International Journal of Information Management 19 (1999) 277}291

Occupational stress and IT personnel in Singapore:

factorial dimensions and di!erential e!ects
Vivien K. G. Lim *, Thompson S. H. Teo

Department of Organizational Behavior, Faculty of Business Administration, National University of Singapore,
10 Kent Ridge Crescent, 119260 Singapore

Department of Decision Sciences, Faculty of Business Administration, National University of Singapore,
10 Kent Ridge Crescent, 119260 Singapore

Abstract

This study identi"es key sources of stress among information technology (IT) personnel in Singapore. The
relationships between the various sources of stress and IT personnel's personal characteristics such as gender
and job tenure are also examined. Data were collected via a combination of mail survey and interviews.
Survey data were collected from 257 IT personnel employed in an organization dealing with IT-related
services and products. Factor analysis of survey data reveal six major dimensions of stress: work demands,
relationships with others, career concerns, systems maintenance, role ambiguity and administrative tasks.
Generally, both survey and interview data suggest that most of the factors which generate stress among IT
personnel in Singapore are linked to various characteristics of IT personnel's work environment, particularly
pressures associated with the job and organizational characteristics. Implications of the research "ndings are
discussed.  1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Information technology; Information technology personnel; Occupational stress; Systems maintenance

1. Introduction

Occupational stress represents a major problem for both individuals and organizations. Pre-
vious research has shown that stress has a negative impact on the health and safety of individuals
(Rees, 1995; Westman & Dov, 1997). Costs associated with occupational stress in terms of work
days lost, absenteeism, and health costs have signi"cant implications for the organization. Job

* Corresponding author. Tel.: #65-874-7858; fax: #65-775-5571.

E-mail addresses: [email protected] (V.K.G. Lim), [email protected] (T.S.H. Teo)

0268-4012/99/$ - see front matter  1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 2 6 8 - 4 0 1 2 ( 9 9 ) 0 0 0 2 7 - 4
278 V.K.G. Lim, T.S.H. Teo / International Journal of Information Management 19 (1999) 277}291

stress has been examined in a wide variety of professional groups such as teachers, nurses,
accountants, managers, and pilots. To date, little attention has been devoted to examining
occupational stress among information technology (IT) personnel. The limited research which
exists on this topic generally focused on IT personnel in the United States (Ivancevich, Napier
& Wetherbe, 1983; Weiss, 1983). The paucity of research on stress among IT personnel is surprising
in light of both anecdotal evidence from popular business magazines as well as empirical evidence
from research examining the changing roles of IT personnel. Results of such research suggest that
the role of IT personnel has become more complex and demanding, resulting in additional
responsibilities for them. Rapid changes in technology have also resulted in signi"cant changes in
expectations of users and managers (Leong, 1994; Radding, 1992). Thus, we would expect such
changes to pose additional challenges as well as generate considerable stress among IT personnel.
Singapore is an ideal country in Asia to investigate stress among this group of professionals due to
its heavy reliance on IT to develop the republic into a communication, business and economic
centre for Asia and the Paci"c Rim countries (Tan & Igbaria, 1994). In pursuit of its IT2000 plan
which is aimed at turning Singapore into an intelligent island, the government is placing heavy
emphasis on the use of IT to develop an advanced national information infrastructure. The
government policy makers recognized the need to develop skilled IT manpower to help Singapore
realize its national IT objectives (Teo & Lim, 1998).
IT personnel represent a dynamic workforce in a new and high growth industry of the future.
The pool of IT professionals in Singapore has increased nearly 20-fold from 850 in 1980 to 15,800 in
1992, and this number is expected to grow over the years (NCB, 1993). Given the growing number
of IT professionals in the workforce and the increasingly important role they undertake in
Singapore's e!ort to pursue its IT2000 plan, research focusing on what stresses IT professionals is
warranted. In fact, with the increasing use of IT by both developing and industrialized countries,
IT personnel constitute an important component of the workforce that can aid companies and
government in leveraging IT to improve e$ciency and compete e!ectively in the global markets.
Thus, it is important for managers and organizations to understand the di!erent types of stressors
experienced by IT personnel in order to assist them in better managing stress experienced at the
workplace.
One of the major problems which plagued the IT industry in Singapore is the high employee
turnover rate of about 14.6% in 1992 among IT personnel (NCB, 1993). While this rate has
decreased from 17.3% in 1988, it is still high compared to other industries in Singapore. Employee
turnover presents a wide range of problems for organizations. Frequent displacement of skilled IT
personnel may lead to escalating costs for organizations as new employees need to be recruited and
trained, and may lead to low morale amongst those who remained in the organization (Loh,
Sankar & Yeong, 1995).
As more and more organizations continue to rely on IT for their e!ectiveness and competitive
advantage, the demand for skilled IT personnel will continue to increase. Against this context of
manpower shortage and high-turnover rates therefore, this study seeks to examine occupational
stress among IT personnel in Singapore. Speci"cally, this study examines various factors which
may generate stress for IT personnel. The relationships between the various sources of stress and IT
personnel's personal characteristics, namely gender and tenure are also examined.
Results of this study have signi"cant implications for organizations and individuals who intend
to join the IT profession. By identifying and understanding factors at the workplace which would
 V.K.G. Lim, T.S.H. Teo / International Journal of Information Management 19 (1999) 277}291 279

