University Islamabad
0333-5574562
051-2521969
Associate Professor
Bahria University Islamabad
43
Appendix B
DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION
Organization:
Job Title:
Qualification:
Job Experience:
A. 1-3 years
B. 3-7 Years
C. 7 years and above
Monthly Income:
A. up to 10000
B. 0-20 Thousand
C. above 20 thousand
Age:
A. 20-30 years
B. 30-40 years
C. 40 years and above
Marital status:
A. Married
B. Unmarried
Gender:
A. Male
B. Female
Nature of Contract: A. Permanent
B. Contract
C. Volunteer
44
Appendix: C
SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRES
OCCUPATIONAL STRESS INVENTORY
INSTRUCTIONS
The questionnaires contain descriptive statements about occupational stress and organizational
commitment. Please read each statement carefully and decide if you ever felt this way about your
profession. Please not that there is no right or wrong answer. You have to give your own opinion
about each item. Please circle your response to each statement according to the following five-point
scale in terms of your own agreement and disagreement of the statement.
5 = Strongly Agree
4 = Agree
3 = Undecided 2 = Disagree 1 = Strongly Disagree
Example:
If you strongly agree with any of the statements given in the questionnaire, you should mark on # 5
and if you strongly disagree with any statement please mark on # 1. For the statement, where you
cannot make a decision, mark on three and rate other categories accordingly.
45

5 = Strongly Agree
4 = Agree
Occupational Roles Questionnaire (ORQ)

1.
At work I am expected to do many different tasks in too little
1 2 3 4 5
time.
2.
I feel that my job responsibilities are increasing.
1 2 3 4 5
3.
I am expected to perform tasks on my job for which I have
1 2 3 4 5
never been trained.
4.
I have to take work home with me.
1 2 3 4 5
5.
I work under tight time deadlines.
1 2 3 4 5
6.
I wish that I had more help to deal with the demands placed
1 2 3 4 5
upon me at work.
7.
My career is progressing as I had hoped it would.
1 2 3 4 5
8.
My job matches my skills and interests.
1 2 3 4 5
9.
I am board with my job.
1 2 3 4 5
46
5 = Strongly Agree 4 = Agree
10.
My talents are being used well on my job.
1 2 3 4 5
11.
My job has a good future.
1 2 3 4 5
12.
I learn new skills at my work.
1 2 3 4 5
13.
I have to perform tasks that are below my ability.
1 2 3 4 5
14.
My supervisor provides me with useful feedback about my
1 2 3 4 5
performance.
15.
When faced with several tasks I know which should be done
1 2 3 4 5
first.
16.
I know where to begin a new project when it is assigned to me.
1 2 3 4 5
17.
My supervisor asks for one thing, but really wants another.
1 2 3 4 5
18.
The priorities of my job are clear to me.
1 2 3 4 5
19.
I know the basis on which I am evaluated.
1 2 3 4 5
47
20.
I have more than one person telling me what to do.
1 2 3 4 5
21.
I know where I fit in my organization.
1 2 3 4 5
22.
My supervisors have conflicting ideas about what I should be
1 2 3 4 5
doing.
23.
It is clear who really runs things where I work.
1 2 3 4 5
24.
I frequently disagree with individuals from other work units
1 2 3 4 5
or departments.
25.
I deal with more people during the day than I prefer.
1 2 3 4 5
26.
I have on the job responsibility for the activities of other.
1 2 3 4 5
27.
If I make a mistake in my work, the consequences for others
1 2 3 4 5
can be pretty bad.
48
28.
I worry about meeting my job responsibilities.
1 2 3 4 5
Personal Strain Questionnaire ( PSQ)

