The influence of perceived social support on support seeking across individualistic/collectivistic employees

Greater perceived social support may influence an individual’s appraisals of their stressful situation, negative affect, and subsequent support seeking coping. An individual’s identification with the individualism-collectivism dimensions could also influence this process. We conducted structural equation modelling (AMOS) on archival data from two groups of adult workers from five countries, who were categorised by their scores on the individualism-collectivism dimensions: a highly individualistic group (n = 424), and a highly collectivistic group (n = 400). The analysis aimed to determine how levels of perceived support influenced appraisals of stress and negative affect experiences leading to the use of social support seeking for both groups. The process models representing the individualistic and collectivistic groups were compared to see whether stronger identification with individualism or collectivism resulted in a similar or different stress process. Although the conceptual models fit both groups similarly overall, there were differences between the groups regarding the indirect paths involved in the model, particularly relating to the influence of perceived support on appraisals of the threat of the stressor. Implications and applications of the findings are discussed.