1
A STUDY ON RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LOCUS OF CONTROL AND
OCCUPATIONAL STRESS AT SPINNING MILLS WITH SPECIAL
REFERENCE TO COIMBATORE
1Dr. Priya Kalyanasundaram,
2Deepa Manickam,
3C.S.Senthilkumar,
1HOD- Sankara Institute of Management Science.,Coimbatore, India,
2Assistant Professor, Department of Management, Kumaraguru College of Engineering, Coimbatore,
Tamil Nadu, India 3Associate Professor, Department of Fashion Technology, Kumaraguru College of Technology, Coimbatore,
Tamil Nadu, India [email protected]
Abstract
Locus of Control (LOC) concept was evolved from social learning theory of personalityin the
form of reinforcement. Rotter coined the term in relation to learned behavior andthe reinforcement of
such behavior. In the light of the phenomenon, individuals come tohold beliefs about the cause of their
actions, and these beliefs then guide their attitudesand behavior for future actions. Organization stress is
inability to cope up with the pressures of the Organization. Apart from the financial costs,the employee
may suffer from many physiological and psychological diseases. One ofthe major sources of
Organization stress was found to be the personality of the individual. Thisstudy attempts to analyses the
impact of locus of control on Organization stress. The researchersattempt to assess whether internal or
external locus of control relates to Organization stress of theemployees. The analysis revealed that
theIndian employees are facing high Organization stress. It was found that employees who haveinternal
locus of control are less stressed by their jobs and more satisfied with theorganization while the external
locus of control employees are high on stress and moredissatisfied with their jobs. The study suggests
that while designing any stressmanagement programme management should give due consideration to
the variable ofLocus of Control.
Key words: Locus of Control, Internal locus of control, external locus of control ,Organization stress,
International Journal of Pure and Applied MathematicsVolume 119 No. 17 2018, 2425-2435ISSN: 1314-3395 (on-line version)url: http://www.acadpubl.eu/hub/Special Issue http://www.acadpubl.eu/hub/
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1. INTRODUCTION
Since the early 1990’s , the spread of globalization and its attendant corollaries have began to
impact organizations far and wide. Among organizations in developingcountries, the imperatives of
globalization could no longer be ignored or circumvented.To these organizations, creating and
sustaining competitive advantages through variousforms and means have become a major
preoccupation. Given this context of globalizationand intensified competition, organizational employees
are driven to perform beyond theirroutines. Employees are expected to learn the different cultures,
languages, and rules andregulations of international trade resulting in increased work loads, the pressure
toenhance job skills and long working hours. Such changes in the rates of job, workingenvironment and
organizational behavior would undoubtedly increase occupational stressof the workers, which in turn
effects workers physical and mental health.
1.1 LOCUS OF CONTROL
"Locus of Control" Concept of generalized expectancies for control of reinforcement,
more commonly known as locus of control. Locus of control refers to people's verygeneral, cross-
situational beliefs about what determines whether or not they getreinforced in life. People can be
classified along a continuum from very internal to veryexternal.
People with a strong internal locus of control believe that the responsibility for whether
or not they get reinforced ultimately lies with themselves. Internals believe that successor failure is due
to their own efforts. In contrast, externals believe that the reinforcers inlife are controlled by luck,
chance, or powerful others. Therefore, they see little impact oftheir own efforts on the amount of
reinforcement they receive.
TYPES OF LOCUS OF CONTROL:
EXTERNAL LOCUS OF CONTROL:
It refers to the individual’s perception that a reinforcement or outcome is guided by fate, luck, or other
external circumstances beyond his/her control. Besides, an individual may see big and complex forces
surrounding him/her as causes of events. Individuals, who believe that his/her behavior or events
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happen to him/her, are mainly determined by external forces rather than himself/herself are defined as
people with external locus of control (Rotter, 1990).
