Do south african managers cope differently from American managers? a cross-cultural investigation

Abstract

Coping with organizational stress can reduce the experience of psychological strain on the job. While the literature on coping with stress is growing in its importance, there are hardly any empirical studies on the significance of coping styles or their relative efficacies in dissimilar cultural contexts. The present study was undertaken to examine: (1) the relative efficacies of two distinct types of coping styles (Lazarus st Folkman. (1984). Stress appraisal and coping. New York: Springer), and (2) the efficacy of decision latitude in the US and South African contexts, The results reveal important cultural influences on coping styles and decision latitude in ameliorating the experience of psychological strain, Implications of this study for future research on coping are discussed. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.