Psychosocial work environment and burnout among employees of a Ghanaian Public University

ABSTRACT

The psychosocial climate of universities becomes very important because of the increasing student enrolment, academic-administrative duties, the quest for promotion, the fast-changing mode of lesson delivery, all leading to work overload. This study aims to examine the influence of psychosocial factors on burnout of employees of a public university in Ghana. A survey measuring burnout and psychosocial work characteristics with the Maslach Burnout Inventory – Educators Survey (MBI-ES) and job demands – Swedish Demand-Control-Support Questionnaire (DCSQ) was completed by 1,222 employees. We developed structural models that suggested that the elements of burnout – emotional weariness, personal accomplishment, and depersonalization – are positively impacted by job demands, social support, job decision freedom, harassment, and discrimination. The results further indicated that job demands, job decision latitude, social support, and harassment have significant effect on emotional exhaustion of the workers. Again, job decision latitude and discrimination significantly influenced depersonalization of the workers. In addition, job demands, job decision latitude, social support, and discrimination affected personal accomplishment. However, there was no statistically significant influence of discrimination on emotional exhaustion, job demand and depersonalization, social support and depersonalization, harassment and depersonalization, and harassment and diminished personal accomplishment. We conclude that by implementing practical interventions, such as regular training on how to reduce job demands, either physical or psychological, and enhancing social support and job control, burnout among the employees can be improved for improved health and quality teaching.

KEYWORDS:

• University employees
• psychosocial work environment
• work-related burnout
• social support
• academic work

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the administration of UEW for letting us carry out the study at their institution. Also, we want to thank every employee who took the time to complete the survey.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Author contribution

MAB and EWA, conceptualised the project. MAB, EWA and SEB designed the protocols. MAB conducted data collection and acquisition. MAB, EWA and SEB carried out data processing, management and analysis. MAB developed the initial manuscript. EWA and SEB edited and substantially revised the manuscript. All authors revised and proofread the manuscript for intellectual content and consented to the submission to a journal.

Additional information

Funding

This study received no funding from a person, group or organization for data curation, writing up or publication.