INTERNAL LOCUS OF CONTROL:
It can be defined as an individual’s belief that events result primarily from their own behavior or
relatively permanent traits and actions (Rotter, 1990). Individuals with internal locus of control are more
responsive to environmental stimuli or changes, which they believe will be helpful in determining their
future behavior, compared to individuals with external lotus of control; They are more enthusiastic in
changing environmental conditions and they ascribe more importance to their abilities, achievements or
failures.
OCCUPATIONAL STRESS
Occupational (job, work or workplace) stress has become one of the most serious healthissues in the
modern world (Lu et al., 2003), as it occurs in any job and is even morepresent than decades ago. The
world of work differs considerably from the workingenvironment of 30 years ago: longer hours at work
are not unusual, frequent changes inculture and structure are often cited, as well as the loss of lifetime
career paths which allleads to greater presence and levels of stress.
1.1 INDUSTRY DETAILS:
INTRODUCTION:
The global technical textile market is growing along with new innovations and developments. While a
large part of the demand comes from developed countries, the increasing industrialization and
development of emerging countries is driving the growth of the overall
market. In terms of product segments Clothtech, Packtech and Agrotech have the largestshare of global
technical textiles market. Non-woven, Composites, Fibers and Meditechsegments had a significant
share of about 75% in the global technical textiles market, but therapid growth of automobile industry in
market and growing acceptance of geotextiles is expectedto drive the growth of Mobiltech and Geotech
segments.
1.3 OBJECTIVES
To understand the concept of locus of control among the employees
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To identify the level of occupational stress among the employees
To identify the relationship between locus of control and organizational role stress.
1.5 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY:
Time period was the major drawback.
The Study is confined only to Coimbatore branch.
2.REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Bernardi, Richard .A (2001)reveals that external locus of control is negativelycorrelated to feelings of
personal accomplishment and job satisfaction is negativelycorrelated to stress. This is because internals
feel they have input into their workenvironment, perceive less emotional exhaustion, and receive higher
job satisfaction.
Watson, Pennebaker & Folger (2001)aim to investigate the influence of three personality variables-
Locus of control, Type A personality, and negative affectivity on job strain. The results reveal that Type
As are hyper-reactive to uncontrollable stressors Type As were more reactive to stressful job conditions
than Type Bs.
The Norbert Schmitz; Willi Neumann; Roman Oppermann ( 2000) have evaluated theeffects of
locus of control and work-related stress on burnout in hospital staff nurses. Aconvenience sample of 361
staff nurses from nine units in five German hospitals wassurveyed using the Maslach Burnout
Inventory, the Locus of Control Questionnaire and aWork-Related Stress Inventory. The findings
supported the notion that perceived degree of control isinstrumental in enabling nurses to cope with
stress and burnout.
3.RESEARCH METHODLOGY
3.1 AREA OF STUDY
The researcher has chosen Coimbatore as an organization for Study. As Coimbatore is the Second
biggest City of the Southern State of Tamil Nadu, The City is also called as the “Manchester of South
India” with a salubrious climate..
3.2POPULATION
The Population comprised of employees working in Coimbatore
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3.3 INSTRUMENTATION
The Questionnaire for employees was framed with two scales locus of control Scale and Occupation
Stress Index to measure the relationship between locus of control and occupational stress
.Occupational Stress Index developed by Srivastav and Singh (1981) was used to measure the
Occupational Stress of the respondents.
3.4 SAMPLING DESIGN
The Researcher has adopted Systematic Simple Random Sampling Method for selecting the
sample, the names of respondent were arranged in alphabetical order and from that list every
2nd
respondent of the population starting from random number two was chosen. At the end of the data
collection there were 100 qualified filled in respondent.
3.5 DATA COLLECTION
The researcher personally administered the questionnaires employees of the Coimbatore.
The researcher relied on electronic data EBSCO, Doctoral Thesis, Academic Journals, Internet
and Books. The gathered secondary data enabled the researcher to verify the findings based on the data.
