Exploring the Relationship between College of Education Academic Staff Job Stress and Engagement in Community Services in Southwest, Nigeria

Exploring the Relationship between College of Education Academic Staff Job Stress and Engagement in Community Services in Southwest, Nigeria

Dr. Felicia Olufunke Agbesanya¹, Dr. Adedayo Adeniran Odunlami², Dr. Waheed Oladele Ewuola³, Dr. Tunde Ajadi⁴

University of Ilesa, Ilesa, Osun State, Nigeria.

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.47772/IJRISS.2025.914MG0072

Received: 03 April 2025; Accepted: 10 April 2025; Published: 17 May 2025

ABSTRACT

Community services refer to the services of the academic staff to the society in which they are and may include to the students, parents, their departments, institution they are working with and the country in general.  This embraces sense of relationships, being good to people, counselling the students, been part of departmental committee or chairman to direct affairs, organizing seminars, symposium on various aspects, been involved in issues that aid development of the college and its reputation among others. If the college administrators are paying prompt attention on necessities, the responsibilities of academic staff to make them productive are numerous.

Stress is a phenomenon which results from the interaction of the individual with the environment as a result of disturbance caused by the psychological, physiological and social strengths which body reacted and as a result influence performance. Current research showed that job stress is a typical issue in the field of educational management. It comes from various facets of life and includes developmental and social changes, financial and accommodation problems, work demands, the specific demands of academia and so on (Busari, 2011).

Stress at workplace might be as a result of different work situation which can appear in various categories such as long hours of work, workload, un-conducive environment, isolation at workplace, events in organization like role conflicts, role ambiguity, staff responsibility and conflicts occurring due to ill-defined organizational goals, absence of career development, irregular promotion, lack of job security, thwarted ambition, poor relationship at workplace, difficulties in delegation, threat of violence, harassment, organizational structure, organizational climate, poor communication channel among others that affect the smooth operational activities (Murungi 2011and Mc Clanahan, 2018).

Stress is not a new concept but investigations into its effects on mental and physical well- being of people call for concern. The reaction of employers to stress at work has been blamed on the victims of stress rather than its cause. Increasingly, it is widely recognized that the management have a duty in many cases to ensure that employees do not become ill to the extent of posing a threat to their commitment level as a result of stress (McClanahan, 2018). It is also in their long-term economic interest to control and reduce stress if cannot be curbed as it is likely to affect employees’ turnover rate and become a threat to the employers.

Moreover, experience shows that stress is an inhibiting factor posing threats on academic staff productivity in Colleges of Education in Southwest Nigeria. Stress at work takes a toll on productivity and health of employees. The consequences of which were seems to be revealing in form of boredom, depression, burnout and fatigue. There is no doubt that if anyone is truly under the subjection of any of these, may face challenges that could affect his ability to function as expected, hinder effectiveness, efficiency and end in low productivity which would affect the achievement of the institutions’ productivity level.

Depression is a state of medical condition in which employee feel unhappy and hopeless as a result of some factors such as unpalatable organizational environmental factors such as unhealthy weather condition, irregular promotion, insufficient materials to use at work among others and occasionally results into sleeplessness or moodiness. Most of the academic staff of these colleges looked depressed probably due to irregular promotion which has caused stagnancy on a salary grade level and lead to weariness and psychological imbalances for the academic staff. The college infrastructural facilities are not adequate and the available ones are not well maintained for usage. Those in good order cannot be easily assessed by the academic staff but with a prolong protocol that delays work. This was perceived to be giving the academic staff of the college headache and tiredness and on their hand lose interest in fully involved in the discharge of duties towards meeting objectives

Burnout is a state of being extremely ill or tired either physically or psychologically as a result of being overworked. Perception shows that academic staff of colleges had become victims of burnout. Some of them undergo low personal accomplishment, their welfare are not well catered for, their experience in various dimensions such as looking irrelevant, not involved in most of the college decisions, hostility and irregularity of programmes that could enhance their professionalism growth resulting into loss of interest and the prevalence of job burnout tend to affect staff productivity (Cavuoto, Lu, Megahed and Sesek 2017).

