The Role of Self-Efficacy in the Relationship Involving Challenge and Hindrance Stressors and Job Satisfaction

Abstract

This paper examines the validation of the two-dimensional work stressors, challenge and hindrance stressors, and their interaction with self-efficacy to predict job satisfaction. Survey among 393 employees of some companies in Nigeria, showed some similarities and differences from results obtained in other settings. Specifically, the research validates the two-factor structure for challenge and hindrance stressors, and also established that self-efficacy interacted with challenge stressor to predict job satisfaction. However, the differential effects of the stressors on job satisfaction established by past research in other settings were not confirmed. This result obtained in this research supports other studies that obtained different results when stress models developed in other settings were tested in Nigeria. Consequently, the research recommends that the differential effects of challenge and hindrance stressors on job satisfaction established by past research require further validation to determine generalisation. Also self-efficacy did not interact with hindrance stressor to predict job satisfaction as hypothesised. This implies that employers must find another way to help individuals manage the effect of hindrance stressors. Generally, the research indicates that self-efficacy is an important variable in the understanding of employee behaviour in work stressors characterised as challenge and hindrance stressors.
Keywords: Challenge stressor, Hindrance stressor, Job satisfaction, Self-efficacy.