3.6. RESEARCH TOOLS:
The primary data has been collected from the potential respondents and has been properly sorted. The
statistical tests are conducted at 5% and 1% level of Significance. Correlation,
t- Test,Analysis , ANOVA, Chi square ,Correlation and regression
3.7 DATA ANALYSIS:
The researcher has used a structured close ended questionnaire for the study. The questionnaire used in
the study had58 items, which weredivided into three parts.
Part I deals with the socio- economic profile of the respondents.
Part II has items on Work locus of control.
Part I1I has items on occupational stress.
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2. DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION:
Table No 1
INTERPRETATION:The above table 1 indicates the demographic factors of the
respondents. Majority employees were between 21-30with (46%) and finally the
least was 50 and above with (2%) .Majority of the employees were Male with
Age Frequency Percent
21-30 46 46.0
31-40 40 40.0
41-50 12 12.0
50 AND ABOVE 2 2.0
Total 100 100.0
Gender MALE 74 74.0
FEMALE 26 26.0
Total 100 100.0
Qualification SSLC 17 17.0
HSC 7 7.0
DIPLOMA 26 26.0
UG 43 43.0
PG 7 7.0
Total 100 100.0
Experience 0-5 55 55.0
5-10 34 34.0
10-15 9 9.0
15 and above 2 2.0
Total 100 100.0
Marital Status UNMARRIED 41 41.0
MARRIED 59 59.0
Total 100 100.0
HIGH 30 30.0
MODRATE 53 53.0
LOW 17 17.0
Total 100 100.0
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(74%) and (26 %) of the employees were Female.Majority employees were under
graduate with (43%) finally the least HSC with (7%) .Majority employees were
between 0-5 with (55%) the least was 15 and above with (2%) .Majority of the
employees were moderate with (53%) and high with (30 %) and low with (17%) of
the employees in the company.Majority of the employees were married with
(59%) unmarried with (41 %)
TABLE 2 : BASED ON TYPES OF LOC
INTERPRETATION: Table and graph shows that 56% of the respondents have
internal work locus of control and 44% of the respondents have external locus of
control.
TABLE :3 ASSOCIATION OF OCCUPATIONAL STRESS AND LOCUS OF CONTROL:
TYPES OF LOC FREQUENCY PERCENT
EXTERNAL 44 44.0
INTERNAL 56 56.0
Total 100 100.0
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INTERPRETATION Table and graph shows that 92% of the respondents with internal work locus of
control experience low occupational stress and 8% experience high occupational stress. 88% of the
respondents with external locus of control experience high occupational stress and 12% experience low
occupational stress. The p- value <0.001 indicates that the majority of the respondents with internal
work locus of 92% of them have low occupational stress and majority of them with external locus of
control ie 88% of them have high occupational stress.
TABLE : 4 CORRELATIONS BETWEEN LOCUS OF CONTROL AND
OCCUPATIONAL STRESS:
INTERPRETATION:The Table shows that the correlation between employees internal-
external locus of control and occupational stress. The research found the mean and
standard deviation value of internal-external locus of control occupational stress. It
means the tour guides have medium internal locus of control (mean=6.732), medium
external locus of control (mean=18.253) and high stress (mean=45.453)
TABLE :5 REGRESSION TABLE OF LOCUS OF CONTROL AND OCCUPATIONAL
STRESS:
INTERPRETATION: The R square value indicates 50.2% variation in
Occupational Stress is explained by independent variables of locus of control. The
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beta value was calculated 0.322 and the significant value was calculated 0.012.
This is showing that locus of control is significantly impacting the occupational
stress among the guides.
5.CONCLUSION:
The aim of the project was to investigate the relationship between work locus of controland
occupational stress. The findings of the research indicate that the employees with external locus of
control have high occupational stress and employees with internal locus of control have low
occupational stress. Therefore, a correlation exists between work locus of control and occupational
stress.
It was also found that age gender and marital status and kind of job have significant differences on
occupational stress of the guides. It was also found that locus of control has significant impact on role
stress. The present study establishes and supplements the existing literature that the internal locus of
control is negatively correlated with organizational stress and external locus of control is positively
correlated with stress.
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