29.
I dont seem able to get much done at work.
1 2 3 4 5
30.
I find myself getting behind in my work.
1 2 3 4 5
31.
Often I have accidents on the job.
1 2 3 4 5
32.
I make errors or mistakes in my work.
1 2 3 4 5
33.
I am easily irritated.
1 2 3 4 5
34.
I have been depressed.
1 2 3 4 5
35.
So many thoughts run through my head at night that I have
1 2 3 4 5
trouble falling asleep.
36.
Lately, I respond badly in situations that normally wouldnt

bother me.
1 2 3 4 5
49
37.
I have a good sense of humor.
1 2 3 4 5
38.
I wish I had more time to spend with close friends
1 2 3 4 5
39.
Lately, I do things by myself instead of with other people.
1 2 3 4 5
40.
I quarrel with members of the family.
1 2 3 4 5
41.
I find that I need time to myself to work out my problems.
1 2 3 4 5
42.
I am worried about how others at work view me.
1 2 3 4 5
43.
I have been withdrawing from people lately.
1 2 3 4 5
44.
I have unplanned weight gains
1 2 3 4 5
45.
My eating habits are inconsistent.
1 2 3 4 5
46.
I have aches and pains I cannot explain.
1 2 3 4 5
50
Personal Resources Questionnaire (PRQ)
47
When I need a vacation I take one.
2 3 4 5
48
I am able to do what I want to do in my free time.
2 3 4 5
49
On weekends I spend time doing the things I enjoy most.
2 3 4 5
50
I set aside time to do the things I really enjoy.
1 2 3 4 5
51
When Im relaxing, I frequently think about work.
1 2 3 4 5
I spend a lot of my free time on hobbies
1 2 3 4 5
There is at least one sympathetic person with whom I can
2 3 4 5
I feel I have at least one good friend I can count on.
2 3 4 5
I feel that there are other jobs I could do besides my current
1 2 3 4 5
52
53
discuss my concerns.
54
55
one.
56
I can establish priorities for the use of my time.
1 2 3 4 5
57
Once they are set, I am able to stick to my priorities
1 2 3 4 5
51
= Strongly Agree
4 = Agree
58
I have techniques to help avoid being distracted.
1 2 3 4 5
59
When faced with a problem I use a systematic approach.
1 2 3 4 5
60
When faced with the need to make a decision I try to think
1 2 3 4 5
through the consequences of choices I might make.
Thank you for completing this questionnaire
52
Appendix D
Affective Organizational Commitment Scale
1.
I would be very happy to spend the rest of my career with this
2 3 4 5
organization.
2.
I enjoy discussing my organization with people outside it.
2 3 4 5
3.
I really feel as if this organizations problems are my own.
2 3 4 5
4.
I do not feel emotionally attached to this organization.
2 3 4 5
5.
This organization has a great deal of personal meaning for me.
2 3 4 5
6.
I do not feel a strong sense of belonging to my organization.
2 3 4 5
53
5 = Strongly Agree
4 = Agree
Continuance Organizational Commitment Scale

7.
I am not afraid of what might happen if I quit my job without having
2 3 4 5
2 3 4 5
2 3 4 5
2 3 4 5
2 3 4 5
2 3 4 5
another one lined up.

8.
Too much in my life would be disrupted if I decided I wanted to

leave my organization now.
9.
10.
It would not be too costly for me to leave my organization now.
Right now, staying with my organization is a matter of necessity as

much as desire.
11.
I feel I have too few options to consider leaving this organization.
Normative Organizational Commitment Scale

12.
One of the major reasons I continue to work for this organization is

that I believe that loyalty is important and therefore feel a sense of
moral obligation to remain.
54
5 = Strongly Agree
13
4 = Agree
If I got another offer for a better job elsewhere, I would not feel it
2 3 4 5
2 3 4 5
2 3 4 5
was right to leave my organization.

