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A body of research evidence has shown that job stressors are associated with lower levels of satisfaction and psychological well‐being. It has been suggested that recovery after the work day may reduce fatigue, restore mood and improve well‐being. The purpose of this paper is to examine predictors and consequences of four recovery experiences (psychological detachment, relaxation, mastery, and control) identified by Sonnentag and Fritz, to replicate and extend their work.

Data were collected from 887 men and women managers and professionals working in the manufacturing sector in Turkey using anonymously completed questionnaires (a 58 percent response rate).

Respondents at higher organizational levels made more use of both mastery and control. Personality factors (need for achievement and workaholism components) were also positively correlated with use of mastery and control. Hierarchical regression analyses controlling both personal demographic and work situation characteristics showed generally positive relationships with use of recovery experiences and more favorable work and well‐being outcomes. Psychological detachment, however, was found to have negative relationships with some of these outcomes suggesting more complex relationships with use of this recovery experience.

Questions of causality cannot be addressed since data were collected at only one point in time.

Individuals, through practice, and organizations, through training efforts, can encourage employees to practice recovery while off the job to improve their work satisfaction and individual well‐being.

The paper presents the first study of recovery experiences in Turkey.

Although qualified women are entering professional and managerial ranks within organizations, they continue to have difficulties in advancing their careers. It has been suggested that the biggest obstacle to women's career advancement lies in the attitudes, biases and prejudices of their male colleagues and their organizational cultures. The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship of perceptions of organizational bias among managerial and professional women and their work satisfactions and levels of psychological well‐being.

Data were collected from 215 women, a 67 percent response rate, using anonymously completed questionnaires. Respondents worked for a large Turkish bank that had offices in several cities.

Women reporting greater perceptions of bias indicated less job satisfaction, lower levels of work engagement and higher levels of job stress; perceptions of bias were not related to intentions to quit however. In addition, women reporting greater perceptions of organizational bias indicated higher levels of exhaustion but these perceptions were unrelated to levels of self‐reported psychosomatic symptoms. Interestingly, more educated women reported higher levels of perceived organizational bias.

Implications for women's job performance and career advancement as well as suggestions for addressing potential gender bias are offered.

The paper adds to knowledge about the work and career experiences of women in Turkey and the challenges they face.

This paper aims to raise some important questions for cross‐cultural research on occupational stress and well‐being and sets the stage for the five papers in the special issue.

This paper reviews some previous literature on cross‐cultural understanding of occupational stress and well‐being, why such research is difficult to undertake, and summarizes the five original manuscripts that comprise this special issue.

Manuscripts in this special issue represent authors from several countries and report data collected from over a dozen countries. Some contributions attempt to replicate previous North American and European research findings in other countries while others undertake comparative studies of two or more countries.

It is important to undertake more cross‐cultural comparative research of the effects of occupational stress and well‐being to determine whether any boundary conditions exist for previous results based in North American and European samples. In addition, future research should include assessments of some national culture values.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce the papers in this special issue and some issues surrounding choosing management as a career. A jointly developed questionnaire is also presented.

The paper is descriptive in nature.

It is crucial for researchers and practitioners to expand their perspectives to include other cultures and other theoretical perspectives beyond those offered by traditional vocational choice theories.

Understanding the antecedents, correlates and consequences of people's vocational choice to become managers will not only help researchers and practitioners and benefit managers, but will improve the understanding of career choice in general.

This study examined the relationship of female and male psychologists perceptions of organizational values supportive of work‐personal life balance and their work experiences, work and non‐work satisfactions, and psychological well‐being. Data were collected from 458 Australian psychologists using anonymous questionnaires. Psychologists reporting organizational values more supportive of work‐personal life balance also reported greater job and career satisfaction, less work stress, less intention to quit, greater family satisfaction, fewer psychosomatic symptoms, and more positive emotional well‐being. Interestingly, perceptions of organizational values supportive of work‐personal life balance were unrelated to hours and extra‐hours worked and job involvement.

This study, using a longitudinal design, examined the relationship of perceived organizational support (POS) and job satisfaction among hospital‐based nursing staff survivors of significant healthcare restructuring. In addition, the role of both restructuring processes and restructuring stressors in affecting POS, and the potential mediating role of POS in the relationship between both restructuring processes and stressors and job satisfaction, was considered. Data were collected from 393 respondents at two points separated by three years. Levels of POS were relatively low on both occasions and declined slightly over the three year period. POS and job satisfaction were found to have a bi‐directional relationship over time. Both restructuring processes and stressors had significant relationships with POS, positive and negative respectively. POS fully mediated the relationship between restructuring processes and job satisfaction and partially mediated the relationship between restructuring stressors and job satisfaction.