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Journal of Management and Sustainability; Vol. 7, No. 4; 2017
ISSN1925-4725 E-ISSN 1925-4733
Published by Canadian Center of Science and Education
150
Job Stress in Journalism: Interaction between Organisational Support
and Job Demands–Resources Model
Imad Al Muala1
1 Faculty of Business, Amman Arab University, Amman, Jordan
Correspondence: Imad Al Muala, Faculty of Business, Amman Arab University, Amman, Jordan. E-mail:
almuala@aau.edu.jo
Received: November 3, 2017 Accepted: November 25, 2017 Online Published: November 30, 2017
doi:10.5539/jms.v7n4p150 URL: http://doi.org/10.5539/jms.v7n4p150
Abstract
This study aims to analyse the impact of job demands and job resources on job stress among journalists in Jordan.
In addition, the moderation effect of organisational support on such relationship is assessed in this research. A
questionnaire survey was conducted among journalists working in daily newspapers in Jordan. This study used
multiple and hierarchical regression analyses and determined a significant and positive relationship amongst
emotional demands, job insecurity, and task significance on job stress. Additionally, organisational support
moderated the relationship between task significance and job stress. Results of study revealed that the
organisational support moderates the relationship between task significance and job stress. This finding could
challenge journalists, newspaper managements and decision-makers in Jordan. When journalists work on
sensitive topics and are in conflict areas, they are in need of additional support from newspaper managements to
mitigate high job stress and motivate them to produce quality work.
Keywords: JD-R model, job stress, organisational support, journalism
1. Introduction
Every work environment, regardless of industry, faces the dilemma of workplace stress, but the degree to which
it affects employees and organisations differs from one sector/occupation to another. Events that happened in the
last few years, such as the terrorist attack at Charlie Hebdo in France in 2015, have elucidated how dangerous the
work environment of journalists can be even when they are far from war or conflict areas (Monteiro, Marques,
Pinto, & Roberto, 2015).
During the war in Iraq in 2003, Thomas, Murphy, & Dandeker (2007) reported that journalists experienced
negative physical and emotional health outcomes as a result of work stress in war zones and conflict areas. In
Japan, broadcast and newspaper journalists reported experiencing a traumatic event over the course of their
career (Hatanaka, Koshiro, Fukuoka, Matsui, Ando, Inoue, & Itamura, 2007; Hatanaka, Yuki, Fukuoka, Matsui,
Ando, Inoue, & Itamura, 2009). After covering the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, many journalists reported
experiencing symptoms of psychosomatic stress (Takahashi, Fukuoka, Ando, Matsui, Inoue, & Hatanaka, 2012).
Additionally, newspaper journalists who experienced a traumatic event reported undergoing negative
psychological effects (e.g., feelings of helplessness, depression) (Hatanaka et al., 2009). Simpson & Handschuh
(2003), explained that certain events experienced by photojournalists during the course of their work have been
diagnosed by psychiatrists as trauma, with traffic accidents and murder as the most common incidents.
Furthermore, job stress amongst journalists has a negative impact on their performance (Najder & Merecz-Kot,
2014), thereby directly or indirectly affecting organisational performance and profitability. Journalists are also
exposed to stressful job situations, such as in war zones, conflict areas, sensitive cases and disasters, including
earthquakes and tornados, where they have to be on-site to effectively report on such cases (Takahashi, Fukuoka,
Ando, Matsui, Inoue, & Hatanaka, 2012; Newman, Simpson, & Handschuh, 2003).
The prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder among journalists is higher than among other occupations. Aoki,
Malcolm, Yamaguchi, Thornicroft, & Henderson (2013) reported that journalists have positive personal attitudes
towards mental illness but also have perceived workplace disincentives in disclosing mental health problems.