14
Things were better in the days when people stayed with one
organization for most of their career.
15
I do not think that wanting to be a company man or company

woman is sensible anymore.
55
Appendix E
LIST OF SURVEYED NGOs
1.
Human Resources Development Network, Islamabad
2.
Care International
3.
National Rural Support Programme Pakistan
4.
Hashoo Foundation
5.
Islamic Relief Pakistan
6.
Muslim Aid
7.
Sustainable Development Policy Institute Islamabad
8.
Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund
9.
Strengthening Participatory Organization - SPO
10.
Caritas Pakistan
11.
Rural Support Program Network- RSPN
12.
Sight Savers International
13.
Plan Pakistan
14.
Pakistan Population Council
15.
World Vision Pakistan
16.
Merci Corps
17.
Taraqi Foundation
18.
Focus Humanitarian Assistance
56
19.
UNDP Pakistan
20.
UNV Pakistan
21.
UNICEF Pakistan
22.
UNESCO Pakistan
23.
USAID Pakistan
24.
VSO Pakistan
25.
Action Aid
26.
Helping Hands
27.
The Network for Consumer Protection
28.
Water Aid Pakistan
29.
National Commission For Human Development
30.
Rozen
31.
Civil Society Human and Institutional Development Pakistan.
32.
Lead Pakistan
33.
The Aga Khan Development Network Pakistan
34.
Aga Khan University Hospital
35.
Afghan Women Health Center Pakistan
36.
Consumer Rights Commission of Pakistan
37.
Sarhad Rural Support Programme
57
Appendix- F
DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION OF THE SAMPLE OF THE STUDY
Category
Classification
Frequency
Percentage
Nature of Organization
Office Based
201
40.2
Service delivery
299
59.8
Manager
168
33.6
Office Staff
256
51.2
Field Staff
76
15.2
Graduate
112
22.4
Master
356
71.2
Above Master
32
6.4
20-30
169
33.8
30-40
214
42.8
40 and above
117
23.4
Up to 3 years
116
23.2
3-7 years
205
41.0
7 years and above
179
35.8
Up to 10000
81
16.2
10000-20000
169
33.8
20000 and above
205
41.0
Job Title
Qualification
Age
Job Experience
Income
58
Category
Classification
Frequency
Percentage
Marital Status
Married
274
54.8
Unmarried
226
45.2
Male
275
55.0
Female
225
45.0
Permanent
187
37.4
Contract
158
31.6
Others ( Volunteer)
155
31.0
Gender
Type of Job
59
Appendix: G
Pilot Study Report

By
Zahir Uddin Butt
(November 2007)
Introduction:
The main purpose of the pilot study was to ensure the general feasibility of the data
collection method, and specifically to assess the validity and reliability of the research
instruments including; OSI-Occupational Stress Inventory and OCQ- Organizational
Commitment Questionnaire. The pilot test involved the administration of survey instruments,
which guided the creation of the final questionnaires, to a convenience sample of respondents
who were employed at various levels in NGOs.
From the NGO directory maintained by NGO Resource Centre Karachi (Reference), a
convenience sample of six NGOs included Action Aid Pakistan, Save the Children Pakistan,
Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), Caritas Pakistan, Care International Pakistan
and Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund was drawn. The population of the pilot study consisted of
eighty managers and staff who were working in both offices and field. The respondents selected
for the pilot study were as similar as possible to the target respondents of the main study. They
60
were approached at their workplace and were asked to fill out the questionnaires in the presence
of the researcher.
2. Results of the Pilot Study:

