The influence of national culture and organizational culture alignment on job stress and performance: evidence from Greece

Abstract

Job‐related stress has significant untoward consequences and appears to be wide‐spread. Although job‐related stress has a number of causes, the focus of this study is the stress associated with the lack of alignment between managers’ societal values and the culture of the organization in which the manager works. Using a sample of 78 Greek managers, it is argued that the Eiffel Tower organizational culture, characterized by low levels of decentralization and high levels of formalization, is congruent with the Greek societal values of high power distance and strong uncertainty avoidance, reducing Greek managers’ job‐related stress and increasing their performance. Results indicate that an Eiffel Tower organizational culture/Greek societal culture fit is associated with lower reported job stress but not increased managerial performance. Implications of the results are discussed.