| dc.description.abstract | In Uganda today, employees face a high level of occupational stress as a result of
varying personal characteristics such as locus of control. This is due to their, low internal locus
of control and high external locus of control. This in turn leads to less engagement of those
employees, concerning the organisational activities. Personalities high on external locus of
control estimate situations beyond their coping abilities. They consequently experience high
job stress which they cannot deal with especially when they are surrounded by demotivated
work teams. Unless issues of locus of control are dealt with, employees will continue
experiencing occupational stress thus negatively affecting their engagement levels.
Purpose of the Study
The study sought to investigate the relationships between, locus of control,
occupational stress and employee engagement at the work place.
Objectives of the study
The study sought to address the following objectives
1. Establish the percentage of employees that are high on internal locus of control and
those that are high on external locus of control.
2. Examine relationship between locus of control and occupational stress.
3. Establish the relationship between occupational stress and employee engagement.
Scope of the study
Geographical scope
The study was carried out at Lubaga hospital in Kampala district. This location was
selected because it was appropriate, favourable, safe and suitable for research to be carried out.
Contextual scope
Locus of control, Occupational stress and employee engagement are the variables to be
examined. The research seeks to find out the relationship between all the above variables.
Locus of control is regarded as a personality attribute where people perceive events in their life
as contingent on their own action that is to say internal locus of control or as contingent upon
fate, chance, luck, or powerful others which is external locus of control (Srivastava, 2009).
Occupational stress is defined as the harmful physical and emotional responses that
occur when the requirements of the job do not match the resources and needs of the worker
(Nakasis and Ouzouni, 2008)
Employee engagement is the emotional commitment employees feel towards their
organisation success (Melanie 2014). Engagement was described as “a positive, fulfilling,
work-related state of mind characterized by vigour, dedication and absorption” (Schaufeli
2002). Schaufeli further explains his three aspects that is: Vigour which refers to high levels of
energy and mental resilience at work. Dedication characterized by being deeply involved at
work, and experiencing a sense of significance, enthusiasm and pride. Absorption which is
characterized by being fully concentrated and happy at work. | en_US |
