nazanin abassazeh

Although the physical and mental health of workers and, as a result, the productivity of organizations are influenced by the stress in the working environment, this issue has rarely been addressed in the literature. This research was therefore conducted to quantify the effects of stress on work ability, the incidents rate, and the performance of Takhte Jamshid hospital in Karaj.

The main variables were work stress (an independent variable), work ability index and the work-related incidents (as mediator variables), and hospital performance (as the dependent variable). Based on Cochran equation, 240 employees out of the total population of 636 were selected and then surveyed using the standard questionnaires developed by Agiuns regarding work ability index, work stress, and the employee work performance.

Based on the results, mean values of work stress, working ability, and the hospital performance were 3.06, 22.2, and 3, respectively. According to the structural equation modeling, work stress significantly affected both working ability (R2 = -0.87) and work-related incidents (R2= 0.68). It was also found that the work ability affected the incidents rate (R2= -0.34). Finally, the work incident rate had a substantial effect on the hospital performance (R2= -0.62).

Based on this study, work stress clearly affected the work ability of employees and the resulting performance of the hospital. Then, it is expected that mitigation of work stress can lead to a lower rate of work incidents and higher quality of hospital performance.