Title: Occupational stressors among university non-academic staff: results from a representative public university in Ghana

Authors: Henry Kofi Mensah; Felicia Adoma Fosu; Eric Fosu Oteng-Abayie

Addresses: Department of Human Resource and Organizational Development, KNUST School of Business, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana ' Office of the Registrar, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana ' Department of Economics, Faculty of Social Sciences, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana

Abstract: This study identified the major stressors affecting non-academic staff in public universities in Ghana. The study is based on a sample survey of administrators from a representative public university in Ghana and applied descriptive and inferential statistics to identified and rank the level of stress. It was found that the incidence of stress among staff is high: never having time for oneself'; anxiety; tension; and lack of concentration on the job. It was found that work methods ambiguity, performance criteria ambiguity, work scheduling ambiguity, workload, and interpersonal relationships were the key job stressors among the non-academic staff. The key external causes of stress identified by the study included marital problems, financial pressure and demands from family and social activities. It is recommended that the university should develop a visible and more proactive stress management strategy to help the employees to deal with stress and its related consequences.

Keywords: stress management; public universities; policy; non-academic staff; Ghana.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBEX.2017.086330

International Journal of Business Excellence, 2017 Vol.13 No.2, pp.200 - 216

Received: 10 Feb 2016
Accepted: 06 May 2016
Published online: 04 Sep 2017 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article