The Relationship Between Perceived Unit Effectiveness and Occupational Stress: The Case of Purchasing Agents

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Abstract
This article examines the functional relationship between occupational stress and perceived unit effectiveness. Purchasing agents in a Southwestern U.S. city responded to a self-report questionnaire, which solicited measures of stress and effectiveness and such information as respondents'gender, age, number of subordinates, andposition tenure and their organizations' size and type of industry. A regression analysis of these responseswhich controlledfor individual and organizational differences-found that perceived unit effectiveness was negatively related to occupational stress andpositively related to age. The authors found no evidence of an inverted-U-shaped relationship between stress and effectiveness, and little support for the proposition that gender moderates the relationship. Nonetheless, the authors point out that research on the relationship between occupational stress and perceived unit effectiveness should control for the effects of individual characteristics.