The pilot study helped in identification of redundancies in both OSI-R and OCQ, in
rewording and re-sequencing questions and in estimating the time required for completion of the
questionnaire. Based on the responses and comments from the pilot study respondents, and
feedback from the panel of experts the items of OSI-R were reduced to 60 items from 97and of
OCQ were also reduced from 24 items to 15 items.
The face validity of the research instruments was judged through the written and verbal
comments of the respondents regarding the clarity of questions and instructions.
In addition to the pilot testing of the research instruments, these instruments were also
reviewed by a panel or experts at SDPI and NUML University. The valuable feedback received
from the experts was taken into consideration in preparation of the final version of the
questionnaires.
The statistical reliability analysis of both instruments was done by employing Alpha
Reliability Coefficient and Split half Reliability Analysis. The Construct Validity was examined
by computing Items Total Correlation and Inter-Scale Correlation and Cutoff Scores table was
developed with the help of Percentile Ranking. The results of statistical analysis for both OSI-R
and OCQ are as following:
61
Results of OSI
Table A
Item Total Correlations of OSI
Item Corrl
Item Corrl
Item Corrl
Item Corrl
.398
26
.220
51
.251
76
.382
.396
27
.308
52
.376
77
-.066
.534
28
.265
53
.277
78
-.243
-.336
29
.296
54
.227
79
.292
.110
30
.436
55
.439
80
-.271
.086
31
.299
56
.152
81
.208
.118
32
-.351
57
.221
82
.155
.305
33
.374
58
-.102
83
.122
.337
34
.295
69
-.024
84
-.195
10
.289
35
.057
60
.219
85
-.080
11
.303
36
.206
61
-.097
86
-.231
12
.473
37
.176
62
.071
87
-.138
13
.303
38
.154
63
.130
88
-.433
14
.295
39
-.123
64
.399
89
.210
15
.191
40
.351
65
.328
90
.211
16
.160
41
.290
66
.179
91
-.383
62
17
-.216
42
.200
67
.20
92
-.165
18
.241
43
.296
68
.391
93
-.406
19
.016
44
.518
69
.512
94
-.657
20
.252
45
.245
70
.264
95
-.496
21
.522
46
-.291
71
.167
96
-.408
22
-.294
47
-.116
72
.221
97
.547
23
-.231
48
.175
73
.144
24
.273
49
.105
74
.401
25
.360
50
.295
75
.357
Table A shows item total correlation of OSI. A total of 37 items including item # 4, 6, 9,
10, 15, 16, 20, 24, 26, 28, 35, 36, 38, 39, 42, 46, 47, 48, 49, 53, 56, 58, 60, 61, 62, 70, 71, 72, 73,
78, 82, 83, 85, 87, 89, 90 were found insignificant and were removed form the OSI
questionnaire.
Table B
Percentile Ranks of Respondents Score of OSI
In order to determine the levels of stress among NGO workers, percentiles ranks were
computed on the scores. The cutoff points were determined and categorized into groups
including mild, moderate and high stress.
63
Percentile
OSI TOTAL
268.0000
10
279.0000
15
281.0000
20
288.0000
25
290.0000
30
291.0000
35
293.7000
40
297.0000
45
297.0000
50
306.5000
55
311.0000
60
311.6000
65
314.0000
70
316.0000
75
317.0000
80
317.0000
85
318.8500
64
90
319.0000
95
323.7500
Table B indicates the percentiles ranks of respondent scores on OSI-R. The score of 290
falls on 25th percentile illustrates mild stress. Score of 306 falls on 50th percentile and
characterized as moderate stress. Whereas, the score of 317 falls on 75th percentile, is
characterized as high stress.
Split Half Reliability Coefficients of OSI-R

The Split Half Reliability of OSI-R was computed. The results indicate the reliability
coefficient for part 1 (49 items) is .4346 and for part 2 (48 items) .4471, which reflects that the
tool is internally consistent.
Alpha Reliability Analysis of OSI-R

