The influence of leadership power bases on employee''''s job stress - A study of Vietnamese companies

UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY International School of Business --- LUONG THI THANH THAO THE INFLUENCE OF LEADERSHIP POWER BASES ON EMPLOYEE’S JOB STRESS - A STUDY OF VIE

UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY

International School of Business

-

LUONG THI THANH THAO

THE INFLUENCE OF LEADERSHIP POWER BASES ON

EMPLOYEE’S JOB STRESS

- A STUDY OF VIETNAMESE COMPANIES

MASTER OF BUSINESS (Honours)

Ho Chi Minh City – Year 2014

UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY

International School of Business

-

LUONG THI THANH THAO

THE INFLUENCE OF LEADERSHIP POWER BASES ON

EMPLOYEE’S JOB STRESS

- A STUDY OF VIETNAMESE COMPANIES

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I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Dr Pham Ngoc Thuy, my Supervisor, for her thoughtful guidance guidance, recommendations from the research proposal to the thesis report I really appreciate her patience during the whole instruction process for me to the able to complete this study despite some location difficulties

Secondly, I would like to express my sincere thanks to all professors, tutors and officers of MBus Program for valuable lectures, academy knowledge and your experiences transfer throughout the period of courses at International School of Business

I want to express my special thanks to all my colleagues, friends for your advice, cooperation and supports during the pilot and official survey

Finally, special thanks to my family especially my parents for their support, encouragement and inspiration that enabled me to finish the course Without your support, I can not successfully complete my thesis

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam,

06th Dec, 2014

Luong Thi Thanh Thao

2 ABSTRACT

The turnover rate in Companies in Vietnam is growing especially in Sales department of FMCGs companies, there are few studies of the influence of leadership behaviors on both organizational and leader effectiveness That is why FMCG and employees who work in sales sector are mainly focus of this study The objectives of this research to identify relationships between leadership power bases and employee‟s job stress in Companies in Viet Nam A convenience sample is collected from 289 employees from many companies, largely from FMCGs and Sales department The goal was to obtain the influence of leadership power bases used by his or her leaders and the employees‟ job stress to determine

if an association exists between these two variables The results indicated that perceived leadership power bases correlate with job stress for employees in these companies The components of the Legitimate power base is positively related to job stress of subordinate, whereas the Expert power, Reward Power and Coercive are related negatively According to the research including on legitimate leadership behaviors, these approaches may lead to high job stress However, using mostly Expert, Reward and Coercive power may result in positive effects such as low stress levels Leadership is at the heart of effective management The research, mainly focusing on companies in Ho Chi Minh City with convenient sampling method to collect data analysis Demographic factors might have affected the results Most

of the participants were young with job tenure under three years Moreover, most of the samples chosen came from male gender Finally, there may have been a self-selection bias among the subordinates who participated in this study since participation was voluntary

Key words: Leadership, Job stress, power bases

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Table of contents

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS i

ABSTRACT ii

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Research background 1

1.2 Research questions and research objectives 2

1.3 Research contribution/significance 2

1.4 Scope of the study and delimitation 3

1.5 Research structure 4

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

2.1Literature review 5

2.2Concept of Leadership and the bases of power 5

2.2.1 Legitimate power 7

2.2.2 Reward power 7

2.2.3 Coercive power 8

2.2.4 Expert power 8

2.2.5 Referent power 9

2.3Job Stress 9

2.4Relationships among concepts 10

2.4.1 Legitimate Power and Job Stress 10

2.4.2 Reward Power and Job Stress 11

2.4.3 Coercive Power and Job Stress 12

2.4.4 Expert Power and Job Stress 12

2.4.5 Referent Power and Job Stress 13

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 16

3.1Research Process 16

3.2Research Design 17

3.3Measurement scales 19

3.3.1 Legitimate power 19

3.3.2 Reward power 20

3.3.3 Coercive power 20

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3.3.4 Expert Power 20

3.3.5 Referent power 21

3.3.6 Job stress 21

3.4Questionnaire Design 22

3.5Sampling Method 23

3.6Qualitative Survey 24

3.7Main survey and data collection 25

3.8Data analysis methods 26

3.8.1 Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) 26

3.8.2 Reliability Analysis 27

3.8.3 Regression analysis 27

CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS 29

4.1Descriptive analysis of the variables studies 29

4.2Measurement scale assessment 31

4.2.1 Reliability Analysis - by Cronbach‟s Alpha 31

.2.2 Results of the Exploratory Factor Analysis 36

4.2.3 The KMO and Bartlett‟s Test 39

4.2.4 The revised research model 40

4.3Hypotheses testing 41

4.3.1 Testing relationship of independent factors and dependent factor 41

4.3.2 The results of the regression analysis 43

4.3.3 Hypotheses Testing 44

4.4Discussion 47

CHAPTER 5 – CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS 48

5.1Main findings 48

5.2Managerial implications 49

5.3Contributions of the study 49

5.4Limitations 50

REFERENCES 52

APPENDICES 57

APPENDIX 1 – QUESTIONNAIRE IN ENGLISH 57

APPENDIX 2 – QUESTIONNAIRE IN VIETNAMMESE 60

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APPENDIX 3 - DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS OF ITEMS 63

