Validation of a Measure of Expatriate Stress: Findings from Multinational Entrepreneurial Health Care Service Organization Professionals

Abstract

Executive Summary Using a sample of 242 expatriates working in thirty-one countries in Africa, South America, and Asia, we examine the validity of Dick's (1999, 2000) measure of expatriate stress. Although numerous studies have examined the outcomes of stress, relatively little research has examined the most commonly used measures of stressful life events, especially in regards to the stress of expatriate managers. While three of the eight dimensions suggested by Dick were similar to our findings, our factor analysis results suggest that there are 7 rather than 8 dimensions of expatriate stress for this instrument. In light of the newness of Dick's measurement as well as the lack of cross-cultural stress research, we suggest several areas for future research. It is estimated that annual costs of stress to U.S. industry in terms of reduced productivity, and increased absenteeism and workers compensation payments is $300 billion. The UK reports that stress costs their economy many times more the costs of strikes and is equal to the annual industry losses due to theft, or about $8 billion a year. Forty-three percent of adults suffer health problems due to stress, with at least 75% of physician office visits devoted to stress-related illnesses such as heart disease and accidents. The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration has declared stress a workplace hazard (APA, 1997; UKNWSN, 2002). Given the serious economic and personal costs of stress, there has been a great amount of research on the causes and outcomes of stress, especially in terms of the impact of life events on stress levels. Numerous studies (Curtis, 1995; Drummond and Hewson-Bower, 1997; Hardie, 1997; London, 1997) suggest that stressful life events can cause physical and psychological illnesses and decrease employee performance. A life event is considered stressful if it causes changes in, and demands readjustment of, an average person's normal routine (Kobasa, 1979, p.2). Many types of work related events, including changes in the balance of work/family roles (Burke, 2001; Fu and Shaffer, 2001; Lewis, Kagan, and Heaton, 2000; Sullivan, 1992; Walls, Capella, and Greene, 2001), the transition from school to work (Bagnall and Baldaccino, 2000; Crowson, Wong, and Aypay, 2000; Evers and Rush, 1996; Worthington and Juntunen, 1997), taking a new job (London, 1997; Nelson and Sutton, 1990), discrimination, stereotyping and social isolation (Dussault and Deaudelin, 1999; Murry, Brown, Brody, Cutrona, and Simons, 2001; Price, 2000; Shaffer, Joplin, Bell, Lau, and Oguz, 2000), job changes (Estes and Glass, 1996; Shaffera, Harrison, Gilley, and Luka, 2001), career plateauing (Duffy, 2000; Elsass and Ralston, 1989; Feldman and Weitz, 1988; Lemire, Saba, and Gagnon, 1999), job loss (Donnelly and Scholarios, 1998; Leonard-Wilkerson, 2001; London, 1997; Spera, Buhrfeind, and Pennebaker, 1994) job insecurity (Smithson and Lewis, 2000) and retirement (Braine and Glover, 1997; Budros, 2001; Marshall, 2001; Potts, 2001; Wheaton, 1990) have been examined as stressful life events. Although much research has been completed on stress, relatively little research has examined the most commonly used measures of stressful life events, especially in regards to the stress of expatriate managers. The purpose of this paper is to investigate Dick's (1999, 2000) measure of expatriate stress, specifically by examining the validity of the measure with a sample of healthcare professionals employed in a multinational entrepreneurial organization. In the next section, we briefly review the research on the measurement of stressful life events. Next, we examine Dick's measure of expatriate stress using a sample of 242 expatriates working in 31 countries in central Africa, South America, and Asia. Finally, we discuss the implications of our results for future stress and international research. Measures of Stressful Life Events Most of the research on stressful life events has used The Schedule of Recent Life Experiences, (Holmes and Rahe, 1967) or The Social Readjustment Rating Scale (Rahe, Lundberg, Theorell and Bennett, 1971) to determine the total amount of life stress an individual is experiencing (Miller and Rahe, 1997; Scully, Tosi, and Banning, 2000). …

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