The Impact of Work Stress, Work Environment and Organizational Climate on Employee Performance: Empirical Evidence from an Emerging Region

In recent years, the demand placed upon today's workforce has increased while the expectations of today's organization have changed. Therefore, managing an employee's performance is still a major challenge facing many organizations. This study examines the relationship between employee performance and work stress, work environment and organizational climate among employees in an emerging region which is Southern Sarawak, Malaysia. A quantitative cross-sectional research methodology was utilized in this study. Data collection occurred utilizing structured questionnaires completed by 221 government employees working in Kuching Sarawak utilizing convenience sampling. A multiple regression analysis model was developed for each of the six dimensions: workload; role conflict; role ambiguity; physical work environment; psychological work environment; and organizational climate. The results indicate that none of the work stress variables (i.e., workload, role conflict, role ambiguity) or the physical work environment had a statistically significant relationship with employee performance. However, the psychological work environment and organizational climate demonstrated a statistically significant positive relationship with employee performance. Furthermore, Organizational Climate emerged as the strongest predictive variable. These empirical results demonstrate that psychosocial and organizational support systems provide greater leverage in promoting employee performance than either the physical or structural aspects of the workplace. Thus, this study provides additional empirical evidence to the growing body of literature in the developing regional area of Sarawak, Malaysia, which supports the notion that organizations should develop and implement proactive employee wellness initiatives and supportive leadership and communication strategies to maintain superior levels of employee performance.