APPENDIX 4 - EFA ANALYSIS RESULTS 64

APPENDIX 5 - RELIABILITY ANALYSIS RESULTS 65

APPENDIX 6: FREQUENCY TABLE 66

List of Table

Table 4-1: Descriptive Statistics of Sample 31

Table 4-2: Reliability analysis results 35

Table 4-3: EFA analysis results for the variables 37

Table 4-4: The total explained variance 37

Table 4-5: KMO and Bartlett's Test 39

Table 4-6: Describe the correlation among variable 42

Table 4-7: Hypotheses testing results 43

Table 4-8: Multiple Regressions results of model 45

Table 4-9: Summary of hypothesis testing result 47

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List of Figures

Figure 1: Research model for leader power bases and job stress of employee 14 Figure 2: Research Process 16 Figure 3: Revised Research Model 39

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ABBREVIATIONS

ANOVA: Analysis Of Variance

EFA: Explored Factor Analysis

KMO: Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin

SPSS: Statistical Package for Social Science

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This chapter introduces the context of the study, including a short introduction of the market

of Viet Nam, and information FMCGs industry in Viet Nam, the research problem, and the research objectives as well as the delimitation and contribution of the research

Effective leadership is essential to ensure that change leads to increased efficiency and profitability (Pittaway et al., 1998; Zhao and Merna, 1992; Slattery and Olsen, 1984) The FMCG industry tends to be labor intensive and has increasingly harsh environmental demands imposed upon it Leadership skills may help organizations to utilize the available human resources more effectively and to deal successfully with environmental pressures Leadership as a subject has been somewhat neglected within FMCG industry research in Viet Nam From human relations perspectives, employee‟s stress is related to the personality traits of the superior which as his/her temperament, openness, industriousness, pleasantness or not The positive side of all of these traits can reduce stress and enhance satisfaction of employee If organizations understand the influence of leadership skills or leadership styles may help organizations to utilize the available human resources more effectively and to deal successfully with environmental pressures

A brief introduction about turnover rate in Viet Nam

According to Vietnam news online paper, (2013), the turnover rate among workers is likely

to grow this year as many hope to change their jobs, an online survey has found moving consumer goods, pharmaceuticals, oil, and gas are predicted to be the top sectors of turnover rate The high turnover rate of employees comes from many reasons One of the most important reasons that lead to resignation of employee is not appropriate leadership Employees feel unsatisfied with their boss They decide to quit job in short time of working The workplace stress is recognized, but little attention is given to the incidence of this

The turnover rate in Companies in Vietnam is growing especially in Sales department of FMCGs companies, there are few studies of the influence of leadership behaviors on both organizational and leader effectiveness That is why FMCG companies and employees who work in sales sector are mainly focus of this study The proposed research question is as follows:

How do the leader power styles affect on job stress of employee?

The objectives of this research is identifying the relationships between leadership power bases and employees' job stress in Companies in Viet Nam

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The study findings add to the field of leadership with information on the relationship of leaders and followers in terms of the degree to which leadership styles might relate to employee‟s stress in the workplace

There are relations between leader power bases and subordinates‟ job stress The findings support that Legitimate power base stimulate job stress, Reward power, Expert power and Coercive Power do not stimulate to job stress That helps the board director associates with

HR department of organizations train managers/leaders of companies to use effectively kind

of leadership styles to reduce job stress of subordinate and increase the effectiveness of both the leader and the organization

If an organization wants to succeed in a rapidly changing business environment, it is better for managers to use, Reward power, Expert power and Coercive Power than Legitimate power Managers use various leadership styles to influence subordinates, decrease their job stress and to get things done in organizations Job performance will increase so that, it will increase the success of their organization

The framework of this study is to analyze the interaction among major variables of power bases depicted The primary data used in this study is secured through survey questionnaire The respondents of this study are from many companies in Viet Nam but are largely from Sales department and marketing department, which have high turnover rate according to Market Remuneration Report from Hay Group (2013) This study has limitations that could

be future research topics, such as other sectors, demographic characteristics of the participants, etc The study focuses on employees and managers who work in popular companies in Ho Chi Minh City of Viet Nam (Unilever, P&G, Colgate, Pepsi, Coca – Cola, Vinamilk, Bank, IBM, KPMG, Etc.) This study focuses much on leadership power bases, how it affects on job stress