cause stress for this group of professionals, organizations and government policy makers will be
better able to design training, motivation and coping programs to help this group of employees
alleviate their stress. In addition, "ndings of this research would provide those who intend to join
the IT profession with a general picture of the demands or stressors which they may encounter on
the job.
Conceptualization of stress usually emphasized the following elements: a state of arousal
resulting from the presence of socioenvironmental demands that interfere with the ordinary ability
of a person to adapt to a particular event or situation (Aneshensel, 1992; Lazarus, 1966). External
circumstances that challenge or obstruct the individual's ability to attain desired goals are labelled
stressors; stress refers to internal arousal. A stressor may be a perceived or objective external factor,
such as demand, constraint, or deprivation that bring about outcomes such as job dissatisfaction
performance decrements and negative work-related attitudes (Fenlason & Beehr, 1994).

2. Sample and procedure

Respondents for this study consisted of IT professionals employed in a large organization

dealing with technology-related industrial products and services. The organization is a leading
local IT supplier, providing a comprehensive range of products, solutions and services to a wide
customer base in Singapore and the Asian}Paci"c region.
The questionnaire was initially pretested with 10 IT professionals to elicit feedback regarding the
clarity of instructions and questions in the instrument. Comments and suggestions obtained from
the pretest served as a basis for "ne-tuning items and the "nal presentation of the questionnaire.
Three-hundred and "fty questionnaire packages containing the cover letters, survey instruments
and returned envelopes were given to the Human Resource manager to be distributed to IT
professionals in the company. The Human Resource manager sent an electronic mail to respon-
dents, explaining to them the purpose of the study and encouraging them to participate. One week
after the initial distribution of the questionnaires, a reminder was sent to respondents through the
electronic mail by the Human Resource manager. Of the 350 packages distributed, 260 were
returned. Three questionnaires were not usable due to incomplete responses. A total of 257 surveys
were included in the "nal analysis, thus constituting a usable response rate of about 73%.
Approximately one month after the initial survey administration, focus group interviews were
conducted with "ve groups comprising 4}5 IT personnel in each group. In all, 24 IT personnel
agreed to participate in the focus group discussions. The focus group interviews were conducted in
the company's premises. Each session lasted for an average of one and a half hours. The focus
group interviews were aimed at supplementing the survey responses as well as obtaining informa-
tion not directly elicited in the questionnaire. Respondents were also probed further about their
responses to the survey.

3. Instrumentation

Items measuring the variables in this study were derived from an extensive review of the
literature on occupational stress. Wherever possible, scales that operationalized constructs were
280 V.K.G. Lim, T.S.H. Teo / International Journal of Information Management 19 (1999) 277}291

adopted from past research where psychometric properties were established. In addition, multiple
item scales were used to tap constructs wherever possible.
Sources of stress } Previous research on stress has been conducted using occupation speci"c
instruments targeted at speci"c professions such as nurses, managers, accountants and teachers
among others (Cooper, Sloan & Williams, 1988; Davidson & Cooper, 1983; Tung, 1980). To use
these occupation speci"c scales for IT personnel would not be very appropriate. In developing the
scale for IT personnel in this study, personal interviews were conducted with 15 IT personnel in the
initial phase of the study to help us identify some of the common stressors they experienced in their
work. Issues and concerns raised by the IT personnel interviewed were noted. These interviews
formed the basis for the construction of the JSITS (Job Stress for IT Personnel Scale). In addition
to the interviews, we also conducted an extensive review of the literature on occupational stress.
Various scales used to measure occupational stress among members of other profession such as
teachers, nurses and managers were reviewed. Based on our interviews and literature review, 74
items were developed to assess sources of stress in the present study. Items in the JSITS appeared to
be a representative sampling of the types of stressful situations IT personnel experienced. Items
were factor-analyzed to yield various dimensions of stress. Results of factor analyses will be
discussed in a later section.
Other research variables in this study were adapted from previous research where psychometric
properties have already been established. These variables include:

3.1. Job (dis)satisfaction

This variable was measured using the "ve-item general satisfaction scale adopted from the Job
Diagnostic Survey (JDS) developed by Hackman and Oldham (1975). This scale was chosen
because it has been extensively used in the organizational behaviour literature. Generally, the JDS
has been found to have very good inter-item reliability with reported Cronbach alphas varying
from 0.84 to 0.90. The items on this scale were ranged from (1) Disagree strongly to (7) Agree
strongly. In this study, the Cronbach alpha of this scale was 0.70. Items were reverse scored to yield
a job dissatisfaction variable.

3.2. Job-induced tension

This variable was assessed with the scale developed by House and Rizzo (1972). This scale
consists of seven items which measure respondents' perceptions of pressures and frustrations
stemming from their work. In the present study, the seven items yielded a Cronbach alpha of 0.89.

3.3. Quit intention

A three-item index developed by Cammann, Fichman, Jenkins and Klesh (1979) was used to
assess quit intention. Examples of these items include `I frequently think of quitting my joba and `I
will probably look for a new job the next yeara. This scale yielded a Cronbach alpha of 0.71 in the
present study.
Respondents were also asked to provide their demographic characteristics such as age, gender,
marital status, and job tenure.
 V.K.G. Lim, T.S.H. Teo / International Journal of Information Management 19 (1999) 277}291 281

4. Results

4.1. Proxle of respondents

Approximately 53% of respondents were male (N"136) and 47% were female (N"121). Of the
257 respondents, 61% were single (N"157), 38% (N"97) were married and 1% (N"3) were
divorced. Chinese constitute majority of the respondents, comprising about 95% (N"244) of the
sample. The remaining 5% were made up of the other ethnic groups, Indian (N"8), Malay
(N"3) and Eurasian (N"2). The mean age of respondents was 29 yr and the mean job tenure was
2.5 yr. Respondents reported an average of 48 h worked per week.

4.2. Sources of stress

In order to determine the key dimensions of stress, factor analyses were performed. Items with
low factor loadings of below 0.40 were eliminated and subsequent factor analyses were carried out.
The "fth analyses resulted in six interpretable factors which explained 57.3% of the variance. In
order to ensure that items comprising each factor are internally consistent, reliability assessment
was performed using Cronbach alpha. The Cronbach alpha for all the six dimensions showed that
further omission of items would not lead to any signi"cant improvement in reliability. The values of
Cronbach alpha for all six dimensions of sources of stress are equal to or above the recommended
value of 0.60 for exploratory research (Nunnally, 1978). Results of factor analyses are shown in
Table 1.
Factor 1, explaining 29% of the variance, is labelled `Work demandsa. Examples of items
forming Factor 1 include `Taking my work homea, `Demands which work makes on my re-
lationship with my familya, `Demands which my work makes on my private/social lifea, and `Late
nights, early morning hours and weekends needed to complete a projecta. In general, this
dimension comprises job demands which may create considerable stress and con#ict on respon-
dents' spouse or family. Nieva (1984) suggests that the number of hours worked and the extent to
which work is brought home varies across occupations. Some work has more `portablea aspects
than others and job incumbents tend to bring these `portablea aspects of their un"nished work
home. The work of an IT personnel is generally `portablea in nature. Woo (1989) noted that
computer work is absorbing. IT personnel often encounter problems which require them to solve
outside normal o$ce hours. Bringing these problems home with them usually entail long hours of
work outside the workplace, causing IT personnel to restrict their social lives, friendship and family
ties. In fact, from our interviews, the majority of respondents reported that their social life was
a!ected by the amount of work they have to accomplish.
From our interviews, IT personnel also reported that they felt guilty about neglecting their
families as a result of their heavy workload. Several of the interviewees reported that their
signi"cant others did not understand why they had to work so hard. This lack of understanding
coupled with demands from these signi"cant others lead IT personnel to experience considerable
stress.
Other items which loaded onto Factor 1 pertain to work overload as a result of resource
inadequacy and time pressures. Examples of these items include `Sta! shortagea, `Sta! turnover
ratesa, `Unfair distribution of work assignmentsa and `Inadequate budget and "nances to com-
282 V.K.G. Lim, T.S.H. Teo / International Journal of Information Management 19 (1999) 277}291

