A LONGITUDINAL-STUDY EXAMINING THE PSYCHOLOGICAL REACTIONS OF JOB RELOCATION

A longitudinal study is reported of relocating employees (n = 51) and their partners (n = 31) who relocated between two cities in England. A nonmoving comparison group of employees from the same organization (n = 58) was included. The subjects completed a questionnaire before (ap proximately 6 weeks) and after (approximately 10 weeks) the relocation . Results showed that relocating employees' pre-move general stress wa s similar to that of nonmoving employees. Moreover, male relocators' s tress reduced significantly following the move, while female relocator s stayed the same. Stress specific to relocation was very high for rel ocating employees and partners, and remained so following the move. Ev idence was found to show a relationship between attributions of the ca uses of relocation problems and the experience of stress.