Job stress and engagement in community service among academic staff in colleges of education could be connected, as stress levels can significantly impact an individual’s willingness and ability to participate in extracurricular activities. Academic staff often face high workloads, tight deadlines, and pressures related to research, teaching, and administrative responsibilities. These stressors can lead to burnout, fatigue, and decreased motivation, making it difficult for educators to engage in additional commitments outside their core duties. When stress levels are high, academic staff may prioritize self-care and work-related responsibilities over community involvement, leading to reduced participation in service activities.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Burnout has been defined by researchers in different approaches as the extinction of motivation or incentive, especially where one’s devotion to a cause or relationship fails to produce the desired results Scott (2012) opined it as the situation where one is being exhausted as a result of excessive demand on energy, strength and resources. Opinions of Freudenberger (1977) and Maslach and Jackson (1976) described it as loss of concern for people with whom one is working with which could be as response to job stress and resulting into psychological withdrawal from work due loss of concentration produced by excessive stress, dissatisfaction, painful and personally disruptive.

Bracket, Kaut and Saroj (2010) indicated that burnout has been conceptualized as a syndrome consisting of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and low personal accomplishment. In their own submission burnout arises due to decreased in mental health and quality of welfare enjoying. They emphasized that through rest, hormones are repaired and therefore concluded that that stress plus rest result in to employees’ enhancement, serves as one of the encouraging ingredients which increase efficiency and give birth to improved commitment level of workers.

Thakur (2012) observed that burnout among teachers has in the last few years become a popular topic in the professional literature and at education conferences.  He observed further that a significant negative correlation has been found between burnout and teaching staff efficiency as low burnout teachers have been found to be more efficient than high and average burnout teachers. This claim agrees with Suneel (2001) who reported that high school low burnout and average burnout teachers were more efficient than those who were with high burnout.

Lei et al., (2025) noted that academics’ job burnout is influenced by their job performance, with superior performance linked to lower burnout levels. Conversely, low performance correlates with high burnout, indicating a significant relationship where competency is crucial for reducing burnout among staff. This agrees with the report that burnout negatively impacts job performance, acting as a mediator in the relationship between workaholism and performance. Effective management of burnout is essential to enhance employee well-being and overall work performance (Vîrgă & Giurgi, 2024)

The finding of Akgul et al. (2025) burnout is negatively associated with labour productivity, as indicated by the study’s findings. High job demands contribute to burnout, which ultimately impacts job performance, suggesting that addressing burnout is crucial for enhancing overall organisational performance. In another research it was reported that job burnout significantly impacts job performance, leading to decreased physical capacity, fatigue, and reduced motivation. The study indicates that unresolved burnout negatively affects overall productivity, highlighting the importance of addressing burnout to maintain employee performance and organizational efficiency.

Burnout has a significant negative impact on job performance, leading to decreased productivity, lack of motivation, and lower engagement in work tasks. Addressing burnout is crucial for enhancing employee performance and overall organizational productivity (Wijaya, 2024). On the same note, Burnout negatively impacts job performance by depleting resources necessary for continuous learning, which mediates the relationship between burnout and performance behaviors. This study found that increased burnout leads to reduced proficiency, adaptivity, and proactivity among aviation professionals (Gemmano et al., 2024).

A state of low mood and aversion to activity which can affect person’s thought, behaviour, feelings and sense of well-being which may be short-lived and last within a couple of days could be termed as depression. Generally, teaching is associated with this, every teacher feels sad in most cases when comparing the profession challenges with others around. Popova (2011) opined depression takes someone by surprise, drains energy and leaves you without motivation to accomplish even the simplest task on your to do lists. Employees when depressed reflect in their mood, anxious, feel empty, hopeless, helpless, worthless, irritable, ashamed or restless and may even loose interest and concentration in their activities that remembering details and so on.

Social status has been reported to be inversely related to the prevalence of depression as studies have reported that those in lower socioeconomic class are more likely to be depressed (Adedipe 1993, Antai,2001). Cole (2005) opined that lecturers that face large population of students most especially in a congested lecture room are likely to experience pressure. They found out that one visible aspect of work stress is the increased feeling of emotional exhaustion and tiredness of workers.

