Managerial stress, job satisfaction and health in Taiwan

MANAGERIAL STRESS IN TAIWAN 57Table 1 Ð ContinuedVariables N % Mean & SDWorking hours (per week) 46.36 12.89 (5±120)Turnover intentionNever 70 20.2%Rarely 96 27.7%Sometimes 140 40.3%Quite often 26 7.5%Extremely often 9 2.6%Missing 6 1.7%ExerciseAlways 26 7.5%Usually 66 19%Sometimes 70 20.2%Occasionally 125 36%Never 56 16.1%Missing 4 1.2%SmokingYes 55 15.9%No 287 82.7%Missing 5 1.4%DrinkingYes 88 25.4%No 253 72.9%Missing 6 1.7%Sick leaveNever 303 87.3%Yes 44 12.7%Sick days 1.98 1.59 (1±10)Note: Ranges are shown in brackets.(chi-square ˆ 47.30 and 65.20, df ˆ 1, p 5 0.001).A number of t-tests also revealed that femalemanagers reported more `managerial role' stressthan their male counterparts (t ˆ 2.49, p 5 0.05).Another series of t-tests was conducted to see ifthere were any di€erences on stress and strain atdi€erent levels of management. Top and seniormanagers were pooled to contrast with pooledmiddle and junior managers. Results showed thatcompared with the lower-rank managers, thehigher-rank managers were more satis®ed withtheir jobs (t ˆ 3.18, p 5 0.01) and reported bettermental health (t ˆ 2.36, p 5 0.05).ModeratorsIn the present study, three potential moderatorswere considered: Type A behaviour pattern,internal locus of control and coping e€orts. Overall,the Taiwanese managers were not particularlyType A, as indicated by the item mean of 3.49 on asix-point scale. However, this level was alreadysigni®cantly higher than the general workforce inTaiwan (t ˆ 14.10, p 5 0.001). Similarly, they werenot particularly internally controlled either, asindicated by the item mean of 3.90 on a six-pointwork locus of control scale; they even scoredsigni®cantly lower than the general workforce(t ˆ 26.36, p 5 0.001), as measured by theOSI Ð control scale.Managers, however, reported relatively highlevels of coping e€orts, signi®cantly higher thanthe general workforce (t ˆ 11.71, p 5 0.001). Interestingly,`control' (item mean ˆ 4.48 on a six-pointscale) seemed more often adopted than `seekingsupport' (item mean ˆ 4.17).Copyright # 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Stress med. 15, 53±64 (1999)