The role of socio-cultural norms in the experience of workplace stress: an empirical study of bank employees in Nigeria

Abstract

This article contributes new data on workplace stress drawn from a sample of 305 employees from 10 banks in Nigeria. Data collected through the use of a questionnaire that was developed from a series of focus groups held with bank employees is used to highlight the importance of national cultural values and draw attention to the very different conditions that exist for employees working in Africa when compared to banking staff operating in North American and European-based organizations. We argue that the socio-cultural context is a key influential factor on the way people react to and cope with stress and represents the 'living stage' on which stress is experienced and made sense of in our daily working lives. Our findings also have practical implications in clarifying the potential value of developing a broader array of stress management techniques that are able to accommodate social processes and cultural aspects of workplace stress.