Table 1
Factorial dimensions of stress items and factor loadings

Factorial dimensions of stress and items Loadings

Factor 1: Work demands

(Eigenvalue "16.24, Var "29%, Alpha "0.91)
54. Taking my work home. 0.78
52. Demands which work makes on my relationship with my family. 0.78
53. Demands which work makes on my private/social life. 0.78
64. Late nights, early morning hours or weekends needed to complete a project. 0.64
55. My spouse's/family's attitude towards my work/career. 0.64
47. Inadequate budget and "nances to complete my tasks. 0.55
69. Unfair distribution of work assignments. 0.52
45. Sta! shortage. 0.52
4. Keeping up with new technology, techniques and ideas. 0.54
46. Sta! turnover rates. 0.53
66. Having to perform tasks not in my job description. 0.48
58. Dealing with di$cult people at work. 0.47
74. Working on unnecessary tasks/projects. 0.45
1. Work overload}Having far too much work to do. 0.44
72. Fear of not being able to complete projects on time. 0.43
3. Time pressures/deadlines. 0.40
Factor 2: Relationships with others
(Eigenvalue "4.39, Var "7.8%, Alpha "0.91)
40. Relationship with my work colleagues. 0.83
43. Relationship with subordinates. 0.82
41. Relationship with suppliers/vendors. 0.78
42. Relationship with customers/users. 0.76
39. Relationship with my immediate superior. 0.73
44. Lack of social support by people at work. 0.71
38. Communication and interaction with other user departments. 0.57
68. Incompetent subordinates. 0.50
Factor 3: Career concerns
(Eigenvalue "4.0, Var "7.0%, Alpha "0.90)
34. Danger of not getting anywhere in my career. 0.88
36. Danger of my skills becoming redundant. 0.85
35. Danger of being trapped in my present job. 0.78
33. Danger of my skills becoming obsolete. 0.75
31. Unclear career/promotion prospects. 0.69
57. Being undervalued by my company. 0.63
32. Inadequate training and development. 0.62
73. Inadequate pay relative to the amount of work I am expected to complete. 0.49
Factor 4: Systems maintenance
(Eigenvalue "2.6, Var "4.7%, Alpha "0.88)
11. Computer frauds/loss of database integrity. 0.73
6. Increasing dependence of company's operations on computers under your control. 0.73
12. Increasing complexity of computer operations and management. 0.71
10. Computer breakdown and disaster. 0.66
(continued on next page)
 V.K.G. Lim, T.S.H. Teo / International Journal of Information Management 19 (1999) 277}291 283

¹able 1 (continued)

Factorial dimensions of stress and items Loadings

9. Growing visible and invisible computer application backlog. 0.63

5. Risk in implementing new techniques and technology. 0.60
61. Systems crash or programs do not run. 0.59
7. Increasing demands for more and better systems. 0.57
8. Having to maintain a large number of old systems. 0.53
16. The need to innovate and change. 0.46
Factor 5: Role ambiguity
(Eigenvalue "2.5, Var "4.5%, Alpha "0.88)
22. Lack of clarity about objectives and priorities in my work. 0.67
50. The ways con#icts are resolved in my organization. 0.59
21. Lack of clarity about my role and responsibilities. 0.58
24. Con#icting job and task demands. 0.58
23. Frequent changes in objectives and priorities. 0.56
Factor 6: Administrative tasks
(Eigenvalue "2.4, Var "4.3, Alpha "0.83)
18. Attending to administrative tasks. 0.71
20. Attending meetings. 0.71
19. Writing memos, letters and reports. 0.65

