IMPACT OF FINANCIAL STRESS ON WORK ENGAGEMENT AND JOB PERFORMANCES OF THE EMPLOYEES IN THE REPUBLIC OF SERBIA: PILOT STUDY

Abstract

Contemporary living conditions are challenging from many points of view. The COVID-19 pandemic still generates uncertainty and produces health and financial stress for many people. The current energetic crisis, by influencing inflation, also generates financial stress for many of them. On the other hand, organizations are under the pressure to be profitable and maintain productivity through workers' engagement. Based on the above, the subject of this paper is an investigation of the impact of financial stress on work engagement and job performance of employees in the Republic of Serbia. The aims of the paper are as follows: to find out whether financial stress influences work engagement and job performance of the employees in the Republic of Serbia, as well as to suggest the measures that employers could implement to reduce the financial stress of their employees.  For this paper, a pilot study was conducted. The results of the study showed that financial stress significantly negatively influences two of three aspects of work engagement, further that dedication as one of the work engagement aspects significantly positively influence employees` performance, and finally, that financial stress does not have an influence on employees’ performance, but mediated by dedication as one of work engagement aspect, has a negative influence on employees' performances. The contribution of the paper is twofold: it contributes to domestic literature through the empirical investigation of the impact of financial stress on the above-mentioned variables, and second, it draws attention to the employers on the importance of financial wellness programs for employees in the attempt to prevent or minimize the negative influence of financial stress on their performances.