Psychosocial Factors at Work in the Asia Pacific

The past several decades of rapid organizational change and global economic activity beseech a fresh understanding of work conditions and mental health across all nations and regions. This volume addresses psychosocial factors at work, legislation, frameworks, research innovations and common perceptions in the Asia Pacific countries. It presents new research on psychosocial factors at work from an Asia Pacific perspective, introducing exciting new research on workaholism, bullying, work-life balance and conflict, work demands classifications, and psychosocial safety climate. Insights regarding workplace psychosocial factors, worker health and well-being have evolved mainly within North American and European cultural contexts and developed industrial countries. This state of the art account of knowledge development in the Asia Pacific region will stimulate new insights for researchers and policy makers to improve the quality of workers’ lives worldwide.

"This very informative book highlights the significance and uniqueness of job stress problems encountered by workers of different countries in the Asia Pacific region. Occupational health researchers all around the world will find this book a great inspiration for future research."

Yawen Cheng, ScD, Institute of Health Policy and Management, Taiwan

“Initiatives and interventions reported from collaborative projects present useful hints for filling gaps in policies and practices for managing psychosocial risk factors in diverse work-life situations in the Asia Pacific region”.

Dr. Kazutaka Kogi, President, International Commission of Occupational Health

Prof Maureen Dollard is Professor of Work and Organisational Psychology and Director of the Centre for Applied Psychological Research and the Work & Stress Research Group at the University of South Australia. She has a national and international reputation in the area of occupational stress and has published 2 books and over 100 book chapters and peer reviewed journal articles in the area. She has extensive experience with industry partners, and has won numerous research grants awarded by the Australian Research Council. Maureen is on the Editorial Board for the international journals Work and Stress, Journal of Organizational Behavior, and the European Journal of Work & Organisational Psychology. She is Co-chair of the International Commission on Occupational Health Scientific Committee Work Organisation and Psychosocial Factors and is Chair of the 2014 Congress of the International Commission on Occupational Health – Work Organization and Psychosocial Factors. She is President-Elect of the Asia Pacific Academy for Psychosocial Factors at Work. Her ground breaking research is on psychosocial safety climate for psychological health in organisations, and the Australian Workplace Barometer.

Dr. Akihito Shimazu is Associate Professor of Mental Health at School of Public health, the University of Tokyo, Japan. His research interests include job stress and coping, stress management at workplace, work engagement, workaholism, work-home interface, and the application of IT for workplace intervention. He has published on a wide array of topics in journals such as Cross-Cultural Research, International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health, Social Science & Medicine, and Work & Stress. He is Co-chair of the International Commission on Occupational Health Scientific Committee Work Organisation and Psychosocial Factors, and Vice-president of Academy for Asia Pacific Academy for Psychosocial Factors at Work.

Prof Rusli Bin Nordin is Professor of Public Health and Head of the Clinical School Johor Bahru, Jeffrey Cheah School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Monash University Malaysia. As an Occupational Health Physician and specialist in public health medicine, Rusli develops a special research interest in understanding the relation between psychosocial factors at work and health of workers including the impact of interventions to improve the mental health of working populations. He has successfully organised the Second Asia Pacific Expert Workshop on Psychosocial Factors at Work in July 2011 in Johor Bahru, Malaysia following the success of the First Expert Workshop in Darwin, Australia in July 2010. Currently he is the Vice President of the Asia Pacific Academy for Psychosocial Factors at Work and the National Representative for Malaysia. Rusli is on the Editorial Board of Industrial Health, International Journal of Public Health Research, and Journal of Medical Safety. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the International Association of Risk Management in Medicine (IARMM).

Professor Paula Brough is a Professor of Organizational Psychology in the School of Applied Psychology at Griffith University, Australia. Her key research areas include: occupational stress, coping, the psychological health of high-risk workers (e.g., emergency service workers, correctional workers), work-life balance, and the effective measurement of psychological constructs. Professor Brough has published over 80 scholarly books, journal articles and book chapters based on her research, is the Chief Investigator on numerous local, national and international research grants, and supervises both post-graduate and post-doctoral researchers. Her professional responsibilities include: Editorial Board memberships, reviewer for psychology academic journals, industry adviser, and assessor for both University and national research grant competitions.

Dr Michelle Tuckey is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Psychology, Social Work and Social Policy at the University of South Australia. She leads a program of research on work and well-being, focussing on occupational stress and workplace bullying. Dr Tuckey has won nationally competitive research funding, given plenary addresses at national conferences, and presented in invited symposia at leading international conferences. By invitation she currently serves on the editorial board of two international journals – International Journal of Stress Management and Stress and Health – and she is Chair of the Scientific Committee for the 2014 Congress of the International Commission on Occupational Health – Work Organization and Psychosocial Factors.