Occupational stress among bank employees in South East, Nigeria

Catherine Chovwen

Psychology Department, Faculty of the Social Sciences, University of Ibadan, Nigeria.

E-mail: chovwenc@yahoo.com

Accepted 30 January 2013

Abstract

This study examined the influence of joint and independent predictions of emotional intelligence, perceived leadership style and job characteristics on occupational stress among bank workers in South East, Nigeria. The method adopted is a survey involving 210 male and female bankers. Five hypotheses were tested with two fully and three partially confirmed. Emotional intelligence, perceived leadership style and job characteristics significantly and jointly predicted stress, in addition, those with high emotional intelligence reported lower stress experience compared with those with low level of emotional intelligence. This lies in the identification of the factors that are central to a person controlling his/her stress and suggesting strategies to promote the stress reduction process. Employers can help employees change their perceptions of stress, provide them with strategies to help them cope and improving their confidence in their ability to do so.

Keywords: Emotional intelligence, perceived leadership style, job characteristics and occupational stress.