 Academic staff experience high Level of stress symptoms in performing their duties and the commonest symptoms of stress among are includes restlessness, anxiety, frustration, occasional headache, dizziness and physical pains Egwunyenga and Egbule (2004). Academic staff due to curriculum and its challenges demands a great concentration and high level of commitment. In the light of this, threats of this pose problems to their commitment levels.

The America National Institutes of Health in 2008 reported that depression is a serious illness that affects a person’s mood, thoughts, and physical well-being. They analysed and established that major depressive disorder is characterized by a combination of symptoms that interfere with a person’s ability to work, sleep, study, eat, and enjoy one’s pleasurable activities. Major depression disables and prevents a person from functioning normally. In this wise, depression is noted to interfere with teachers’ ability to retain information and impact effectively.

Akinade (2007) in his study opined that people with depressive illness do not all experience same symptoms. The severity, frequency and duration of symptoms vary depending on the individual. Journal of the American Medical Association (2006) reported the signs of depression persistent sadness, anxiety, or “empty” feelings, feelings of hopelessness or pessimism, feelings of guilt, worthlessness or helplessness, irritability and restlessness, loss of interest in activities,  fatigue and decreased energy, difficulty concentrating and remembering, insomnia, overeating or loss of appetite and thoughts of suicide attempts, headaches, cramps or digestive problems that do not easily relief even with treatment.

According to the report, anxiety disorders such as Post – Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) often accompany depression can occur after a person experiences a terrifying event or ordeal, such as a violent assault or harassment by elderly person or superior. The report observed that depressive illnesses are disorders of the brain. Longstanding theories about depression suggested that important neurotransmitters- chemicals that brain cells use to communicate- are out of balance in depression though difficult to prove.

Brain-imaging technologies, such as Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) shows the brain of people who are depressed look different to those without depression. The parts of the brain involved in mood, thinking, sleep, appetite and behaviour appear different but these images do not reveal why the depression has occurred and as well cannot be used to diagnose depression. Some types of depression can also occur without reference to a specific cause such as genetics. Scientist researchers discovered some genetics that indicate risk for depression from the influence of several genes acting together with environmental or other factors. In addition, trauma, loss of a loved one, a difficult relationship or any stressful situation may trigger a depressive episode. In line with this, Martin Seligman of the Positive Psychology Centre, University of Pennsylvania asserted that teachers suffering from depression could have it traceable to poor work environment and boring job design.

Slaski and Cartright (2002) in his study found that highly emotionally stable teachers appear to experience significantly less stress and productive at work than less emotionally stable teachers. They added that emotionally stable teachers have better physical and psychological well-being and demonstrate higher level of performance in their roles. Experience that is likely to result to depression must therefore be curbed or solved in educational organizations if expected productivity would be attained.

In order to reduce the negative impact of depression on individual employee under its pressures, the working environment and minimize the implication on the organization, it is imperative to find effective treatment interventions by providing guidance to employees on how to effectively manage work demands and minimize work stress. This may be a practical way of reducing challenges devastating increasing productivity and reduced factors causing productivity loss.

Rowan, Corenti and Richard (2002) opined that loyal employees are assets and not liabilities in organizations. They emphasized it that if employers take care of their employee would make them free of stress and would take care of the business in returns. It was concluded that if employees would be productive even when under the pressure of stress would be calmed in order to avoid frustration that would make them depressed. This is as a result of calming techniques having access to, (a supportive circle which could be leaders you can open up to with honesty and share with instead of being depressed ) such as get physical walk out, go for a jog around the neighbour-hood, keep yourself busy with active activities instead of stagnant on, eat well, take break, take one step at a time among others to avoid being sluggish would contribute a lot to encourage a better and relieved feelings which eventually boost productive levels at work as established in the study of Primm (2005)

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Purpose of the study

The main purpose of this study was to examine job stress and academic staff engagement in community services in Southwest, Nigeria Colleges of Education. Specifically, the study investigated:

1. the extent to which academic staff experience stress on their job
2. how often do academic staff engaged in community services
3. the relationship between job stress and academic staff engagement in community service

Research Questions

The following questions were raised in the study:

1. What is the level of job stress experienced by academic staff in Colleges of Education in Southwest, Nigeria?
2. What is the level of academic staff engagement in community services in Colleges of Education in Southwest Nigeria?