Journalists who were killed in conflict areas and war zones mostly worked in the Middle East (report of
Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), 2014). Since 1992, 164 and 66 journalists have died in Iraq and Syria,
respectively. These numbers are the highest amongst countries worldwide, except for the Philippines. These
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151
killing incidents are determined to be one of the job stressors amongst journalists. Newman, Simpson, &
Handschuh (2003) determined that photojournalists reported being exposed to events that mental health
professionals would deem traumatic, including such common assignments as automobile accidents, fires and
murders.
Regarding job demands, a report published by CPJ (2017) affirmed that covering news related to wars, natural
disasters and the worldwide proliferation of insurgent and criminal groups pose an unprecedented threat to
journalists. The report reiterated that threats could include killings by insurgents or kidnappings of journalists for
ransom or political support. Technological developments, such as tracking and surveillance technologies, could
also place journalists at risk. The report stressed that journalists, particularly Jordanian journalists, lack the
resources and the means to deal with such challenges and risks.
In Jordan, research on journalists are scarce. Most studies are reports on accidents and are descriptive analyses,
with limited research studying journalists from the human resource management point of view. Such research is
mostly conducted in Japan and in Western countries (Monteiro et al., 2015; Hatanaka et al., 2007; Hatanaka et al.,
2009). The Freedom Journalist Report (2013) indicated that journalists in Jordan face different job stressors,
such as holding information and difficulty in obtaining proper information, government interventions and
detention of journalists.
The phenomenon called job stress has been studied in Jordan but mainly in the health sector. Occupations in this
sector are the most stressful because they involve treating and preserving human health. However, many other
occupations deal with sensitive situations, such as an employee working in a dangerous place, or deal with
high-risk jobs, such as journalists. A few studies have analysed the antecedents of job stress amongst journalists.
CPJ (2017) reported that the collapse of old political structures, emergence of militias, failure of Western
government intervention efforts and disruption of the news industry by technology have globally agitated the
threatening landscape for journalists since the 1990s.
2. Literature Review
2.1 Job Demands–Resources Model and Job Stress
Conservation of resources theory explained that physiological, psychological and emotional responses lead to a
stressful situation as a result of job demands and resources (Burnard, 1991; Watson & Clark, 1984). The Job
Demands-Resources Model (JD-R) suggests that a job with low job resources and high job demands may
produce job stress. In any stressful working environment, stress is characteristic of the job due to the nature of
the work itself, such as in nurses, journalists and other stressful professions (Chung, Wolf, & Shapiro, 2009),
where employees who are stressed at work do not perform well.
To provide an insightful view of any work environment, we have to ask the following questions: Why does job
stress occur? What should be done to address job stress at the workplace? For this reason, considering job stress
amongst employees is important because it affects the failure and success of an organisation (Chen & Chiu,
2009). JD-R also involves job resources, which has been ignored but may reduce the effect of high job demands
on stress (Demerouti & Verbeke, 2004). Job stress has cost organisations billions of dollars from losing
organisational advantage. Given that job stress has a significant and negative influence on employees and
organisations, searching for mechanisms that reduce unfavourable effects of job stress is critical (Jawahar, Stone,
& Kisamore, 2007).
Job stress has many definitions in the existing literature. The US National Institute of Occupational Safety and
Health (2007) explained that job stress is the harmful physical and emotional responses that take place when the
requirements of a job do not match the capabilities, resources or needs of the worker. Beehr, Johnson, & Nieva
(1995) defined occupational stress as a situation in which a few characteristics of the work situation are thought
to cause poor psychological or physical health or cause risk factors that likely lead to poor health. Other
definitions map emotions with psychosomatic symptoms, such as hypertension, headache, coronary artery
disease and peptic ulcer (McLean, 1974). The equilibrium of an individual (Gray-Toft & Anderson, 1981) is
affected by the psychological, physiological or spiritual discomfort that is experienced when environmental
stimuli are substantially demanding or exceeding the coping strategies of the individual (Burnard, 1991). These
previous findings indicate that many physical and psychological effects and behavioural disorders happen to
individual employees due to job stress (Lexshimi, Tahir, Santhna, & Nizam, 2007). Such effects and disorders
include headaches, disturbed sleep, difficulty in concentration, susceptibility to viral infections, back pain,
insomnia, weight loss, fatigue, anxiety, boredom, irritability, loss of interest in work, depression, committing
errors at work and frequent clashes with colleagues and other staff members (Organ & Konovsky, 1989).