The alpha reliability coefficient of OSI-R yielded a reliability coefficient figure of .6603
for the entire 97, which indicates that the instrument is internally consistent.
65
Results of OCQ
Table C
Item Total Correlation of OCQ
_______________________________________________________________________
Items
Correlations
________________________________________________________________________
1
-.226
-.089
.712
.193
-.219
-.276
-.234
-.254
10
.183
.158
11
.461
12
-.101
13
-.369
14
.792
15
.197
16
.186
17
-0.91
66
18
.153
19
-.105
20
.317
21
-.230
22
.210
23
-.198
24
.398
Table C shows item total correlation of OCQ. As a result of analysis items # 4, 5, 10, 15,
16, 17, 18, 19, 22, being were removed form the OCQ questionnaire being insignificant and with
limited face validity.
Table D
Percentiles Ranks of OCQ
In order to determine the cut off score and level of commitment on present sample, the
percentiles ranks of OCQ were calculated.
PERCENTILE
OCQ TOAL
71.0000
10
71.1000
15
20
76.0000
76.2000
67
25
77.0000
30
77.0000
35
77.0000
40
78.4000
45
79.0000
50
55
60
65
79.0000
80.0000
81.0000
81.0000
70
81.0000
75
85.0000
80
87.0000
85
88.8500
90
89.0000
95
92.0000
Table D reveals percentile ranks of respondents scores on OCQ. The score of 77 falls on
25th percentile, which is characterized as low level of organizational commitment. The score of
79 falls on 50th percentile characterize as medium level of organizational commitment. And the
score of 85 falls on the 75th percentile reflects as high level of organizational commitment.
68
Table E
Correlation of OCQ with Subscales
SUBSCALES
Affective
Continuance
Affective
1.0000
Continuance
.1454
1.0000
Normative
.5909
.4370
OCQ TOAL
.7007
.3610
Normative
1.0000
.4705
Table E renders inter-correlation among the subscales and total scale of OCQ. Results
reveal that all the scales have positive correlation with each other and with the total scale of
OCQ. The highest inter correlation exists between Normative and Affective commitment. R=
.59
Split Half Reliability Coefficients of OCQ

The Split Half Reliability of OCQ was computed. The results indicate the reliability coefficient
for part 1 (11 items) is .7570 and for part 2 (13 items) .6090. The results reflect that the
instrument is internally consistent.
Alpha Reliability Analysis of OCQ

The alpha reliability coefficient of OCQ figure is .5562, which reflects that the instrument in
internally consistent.
69
PILOT STUDY SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRES
INTRODUCTION
I am conducting this study as a part of my doctoral program in Human Resources

Development. You are requested to complete the enclosed questionnaires according to the
instructions. The information received from you will be kept confidential and will only be used
for research purpose. Your cooperation is highly appreciated.
Zahir Uddin Butt
70
PILOT STUDY SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRES
INSTRUCTIONS
The questionnaires contain descriptive statements about NGO workers occupational stress
and organizational commitment. Please read each statement carefully and decide if you ever felt this
way about your profession. Please not that there is no right or wrong answer. You have to give
your own opinion about each item. Please circle your response to each statement according to the
following five-point scale in terms of your own agreement and disagreement of the statement.
5 = Strongly Agree
4 = Agree
Example: If you strongly agree with any of the statements given in the questionnaire, you
should mark on # 5 and if you strongly disagree with any statement please mark on # 1. For the
statement, where you cannot make a decision, mark on three and rate other categories accordingly.
71
DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION
Organization
_______________________________________
Job Title
_______________________________________
Qualification
_______________________________________
Job Experience
_______________________________________
Monthly Income
_______________________________________
Age
_______________________________________
Marital status
________________________________________
Gender
________________________________________
Permanent / Contract (other) worker ________________________________________
72
5 = Strongly Agree
1.
4 = Agree
At work I am expected to do many different tasks in too little
1 2 3 4 5
time.
2.
I feel that my job responsibilities are increasing.
1 2 3 4 5
3.
I am expected to perform tasks on my job for which I have
1 2 3 4 5
never been trained.

4.
I have to take work home with me.
1 2 3 4 5
5.
I have the resources I need to get my job done.
1 2 3 4 5
6.
I am the right person for this job.
1 2 3 4 5
7.
I work under tight time deadlines.
1 2 3 4 5
8.
I wish that I had more help to deal with the demands placed
1 2 3 4 5
upon me at work.
9.
My job requires me to work in several equally important areas
1 2 3 4 5
at the same time.

