Impact of Job Demands on Stress: A Study of Academics in State Universities in Sri Lanka During COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of job demands on stress among the academics in the state universities in Sri Lanka during the Covid-19 pandemic. This study was carried out as a quantitative study which mainly focused on testing the developed theory-based hypotheses. The sampling technique of the study had to be convenience sampling. This is a cross sectional study, and a standard questionnaire was used to collect primary data following the survey technique. Questionnaire developed using well accepted standard measures was distributed among the academics from state universities via email and WhatsApp as a Google form. Out of the responses received, 135 usable responses were used in the data analysis. To analyze received data, SPSS 27.0 (Statistical Package for the Social Science) was used. Upon completion of the preliminary analyses, hypothesis was tested using simple regression analysis. Accordingly, it was found that there is a significant moderate positive relationship between job demands and stress. Job demands considered under this research were workload pressure, task interdependence, professional isolation, and work interference with family. The present study would provide the direction to HR policy makers across industries, academics, employees, government bodies and to the future researchers.