The impact of job stress on employee performance: evidence from female academics at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.
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Date
2020
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Abstract
Job stress is a regular occurrence in everyday work life situations and females in academia are not
an exception to this fact. It has been suggested by numerous studies that job stress will
continuously be on the rise due to various factors such as career advancement, technological
advancements and changes in the business environment of organisations. The present day academic
environment has moved from the old ways of doing things to more technologically and
research based ways. Increasingly, the academic’s job profile has extended beyond teaching and
learning to include research and publications, supervision, consultation and administration and so
forth, thus, resulting in increased stress levels in academics, more especially for female
academics who have to include various domestic obligations to
their workloads.
Given this background, the study aims to examine the impact of job stress on female
academic performance. The study focused on female academics who are full-time permanent employees
at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN). The Pietermaritzburg (PMB) campus of UKZN was considered
for the study site. The research explored the impact of job stress on these female
academics and investigated the strategies these academics use to achieve work-life balance. The
study is a quantitative study, where data was collected from 54 respondents and analysed using the
Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 25. The findings of the study show that
workload remains a stressor in an academic environment. Time allotment continues to pose as
a challenge. Because of the work overload, the associated stress affects the health
and motivation of the female academic staff. The findings also suggested that gender has no
significant relationship with workload. Thus, the researcher recommended a review of
incentives, time to time conduct surveys to measure the organisational
stressors and determine a proactive solution and core awareness on stress management strategies.
Description
Masters Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg.