A STUDY OF OCCUPATIONAL STRESS, JOB-SATISFACTION AND QUITTING INTENTION IN HONG-KONG FIRMS - THE ROLE OF LOCUS OF CONTROL AND ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT

The authors investigated the direct and moderating effects of locus of control and organizational commitment on the relationship of sources of stress with psychological distress, job satisfaction and quitting i ntention of 122 employees (66 males, 54 females, two unclassified) wor king in Hong Kong firms. The instruments included parts of Occupationa l Stress Indicator-2 measuring sources of stress and job satisfaction, Work Locus of Control and the nine-item Organizational Commitment Que stionnaire. In addition, 10 items measuring psychological distress and two items measuring quitting intention were constructed by the first author. A series of validation procedures were conducted, and the auth ors concluded that the instruments used were valid to be used on Chine se employees in Hong Kong. The results of the study suggested that loc us of control and organizational commitment had strong direct effects (externals were dissatisfied with the job itself and thought of quitti ng the job quite often; employees who had a high commitment had higher job satisfaction) and moderating effects (the stressor-strain relatio nships were significant in externals, and commitment buffered most of the stressor-strain relationships). (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.