THE INFLUENCES OF GENDER AND GRADE ON PERCEIVED WORK STRESS AND JOB-SATISFACTION IN WHITE-COLLAR EMPLOYEES

A self-completion questionnaire survey was carried out, resulting in a sample of 675 white collar public sector employees. The survey examin ed the frequency of occurrence of work-based stressors and perceived c ontrol, and included a general measure of job satisfaction. The result s revealed that higher levels of job satisfaction were reported by emp loyees in higher grades. It war also observed that higher grades perce ived more control within their working environment. No gender differen ces were found concerning reported stress problems, although significa nt differences were observed across grades in relation to role differe ntiation. Multivariate analyses revealed that grade effects were large ly accounted for by differences in perceived control. Perceived contro l. role-based and organizational stressors as well as gender were the strongest contributors in predicting reported job satisfaction.