plete my tasksa. Shortage of sta! and high turnover are a re#ection of the problem which IT
industry in Singapore is currently experiencing. High turnover and sta! shortage mean that IT
personnel who remained with their companies need to take on extra tasks and work even longer
hours, thus generating considerable stress for them.
The problems associated with high sta! turnover rate are best re#ected in the following comment
made by one of our interviewees:
The turnover rate in my department is really high. Sometimes, jobs are passed over com-
pletely after sta! has left. No documents left for the existing systems being maintained result in
much time wasted searching for information so that work can be completed. I feel like quitting
even though I have been with the organization for less than a year.
Factor 2 comprises items which deal with IT personnel's relationships with others at work. This
factor is labelled `Relationship with othersa and accounts for 7.8% of the common variance. Items
which loaded onto this factor include `Relationship with subordinatesa, `Relationship with
customers/usersa, `Relationship with suppliers/vendorsa, `Relationship with work colleaguesa,
`Lack of social support by people at worka and `Communication and interaction with other user
departmentsa.
Interview results generally suggest that IT personnel experienced stress arising from lack of
support from their work colleagues and supervisors as re#ected in the following comments:
Not having enough support from supervisor is really a problem for me. I have no one to turn
to when I encounter di$culties in my work.
284 V.K.G. Lim, T.S.H. Teo / International Journal of Information Management 19 (1999) 277}291

My immediate superior is not competent and does not understand the nature of my work.
Often, I am blamed for things which are beyond my control.

Sometimes, it is very di$cult to work with people who are uncooperative. In IT, teamwork is
important. Working with such people often prevents work from progressing.

Factor 3 comprises items that deal with IT personnel's concern with their career prospects and
advancement. This factor is labelled `Career concernsa and accounts for 7% of the variance. This
stress dimension combines items which explicitly relate to lack of career or promotion prospects
such as `Danger of my skills becoming redundanta, `Danger of my skills becoming obsoletea,
`Danger of being trapped in my present joba, and `Inadequate training and developmenta.
That the item `being undervalueda loads on Factor 3 is probably best explained by IT
personnel's belief that their e!orts are not recognized and they do not earn as much as they should.
In fact, results from our interviews reveal that being undervalued and being paid less than one's
worth are commonly cited sources of stress among IT personnel. One system analyst interviewed
by us made the following remark:

My peers in other professions are being paid more than me. I am actually thinking of
changing jobs, or even career, to get higher pay and better fringe bene"ts.

Such "ndings are consistent with the results of a survey conducted by Wee (1994) which show
that IT professionals perceive that they are paid less than they are worth. Such sentiment is
commonly echoed by IT personnel in our study who complained that they are `overworked and
underpaida.
Another item which loads on Factor 3 is inadequate or poor quality of training and management
development. IT personnel may view inadequate training opportunity as a source of stress as it
re#ects a lack of concern on the part of the organization or employer to assist them in their
professional development and career advancement. In our interviews, we discover that the majority
of IT personnel express a desire to upgrade themselves professionally through advanced training
and lament that such development opportunities are absent in their present organization. In fact,
a lack of professional development has been found to be a major factor for employee turnover in
the IT industry in Singapore.
Factor 4 accounts for 4.7% of the variance and is labelled `Systems maintenancea. This factor
grouping combines those stressors whose source might be identi"ed as originating from IT
personnel's responsibility in maintaining IT systems in the organization. Items in this dimension
include `Increasing dependence of company's operations on computers under your controla,
`Increasing demands for more and better systemsa, `Having to maintain a large number of old
systemsa, `Computer breakdown and disastera and `Computer frauds/database integritya.
An interesting "nding which pertains to stress arising from systems maintenance is re#ected in
the following comments made by several of our interviewees whose job responsibility involves the
maintenance of legacy or old systems:

The major stress I felt is the lack of opportunity to keep current, not the mere fast pace of
technological advancement as my job requires me to maintain old legacy systems. I do not
have the opportunity to keep abreast of the latest in the "eld as I deal only with old systems.
 V.K.G. Lim, T.S.H. Teo / International Journal of Information Management 19 (1999) 277}291 285

Systems maintenance and providing support to an old, undocumented system is a di$cult