Burnout is another effect of job stress that is commonly associated with jobs that require many direct interactions
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152
with people. This effect is characterised by emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation and reduced
accomplishment at a personal level (Al-Homayan, Shamsudin, Subramaniam, & Islam, 2013; Feinstein, 2013).
Job demands are frequently responsible for instigating job stress in personnel, whereas job resources are
attributed to decreasing the effect of job demands in causing job stress amongst other contributing effects
(Fernandez-Lopez et al., 2006). JD-R is adopted to discuss the influence of job demands and resources on job
pressure because every job may possess its own precise risk factors related to job strain (Fernandez-Lopez et al.,
2006). For example, professional levels of quantitative and emotional job demands were originally causally
related with high levels of job strain (Mintz-Binder & Sanders, 2012). However, Parry-Jones et al. (1998)
specified that augmented workload were the focal causes of job strain.
Job demands and relationships at work are significant stressful psychosocial work environment factors (Park &
Wilson, 2003). Karasek & Theorell (1990) determined that psychosocial job demands along with time pressure
and conflicts are also significant sources of risk for stress-related illnesses (Lindholm, 2006). Job assets or job
resources are associated with the capability to decrease the effect of job demands that lead to job stress and other
destructive effects (Fernandez-Lopez et al., 2006).
Hackman & Oldham (1980) proposed that job characteristics increase the sense of responsibility of an employee.
However, job characteristics have potential negative effects on workers and their work, such as stress (Chen &
Chiu, 2009; Pierce, Jussila, & Cummings, 2009). Moreover, different work in varying locations create diverse
job characteristics that are likely to create job stress, such as conflict, ambiguity and overload (Evans, Kiggundu,
& House, 1979). In addition, Chen & Chiu (2009) stressed that possible negative influences of job characteristics
on employees and the workplace need further examination in future studies.
Spector & Jex (1991) determined that task significance correlated significantly and negatively with frustration
and anxiety as psychological stress. That is, the threat of the occupation of work can also contribute significantly
to stress. Furthermore, Yahaya et al. (2010) explained that job security can be attributed to occupational stress
because a positive relationship exists between them. By contrast, Salleh, Abu Bakar, & Keong (2008)
revealed that low job security is psychologically stressful, which is a result that other studies also indicated.
Previous studies observed that perceived job insecurity is positively associated with stress at work (Sethi,
King, & Quick, 2004), depression, anxiety, hostility and feelings of distress (Kuhnert, Sims, & Lahey,
1989). Moreover, the positive relationship between job insecurity and job strain indicates a misfit between
individuals and their environment with respect to perceptions of job security (Ayyagari, Grover, & Purvis,
2011).
One of the job resources that can buffer the negative effect of stress on job outcomes is organisational support
(Dwyer & Fox, 2006; Jawahar et al., 2007). A moderating role of organisational support should also be analysed
in different work settings, such as journalism/media industry, and in other cultures (Khurram, 2009).
2.2 Organisational Support
Organisational support theory proposes that when the leadership and organisation management indicate
apprehension about the obligation of employees towards the workplace, employees respond by declaring their
commitment towards the workplace (Eisenberger, Fasolo, & Davis-LaMastro, 1990). Therefore, employees
consider their workplace as a respectful environment, where the organisation treats them with affinity and care.
That is, the workplace provides employees the opportunity to fulfil their emotional needs by receiving esteem
and association (Eisenberger, Armeli, Rexwinkel, Lynch, & Rhoades, 2001). In addition, organisational support
theory suggests that perceived organisational support (POS) is the point in which employees consider that their
workplace signifies their role in the organisation and in which employees are concerned about their entire
well-being (Rhoades & Eisenberger, 2002).
