Stress of working abroad: a systematic review

PURPOSE: Many companies target international markets to expand their business. Companies need to manage international teams with a wide variety of skills, knowledge and values to run their business effectively; however, there are many issues of acculturation stress. Not only business travellers and expatriates, but also immigrant workers have issues adjusting to foreign culture. The aim of the present study is to identify the stress factors affecting foreign-born workers via a systematic review. METHODS: The systematic review was conducted using PubMed, PsycINFO, Embase and Cochrane Library databases. Articles on the subject of workers living abroad, such as immigrants, expatriates and business travellers, were included. The risk of bias in the included articles was assessed using the Cochrane Collaboration’s tool for assessing risk of bias for randomised controlled trials (RCTs), RoBANS for non-RCT studies, and CASP for qualitative studies. RESULTS: For the systematic review, 45 out of 14,994 articles were analysed. Six components, communication, cultural differences in the workplace, daily life, relationships with family and colleagues, financial problems and social inequality, were extracted. CONCLUSION: Foreign-born workers are suffering from acculturation and occupational stress. The results of the present study can help greatly with understanding of the stress structure of working abroad. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1007/s00420-018-1333-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.