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The research is structured into five main chapters Chapter 1 is the research background, research problem, research questions and objectives, research delimitation, research contribution/significance, scope of research and thesis structure Chapter 2 presents the literature review, which provides key concepts related to the researched topic, leadership power bases and job stress After that, conceptual research model and its hypotheses are provided Chapter 3 introduces the methodology used to test the research model Chapter 4 presents research results of data analysis, hypothesis testing and discussion from the research findings Lastly, chapter 5 summarizes the research results; provide the findings, limitations and recommendations

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This chapter introduces key concepts related to the researcher topic and literature relating to leadership power bases and job stress of employee which includes in previous research result, discussions and arguments Through out this chapter, variables will be established and grouped into relevant factors This chapter also mentions some previous studies and experiences related to the research topic

The extensive amount of research performed on leadership and stress over the past several decades precluded an exhaustive review on each topic The purpose of this study is to provide an overview of leadership styles and job stress and lay the foundation for an empirical review of the correlation between leadership styles and job stress Erkutlu and Chafra alreadyexamined the influence of leadership power bases on subordinates‟ job stress at boutique hotels in Turkey in 2006

Brian E Daenzer (2009) also proved the quantitative correlation of leadership styles and job stress in a Midwest United States auto company Still now, there have not has study in Viet Nam so far about the relationship of Leadership power bases and Job stress The investigation of topic is very necessary in every business and every occupation Leadership styles have an impact on the employee of an organization, and job stress might correlate with certain styles of leadership The research studied employee mainly from Sales Department

Leadership dates back to the earliest days of human history The great man theory suggested that leaders were born into leadership positions while the trait theory suggested that leaders possessed certain traits that gave them leadership ability (Gehring, 2007) Based on these theories, leaders have acquired formal authority and the power to direct followers

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Yukl (1991) stated that some studies on the power-influence approach attempted to explain leadership effectiveness in terms of the degree of power possessed by a leader, types of power, and how power is exercised, Gordon and Yukl (2004) concluded that the answer remains elusive despite the countless studies carried out to identify effective leadership over the past half-century People have lost interest in the topic of power because of the flat organizational structure and empowerment popular in today‟s world Nevertheless, power still exists in flattening organizations and empowerment still involves sharing power with others As always, understanding power is significant for understanding organizational behavior and leadership effectiveness (Benfari, Wilkinson, & Orth, 1986; Pfeffer, 1981; Rahim, 1989; Yukl & Falbe, 1991)

Earlier research (Rahim, 1988; Rahim & Afza, 1993; Rahim, Antonioni, Krumov, & Ilieva, 2000; Rahim & Buntzman, 1989; Rahim, Kim, & Kim, 1994; Student, 1968; Yagil, 2002)

on leader power mainly focused on business and political organizations, and seldom on the area of education, health, and other public service organizations, and even more rarely on science research institutions (Rahim,1988)

Power does not arise spontaneously or mysteriously Rather, it comes from specific and identifiable bases Power is an intangible force in an organization (Daft, 1999) In this study, the term power is defined as the capability of an individual agent to influence the behavior

or attitudes of one or more designated target persons This definition implies that this study

on power was limited to the influence of one individual (group leader) over other individuals (group members)

Where does the capability of one person to influence another one come from? In other words, where does power come from? Power bases have been conceptualized in a variety

of ways by scholars

More than 50 years ago, social scientists John French and Bertrand Raven (1959) proposed five sources of power within organizations: legitimate, reward, coercive, expert, and referent Many researchers have studied these five sources of power and searched for others

a manager asks an employee to work late to complete a project or to work on one task instead of another, he or she is exercising legitimate power Managers can enhance their position power by formulating policies and procedures For example, a manager might establish a requirement that all new hires must be approved by said manager, thus exercising authority over hiring (DuBrin, 2009)

Reward power is a person‟s ability to influence others‟ behavior by providing them with things they want to receive These rewards can be either financial, such as pay raises or bonuses or nonfinancial, including promotions, favorable work assignments, more responsibility, new equipment, praise, and recognition A manager can use reward power to influence and control employees‟ behavior, as long as employees value the rewards

In accordance to French and Raven (1959), reward power depends on the power wielder (individual or group) administering “positive valences and reducing or removing negative valences” This type of power needs to be used carefully to prevent followers becoming accustomed to rewards and refusing to complete routine tasks without a reward Generally, rewards should not be offered to follower employees to complete duties which are a normal part of their role This is because as an employee, they are under a contractual obligation to complete these tasks and they are already rewarded for this through

