Employment Type and Organizational Role Stress- A Relational Study in Agricultural Extension

Abstract

The previous literature on both public sector performance and organizational role stress is silent on various stressors associated with the role of government agricultural extension officials, which is one of the most important components of the entire agricultural system. The purpose of this exploratory study is to fill this gap with the identification of potential work stressors for this profession. The paper also aims to investigate whether employment type (permanent or temporary) affects the level of role stress among agricultural extension officials. The role of gender, age and marital status on stress levels has also been examined further. For this purpose, the data was collected in the year 2020 from 68 Agricultural Extension officials, which comprised 38 temporary and 30 permanent officials. The results investigated that temporary extension officials face more role stress as compared to their permanent counterparts. Additionally, Resource Inadequacy (RIn) and Self-role Distance (SRD) are reported as prominent stressors among all extension officials irrespective of their employment type, age, gender and marital status. Considering the presence of role stress in the public extension officials, exploring its effect on job satisfaction, job performance and well-being of employees, and testing and implementing coping measures is suggested for future studies.