Occupational Stress in the Global World

Abstract

Abstract The study of occupational stress had its beginning primarily in Scandinavia and Northern Europe and has only recently spread to the rest of the world. This chapter summarizes research that addresses cross-cultural and cross-national (CC/CN) occupational stress research. It begins with a discussion of typical design approaches, specifically collecting data in one country; collecting data in two or more countries, which allows comparisons of means and correlations; collecting data in multiple countries and analyzing at the country level (i.e., country means); and multilevel studies that analyze data at both the person and country level. Some studies use country as a proxy for culture (cross-national), whereas others include a cultural variable (cross-cultural). A review of the CC/CN literature found 32 studies. This literature is fragmented, making it difficult to draw firm conclusions. The review showed that even with rigorous backtranslation procedures, instruments do not always maintain psychometric properties. People in individualistic societies report higher levels of well-being, and stronger stressor-strain relationships. The same occupational stressor can manifest itself differently across countries.