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their salary The other reason why rewards should be offered carefully is that frequent use can reduce the impact or influence that offering a reward initially had on the follower Followers will soon tire of the reward especially if the reward is small, for example, chocolates or flowers For example, if managers offer employees what they think are rewards (a promotion with more responsibility), but the employees do not value them (i.e., they are insecure or have family obligations that are more important to them than

a promotion), then managers really do not have reward power

Coercive power is a person‟s ability to influence others‟ behavior by punishing them or

by creating a perceived threat to do so This is the power to discipline, punish, and withhold rewards; it is important largely as a potential, rather than an actual type of influence According to French and Raven (1959), the strength of coercive power depends

on the magnitude of the “negative valence of the threatened punishment multiplied by the perceived probability that a power recipient can avoid the punishment by conformity” For example, employees may comply with a manager‟s directive because of fear or threat

of punishment Typical organizational punishments include reprimands, undesirable work assignments, with holding key information, demotion, suspension, or dismissal Coercive power has negative side effects and should be used with caution, because it tends to result in negative feelings toward those who use it

Expert power is a person‟s ability to influence others‟ behavior because of recognized knowledge, skills, or abilities Physicians are acknowledged to have expertise, special skills, or knowledge and hence expert power Most people follow their doctor‟s advice Computer specialists, tax accountants, and economists have power because of their expertise Experts have power even when they rank low in the organization‟s hierarchy As organizations become increasingly more technologically complex and specialized, expert power of organization members at all levels in the hierarchy becomes

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more important (Luthans, 2011) Some firms deliberately include lower-level staff members with expert power in top-level decision making (Nebus, 2006) Knowledge is power in today‟s high-tech workplaces (Kreitner & Kinicki, 2010)

Referent power is a person‟s ability to influence others‟ behavior because they like, admire, and respect the individual French and Raven (1959) define referent power as “a feeling of oneness or a desire for such an identity” This kind of power involves the concept

of “identification” The follower will address their leaders This is created when the followers believe that the leader possess qualities that they admire and would like to possess The followers identify with their leader and attempt to copy their leader As referent power is dependent on how the follower views the personality of their leader, a leader will not have referent power over every follower they lead Some leaders will have referent power over just a few, whilst others such as Ghandi have led millions through their personality and charisma For example, suppose you are friends with your boss One day, she asks you to take on a special project that you do not like To anyone else, you would likely decline the request, but because of your special relationship with this individual, you may do it as a favor In this instance, your boss has power over you because

of your positive relationship

Stress is a pervasive and essential part of life It is defined as the reaction of individuals to demands (stressors) imposed upon them Stress plays a positive role by triggering the mobilization of adaptive responses (Selye, 1976) Contrary to popular belief, stress can be associated with both pleasant and unpleasant events (Levi, 1972) and only becomes problematic when it remains unresolved because of lapses in the individual‟s adaptive capacity When this happens, the individual becomes disorganized, disoriented and therefore less able to cope; stress related health problems may result

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Job stress is synonymous with occupational stress, and organizational stress These terms reflect excessive strain leading to harmful physical or emotional responses that occur when the capabilities of the worker cannot match the resources or requirements of the job (Spielberger & Vagg, 1999)

Job Stress Survey (JSS).The JSS is an instrument used in a wide variety of work settings to measure generic sources of occupational stress encountered by men or women The JSS identified the frequency and severity of specific stressors The respondents‟ ratings were tabulated to calculate measures of overall job stress, job pressures, and lack of organizational support (Spielberger & Vagg, 1999)

The term stress will at times be interchangeable with job stress In the general definition of stress for the study, stress is a measure of physiological and twenty-two psychological stressors as well as the frequency and severity of specific stressors that are specific to workplace stress (Spielberger & Vagg, 2005)

Karasek‟s (1979) job demands-control model offers a theoretical basis for exploring the relationship between perceived supervisor power and subordinate stress Perceived supervisory legitimate, reward, and coercive power would be positively related to subordinate stress because they are likely to evoke a sense of lack of personal control at

work

2.4.1 Legitimate Power and Job Stress

Subordinates play a major role in the exercise of legitimate power If subordinates view the use of power as legitimate, they comply (Gibson, Ivancevich, Donnelly, & Konopaske, 2012) That is, legitimate power covers a relatively narrow range of influence and, therefore, it may be inappropriate to overstep these bounds Greenberg, 2011) For example, a boss may require his secretary to type a company document

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However, it would be an abuse of power to ask that secretary to type his doctoral dissertation The secretary may decide to complete the task, but doing so would not be within the scope of the boss‟s formal authority Legitimate authority is a person‟s authority to make discretionary decisions as long as followers accept this discretion (Barnard, 1938: McShane & Von Glinow, 2012)

Perceived legitimate power of the supervisor positively related to stress, because the subordinate is reminded of responsibilities to be fulfilled and realizes that his or her performance will be monitored and evaluated The constant focus on duties and evaluation will likely increase subordinate stress Leaders have the right to influence and employees have the obligation to accept this influence, this kind of power may show negative relation with the stress of employees

Hypothesis 1: Legitimate power has the positive relation to job stress of employee