10.
My career is progressing as I had hoped it would.
1 2 3 4 5
11.
My job matches my skills and interests.
1 2 3 4 5
73
5 = Strongly Agree
4 = Agree
12.
I am board with my job.
1 2 3 4 5
13.
My talents are being used well on my job.
1 2 3 4 5
14.
My job has a good future.
1 2 3 4 5
15.
I am able to satisfy my needs for success and recognition in my
1 2 3 4 5
job.
16.
I feel overqualified for my job.
1 2 3 4 5
17.
I learn new skills at my work.
1 2 3 4 5
18.
I have to perform tasks that are below my ability.
1 2 3 4 5
19.
My supervisor provides me with useful feedback about my
1 2 3 4 5
performance.
20.
I am uncertain about what I am supposed to accomplish in my
1 2 3 4 5
work.
21.
When faced with several tasks I know which should be done
1 2 3 4 5
first.
22.
I know where to begin a new project when it is assigned to me.
1 2 3 4 5
74
5 = Strongly Agree
4 = Agree
23.
My supervisor asks for one thing, but really wants another.
1 2 3 4 5
24.
I understand what is an acceptable personal behavior on my job
1 2 3 4 5
25.
The priorities of my job are clear to me.
1 2 3 4 5
26.
I have a clear understanding of how my boss wants me to spend
1 2 3 4 5
my time.
27.
I know the basis on which I am evaluated.
1 2 3 4 5
28.
I feel conflict between what my organization expects me to do
1 2 3 4 5
and what I think is right or proper.

29.
I have more than one person telling me what to do.
1 2 3 4 5
30.
I know where I fit in my organization.
1 2 3 4 5
31.
My supervisors have conflicting ideas about what I should be
1 2 3 4 5
doing.
32.
It is clear who really runs things where I work.
1 2 3 4 5
75
5 = Strongly Agree
33.
4 = Agree
I frequently disagree with individuals from other work units or
1 2 3 4 5
departments.
34.
I deal with more people during the day than I prefer.
1 2 3 4 5
35.
I am responsible for the welfare of subordinates.
1 2 3 4 5
36.
People on the job look to me for leadership.
1 2 3 4 5
37.
I have on the job responsibility for the activities of other.
1 2 3 4 5
38.
I worry about whether the people who work for/with me will get
1 2 3 4 5
things done properly.

39.
My job requires me to make important decisions.
1 2 3 4 5
40.
If I make a mistake in my work, the consequences for others can
1 2 3 4 5
be pretty bad.
41.
I worry about meeting my job responsibilities.
1 2 3 4 5
42.
My job is physically dangerous.
1 2 3 4 5
43.
I dont seem able to get much done at work.
1 2 3 4 5
76
5 = Strongly Agree
4 = Agree
44.
I find myself getting behind in my work.
1 2 3 4 5
45.
Often I have accidents on the job.
1 2 3 4 5
46.
The quality of my work is good.
1 2 3 4 5
47.
Recently, I have been absent from work.
1 2 3 4 5
48.
I find my work interesting and/or exciting.
1 2 3 4 5
49.
I can concentrate on the things I need to at work.
1 2 3 4 5
50.
I make errors or mistakes in my work.
1 2 3 4 5
51.
I am easily irritated.
1 2 3 4 5
52.
I have been depressed.
1 2 3 4 5
53.
I have been happy, lately.
1 2 3 4 5
54.
So many thoughts run through my head at night that I have
1 2 3 4 5
trouble falling asleep.

