Coping strategies for work and cultural stressors in multicultural construction workplaces: a study in Australia

Abstract Existing coping theories typically position coping as a reactive approach to managing mental health. Intercultural coping was proposed to positively deal with stressors and alleviate the negative impacts of stressors on mental health outcomes in multicultural workplaces. This study aims to investigate the role of intercultural coping strategies in influencing the relationships between stressors and mental health outcomes in multicultural construction workplaces. Data were collected from 252 construction workers in Australia using online questionnaire survey. Data were analysed using the structural equation modelling (SEM) technique. The results revealed the moderating effect of positive coping strategies on the stressor-psychological outcome relationship. A worker who is open to cultural dissimilarity tends to suffer less the adverse effect of cultural stressors on mental health. A worker with cognitive complexity is less susceptible to the adverse impact of work stressors on mental health. Whereas, a worker who is performance-oriented is more vulnerable to the impact of work stressors on mental health. This study may contribute to the existing body of work by uncovering the moderating role of positive coping strategies and providing targeted and effective coping strategies in multicultural construction workplaces.