2.4.2 Reward Power and Job Stress

Reward power can lead to better performance, as long as the employee sees a clear link between performance and rewards To use reward power effectively, therefore, the manager should be explicit about the behavior being rewarded and should make clear the connection between the behavior and the reward (Nelson & Quick, 2012) Employees also have reward power over their managers through the use of 360-degree feedback systems (McShane & Von Glinow, 2011) Employee feedback affects managers‟ promotions and other rewards, so managers tend to behave differently toward employees after 360-degree feedback is introduced into the organization (Mabey, 2001)

If one conforms to gain acceptance, reward power is a work However, if conformity takes place to forestall rejection This power derives from control over positive or rewarding outcomes for subordinates are expected to be an effective may increase the satisfaction of employee Otherwise, if the reward is not worthy, the employee can be dissatisfaction and easy look for other job opportunity

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Hypothesis 2: Reward power has a positive relation to job stress of employee

2.4.3 Coercive Power and Job Stress

The availability of coercive power varies from one organization and manager to another Most organizations now have clearly defined policies on employee treatment Clearly defined rules and procedures that govern how coercive power is used prevent superiors from using their legitimate power (formal authority) arbitrarily and unethically The presence of unions also can weaken coercive power considerably One need not be in a position of authority, however, to possess coercive power Employees also have coercive power, including the use of sarcasm and fear of rejection, to ensure that team members conform to group norms Many organizations rely on the coercive power of team members

to control employee behavior

The threat of being disciplined for not arriving at work on time is effective in influencing many employees to be punctual In the positive facet, if leader use this kind of power as a potential than actual type of influence, he or she can create the pleasant for employee to work In the other hand, leader use this kind of power as a tool to control employee and force them to obey, he or she can make the disappointed and stressful to employees Therefore, the hypothesis is as follow:

Hypothesis 3: Coercive power has the positive relation to job stress of employee

2.4.4 Expert Power and Job Stress

Expert power is based on the extent to which followers attribute knowledge and expertise to the power holder Experts are perceived to have expertise in well-defined functional areas but not outside them To be granted expert power, followers must perceive the power holder to be credible, trustworthy, and relevant (Luthans, 2011) Credibility is acquired by having the appropriate credentials For example, physicians, computer specialists, and tax accountants, who have shown tangible evidence of their expertise,

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will be listened to closely and thereby granted expert power These specialists may not be granted expert power in other functional areas The person seeking expert power also must be trustworthy, that is, have a reputation for being honest In addition to credibility and trustworthiness, a person must have relevance

More specifically, expert power of the supervisor serves to reassure the subordinate in terms

of reducing job uncertainty, handling task complexity, enabling role, and goal clarity (Busch, 1980), thus leading to lower stress Leader who uses this kind of power will make employee feel more pleasant to work, eager to learn from their leaders also feel less stress The hypothesis is as follow:

Hypothesis 4: Expert power has the negative relation to job stress of employee

2.4.5 Referent Power and Job Stress

Referent power develops out of admiration of another and a desire to be like that person This helps to explain why celebrities are paid millions of dollars in endorsements Marketing research shows that people such as Michael Jordan and Serena Williams have the power to influence your choice of athletic shoes and tennis products (Craig & Douglas, 2006) The same could be said of leaders in business firms who have a good reputation, attractive personal characteristics, or a certain level of charisma (Kudisch, Poteet, Dobbins, Rush, & Russell, 1995) A charismatic leader can ignite an entire organization (Tosi, Misangyi, & Fanelli, 2004) Referent power of the supervisor increases the attraction and acceptance of the supervisor by the subordinate thus enhancing the pleasantness of the work and lowering stress Previous research has showed that expert power and referent power are positively correlated with subordinate affect (Podsakoff and Schriesheim, 1985)

Perceiving one‟s supervisor to be high on expert and referent power can be seen as similar

to having a strong social support system at work The subordinate would consider the supervisor‟s expertise to be a source of work support (e.g resource for clarifying issues and

Hypothesis 5: Referent power has the negative relation to job stress of employee

Proposed research model:

Figure 1: Research model for leader power bases and job stress of employee

LIST OF HYPOTHESES

Hypothesis Statement of Hypothesis

H1 Legitimate power has the positive relation to job stress of employee

H2 Reward power has a positive relation to job stress of employee

H3 Coercive power has the positive relation to job stress of employee

H4 Expert power has the negative relation to job stress of employee

H5 Referent power has the negative relation to job stress of employee

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Chapter 2 summary

A variety of models has been used to measure the influence of leadership power bases on job stress of employee In this research, there are 6 constructs used in the research model, in addition to typical constructs of model including construct: Legitimate Power, Reward Power, Coercive Power, Expert Power, Referent Power and Job stress The following chapters will present how we develop measurement scales for each constructs in the research model

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It is important to present clearly methodology that will be used in this study Thus, in order to ensure throughout validity and reliability of the research, this chapter will discuss about methods of research will be conducted in real world Moreover, it is also important to evaluate an approach of research used in order to answer the research questions In this chapter, the author reported the methodology that the author used to

do the research

3.1 Research Process

This study is conducted as given in the chart below:

Figure 2: Research Process

Research Problem/ research objectives and research scope

Concepts, research model and Hypothesis

Regression annalysis

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3.2 Research Design

Within step 4 and step 5 above mentioned, this research was conducted through 2 phases named the qualitative research and quantitative survey from employees of many companies in Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam The objective of qualitative research is to explore and clarify the factors influence to job stress of employees raised by previous researchers and adjust to be more suitable to Viet Nam context After that, quantitative research was conducted based on the findings from survey to validate the result in a bigger scope and scale The detail of qualitative and quantitative phase was specified in the below parts

employees feel stress about that

Discussion with 5

employees

influence on Job stress

Questionnaire (n = 350)

 A main survey was conducted by means of online survey invitations to be sent

by emails or were implemented by the questionnaires in hard copies by face to face for customers Data was collected two weeks after

Data was to be processed and analyzed by using Exploratory Factor Analysis and Cronbach‟s alpha reliability analysis to validate the questionnaire and make sure the reliability of the measurement scale Standard multiple regression was used to test hypotheses Then the main results were drawn and reported

Research process needed to achieve the research objectives in Figure 1

Clearly, the research procedure in this study consists of eight steps:

Step 1: Research topic with objectives was formulated

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Step 2: Develop the initial research model and a consolidated draft questionnaire

Based on the literature review, the conceptual model about relationship between components was developed and the draft questionnaire was conducted from various measurement scales in some previous studies

Step 3: Conduct a qualitative pilot study to refine a questionnaire The first step of the

pilot study is a qualitative one, in which, series of individual in-depth interviews/discussions 5 – 15 managers or employees were undertaken to evaluate the relevance and sufficiency of various measures of the consolidated draft questionnaire Discussions were recorded, summarized and is the basis for the adjustment, addition

or deletion of observed variables in the scale

Step 4: Conduct a quantitative pilot survey to test the clarity of the questionnaire A

quantitative pilot study was conducted as the second round of this pilot study in which individual face- to –face interviews were undertaken with 20 employees who mostly work in FMCG companies for more than one year The purpose of this discussions/ interviews is:

- To test their understanding on the contents of questions in this questionnaires

- To test their understanding on the scale of measurement applied in this research

The feedbacks from these employee were seriously taken to refine the questions in a way to ensure the clear understanding of most interviewees (the presented language is appropriate or not, the sentence may be ambiguous or not) so that they could answer the questions properly This refined questionnaire was the final version to be launched

in the following main survey

Step 5: Launch a main survey and collect the data two weeks after The main survey

was conducted after the questionnaire was refined based on the results of the quantitative pilot survey So we suggest the sample size consists of at least 175 employees, about 350 questionnaires were sent out, 300 responses are received two weeks after the survey was launched

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Step 6: Test the validity of the scales with Explore Factor analysis (EFA) and modify

the research model accordingly

From the data collected from this main survey, the measures were assessed by Exploratory Factor Analysis to explore the inter-relationships among a set of variables The inter-correlations among the variables were considered strong when the correlation matrix for evidence of coefficients was 0.3 Barlett‟s test of sphericity was significant (p<0.5) and the KMO index was greater than 0.5 and ranges from 0 to

1 Based on this result, the hypothesized conceptual model was modified

Step 7: Test the reliability of the measurement scales by using Cronbach‟s Alpha

Analysis Cronbach‟s Alpha was used to evaluate the measurement scale reliability by testing the internal consistency among variables of the same construct The scale was considered reliable when the Cronbach‟s Alpha coefficient is greater than 0.7

Step 8: Test the research hypotheses by using linear regression analysis After

confirming the reliability, multiples regression analysis was employed to test the hypotheses

3.3 Measurement scales

Leader‟s power This variable was measured by using the Rahim Leader Power Inventory (RLPI) (Rahim, 1988); this is a multi-item measure containing 24 questions on a five point Likert scale with factorial independent subscales designed

