Stress & burnout factors of university teachers and the moderating role of coping strategies

Teaching at a university is no longer considered as a low-stress profession as it was often considered before [Winelfield et al., 2003] in western countries, but also in developing countries like Pakistan where this study took place. In Pakistan growth in the higher education sector was particularly strong since year 2000 and competition has intensified because of entrance of many private sector universities which resulted in heavy responsibilities and challenging demands on faculty members. In wake of recent challenges faced by Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) which led to performance pressures and increased workload, coping with stress becomes an important research issue in academic contexts. The current study was conducted on a sample of 80 individuals (61 men and 19 women) of a public sector university of Pakistan. It is focused on the moderating effect of coping skills on stress and burnout. The first part of our research analyzes the impact of overload on stress and burnout. Coping skills are then considered as moderators of this relationship. Two classical scales have been used, one developed by Pareek [2002] named ORS (Organizational Role Stressors) scale, and the other by Maslach & Jackson [1986] named MBI-ES, (Maslach Burnout Inventory - Educators Survey). Scales measuring stress (General and Job Related) and coping resources (Proactive Planning, Social Support, Acceptance and Avoidance, Turning to God) were constructed based on existing scales and were based on the results of a preliminary exploratory study (interviews). Results reveal that social support significantly moderates the relationship between overload and stress. Avoidance behaviors showed a significant positive impact on stress and depersonalization. Stress management interventions at primary, secondary and tertiary level have been recommended to be help universities dealing with the negative effects of chronic stress and/or burnout