Nationality, Gender, and Sector Differences on Work-related Stress in White-collar Employees in Qatar

Stress at work is increasingly generating concern for employees, employers, and governments. Stress causes health problems and reduces productivity. In Qatar, past research on work-related stress focused on specific sectors/organizations or occupations and additional research was needed to determine whether or not previous findings could be extended to the general white-collar population, to which most of Qatari employees belong, to inform stakeholders who deal with stress. Also, there were contradictory results on how nationality, gender, and sector differed on work-related stress. With 75% of white-collar employees being non-Qatari and with the increasing number of females in the workforce, research to address the equivocal findings was needed. The purpose of this causal-comparative quantitative study was to determine nationality, gender, and sector differences on work-related stress and workplace primary stressors in white-collar employees in Qatar. A nonprobability convenience sample of 400 white-collar employees working in various sectors and accessible by the researcher was used. Descriptive statistics on dependent variables showed that the levels of work-related stress and workplace primary stressors in the study population were lower than moderate (relative to the mid-point of the scales), with exception of demands, which showed moderate levels. However, the levels of work-related stress and workplace primary stressors were slightly higher than international levels, with the exception of control. Based on this finding an improvement of current practices and policies related to work-related stress prevention and management was recommended. Inferential analyses consisting of three-way ANOVA and MANOVA were conducted to test hypotheses about the differences of the categorical independent variables of nationality, gender, and sector on the dependent variables of work-related stress and workplace primary stressors. The current findings suggest that there are no demographic differences in work-related stress or workplace primary stressors in a white-collar population in Qatar. Based on these findings, there is no reason to tailor information or programs for different groups and it was recommended that organizations focus on their own working conditions to manage work-related stress, regardless of the nationality or gender of the employee, or sector of the organization. Recommendations for future research were offered including the use of a randomly selected sample and longitudinal and qualitative research to obtain a deeper understanding of work-related stress in Qatar.