Occupational stress in the Brazilian public administration: What are the impacting factors?

Abstract

In this article, we examine occupational stress in the organizational environment of the Brazilian public administration. In the theoretical review, the major organizational stressors highlighted in the literature are pointed out and their effects on health and performance of individuals are identified. The empirical research used data from a survey based on a sample of 242 federal public servants. A Structural Equation Model (SEM) was used to identify the stressors, the related stress symptoms, as well as the way they relate with each other. Three types of environmental stressors has been identified, namely: emotion, and social mobility, as perceived by the servants. The symptoms were classified according to two types of stress: psychological and physiological. The results show that only the emotional factor present in the workplace, in public organizations, influences the psychological occupational stress, among the factors studied. It is expected that the present results may help public managers to create better environment and a workplace favorable with high standards of productivity in the Brazilian public administration.