task. I would rather be involved in the development and maintenance of new application
systems.
Our "ndings seem to suggest that much of the stress arising from systems maintenance involved
the maintenance of old legacy systems. In fact, interviews with several IT managers revealed that
new IT personnel who are responsible solely for the maintenance of such systems often feel that
they are handicapped as they are not able to acquire skills pertaining to the latest developments in
the IT "eld. These IT personnel often su!er from low morale because their lack of experience with
new developments in information technology may limit their occupational mobility as such new
skills are in great demand.
Factor 5 represents `Role ambiguitya and explains 4.5% of the common variance. Items which
load onto this dimension include `Lack of clarity about my roles and responsibilitiesa, `Lack of
clarity about objectives and priorities in my worka, `Frequent changes in objectives and prioritiesa
and `Con#icting job and task demandsa.
IT personnel occupy a boundary spanning role in that often, they have to deal with many
di!erent parties and ful"l the needs and expectations of customers, users, clients and
di!erent departments. Demands and expectations from di!erent parties may con#ict with each
other, thus generating considerable stress for IT personnel. In our interviews with respondents in
this study, one major complaint reported was that IT personnel's bosses usually promised clients
more than the company can actually deliver. Often, IT personnel have to end up trying their
utmost to deliver what their bosses had promised to the clients. IT personnel reported that often,
their bosses are more concerned in satisfying clients and customers at the expense of employees in
the company.
Finally Factor 6, accounting for 4.3% of the variance, represents stress pertaining to `Adminis-
trative tasksa. Items which loaded onto this dimension include `Attending meetingsa `Writing
memos, letters and reportsa and `Attending to administrative tasksa.
IT personnel interviewed commented that they have to complete a considerable amount of
administrative tasks while at the same time respond to users' requests and other urgent tasks.

5. Di4erential e4ects

Previous research on occupational stress suggest that stress experienced by individuals may vary
with the individual's personal characteristics (Aneshensel, 1992; Ivancevich et al., 1983; Jick
& Mitz, 1985). In this study, two personal characteristics are examined: gender and job tenure.

5.1. Gender

Existing research on gender di!erences in occupational stress has generally been predicated
upon data collected from samples in the West (Beatty, 1996; Davidson & Cooper, 1983; Martoc-
chio & O'Leary, 1989; McDonald & Korabik, 1991). These studies have generally yielded equivocal
"ndings. In a meta-analytic review of studies on gender di!erences in work stress, Martocchio and
O'Leary (1989) found no signi"cant di!erence in occupational stress between men and women.
286 V.K.G. Lim, T.S.H. Teo / International Journal of Information Management 19 (1999) 277}291

McDonald and Korabik (1991) on the other hand, found that women reported being subjected
to di!erent types of stress than did men. These authors found that female managers were
more likely than their male colleagues to report stress arising from work/home interface,
discrimination, and gender-based barriers in the workplace and problems in managing
subordinates.
Based on their study on occupational stress among human resource (HR) professionals, Nelson,
Quick & Hitt (1990) noted that female HR professionals reported signi"cantly more stress as
a result of organizational politics than their male counterparts. In their in#uential work on stress,
Davidson and Cooper (1983) found that generally, women managers experienced signi"cantly
more pressure and reported a greater number of stress manifestations than their male counterparts.
Generally, woman managers reported stress arising from the work, home/social and individual
arenas. In contrast, Tung's (1980) study on occupational stress among male and female educational
administrators suggested that women experienced signi"cantly lower levels of self-perceived
occupational stress than men.
In a study of managerial and professional women, Beatty (1996) found that contrary to initial
expectations, "ndings of the study suggest that managerial and professional women experienced
increased health and well-being from attaining higher levels of occupational status. These women
did not exhibit high levels of anxiety and depression as a result of work stress.
In order to determine if gender di!erences in occupational stress exist among IT professionals in
our study, t-tests were performed. Results of t-tests are presented in Table 2. Table 2 shows that
generally, female IT personnel have higher mean scores than their male counterparts on the
following stress dimensions: work demands, relationships with others, systems maintenance, role
ambiguity, and administrative tasks. However, only the di!erences in the mean scores for work
demands, systems maintenance and role ambiguity between female and male IT personnel were
statistically signi"cant.
Work demands deal with the spill-over of work demands on the respondents' relationships with
their families and on the respondents' social life. That female IT personnel reported signi"cantly
higher mean scores than their male counterparts on this stress dimension is hardly surprising given

Table 2
Mean responses by sex

Variables Male Female ¹-test Signi"cant level

N"136 N"121

1. Work demands 3.96 (0.85) 4.19 (0.73) !2.27 0.01

2. Relationships with others 3.22 (1.10) 3.37 (0.92) !1.20 0.11
3. Career concerns 4.39 (0.86) 4.31 (0.98) 0.69 0.24
4. Systems maintenance 3.86 (0.88) 4.03 (0.80) !1.64 0.05
5. Role ambiguity 3.78 (0.95) 4.06 (0.82) !2.53 0.01
6. Administrative tasks 3.25 (1.08) 3.27 (0.96) !0.16 0.45
7. Job dissatisfaction 3.78 (1.05) 4.07 (0.82) !2.46 0.08
8. Job-induced tension 3.86 (1.34) 4.27 (1.21) !2.57 0.05
9. Intention to quit 4.03 (1.24) 4.21 (1.18) !1.21 0.11

Standard deviations are shown in parentheses.

