Global Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences

Abstract

Personality and Gender: A Meta – Analysis of Their Effects on Employee Stress

Dr. Manasseh N. Iroegbu

The effects of personality type (extroversion/introversion) and gender (male/female) on employee stress was investigated. Two hundred middle cadre workers made up of 105 males and 95 females were randomly selected from a manufacturing industry in South East of Nigeria. Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) and job Related Tension Scale (JTS) were used to determine the personality types and to measure job stress respectively. 2 x 2 factorial design was used for the research while a two way ANOVA for unequal sample sizes was adopted for analysis. The first hypothesis was accepted (f(1, 196 = 305.8; p < 0.05) with the extroverted workers showing greater tendencies for job stress than the introverted workers. The second hypothesis was accepted (1, 196) = 11.14; p < 0.05) with the female workers showing greater tendencies to experience job stress than the male workers. There was also a significant interaction between personality type and gender (f 1, 196) = 5.02 p < 0.05). The implications of the results were that organizations should try to regulate the quantum of tasks assigned to the female gender as well as extroverts for health reasons to help this group of workers overcome stress.