Occupational Stress and its Outcomes: The Mediating Role of Emotional Intelligence among Employees in Non-Government Organisations in Pakistan

Purpose: Output of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) mostly depends upon efficiency and performance in completing different projects. NGOs in Pakistan operate in diverse fields including health, education, women empowerment etc. The job of the NGOs tends to be stressful due to security issues, psychological strains, organizational structures, and various roles of the employees. This study investigated and explored outcomes of occupational stress in the form of employee engagement at work; furthermore, the research investigated that how emotional intelligence intervenes the impact of occupational stress and employee engagement, as being the mediator. The conservation of resource theory (COR) is applied to explore the relationship of occupational stress and its outcomes in non government organizations of Pakistan. Methodology/Design/Approach: Data was collected from 346 employees (middle level) of NGOs. Stratified sampling technique was used to collect the data. The study makes use of quantitative analytics to test the hypothesis. A positivist approach was adopted for the study as it follows a well-defined structure for the topic under study. Correlation, Regression and sobel’s test for mediation analysis was used in the research to study the relation among the variables. Findings: The study finds the effect of occupational stress on engagement of employees in NGOs and this relationship is mediated by four constructs (relationship management, social management, self-awareness and self-management) of Emotional intelligence. The study concludes that more the level of occupational stress, lower the engagement of employees. This study also finds that relationship between occupational stress and reduced employee engagement is lowered in employees having high level of emotional intelligence. Results also found to be consistent with conservation of resource theory. Limitations/Future Research: The current study is limited to the middle level management; future research can be further extended to all levels in the organization. Employee engagement as a single outcome off occupational stress is analyzed other outcomes may be explored in future researches. Implications: This study contributes to the literature of occupational stress and its outcome in the shape of engagement with an individuality of how emotional intelligence mediates this relationship. The study supports the results of the growing scholarly work on the phenomenon. Practical implications: This research provides insight for organizations, management and for individuals to incorporate emotional intelligence effectively to deal with the stress without being depleted. Additionally, recommendations are provided for the NGOs to enhance the organizational performance through employee engagement and emotional intelligence. Originality/Value: This research explored and analyzed relationship of occupational stress and engagement and emotional intelligence in a different dimension. Further the non-governmental organization remains largely unexplored in this area.