POS involves the contribution of the organisation to the constructive dynamic reciprocity in the workforce
because employees tend to act immediately in an attempt to repay POS (Erdogan & Enders, 2007; Rhoades &
Eisenberger, 2002). POS also shows the eminence of the social interaction that occurs between employees and
employer (Cropanzano & Mitchell, 2005). The emergence of POS amongst the workforce is simplified by the
inclination of employees to attribute human-like characteristics to the workplace. Therefore, the activities of
organisation representatives are taken to depict the image of the workplace rather than the motives of the
organisational representatives themselves (Heckman et al., 2009). POS is further supported by the moral,
financial and legal responsibilities of the organisation because they draw the interest of the representatives. Thus,
POS emerges if the organisation is viewed as willingly offering incentives, job vacancies and enrichment and as
an encouraging organisational environment (Rhoades & Eisenberger; 2002). A professional level of POS assists
employees emotionally (Kraimer, Wayne, & Jaworski, 2001) and equips them socially with the appropriate
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jms.ccsenet.org Journal of Management and Sustainability Vol. 7, No. 4; 2017
154
Individuals with jobs that significantly affect others either physically or psychologically are likely to experience
meaningfulness in their work as opposed to those who do not (Hackman & Oldham, 1980). Three items were used
to measure task significance and these items were adopted from McKnight, Phillips, & Hardgrave (2009).
Greenhalgh & Rosenblatt (1984) studied job insecurity and defined it as the inability to maintain the desired
persistence in an endangered job situation. This definition was used in the current study because job insecurity is
the opposite of job security. Hence, job security is defined in the present study as the ability to maintain the
desired continuity and stability in a threatened job situation. Six items were used to measure job security and
these items were taken from Zeytinoglu, Denton, & Plenderleith (2011).
Stress, which indicates self-reported symptoms, is caused by transactions between people and the environment
(Lazarus, 1990). A total of 14 items were used to measure job stress and were taken from Zeytinoglu et al. (2007).
Perceived organisational support is defined as “a general perception concerning the extent to which the
organization values employees’ contribution, and cares for their well-being” (1990). Eight items were used to
measure organisational support, which were adopted from Saks (2006).
The aim of the current study is to explore the relationship amongst job demands, job resources and job stress
amongst journalists in Jordan and the contribution of organisational support to this connection as a moderator. A
quantitative approach using a self-administered questionnaire appeared to be the most suitable approach. The
author manually distributed 130 questionnaires to journalists who work in the three largest daily newspapers in
Jordan (i.e., Alrai, Alghad and Addustour). A total of 127 questionnaires comprised the final complete
questionnaires entered to SPSS.
5. Profile of Respondents
The participants comprised 127 Jordanian journalists who completed the questionnaire. Individuals included in
our study were males (n = 105, 82.7%) and females (n = 22, 17.3%) who work as journalists in daily newspapers
in Jordan. The majority of the respondents were 41-50 years old (70.1%), whilst 8.7% were 21-30 years old.
Approximately 78% of the respondents were married, 21.3% were single and only one journalist was divorced.
The average monthly pay (in Jordanian Dinar) of the participants were 301-600 (34.6%), 601-900 (35.4%) and
above 900 (27.6%). Amongst the participants, 80.3% obtained a bachelor’s degree and 6.3% obtained a General
Secondary Education Certificate. Approximately 7.1% possessed a diploma, whilst 6.3% possessed a Higher
Education Diploma. Most participants in this study (40.2%) had been working for 8-11 years as a journalist.
Approximately 26.8% had been working for 4-7 years, 30.7% had been working for under three years and only
2.4% had been working for over 11 years. The results of the reliability test for study measurements using
Cronbach’s alpha are as follows: quantity demands, 0.65; emotional demands, 0.63; task significance, 0.70; job
insecurity, 0.86; job stress, 0.89 and organisational support, 0.87. Hair et al. (2006) explained that the minimum
acceptable reliability is 0.60 and above. Therefore, these results are reliable.