to measure the five supervisor power bases

3.3.1 Legitimate power

It is reasonable for my superior to decide what he/she wants me to do LEGPO01

My superior‟s position does not give him/her the authority to change

the procedures of my work LEGPO02

I should do what my superior wants because he/she is my superior LEGPO03

My superior has the right to expect me to carry out his/her instructions LEGPO04

My superior can not get me a pay raise even if I do my job well REWAR06

If I put forth extra effort, my superior can take into consideration to

determine my pay raise

REWAR07

My superior can get me a bonus for earning a good performance rating REWAR08

My superior can recommend a promotion for me if my performance is

consistently above average

REWAR09

My superior can recommend me for merit recognition if my

performance is especially good

My superior can fire me if I neglect my duties COERC14

My superior can suspend me if I am habitually late in coming to work COERC15

3.3.4 Expert Power

I approach my superior for advice on work-related problems because

he/she is usually right

EXPER16

When a tough job comes up, my superior has the technical “know

how” to get it done

EXPER17

My superior has specialized training in his/her field EXPER18

I prefer to do what my superior suggests because he/she has high

professional expertise

EXPER19

My superior has considerable professional experience to draw from in

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3.3.5 Referent power

My superior has a pleasing personality REFER21

I admire my superior because he/she treats every person fairly REFER22

I like the personal qualities of my superior REFER23

My superior is not the type of person I enjoy working with REFER24

3.3.6 Job stress

The author combine 6 items of job stress scales of Spielberger and Vagg‟s (1999) - Job Stress Survey and 5 items from Job stress scale of Parker and Decotiis (1983) The reason is that in the context of Viet Nam, the original scale of each author does not reflect all elements cause tress for employees in Viet Nam

In detail, Spielberger and Vagg‟s (1999) Job Stress Survey was used to assess job stress Respondents rate the intensity of 30 common workplace stressors on a nine-point scale by comparing each stressor to an event perceived as producing an average amount of which has been assigned the midpoint value of 5 In this study, the author adjust the scale into a five-point scale and the average amount of which has been assigned the midpoint value of 3 The author also use 6 stressors from 30 common workplace stressors for the questionnaire

I am lack of opportunity for advancement JOBST25

I feel difficult to get along with supervisor JOBST26

I have inadequate salary JOBST27

I have a poor or inadequate supervision JOBST28

I work with poorly motivated co-workers JOBST29

I have conflicts with other departments JOBST30

Scale 2 was adapted from the Parker and Decotiis (1983) 13-item scale to measure job stress and the cronbach‟s alpha reliability of the scale was 0.923 in this study A

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five-point Likert scale was employed ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree) In this study, the author uses 5 items from 13 items of the scales

I feel fidgety or nervous as a result of my job JOBST31 Working here makes it hard to spend enough time with my family JOBST32

I have too much work and too little time to do it JOBST33

I sometimes dread the telephone ringing at home, because the call

The final questionnaire was structured into 3 parts:

Part I: General Information: the purpose of this part was to choose the qualified respondents selected The target of the survey is people who work under a supervisor for at least 1 year

Part II: Information Services (Main Questionnaire): this part was asked to run the model to see the extent to which respondents agree with different statements relating leadership power bases and the influence of leadership styles on job stress This part showed measurement scales, included 35 statements of all research construct including Legitimate Power, Reward Power, Coercive Power, Expert

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Power, Referent Power and Job Stress Each statement is measured on a 5-point Likert scale 24 ranging from totally agree (5) to totally disagree (1) to measure customer perceptions

Part III: Others Information: the purpose of this part was asked to have more insights for the analysis to show the difference in behavior and attitude among different segment, different group, including Gender, Age, Marital Status

3.5 Sampling Method

Sampling is one of the most important tasks in research because the method of sampling has an important impact on method of analyzing data as well as results obtained From the general view, sampling involves selecting a small number of elements from a larger defined group of elements

In order to have a good and reliable data set, an attention should be exercised in choosing a target sample population

The target population of this research is The author will conduct the survey in Ho Chi Minh City of Viet Nam, focus on 350 employees and 10 leaders work in FMCG industry.Managers included in the study met the following criteria: (1) they had been responsible for at least two employees; and (2) and have experience in managing more than two years Employee are working under the supervision of the selected managers from at least three month are preferred to be choose and then the employee working in FMCG companies at least six months

Then the process of research methodology will conduct to test hypothesizes It is generally agreed that the minimum sample for appropriate use for statistical analysis is equal to or greater than five times of the number of independent variables, and not less than 100 for generating reliable result (De Coster, 2004)

The sample size is calculated by the formula below:

n ≥ (5 † 10)* k

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In which:

 n is the sample size

 k is the number of variable

In this research, there are 35 variables, then n ≥ 5 * 35 =175 , meaning that the sample size required by EFA in this research should be equal or greater than 175 samples

Otherwise, according to Green (1991), for testing the Multiple Regression, the sample size is calculated by the formula:

n ≥ 50 + 8 * m

In which:

 n is the sample size

 m is the number of independent variables

This study has 5 independent factors, so the minimum sample size for multiple regression as below: n = 50 + 8x5 = 90

In the correlation between these 2 sample sizes, for getting more precise results, the sample size needed for this study should be at least 175 samples to conduct the EFA analysis and regression Data collected after 350 survey invitations were sent during the main survey was 289 and therefore considered and appropriate for EFA and multiple regression analysis

3.6 Qualitative Survey

The purpose of qualitative research is to explore factors affecting job stress and their items Scales of job stress and the antecedents are adapted from (Rahim, 1988); Spielberger et al (1999); and Parker et al Decotiis (1983) According to Vishnevsky and Beanlands (2004, p.235), “the term „qualitative research‟ encompasses a number

of research methods within the naturalistic paradigm that take different approaches to the research design” There are three commons of qualitative designs such as ethnography, phenomenology and grounded theory In there, Polit, Beck, and Hungler

