Workplace stress and well-being across cultures Research and practice

Purpose - This paper aims to raise some important questions for cross-cultural research on occupational stress and well-being and sets the stage for the five papers in the special issue. Design/methodology/approach - This paper reviews some previous literature on cross-cultural understanding of occupational stress and well-being, why such research is difficult to undertake, and summarizes the five original manuscripts that comprise this special issue. Findings - Manuscripts in this special issue represent authors from several countries and report data collected from over a dozen countries. Some contributions' attempt to replicate previous North American and European research findings in other countries while others undertake comparative studies of two or more countries. Originality/value - It is important to undertake more cross-cultural comparative research of the effects of occupational stress and well-being to determine whether any boundary conditions exist for previous results based in North American and European samples. In addition, future research should include assessments of some national culture values.