10. Sustainable Well-Being at Work: A French-Swedish Comparison

Recent studies have promoted a “sustainable well-being–productivity synergy.” Despite a plethora of literature on the beneficial effects of sustainable well-being at work, a look across the borders shows that the concept of well-being at work is not equally spread. Although worldwide studies have reported differences in well-being amongst nations, only few studies have so far tried to explain these differences from a cultural perspective. This chapter examines the perception of French and Swedish employees on their well-being at work. Within the framework of Hofstede’s culture map we analyze cross-cultural differences to obtain a refinement of broadly communicated surveys on well-being in different parts of the world. The results of our qualitative study show that Swedes tend to perceive higher levels of well-being than the French due to opposite scores on the cultural dimensions of power distance, uncertainty avoidance and masculinity.