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(2001, cited in Vishnevsky and Beanlands, 2004, p 236) supposed that “the main resource of data collection of phenomenology is in depth-discussions with both the researcher and informant participating fully” Therefore, phenomenology would

be suitable for this research Method of sampling, data collection and the results

of in -depth interviews will be presented in the next section

Qualitative survey by means of an in-depth interview with managers or employees of in order to design the questionnaire based on the consolidated draft questionnaire developed from the literature review and to determine the sampling population Objective of this phase is to test that the respondents whether understand the topic or not After discussion, the author will ask them for some recommendation

to develop the questionnaire to be better

After listening to respondents‟ feedback, the scales for the study were adjusted In detail, respondents suggested to remove some items in the questionnaire because they are sound the same or similar meaning Some of respondent‟s feedback the questionnaire is too long Some of them suggested to translate into a different way of some items as the statement is difficult to understand Similarly, those feedbacks were also validated and added into the questionnaire in the next phase

Meanwhile, there are some variables in the originals scales were removed out of this study due to its context irrelevancy

3.7 Main survey and data collection

The main survey was launched on August 18, 2014 330 online survey invitations were sent to customers in the targeted sample population by emails and followed by the questionnaires in hard copies implemented by face to face One week later, 301 responses were received in both survey web and hard copies, in which twelve were rejected because of mistake responses After all, only 289 responses were useable for this study, in which there were 269 online responses and 20 paper-form responses

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3.8 Data analysis methods

The collected data will be analyzed by IBM SPSS software (statistical package for social science) for statistical purpose, Version 20 which could enable the exploratory factor Analysis (EFA), Cronbach‟s Alpha Reliability Analysis and standard Multiple Regression Analysis

3.8.1 Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA)

The primary objectives of EFA are to determine the number of factors impacting to the measures and the strength of the relationship between each factor and each observed measure (De Coster, 2004) At first, Exploratory Factor Analysis was employed to explore the interrelationship among a set of variables so as to identify the number of underlying factors Principal Axis Factoring was used as a method to extract the factors in this study

In order to guarantee the suitability of the data for factor analysis, the following conditions should be met (Pallant, 2005):

- The sample size should be appropriate: The sample size should be at least 100 and there should be a ratio of at least file cases for each of variables In this research, there are 35 variable, therefore the minimum required sample size for Exploratory Factor Analysis is 175 Our valid responses are 289 and therefore our data set was considered valid for this Exploratory Factor Analysis

- The factorability of the data would be appropriate if:

 The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin value (KMO) should be equal or greater than 0.5

 The Bartlett‟s test of sphericity should be statistically significant: <0.05

- The number of factors were determined when:

 The components have an eigenvalue of 1 or more

 The total variance explained by these components should be above 50%

 Factor loading criteria should be 0.5 or more to ensure a practical significance

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3.8.2 Reliability Analysis

Cronbach‟s alpha reliability analysis method will be used for examining the reliability

of the measurement scales The scales are reliable when Cronbach‟s alpha coefficient

of each scale is equal to or greater than 0.7 (Pallant, 2005) Besides, those items which have the value of Corrected Item-to-total Correlation less than 0.5 could

be discarded in order to improve reliability level of the measurement scale

Cronbach‟s alpha is a tool for assessing the reliability of scales It was provided by Lee Cronbach in 1951 and is widely used the social science, business, and other fields The formulation of Cronbach‟s alpha is:

The rule of thumb for evaluating the reliability of scales is as following:

• If α >= 0.9 then the reliability of scales is excellent;

• If 0.8 <= α < 0.9 then the reliability of scales is good

• If 0.7 <= α < 0.8 then the reliability of scales is acceptable;

• If 0.6 <= α < 0.7 then the reliability of scales is questionable;

• If 0.5 <= α < 0.6 then the reliability of scales is poor;

• If α < 0.5 then the reliability of scales is unacceptable

The Cronbach‟s Alpha was invoked to test the reliability of the answer from respondents in this survey

3.8.3 Regression analysis

Regression is a method used to model the relationship between a single dependent variable and one or more independent variables The dependent variable is sometimes also called the predictable, and the independent variables the predictors Therefore,

Chapter 3 summary

This chapter provides information related to the method applied to test the hypotheses The methodology used in the study is a 2 phases approach: Qualitative and quantitative Qualitative survey was conducted first in 20 employees and managers who are mainly working in FMCGs companies and have more than 1 year of working

A pilot was conducted before moving to quantitative survey in Ho Chi Minh city Total sample size of the study is 289 respondents The next chapter implemented data analysis with methods presented in the chapter three methods.presented.in the chapter three