Initial Development of an Emic Methodology for Classification of Stressful Work Situations

Research on stress in the workplace has generally focused on situations which the investigator a priori perceives to be stressful for people at work. In the current study, an emic (insider) approach to identification of what constitutes a stressful work event is described as a complement to the outsider's perspective. Using content analysis, two broad categories of work-related stressful events were used to classify situations which the employee perceived to be stressful. Recommendations for research using the methodology are provided.