Occupational Stress in Academic life: A Study of Academics of Malaysian Public Universities

Stress can lead to poor health and loss of productivity among employees across occupations. Stress does not only affect individuals but also organizations by causing work absence and staff turnover. Academics in Malaysian public universities are no exception. Due to the rapid developments in tertiary education, academics in Malaysian public universities are believed to be experiencing increased job demands that potentially lead to increased stress. This study was carried out to examine: i) the direct effect of role stressors (i.e. role overload, role ambiguity and role conflict) on strain; ii) the direct effect of strain on the outcomes of strain (i.e. cynicism, professional efficacy, and organizational commitment); iii) the moderation effects of organizational support, peer support, and self-efficacy on the relationships between role stressors and strain; iv) the mediation effect of strain on the relationship between role stressors and strain; and v) the mediation effect of outcomes of strain (i.e. cynicism, professional efficacy, and organizational commitment) on the relationship between strain and intention to leave among those academics. This study used a non-experimental two-wave panel design. Eleven of the 12 study variables were measured using pre-existing scales except for self-efficacy, iii which was measured by items specially developed for this study. A longitudinal survey with a six-month time interval yielded 357 respondents (academics) at time 1 and 210 respondents at time 2. Data were analyzed using multiple regression, hierarchical regression, and structural equation modeling (SEM) to test for direct effects, moderation effects and mediation effects respectively. The findings of this study indicate that academics who experienced increased levels of role stressors were more likely to have increased levels of strain. Subsequently, the strained academics were more likely to show higher levels of cynicism and lower levels of professional efficacy and organizational commitment. The predicted moderators (i.e organizational support, peer support, and self-efficacy) had no significant influence on the relationships between role stressors and strain. Mediation analyses consisted of two parts. In the first part, I found that strain strongly mediated the relationship between role ambiguity and outcomes of strain (i.e. cynicism, professional efficacy, and organizational commitment). In the subsequent mediation analysis, I found that cynicism and organizational commitment fully mediated the relationship between strain and intention to leave, but not professional efficacy