Sustenance of human capital : Social support as managerial stress reliever for women in developing economies

Abstract

Although women managers in Ghana represent a unique set of human capital, the adverse consequences of job stressors on their performances make their sustenance in organisations a key human resource challenge. Similar to many developing countries, the gender orientation of managerial employees in Ghana has changed in the last two decades with many women breaking through the hierarchical glass ceilings to occupy management positions in their organisations. This category of women employees, who also retain their sociocultural roles as wives and mothers, represents a unique set of sustainable human capital that needs to be socially supported in their organisations. The dual roles played by these women managers generate added stress to their organisational performances with detrimental consequences, not only to their physical and mental well-being, but also to their sustenance as resourceful human capital. This added stress to the work of managerial women in the organisation represents a human resources management problem for which the appropriate support coping mechanism must be found. This problem was explored by examining the relationship between the job characteristics symptoms of stress and the moderating effects of social support among managerial women in some organisations in Ghana. The findings of this study indicate that the exposure of managerial women to many job stressors have harmful effect on their health and impact negatively on their productivity. The stresses of the managerial women was reduced and their career progressions enhanced by the supportive relationship that existed between them and their superiors.