Exploratory study of managerial stress in Spain, An

The purpose of this exploratory study is to chart the existing Spanish literature, and to report some first tentative results on managerial stress in Spain. The study is based on a literature study and a quantitative study using a sample of 115 Spanish managers. The results are based on data collected for the Collaborative International Study on Managerial Stress (CISMS). The literature review of work stress in Spain revealed that most studies on work stress use health professionals as respondents, and that research on managerial stress is generally lacking in Spain. Cross-cultural studies on work stress show that there is a clear need for nation-specific research. We compare the results of our Spanish sample with other countries that participated in the CISMS-study. We found that Spanish managers report relatively higher levels of mental strain than their colleagues worldwide. An explanation can be found in long working hours and relatively high work stress, which in turn causes work-family conflict. An important implication is that mental strain has an important influence on the performance of managers. Cluster analysis seems to suggest that coping and health habits can make a difference, although personality and work environment are also important in differentiating healthy from unhealthy managers.