Relationship between occupational factors, individual characteristics and burnout levels of student affairs personnel in public and private universities in Kenya

Abstract

Job burnout is a state of mental, physical and emotional exhaustion resulting in job dissatisfaction, lowered productivity, absenteeism and high turnover at the workplace. Student Affairs Personnel in universities are often required to spend considerable and intense time with students facing psychological, social and physical problems coupled with feelings of frustration, anger, embarrassment, fear, and despair. Such an environment can easily lead to burnout if not checked. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between Occupational factors, Individual characteristics and levels of Burnout among student affairs personnel in universities. The study was guided by Maslach‘s Multidimensional Theory and Holland‘s Theory of Career Choice. The causal – comparative (expost-facto) study design was used. The target population was drawn from randomly selected 6 public and 6 private universities in Kenya. This population constituted personnel working in the student affairs departments who were involved with students on a daily basis to provide guidance and counseling services. Purposive sampling was used to select 179 respondents to form the required sample for the study. A Burnout Questionnaire for Student Affairs Personnel (BQSAP) and Dean‘s Interview Schedule (DIS) were the instruments used for data collection. The instruments were piloted for reliability and validity in one public and one private university. Percentages, frequencies and means aided in the analysis of descriptive statistics while the Pearson product - moment for correlations, t-test, one way ANOVA and multiple linear regression were employed in analyzing inferential statistics. The Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 19 computer programme was used in data processing and analysis. All hypotheses were tested at .05 level of significance. Results revealed that occupational factors (workload, Role conflict and Role ambiguity) positively made the largest unique contribution to burnout levels of the student affairs personnel (r=0.709, P=0.001). The results of the study can be used to help in the creation of burnout awareness, coupled with adoption of relevant counselling models among the affected staff. The assumption is that if one is aware of the burnout level then he/she can adopt relevant interventional measures and/or coping mechanisms. It is concluded from the study that occupational factors have a direct relationship with burnout among student affairs personnel. This study therefore recommends that in designing interventional measures, the individual, the organization or other stake holders should take note of occupational factors.