 V.K.G. Lim, T.S.H. Teo / International Journal of Information Management 19 (1999) 277}291 287

that in Singapore, women often have to bear the responsibilities for home-making and child-
rearing (Yuen & Lim, 1992). Thus, having to bring work home and working long hours may
generate stress for women more often than men.
Previous studies on gender di!erences in job stress generally suggest that women who are
employed in male-dominated profession generally feel a need to prove themselves and set higher
standards for themselves (Jick & Mitz, 1985; Martocchio & O'Leary, 1989). In line with such
"ndings, it is plausible that female IT personnel reported signi"cantly higher mean scores on stress
arising from systems maintenance compared to their male counterparts because they feel a greater
pressure to achieve and to prove that they are knowledgeable and competent in a profession which
is generally male-dominated.
Extant research also suggest that women are socialized to appraise stressful and uncertain events
in a less con"dent manner than men (Jick & Mitz, 1985; Martocchio & O'Leary, 1989). As such, it is
plausible that female IT personnel reported signi"cantly higher mean scores than male IT
personnel on stress pertaining to role ambiguity because they appraise uncertain and con#icting
job situations less con"dently than men. Comments obtained from focus-group interview sessions
seem to support this. One of the female IT personnel remarked:
I do not like it when I don't have enough information to complete my work. I also feel very
stressed especially when I received di!erent instructions from di!erent people regarding what
to do. I feel that generally, I am not given enough guidance on how to do my work.
Female IT personnel also reported higher mean scores on job dissatisfaction, job-induced tension
and intention to quit. Results of t-test however, suggested that only the mean di!erences for men
and women on job-induced tension were statistically signi"cant.

5.2. Job tenure

Job tenure is the length of time an individual has worked in a speci"c position in an organization.
Tenure on the job can have a signi"cant impact on individual's job attitudes. When an individual
has been on the job for a long time, his/her investments in the job and organization (sunk costs)
may be greater than someone who has been on the job for a shorter period. Intuitively, a person
with longer job tenure would also often be in a higher position and would draw a higher level of
income because of his/her seniority. It is plausible that IT personnel with longer job tenure may
experience stress arising from di!erent sources compared to their more junior counterparts. To
investigate if signi"cant di!erences in occupational stress exist for IT personnel with di!erent
lengths of job tenure, respondents with di!ering length of job tenure were divided into three groups,
namely 0}2 yr; 2}5 yr and those with job tenure of more than 5 yr. One-way ANOVA procedures
were then performed on the three groups. Results of ANOVA procedures suggest that higher stress
due to career concerns is reported as the length of job tenure decreases. To determine which two
groups were signi"cantly di!erent in their mean score di!erences, post-hoc analyses were conduc-
ted using Sche!e procedures.
Findings of Sche!e procedures suggest that the mean score di!erences on the stress dimension
pertaining to career concerns are signi"cant between IT personnel in the 0}2 yr (mean"4.44) and
'5 yr (mean"3.87) groups; and between the 2}5 yr (mean"4.40) and '5 yr (mean"3.87)
groups. One possible explanation for the higher mean scores on stress arising from career concerns
288 V.K.G. Lim, T.S.H. Teo / International Journal of Information Management 19 (1999) 277}291

reported by IT personnel in the less senior tenure group is that being rather new on the job,
these individuals are more likely to be concerned with their promotion prospects and career
advancement in the organization. Those in the '5 yr group reported the lowest mean score on
stress arising from career concerns because they may be already career plauteaued i.e., reached
a point in their career where further promotion is unlikely or may be at a stage where their
careers have peaked and chances for further vertical mobility may be diminished. In addition, IT
professionals in the '5 yr tenure group may have acquired enough work experience and
skills which would make them very employable should they want to leave their present
organization.

