Modeling Occupational Stress on Employee Performance with Mediating and Moderating Roles of Social Support: Structural Equation Modeling and Multivariate Analysis

Abstract

Purpose: This empirical study investigated the relationship between occupational stress and employee performance and the mediating and moderating effects of social support on the relationship between occupational stress and the performance of IT sector employees in Bangalore city. Methodology: A quantitative methodology was used. The data were collected via a questionnaire to measure the three reflective constructs of the study: occupational stress, employee performance, and social support. Factor loadings > 0.5 for the items of all three constructs were considered for analysis. The questionnaire's internal consistency was measured by assessing Cronbach's alpha and the split-half correlation coefficient. SEM analysis was carried out on the valid responses of 500 responses via AMOS version 28. Findings: The results of the Shapiro-Wilk test for normality indicated normally distributed data. Excellent model fit was observed, as indicated by the model fit statistics. A statistically significant direct effect between occupational stress and employee performance and social support was observed, with both the variable performance of occupational stress and social support explaining 28% of the variance in the dependent variable. performance This study also examined the moderating role of social factors in the relationship between occupational stress and employee performance. Social support also moderated the performance of the IT sector employees. Positive and statistically significant moderating effects of social support on the relationship between occupational stress and employee performance were observed. The slope analysis revealed that social support strengthens the relationship between occupational stress and employee performance. The authors suggest that organizations adopt social support strategies, such as breaks, meditation, and yoga, to relieve stress and increase social support among employees. Originality: This study assessed the effects of modeling occupational stress on employee performance with mediating and moderating roles of social support via structural equation modeling analysis and multivariate analysis.