55.
Lately, I respond badly in situations that normally wouldnt

bother me.
1 2 3 4 5
77
5 = Strongly Agree
4 = Agree
56.
I find myself complaining about little things.
1 2 3 4 5
57.
I have a good sense of humor.
1 2 3 4 5
58.
Things are going about as they should
1 2 3 4 5
59.
I wish I had more time to spend with close friends
1 2 3 4 5
60.
I often quarrel with the person closest to me.
1 2 3 4 5
61.
I often argue with friends.
1 2 3 4 5
62.
My spouse and I are happy together.
1 2 3 4 5
63.
Lately, I do things by myself instead of with other people.
1 2 3 4 5
64.
I quarrel with members of the family.
1 2 3 4 5
65.
I find that I need time to myself to work out my problems.
1 2 3 4 5
66
Lately, I am worried about how others at work view me.
1 2 3 4 5
67
I have been withdrawing from people lately.
1 2 3 4 5
68
I have unplanned weight gains
1 2 3 4 5
69
My eating habits are inconsistent.
1 2 3 4 5
78
5 = Strongly Agree
4 = Agree
70
Lately, I have been tired.
1 2 3 4 5
71
I have trouble staying asleep.
1 2 3 4 5
72
I have aches and pains I cannot explain.
1 2 3 4 5
73
I have lots of energy lately.
74
When I need a vacation I take one.
1 2 3 4 5
75
I am able to do what I want to do in my free time.
76
On weekends I spend time doing the things I enjoy most.
1 2 3 4 5
77
I hardly ever watch television.
1 2 3 4 5
78
A lot of my free time is spent attending sporting, movies and
1 2 3 4 5
2 3 4 5
2 3 4 5
concerts
79
I set aside time to do the things I really enjoy.
1 2 3 4 5
80
When Im relaxing, I frequently think about work.
1 2 3 4 5
81
I spend a lot of my free time on hobbies
1 2 3 4 5
82
I am careful about my diet
1 2 3 4 5
79
= Strongly Agree
4 = Agree
83
I get regular physical check ups.
84
I exercise regularly
1 2 3 4 5
85
I practice relaxation techniques.
1 2 3 4 5
86
2 3 4 5
2 3 4 5
2 3 4 5
2 3 4 5
discuss my concerns.
87

discuss my work problems.
88
I feel I have at least one good friend I can count on.
89
If I need help at work, I know who to approach.
1 2 3 4 5
90
I am able to put my job out of my mind when I go home.
91
I feel that there are other jobs I could do besides my current
1 2 3 4 5
2 3 4 5
one.
92
I periodically reexamine or reorganize my work style and

schedule.
1 2 3 4 5
80
5 = Strongly Agree
4 = Agree
93
I can establish priorities for the use of my time.
1 2 3 4 5
94
Once they are set, I am able to stick to my priorities
1 2 3 4 5
95
I have techniques to help avoid being distracted.
1 2 3 4 5
96
When faced with a problem I use a systematic approach.
1 2 3 4 5
97
When faced with the need to make a decision I try to think
1 2 3 4 5
through the consequences of choices I might make.
81

5 = Strongly Agree 4 = Agree 3 = Undecided 2 = Disagree 1 = Strongly Disagree
Affective Organizational Commitment Scale

1.
I would be very happy to spend the rest of my career with

this organization.
1 2 3 4 5
2.
I enjoy discussing my organization with people outside it.
1 2 3 4 5
3.
I really feel as if this organizations problems are my own.
1 2 3 4 5
4.
I think that I could easily become as attached to another

organization as I am to
this one.
1 2 3 4 5
5.
I do not feel like part of the family in my organization.
1 2 3 4 5
6.
I do not feel emotionally attached to this organization.
1 2 3 4 5
7.
This organization has a great deal of personal meaning for

me.
1 2 3 4 5
8.
I do not feel a strong sense of belonging to my

organization.
1 2 3 4 5
Continuance Organizational Commitment Scale

I am not afraid of what might happen if I quit my job
without having another one lined up.
1 2 3 4 5
10. It would be very hard for me to leave my organization

right now, even if I wanted to.
1 2 3 4 5
11. Too much in my life would be disrupted if I decided I

wanted to leave my organization now.
1 2 3 4 5
9.
82
5 = Strongly Agree 4 = Agree 3 = Undecided 2 = Disagree 1 = Strongly Disagree
12. It wouldnt be too costly for me to leave my organization

now .
13. Right now, staying with my organization is a matter of
necessity as much as
desire.
14. I feel I have too few options to consider leaving this
organization.
15. One of the few serious consequences of leaving this
organization would be the scarcity of available alternatives.
16. One of the major reasons I continue to work for this
organization is that leaving would require considerable
sacrifice. Another organization may not match the overall
benefits I have here.
Normative Organizational Commitment Scale
1 2 3 4 5
1 2 3 4 5
1 2 3 4 5
1 2 3 4 5
1 2 3 4 5
17. I think that people these days move from company to

