Moderating effect of coping strategies on the relationship between mental workload and work stress. The case of financial traders. A structural modeling approach

The aim of this research is to study the moderating effect of three coping strategies (problem-focused, emotion-focused and avoidance) on the relationship between mental workload and perceived stress for the case of Tunisian stockbrokers. The study used a data (N = 77) collected through a longitudinal study on the basis of a questionnaire administrated to a sample of Tunisian financial traders at the Tunisian Stock-Exchange. Using exploratory, confirmatory and structural modelling analysis, we identified two subsamples of traders: those with high mental workload level (about 65 %) and those with low mental workload level (35 %). We have also found a strong positive association between mental workload level and perceived stress that prompted us to analyse the possible moderating effect of coping strategies. Results indicate that only problem-focused coping has a moderating effect on the relationship between mental workload and perceived stress for the case of Tunisian stockbrokers.