Research Hypotheses

The following hypotheses were tested in the study:

1. There is no significant relationship between experience of burnout and engagement in community services.
2. There is no significant relationship between experience of depression and academic staff engagement in community services.

METHODOLOGY

The descriptive research design of the survey type was adopted in the study.  At the time of the study, 3,968 lecturers from all eleven public Colleges of Education in Southwest Nigeria as well as schools affiliated with those colleges made up the study’s population. Four Federal Colleges of Education and seven State Colleges of Education offer teacher training programme in this part of the country. 600 academic staff members and department heads made up the study’s sample. They were selected utilizing multi-stage selection processes.  Two sets of instruments designed for the study are: Job Stress Questionnaire; (JSQ) and Engagement in Community Service Questionnaire” (ECSQ) for the academic staff and Heads of Departments respectively. The instruments were validated using face and content validity. Test-re-test method was adopted to ensure reliability of the instruments and a reliability coefficient of 0.76 and 0.77 were obtained for JSQ and ECSPQ respectively. The coefficient values were adjudged to be high enough to make both instruments reliable and valid for the study. The data collected were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics such as Mean Score, Standard Deviation and “Pearson Product Moment Correlation” (PPMC) and all the hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance.

RESULTS

Research Question 1: What is the level of job stress experienced by academic staff in Colleges of Education in Southwest, Nigeria?

To determine the level of job stress experienced by academic staff in Colleges of Education in Southwest, Nigeria, scores of items 1-17 of section B of JSQ was subjected to frequency count, percentage and mean rating. The low and high level were determined using a cut-off means score of 2.50. the result is presented in Table 1:

Table 1: Level of job stress experienced by academic staff in Colleges of Education in Southwest, Nigeria

Cut off mean = 2.50

The information contained in Table 1 showed the Level of job stress experienced by academic staff in Colleges of Education in Southwest, Nigeria. Considering the mean cut off point of 2.50, the Level of job stress experienced by academic staff in Colleges of Education in Southwest, Nigeria was considered High in all the 17 items. This implies that the overall level of Level of job stress experienced by academic staff in Colleges of Education in Southwest, Nigeria was high during the period investigated.

Research Question 2: What is the level of academic staff engagement in community services in Colleges of Education in Southwest Nigeria?

To determine the level of academic staff engagement in community services in Colleges of Education in Southwest Nigeria, scores of items 1-10 of section B of ECSPQ was subjected to frequency count, percentage and mean rating. The low and high level were determined using a cut-off means score of 3.00. the result is presented in Table 2:

Table 2: Level of academic staff engagement in community services in Colleges of Education in Southwest Nigeria

The information contained in Table 2 showed the level of academic staff engagement in community services in Colleges of Education in Southwest Nigeria. Considering the mean cut off point of 3.00, the level of academic staff engagement in community services in Colleges of Education in Southwest Nigeria, was considered high in two out of the 10 items in table 2 above. Academic staff engagement in community services in Colleges of Education in Southwest Nigeria, was considered low in 8 out of the 10 items”. This implies that the overall level of academic staff engagement in community services in Colleges of Education in Southwest Nigeria, was considered low

Hypothesis 1: There is no significant relationship between experience of burnout and engagement in community services.

In testing this hypothesis, scores on items 1-9 Section B of JSQ and 1-10 of section B of ECSPQ were subjected to statistical analysis involving the use of Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC) at 0.05 level of significance. The result is presented in Table 3.

Table 3: Relationship between experience of burnout and engagement in community services

P < 0.05 (Significant Result)

The information contained in Table 3 shows that r_cal = -0.459; p = 0.000 < 0.05. Since the p value is less than 0.05, the null hypothesis is rejected. This implies that there is significant negative relationship between experience of burnout and engagement in community services.

Hypothesis 2: There is no significant relationship between experience of depression and academic staff engagement in community services.

