Unraveling the fuzzy predictors of stress at work Sanaz Vatankhah Faculty of Aviation and Space Sciences, University of Kyrenia, Kyrenia, Turkey Mona Bouzari School of Tourism and Hotel Management, European University of Lefke, Lefke, Turkey, and Homayoun Pasha Safavi Department of Business Administration, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Cyprus International University, Lefkosa, Turkey Abstract Purpose – This study aims to identify and rank the significant determinants of stress among tourism and hospitality employees. Design/methodology/approach – A mixed-method approach is used to identify and rank workplace stressors. Particularly, the synthesis of relative literature and interview with the panel of experts resulted in the preliminary identification of workplace stressors. Underpinned by fuzzy theory, in addition, the fuzzy analytical hierarchy process is used to rank identified criteria and relative sub-criteria. Findings – Results of three-wave investigation lead to an index comprising key components and weighted ranking of workplace stressors in the tourism and hospitality industry with job characteristics as the most important criteria and mental demand as the most salient sub-criteria influencing stress at work. Research limitations/implications – The pattern of findings enhances the current knowledge regarding significant workplace stressors in the tourism and hospitality industry. Practical implications – Compositional framework and the weight-based ranking of identified components may act as a source of strategic solution for managers to reduce and manage stress among employees. Originality/value – Workplace stressors have attracted considerable research attention, however, no general consensus yet exists among scholars and practitioners conferring to the key composition and relative importance of workplace stressors. Keywords AHP, MCDM, Tourism and hospitality industry, Stressor, Fuzzy theory Paper type Research paper 1. Introduction Work-related stressors have emerged as one of the predominant organizational problems (French et al., 2019) and became an increasingly important concern for both employees and employers (Wallace et al., 2009). The term stress at work is usually used to display the extent to which employees are experiencing stress while doing their work (Easton and Van Laar, 2012) and is often associated with psychological, physical and behavioral responses to work-related demands over a period of time. According to the reports, in the USA, up to 17.4% of male and 34.5% of female employees perceived workplace stress (Goh et al., 2015). The phenomenon of stress, in fact, imposes financial deficits to the organization, as financial losses associated with work-related stress was approximately estimated at $187bn Fuzzy predictors of stress at work Received 10 January 2020 Revised 16 March 2020 Accepted 14 April 2020 International Journal of Organizational Analysis © Emerald Publishing Limited 1934-8835 DOI 10.1108/IJOA-01-2020-2005 The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at: https://www.emerald.com/insight/1934-8835.htm