THE EFFECT OF STRESS ON EMPLOYEES’ PERFORMANCE OF REVENUE AND CUSTOMS AUTHORITY IN THE DEVELOPING ECONOMY

The main aim of undertaking this study was to understand the effect of stress on employee performance in the Ethiopian Revenues and Customs Authority (ERCA) in South West Ethiopia (SWE). The research design for this particular study is a cross-sectional field survey research design. By using stratified simple random sampling technique, 390 employees were selected as a sample and from this, 350 were valid. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used for analysis. Research shows that all factors of stress adversely affect employee performance. Therefore, the findings point out that the performance of employees is negatively affected by stress in ERCA. Finally, the study recommended that to reduce stress, the current work schedule needs to be adjusted and workload should be lifted from employees, assigning a reasonable level of responsibility, promoting positive organizational culture and improving the organizational climate, and preparing a well-documented organization-specific stress management programs.