Greater Work Stress among Executives and Managers in Hong Kong as Compared to Other Countries

3 Dec 2002

Dr. Siu Oi-ling, an Associate Professor in the Department of Politics and Sociology at Lingnan University, has completed a study on the relationship between work stress and coping strategies among executives and managers from Hong Kong, the United States and Israel. The data were collected from 527 executives and managers of different ranks from public and private sectors from July to August this year. The mean age of the three groups (Hong Kong: 183, US: 194, Israel: 150) of employee were 33.8, 29.2 and 30.9 respectively.

The results revealed that 44% of the employees in Hong Kong perceived high work stress. Compared to the respondents from the other countries, Hong Kong respondents were 7 % higher than those from the United States and 10 % higher than those in Israel. In particular, the main source of stress perceived by employees in Hong Kong "once or twice per day" or "several time per day" was "The job requires you to work very hard", other sources were "The job requires you to do work very fast"; "You have to do more work than you can do well" and "It is difficult or impossible to do your job because of interruptions by other people" (Table 1).

The results also revealed that employees who perceived more sources of stress at work would report 1) more physical and behavioural symptoms 2) lower level of job satisfaction. For physical symptoms, the employees reported that they always or often experienced "Muscular tension/aches and pains", "Insomnia - sleep loss" and "Panic or anxiety attacks". For behavioural symptoms, the employees reported that they always or often experienced "Tiredness", "Feeling unable to cope" and "Feeling or Becoming angry" (Table 2).

Concerning ways of tackling work stress, the employees in Hong Kong reported that their coping strategies were "Try to maintain an active positive attitude", "Try to effectively manage time", "Concentrate on the main problems" and "Set priorities and deal with problems accordingly" (Table 3). Also, it could be categorized into four types (Table 4). They were "Hobbies/Relaxation" (e.g. Doing exercise, Resort to Hobbies and pastimes), "Seeking Social Support" (e.g. Talk to understanding friends), "Rational/Cognitive thinking" (e.g. Try to effectively manage time) and "Behavioural" (e.g. Drink alcohol or Smoke).


In addition, the results also revealed that "Rational/Cognitive thinking" (e.g. Try to effectively manage time) was an effective way to cope with work stress and strains for employees in Hong Kong, with employees adopting those strategies reported less physical and behavioural symptoms, and higher job satisfaction. Conversely, employees adopting the "Behavioral" approach (e.g. Drink alcohol or Smoke) to tackle stress reported more physical and behavioural symptoms.

Dr. Siu recommends executives and managers to adopt more rational/cognitive thinking approaches to cope with work stress. Dr. Siu also suggests employers to encourage employees to practice ways of coping together, such as doing exercises and talking to each other. Conversely, Dr. Siu strongly advises employees not to use drinking alcohol or smoking as ways to tackle, because they just lead to worse physical and behavioural symptoms.