6. Data Analysis
The researcher conducted several hierarchical regression enquiries to identify the relationship amongst quantity
demands, emotional demands, task significant and job insecurity on job stress and to recognise the moderation
influence of social support in such relationship. The multiple correlation R, squared multiple regression R2 and
the adjusted squared multiple regression R2
adj show the level at which the combination of the independent
variables predict the dependent variable. The analysis of data determined the multiple regression model with all
four predictors R = 0.494 and R² = 0.244 (F = 9.828, p < 0.001).
The participant of every predictor exists by the standard regression weight for each predictor in a regression
equation (Green & Salkind, 2008). From the four predictors, emotional demands (β = 0.310, t = 3.82, p = 0.001)
registered the greatest and most significant standardised beta coefficient, thereby indicating that emotional
demands is the most important predictor of job stress amongst journalists. Other significant predictors (in
descending order) are as follows: job insecurity (β = 0.295, t = 3.19, p = 0.002) and task significance (β = 0.199,
t = 2.36, p = 0.020). Table 1 shows that the physical demands exhibited no effect on job stress.
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Table 1. Results of hypothesis
Coefficientsa
Model Beta t Sig. Tol e ra n ce V I F
1 (Constant) 2.629 .010
Quantity Demand -.077 -.920 .360 .881 1.136
Emotional Demand .310 3.827 .000 .942 1.061
Task Significance .199 2.356 .020 .872 1.147
Job Insecurity .259 3.193 .002 .944 1.059
a. Dependent Variable: Job Stress, R= 0.494 R² = 0.244, (F=9.828, p < 0.001).
Three predictor variables generally affected the dependent variable based on the hypothesis. Emotional demands
was the exception, with no significant effect on job stress. Hence, job stress amongst journalists may emerge
when a journalist reports experiencing high emotional demands, high task significance and high job insecurity.
7. Interaction
Regarding the moderation effect, data analysis determined that organisational support performs a completely
moderating role between task significance and job stress (see Table2).
Table 2 presents the results of the hierarchical multiple regression analysis. The set of job demands and job
resource variables were entered in step 1 and these variables explained approximately 24.4% of job stress
variance. All independent variables significantly influenced job stress, except for quantity demands.
Table 2. Results of interaction
Coefficientsa
Model Beta T Sig.
1 (Constant) 2.629 .010
QuantityDemand -.077 -.920 .360
EmotionalDemand .310 3.827 .000
TaskSignificance .199 2.356 .020
JobInsecurity .259 3.193 .002
2 (Constant) 1.623 .107
OrganizationalSupport .080 .953 .342
3 (Constant) -.340 .735
OrganizationalSupport .449 1.734 .086
OrganizationalSupportXQuantityDemand .193 .557 .579
OrganizationalSupportXEmotionalDemand .299 1.035 .303
OrganizationalSupportXTaskSignificance -.889 -2.239 .027
OrganizationalSupportXJobInsecurity .005 .025 .980
a. Dependent Variable: JobStress.
The moderator variable ‘organizational support’ was entered in step 2 and it explained approximately 24.9% of
the variance. Task significance was not determined to be related to job pressure. In step 3, the interaction terms
were entered and an increase in R2 by 4% was observed. Nevertheless, only the interaction between
organisational support and task significance was shown to be significant (β = -0.89, t = -2.24, p = 0.027).
Therefore, organisational support only has a completely moderating role that influences the connection between
task significance and job pressure amongst journalists in Jordan.
Figure 1 shows that organisational support restrains the connection between job demands and job resources and
that job stress represents that organisational support influences the association between task significance and job
stress. Under conditions of high task implication and low organisational support, a journalist experiences higher
level of job stress compared with a journalist who has extraordinary task significance and high organisational
support.
