TABLE OF CONTENT
Title page i
Certification page ii
Dedication iii
Acknowledgement iv
Table of contents v
Abstract vi
CHAPTER ONE
Introduction 1
Background of the Study 1
Statement of the Problem 10
Purpose of the study 10
Operational Definition of Terms 11
CHAPTER TWO
Literature Review 12
Theoretical Review 12
Empirical Review 20
Summary of Literature Review 29
Hypothesis 30
CHAPTER THREE
Method 31
Participants 31
Instruments 31
Procedure 33
Design/Statistics 34
CHAPTER FOUR
Results 35
CHAPTER FIVE
Discussion 38
Limitations of the Study 39
Suggestions for Further Research 39
Summary and Conclusion 39
References 41
Appendix A 51
Appendix B 56
Appendix C 64
ABSTRACT
This study
investigated job stress, negative affectivity and type A behaviour as
predictors of work-to-family conflict among university lecturers. A
cross-sectional survey design was adopted while Multiple Regression was used
for the data analysis. A total of 385 copies of the questionnaire were
distributed among academic staff of the University of Nigeria Nsukka across six
Faculties of the University. Out of the 385 copies distributed, 300 copies were
returned for analysis. Participants were obtained through systematic sampling.
The age of the participants ranged from 29 to 60 years, and they are comprised
of 126 male and 174 female participants. Instruments used for data collection were:
Work-Family Conflict Scale, Job Stress Measure, Positive and Negative
Affectivity Scale (negative affectivity dimension) and Type A behaviour Scale.
Finding reveals that job stress has been found to predict work-to-family
conflict among university lecturers (β = .74, p < .001), negative
affectivity was found to predict work-to-family conflict among university
lecturers (β = .29, p < .001) and type A behaviour was found
to predict work-to-family conflict among university lecturers (β = .30, p < .001).
In trying to proffer solution to the issue raised from the finding of
the study, universities need to create a flexible working schedule for its
staff as well as establish a counseling departments in its personnel department
to enable employees understand and suggest means of handling conflicts that may
arise as they engage in their work that might be traced to the family.
CHAPTER ONE
Introduction
Background
of the Study
In the contemporary time, it has been generally
observed that the working world has changed dramatically. More people in the
workforce are more educated; workers are left with higher expectations and
about gaining fulfillment at work, and people are working longer hours.
Stebbins (2001) points out that the women and men’s roles changed in the
workplace and at home.
Over the past several decades, organizational
researchers interested in the inter-section between employees’ work and
personal lives have primarily focused on the work and family domains (Byron,
2005; Eby, Casper, Lockwood, Bordeaux, & Brinley, 2005). The construct of
work-family conflict, also known as inter-role conflict (Byron, 2005) is a
situation in which the role pressures from the work and family domains are
mutually incompatible (Greenhaus & Beutell, 1985). Due to pressures arising
from the work domains, effectiveness in family domain is hampered by experience
in the work domain. In other words, work-to-family conflict occurs when
experiences in work role interfere with meeting the requirements and effectiveness
in the family role (Edwards & Rothbard, 2000; Greenhaus & Beutell,
1985).
In this 21st century,
balancing between work and family demands is becoming an increasingly important
issue especially for academic employees and their families. Greenhaus (1985)
noted that individuals, who invest more time and other psychological resources
in their work, have more work-family conflict, which reduces their quality of
life. Empirical evidence also confirms that work-to-family conflict is often a
severe stress factor which could result to various negative outcomes,
including, impaired well-being (Karatepe & Tekinkus, 2006).
Technological
advances such as smart phones and accessible Internet connections for
work-based activities have afforded most lecturers to work outside legal
working hours, thus giving an impact on the lecturers’ work-family life. In
addition, increased demand in university lecturers’ work roles and
responsibilities such as quality research, teaching, publication, supervision,
innovation and producing high quality graduates etc, has made it difficult for
most university lecturers to meet their social and family obligations
effectively (Shahid, Amdan, Anisa, Farah, & Hassan, 2016). As a result,
many lecturers are beginning to experience increased levels of work-to-family conflict
as they juggle work and parenting responsibilities. The concept of work-to-family
conflict has been explained by Kahn, Wolfe, Quinn, Snoek, and Rosenthall,
(1964) using the role theory frame work. They proposed that the expectation
surrounding each of the different roles a person performs can generate
inter-role conflict when they involve pressure to dominate the time of the
focal person to satisfy all expectations of their work and family roles since
each role requires time, energy and commitment. Using this framework, Kahn et
al. (1964) defined work family conflict as a form of inter-role conflict in
which the role pressures from work and family spheres are mutually
incompatible. Such incompatibility is indicated by the fact that participation
in the family role is made more difficult by virtue of participation in the
work role. Universities have been experiencing major changes, leaving a
significant impact in the role and working practices of the academics. Academic
jobs have become more challenging in terms of effort and time. With growing
institutional demands, accountability and work intensification of 50 to 60
hours per week, workload has become the norm in many universities today (Panatik,
Rajab, Sha, Rahman, Yusoff, & Badri, 2012).
Work-family conflict has been
conceptualized by Greenhaus and Beutell (1985) on the basis of source of
conflict. They divided work-family conflict into three types of conflict,
namely, strain-based, behavior-based and time-based conflicts. Strain-based
conflict occurs when stress experienced in work role is transferred to the
family role, with the consequent strain symptoms (e.g., anxiety, irritability)
reducing effectiveness in the second role (Greenhaus, 1985). In behaviour-based
conflict, a behaviour that is effective in one role (e.g. an authoritarian
interaction style) is inappropriately applied on the other role, reducing one’s
effectiveness in the role. Time-based conflict refers to the conflict that arises
when the time devoted to work role makes it difficult for the individual to
participate in the family role. (Example, some academic work which requires
university lecturers to be in the office and work late hours may make it
difficult for the lecturer to meet family obligations, like meeting up with an
appointment with friends, or picking up a child from school / daycare).
University
teaching has traditionally been regarded as a low stress occupation. Although
not highly paid, academics have been envied because they enjoyed tenure, light
work load, flexibility, ‘perk’ such as overseas trips for study and/or
conference purposes and the freedom to pursue their own research interests.
During the past fifteen to twenty years many of these advantages seems to have
been eroded in Nigerian Universities. Academic salaries have fallen in real
terms in relation to current economic crises. Increasing numbers of academic
positions are now untenured; work-loads have increased; and academics are under
increased pressures to attract external funds for their research and to either
‘publish or perish’. These could expose lecturers to such levels of stress that
could force them to deviate from normal functioning (Omoniyi, 2013).
Poelmans (2001) found that work-to-family conflict was related to stress and
mental health such as psychological strain. For this reason, the stress
literature offers so many perspectives to the understanding of the nature of
stress which individuals experience at work. However, it is generally accepted
that individuals who are trying to fulfill the requirements over their
capacities, could experience one form of stress or the other.
JOB STRESS, NEGATIVE AFFECTIVITY AND TYPE A BEHAVIOUR AS PREDICTORS OF WORK-TO-FAMILY CONFLICT AMONG UNIVERSITY LECTURERS