company too often.
18. I do not believe that a person must always be loyal to his
or her organization.
19. Jumping from organization to organization does not seem
at all unethical to me.
1 2 3 4 5
20. One of the major reasons I continue to work for this

organization is that I
believe that loyalty is important and therefore feel a sense
of moral obligation to remain.
21. If I got another offer for a better job elsewhere, I would
not feel it was right to leave my organization.
22. I was taught to believe in the value of remaining loyal to
one organization.
23. Things were better in the days when people stayed with
one organization for most of their career.
24. I do not think that wanting to be a company man or
company woman is sensible anymore.
1 2 3 4 5
1 2 3 4 5
1 2 3 4 5
1 2 3 4 5
1 2 3 4 5
1 2 3 4 5
1 2 3 4 5

The Relationship Between Occupational Stress and Organizational Commitment in Nongovernmental Organizations of Pakistan

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The Relationship Between Occupational Stress and Organizational Commitment in Nongovernmental Organizations of Pakistan

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THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN

OCCUPATIONAL STRESS AND

Zahir Uddin Butt

NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF MODERN LANGUAGES

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN OCCUPATIONAL STRESS

Zahir Uddin Butt

A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF

NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF MODERN LANGUAGES ISLAMABAD

NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF MODERN LANGUAGES

FACULTY OF ADVANCED INTEGRATED & RESEARCH

THESIS/ DISSERTATION AND DEFENCE APPROVAL FORM

Registration #. 310-PhD/ HRD /2005(Jan)

Human Resources Development

Dr. Zahid Mehmood

Dr. Shazra Munnawer

Brig (R) Dr. Aziz Ahmad Khan

CANDIDATE DECLARATION FORM

Zahir Uddin Butt___________________

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN OCCUPATIONAL STRESS AND ORGANIZATIONAL

DISSERTATION AND DEFENSE APPROVAL FORM..............................

CANDIDATE DECLARATION FORM

INTRODUCTION TO THE FIELD OF ENQUIRY

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM..

INTRODUCTION TO THE CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

BRIEF INTRODUCTION OF THE METHODOLOGY..

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY .

DESCRIPTION OF CONCEPTS USED IN THE STUDY..

STRUCTURE OF THE THESIS..

STRESS: THE CONCEPT AND PHENOMENON..

THEORIES OF OCCUPATIONAL STRESS.

Interactional Theories ....

Transactional Theories ....

MODELS OF OCCUPATIONAL STRESS

The Person Environment Fit Model.

Beehr and Newmans Facet Model

Occupational Stress Inventory Model

CAUSES OF OCCUPATIONAL STRESS

Role Stress ....

Effects of Stress on Psychological Functioning.

Physiological Effects of Stress

Behavioral Effects of Stress .

Effects of Occupational Stress on Organization..

GROWING INTEREST IN ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT

Background of Organizational Commitment

Defining Organizational Commitment

CONTEMPORARY THEORIES OF ORGANIZATIONAL

The Beckers Side-Bet Theory (1960)

The Mowday, Porter, Steers, and Boulian Model (1974)

The OReilly and Chatman Model (1986)

The Meyer and Allen Three-Component Model (1984, 1990)

RECENT RESEARCH ON ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT

FORMS OF ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT

2.10.1 Affective Commitment ....

2.10.2 Continuance Commitment: ......

2.10.3 Normative Commitment ..

EFFECTS OF LOW ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT

2.12.2 Turnover Intentions

MEASURING INSTRUMENTS OF ORGANIZATIONAL

OCCUPATIONAL STRESS AND ORGANIZATIONAL

COMMENTARY ON THE LITERATURE REVIEW..

DESCRIPTION OF THE CONCEPTUAL MODEL ..

HYPOTHESIS OF THE STUDY..

BRIEF OVERVIEW OF THE RESEARCH OBJECTIVES