6. Discussion and implications

The objectives of this study were to examine factors at the workplace which generate stress
among IT personnel in Singapore and the relationships between these stress dimensions and IT
personnel's personal characteristics, namely gender and job tenure. Six main factors emerge as
potential sources of stress: work demands, relationships with others, career concerns, systems
maintenance, role ambiguity and administrative tasks. The results of our study are instructive in
that they seem to suggest that most of the factors which generate stress among IT personnel in
Singapore are linked to various characteristics of IT personnel's work environment, particularly
pressures associated with the job and organizational characteristics. These "ndings have several
implications for management.
To the extent that concerns with the lack of career progress and professional development
emerged as a major factor in generating stress for IT personnel as suggested by our
"ndings, organizations may want to reevaluate their human resource policies and help individuals
especially those in the less tenure group to chart their career paths within the organizations.
To help IT personnel progress in their career and develop professionally, organizations
can provide development programmes and intensive training to enhance the skills and ability of
these individuals.
Findings of this study suggest that female IT personnel reported signi"cantly higher mean scores
on the following stress dimensions: work demands, system maintenance and role ambiguity
compared to their male counterparts. To assist female IT personnel cope with such demands,
organizations need to focus on building a conducive and supportive climate, particularly the
support of an immediate supervisor as antidote for stress. Having a mentor to turn to in times of
need and who can provide them with feedback and advice may increase the con"dence of female IT
personnel and help them deal with stress better.
Over the last decade, the IT "eld has changed dramatically as a result of increasing use of IT in
organizations, social and economic pressures and major corporate transformation. Associated
with these structural and economic transformations are changes in aspects of the IT personnel's
work environment such as increasing users' expectations and demands resulting from in-
creasing cross-functionality of IT jobs. The boundaries of IT personnel's job become more #uid
and they are expected to undertake ever-expanding work responsibilities. As organizations
continue to leverage IT to compete in the global markets, the job of an IT personnel will
inevitably become increasingly more complex and more challenging. In view of this, organizations
 V.K.G. Lim, T.S.H. Teo / International Journal of Information Management 19 (1999) 277}291 289

can assist IT personnel cope with their ever expanding work roles by hiring more IT sta! to
relieve problems associated with labour shortages, providing supervisory support to IT sta!
and increasing their awareness regarding the increasing cross-functionality of their job
descriptions. Clari"cation of responsibilities, relationships and communication of task ob-
jectives are crucial in helping IT personnel cope with their expanding work roles and alleviating
work stress.
Among some of the major problems experienced by the IT industry in Singapore in recent
years are di$culties in recruitment and increasing volume of turnover among IT personnel.
While the local government has taken various steps to increase the number of IT professionals
entering the labour market as previously discussed, sta! shortage and turnover remain a
pressing problem that organizations have to deal with. IT professionals usually leave their jobs
for better career advancement, more lucrative pay and better personal growth and development.
In an era where there is an increasing demand for IT personnel as organizations continue to exploit
IT to enhance their competitive advantage, it is crucial that organizations recognize that both male
and female IT personnel constitute important human resources. As such, steps should be
taken to assist these employees, especially the women in their professional development and
career achievements as well as help them to better able coordinate their family and work
responsibilities.

7. Limitations and future research direction

Several limitations are inherent in the present study. First, this study's exploratory nature
and narrow focus on only one organization necessarily limits its conclusions. Attempts to
generalize from the present results, which describe only "ndings from IT personnel in one
single company must be cautious. However, Chatman and Jehn (1994) noted that "rms in
similar industry generally do not develop distinctive cultural patterns because they face
similar environmental constraints and pressures. In dealing with these environmental constraints,
organizations within a similar industry usually adopt similar structures and practices which
enable them to survive. In line with Chatman and Jehn's arguments, it is plausible that the
cultural patterns within the organization involved in this study do not deviate signi"cantly
from other leading IT supplier "rms in Singapore since these organizations generally have
to deal with similar demand conditions, competitive situations and government policies.
Nevertheless, we do acknowledge that management style di!erentials may exist which may
set one IT organization apart from another. Thus, to extend the generalizability and lend
further corroboration to the "ndings of the present study, future research could perhaps
focus on the e!ects of stress among IT personnel from both IT supplier and IT user companies in
Singapore.
Second, the cross-sectional nature of this study makes it di$cult to draw causal inferences about
the relationships among the variables. One avenue for future research is to replicate the study using
a longitudinal methodology. However, the use of focus-group sessions to elicit qualitative data to
substantiate the quantitative data collected from the survey helps to lend support to our survey
results.
290 V.K.G. Lim, T.S.H. Teo / International Journal of Information Management 19 (1999) 277}291

Third, future studies can expand the scope of this study by including other factors which may
potentially a!ect the stress experience of IT professionals. For instance, individual characteristics
such as locus of control, Type A personality and achievement motivation of the individuals may be
included in future attempts to address this topic.

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