Assessment of Stressors among Academic Staff of University of Ibadan, South-Western Nigeria using Taguchi Approach

Mojisola A. Bolarinwa; Ibrahim O. Popoola

Mojisola A. Bolarinwa
Ibrahim O. Popoola

Keywords: Academic members, Coping mechanisms, Occupation, Stressors, Stress management

Abstract

Employees in almost every occupation deal with stress, an almost inevitable aspect of life, which oftentimes lead to anxiety and eventually, chronic health issues, aside having negative impact on performance. This research was focused on academic members at University of Ibadan, by assessing the impact of stressors on the academic members. Questionnaires were distributed across 13 faculties, with 110 subjects selected through random sampling. While stressors were identified with the aid of the transactional model, Taguchi’s Design of Experiment (DOE) aided in identifying the most influential stress factor affecting the academic staff. Thereafter, SPSS and Excel, were used in the identification of primary stressors across different ranks, alongside the major individual coping mechanism. The signal-to-noise ratio response table, through the delta value, revealed that academic workload (0.45) was the most significant factor that affects all academic staff members either at the minimal or maximal level. This was followed by administrative-related issues (0.41), research and career development (0.27), remuneration (0.21), student-related issues (0.18), and interpersonal relationships (0.16). Through the comparative study of the stressors, results revealed that normal lecturers (L2/L1) primarily identified administrative issues (39.47%) as their primary stressor. Senior lecturers perceived concerns about research and career development (31.84%), associate professors faced significant stress related to academic workload (11.70%), and professors emphasised remuneration (22.54%) as their primary stressor. No staff members highlighted student-related issues and interpersonal relationships as primary stressor. The signal-to-noise ratio result was verified using SPSS, confirming Taguchi’s DOE findings. Lack of formal stress management initiatives and dissatisfaction with existing programs highlight the reliance on individual coping mechanisms among academic staff. Despite these varied stressors, the most reported individual coping mechanism across all ranks was sleep (3.43), followed by exercise (3.26), chatting (3.15), entertainment (3.06), eating (2.79), and medication (2.40).

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