The Impact of Workload and Job Stress on Performance in Software Industry of Pakistan: The Moderating Role of Co-Workers Support

Abstract

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First of all, I am grateful to the Almighty ALLAH for giving me the strength to complete this project. I have the pleasure of recording my indebtedness to many people who have helped me in the work described in this thesis. I extend my heartiest gratitude to my supervisor Dr. Ahmad Qammar, for his valuable advice, intellectual suggestions, and help throughout the study. He has been a great mentor and a source of inspiration for me. His kind attitude and kindness have motivated me to completed this thesis. I place on record, my sense of gratitude to all of those who, directly or indirectly, have lent their helping hand in this venture. My all endeavors are executed because of my family, especially My parents (my father and my late mother) whom love, prayers, encouragement, and good wishes always inspired me to complete my strenuous studies.

Sundas Afzal CIIT/FA19-RPM-024/LHR

Abstract Impact of Workload and Job Stress on Performance in Software Industry of Pakistan: The Moderating Role of Co-Workers Support

The 21st-century era is all about Globalization and Information technology. The world has shifted to AI and Software technologies rapidly in the previous decade. People are using IT in almost every sphere of life. In these times of rapid software development, it is essential to measure factors that affect the performance of the employee. Job Stress, workload, and Coworkers’ support are the variables that may impact the performance of the employee in one way or the other.

Therefore this study is aimed at examining the relationship between workload and employees’ performance, The mediating effect of job stress and to check whether coworkers’' support moderates the job stress among employees of software houses in Pakistan. There is a deficiency in the current literature that explains the mechanism of how workload negatively affects the employees’ performance especially in the Software Industry of Pakistan. Software houses operating in Lahore are treated as a target population. Data were collected from employees working in these software houses through survey questionnaires using convenience sampling. Almost 201 employees responded to the questionnaire. Statistical software WARP PLS is used for data analysis and testing the hypothesis.

The results showed that there is a significant impact of job stress as a mediator between workload and employees’ performance. It was also found that coworkers’ support plays a positively moderating role between job stress which improves the employees’ performance. No significant relationship was found directly between workload and employees’ performance rather the effect of workload on performance was fully mediated by job stress.

The study offers theoretical and managerial implications. The findings can be a hallmark for the Software industry of Pakistan as they can give a blueprint to the management of Software houses about the factors that should be kept in mind while managing resources. If the workload and job stress are regulated and a friendly working environment is promoted, then the performance of the employees can be surely increased which will benefit the Software industry of Pakistan. And as Software industries are contributing significantly to the revenue of the country by increasing foreign reserves, the impact of this study can go a long way.