THE APPLICATION OF THE LAZARUS THEORY OF STRESS AND ITS PSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECTS ON LOWER AND MIDDLE MANAGEMENT WORKING IN THE BANKING SECTORS OF SINDH

Abstract

This study investigates the psychological effects of workplace stress on lower and middle-level managers in the private banking sector of Sindh, Pakistan, utilizing Lazarus' Transactional Theory of Stress. The research examines how workload intensity and work-life conflict contribute to psychological stress and its subsequent impact on physical health problems and burnout. It further explores the moderating roles of perceived job control and coping strategies in mitigating these relationships. Employing Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) with data from 350 managers, the study confirms all hypothesized relationships. Workload intensity (β=0.401, p<0.001) and work-life conflict (β=0.156, p<0.001) significantly predict psychological stress, which strongly influences physical health problems (β=0.558, p<0.001) and burnout (β=0.604, p<0.001). Perceived job control effectively buffers the impact of workload (β=−0.150, p<0.001) and work-life conflict (β=−0.100, p<0.01) on stress, while coping strategies mitigate the progression from stress to physical health issues (β=−0.220, p<0.001) and burnout (β=−0.300, p<0.001). The model explains substantial variance in stress (R²=0.569), with moderate explanatory power for burnout (R²=0.374) and physical health problems (R²=0.318). These findings validate the Job Demand-Control and Conservation of Resources theories, emphasizing the need for structural interventions to enhance job control and individual coping training to foster resilience. Practical recommendations include workload audits, autonomy enhancement, and coping skill development to improve managerial well-being