Antecedents of Job Stress: A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

Currently, family concepts are evolving and are an essential and ongoing development. Maintaining family life is essential for achieving a high quality of life, as family conflicts can impact the enduring value of life quality. Business organisations must continuously enhance service quality to meet customer expectations and maintain competitiveness. Increased competitiveness and customer satisfaction demands might impact staff productivity. The competition significantly impacts the employees who might have irregular working hours, a significant workload, job stress, and challenges managing work and family obligations. Job stress is often seen in most business organisations these days. Job stress can arise when employees are unable to meet job standards. Considering its importance, this study investigated the systematic literature review of antecedents of job stress, including social support, job satisfaction, and work- family conflict. Besides, this study examined the impact of job stress on job satisfaction, social support, and work-family conflict. Secondary data was gathered from journals, websites, blogs, and articles. A total of 203 journal articles were collected for conducting a systematic literature review from JSTOR, Emerald, Science Direct, Taylor and Francis, Scopus, Google Scholar, and Elsevier, published between January 2013 and December 2023. 67 articles were included in the thematic analysis. The findings of this study are helpful for employers in reducing the job stress of employees and increasing their satisfaction levels. The study demonstrates that while several job stressors and coping strategies have been discovered, only a few sectors actively address these issues to provide a stress-free work environment. Future research may prioritise the establishment of an organisational framework that aligns with developmental characteristics and fosters a supportive atmosphere for employees, hence mitigating job stress levels.