In testing this hypothesis, scores on items 10-17 Section B of JSQ and 1-10 of section B of ECSPQ were subjected to statistical analysis involving the use of Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC) at 0.05 level of significance. The result is presented in Table 4.

Table 4: Relationship between experience of depression and engagement in community services

P < 0.05 (Significant Result)

The information contained in Table 3 shows that r_cal = -0.457; p = 0.000 < 0.05. Since the p value is less than 0.05, the null hypothesis is rejected. This implies that there is significant negative relationship between experience of depression and engagement in community services.

DISCUSSION

It was revealed in this study that the level of job stress experienced by academic staff in Colleges of Education in Southwest, Nigeria was high. This implies that majority of the academic staff experience symptoms of burnout such as looking for way out of the job, feeling of been under-utilized, dislike for management strategies, abrupt ending of lecture, delegating tasks to senior students among others. It also indicates that feeling of depression which often manifest in form of emptiness in thought, concern over lecture schedule, been easily demoralized among others are common the academic staff. This is a confirmation of Egwunyenga and Egbule (2004) assertion that Academic staff experience high Level of stress symptoms in performing their duties and the commonest symptoms of stress among are includes restlessness, anxiety, frustration, occasional headache, dizziness and physical pains

It was further showed that the level of academic staff engagement in community services in Colleges of Education in Southwest Nigeria, was considered low. This implies that academic staff in the colleges are not sharing expertise knowledge with community members, carry out consultancy work, organize seminar, participate in committee, engage in policy debate, serve as referee of scholarly journals, engage in alumni association activities as expected.

In testing hypothesis, finding revealed that there was a significant negative relationship between experience of burnout and engagement in community services, This implies that job burnout has a negative association with the level of academic staff engagement in community development services. That is, when experience of burnout is low among academics, the level of community service engagement would increase and when burnout is high, there would be low engagement in community service. This finding aptly corroborates that report of Thakur (2012) that a significant negative correlation has been found between burnout and teaching staff efficiency as low burnout teachers have been found to be more efficient than high and average burnout teachers. It equally confirmed the position of Wijaya (2024) that burnout negatively impacts job performance by depleting resources necessary for continuous learning, which mediates the relationship between burnout and performance behaviours.

It was discovered in this study that there was significant negative relationship between experience of depression and engagement in community services. This implies that experience of depression by academic staff can influence their engagement in community development services. This finding affirmed the report of Slaski and Cartright (2002) in his study that highly emotionally stable teachers appear to experience significantly less stress and productive at work than less emotionally stable teachers. They added that emotionally stable teachers have better physical and psychological well-being and demonstrate higher level of performance in their roles.

CONCLUSION

It was concluded based on the findings from this study that academic staff of the colleges of education experience job stress and they engage less in community services. It was inferred also that increased stressed level would result in decreased academic staff engagement in community services. Thus, experience that is likely to result to burnout and depression must be curbed in the colleges if expected productivity would be attained

RECOMMENDATIONS

1. College management must concentrate on removing factors that bring about burnout of academic staff in order to improve their engagement in community services. Such condition demanding attention include lack of regular promotion, overcrowded lecture rooms among others.
2. Academic staff lecture schedule should be made clear, precise and explicit to them by the head of department to avoid unnecessary confusion that often lead to demoralization.
3. Academic staff request for leave should be treated with dispatch to avoid getting tired of the work.
4. Academic should be provided with recreative centres within the college campus. This will enable them to relax when stressed.

REFERENCE

1. Gemmano, C. G., Giancaspro, M. L., Galiotto, S., & Manuti, A. (2024). A Flight Path to Well-Being: The Mediating Role of Continuous Learning between Burnout and Work Performance in Aviation Professionals. Advances in the Social Sciences, 13(10), 513. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci13100513
2. Akgul, K. L., De Winne, S., Van den Broeck, A., Baillien, E., Godderis, L., & De Feyter, T. (2025). The association between job design and organisational performance: the role of workforce engagement and burnout. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 1–34. https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2025.2451985
3. Lei, M., Alam, G. M., & Bashir, K. (2025). The job performance and job burnout relationship: a panel data comparison of four groups of academics’ job performance. Frontiers in Public Health, 12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2024.1460724
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