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8. Discussion
The results of this study attempt to analyse the goodness of fit of the hypothesised model by integrating the
independent variables (i.e., quantity demands, emotional demands, task significance and job insecurity) with the
dependent variable job stress amongst journalists in Jordan. Table 1 shows that the results of this study that are
consistent with the hypotheses imply that the hypothesised model is supported. However, this model fits and
supports three direct effects. Firstly, emotional demands were determined to have a direct significant effect on
job stress. Previous studies have also obtained similar results (Mintz-Binder & Sanders, 2012). Therefore, a
positive relationship between emotional demands and job stress indicates that Jordanian journalists have positive
emotional demands towards job stress.
Figure 1. Interaction between task significance and organisational support on job stress
Secondly, task significance has a direct positive effect on job stress amongst journalists in Jordan and previous
studies have also obtained similar results (Cuirrin, 2007). Thus, a positive and significant influence exists in the
relationship between task significance and job stress. Therefore, the respondents substantially focus on the
relationship between task significance and job stress. Journalists with considerably significant job tasks, such as
the coverage of high-tension situations or events, will likely face high job stress compared with those having
ordinary tasks.
Thirdly, job insecurity has a significant and positive effect on job stress amongst journalists in Jordan. Therefore,
a positive and significant influence exists in the relationship between job insecurity and job stress based on
previous studies (Lindholm, 2006). Therefore, journalists with high job security will not be easily frustrated or
feel stressed at work, given the high unemployment rates and living cost in Jordan, compared with the other
countries in the region.
Regarding insignificant influence, this study shows that one hypothesis was not supported. Instead, quantity
demands have an insignificant and positive relationship with job stress amongst journalists in Jordan. Therefore,
a positive and insignificant impact exists in the relationship between quantity demands and job stress based on
previous studies (Fogarty & Kalbers, 2000). This finding indicates that journalists in Jordan provide limited
attention to the relationship between quantity demands and job stress. Lastly, organisational support exhibits a
moderating effect on the relationship between JD-R and job stress amongst journalists in Jordan. Table 1.2 shows
the results of this study, in which organisational support performs a completely moderating role between task
significance and job stress based on previous studies (Kurram, 2009).
9. Conclusion
The aforementioned findings indicate that job demand, job resources and job stress analyses should be
considered because they tend to differ from one occupation and culture to another. Journalists in the Middle East
have rarely been studied from the human resource management point of view. Accordingly, using JD–R
facilitated the identification of the antecedents of job stress and reiterated that each occupation and each
employee perceived demands and resources differently. This study revealed a high-moderate job stress rate
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157
amongst journalists in Jordan. The current study also showed no relationship between quantity demands and job
stress, thereby indicating that the job of journalists only has a few physical requirements, particularly for those
who work in daily newspapers. The emotional demands of journalists have an extremely significant relationship
with job stress because high job demands have negative emotional or physical effects on employee performance
and well-being. On the other end of JD-R are job resources, which has positive outcomes. Increased amounts of
job resources make work easy, whereas low job resources negatively affect employee performance. In this study,
job resources, task significance and job insecurity have a significant relationship with job stress amongst
journalists in Jordan.
The research model of this study included organisational support as a moderator in the relationship between
JD-R and job stress. The findings of this study indicated that organisational support performs a moderating role
between job significance and job stress. This situation could challenge journalists working on sensitive topics
and in conflict areas because they need increased support from the newspaper management to mitigate high job
stress and motivate them to produce quality work.
10. Recommendations for Future Research
The sample of this study focused on the Middle East, specifically Jordan. Future research should investigate the
model in a different setting, such as Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Lebanon. Therefore, additional studies should be
conducted on these areas to measure and investigate the related factors that affect journalism. Other determinant
factors should be considered in future research as well, such as technological factors (i.e. Internet, social media),
environment factors and infrastructures factors. Moreover, decision-makers in Jordan should considerably focus
on supporting journalists to reach an extremely healthy work environment by decreasing the level of stress
amongst journalists. Additionally, the management of newspapers in Jordan should provide substantial support to
journalists who work under high levels of emotional demands and low job security and face extraordinary tasks
at work.
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