Dirty work (DW) means doing tasks that people find unpleasant, embarrassing, or questionable and often involves taking on unglamorous roles, making undesirable decisions, or performing tasks that could harm others. While DW may be necessary for the smooth operation of an organization, these tasks can be detrimental to employees' health, thus leading to problems related to stress. Previous studies have focused on the overall well-being and general stress associated with dirty work. However, specific stress outcomes like burnout (BOT) and deviant silence (DVS) and perceptional drivers like psychological contract breach (PCB) and effort-reward imbalance (ERI) among white-collar employees have received scant attention. Drawing from Social Identity Theory, our research investigates how dirty work contributes to these specific stress-related outcomes among white-collar professions by validating a model incorporating PCB and ERI as dual intervening mechanisms. We used a quantitative survey research design to collect data in a cross-sectional study from 419 Pakistani professionals employed by various organizations. Our results showed PCB and ERI as significant mediators between the relationship of DW and stress outcomes (BOT and DVS) in employees in white-collar professions. Notably, we found that in the framework of dirty work, social identity theory causes stress.
