Occupational stress in UK higher education institutions: a comparative study of all staff categories

The higher education sector in the UK continues to experience significant change. This includes restructuring, use of short‐term contracts, external scrutiny and accountability, and major reductions in funding. In line with this, reports of stress at work in higher education institutions have also increased. The study reported here was carried out using a stratified random sample of all categories of staff (academic and non‐academic) from 14 UK universities and colleges. Levels of occupational stress were measured using the ASSET model. The results showed that the most significant source of stress for all higher education staff (irrespective of category of employee) was job insecurity. In comparison to the normative data, staff also reported significantly higher levels of stress relating to work relationships, control, and resources and communication, and significantly lower levels of commitment both from and to their organization. However, they also reported significantly lower levels of stress relating to work‐life balance, overload and job overall, and lower levels of physical ill‐health. Significant differences were identified between staff working at Old versus New universities and by category of employee. These results support the growing evidence that universities no longer provide the low stress working environments they once did.

[1]  James E. King.  White‐collar reactions to job insecurity and the role of the psychological contract: Implications for human resource management , 2000 .

[2]  R. Jarrett,et al.  Occupational Stress in University Staff , 2001 .

[3]  Mike Cook.  Changing academic work: developing the learning university , 2003 .

[4]  M. Trow.  Managerialism and the Academic Profession: The Case of England , 1994 .

[5]  R. Abouserie,et al.  Stress, Coping Strategies and Job Satisfaction in University Academic Staff , 1996 .

[6]  Cary L. Cooper,et al.  The construct validity of the ASSET stress measure , 2003 .

[7]  B. D'avanzo,et al.  Health Effects of Job Insecurity among Employees in the Swiss General Population , 2000, International journal of health services : planning, administration, evaluation.

[8]  P. Hind,et al.  Occupational Stress, Burnout and Job Status in Female Academics , 1998 .

[9]  A. Blix,et al.  Occupational stress among university teachers , 1994 .

[10]  Fiona J. Lacy,et al.  Job satisfaction among academic staff: An international perspective , 1997 .

[11]  Paul E. Spector,et al.  Stress in the workplace: a comparison of gender and occupations , 1999 .

[12]  Stephen Court.  The Use of Time by Academic and Related Staff , 1996 .

[13]  Gail Kinman,et al.  Pressure Points: A review of research on stressors and strains in UK academics , 2001 .

[14]  K. Daniels.  An Exploratory Study of Stress in a British University , 1994 .

[15]  Toon W. Taris,et al.  Job stress, job strain, and psychological withdrawal among Dutch university staff: Towards a dualprocess model for the effects of occupational stress , 2001 .

[16]  Cary L. Cooper,et al.  Organizations and the Psychological Contract: Managing People at Work , 1996 .

[17]  Con Stough,et al.  Occupational stress in Australian university staff: results from a national survey , 2003 .

[18]  R. Winter,et al.  Corporate reforms to Australian universities: views from the academic heartland , 2001 .

[19]  C. Wylie,et al.  Workload and Stress in New Zealand Universities. , 1994 .

[20]  Paul J. Kobulnicky,et al.  Commitment in the workplace: Theory, research and application , 1998 .

[21]  J. Dua,et al.  Job Stressors and Their Effects on Physical Health, Emotional Health and Job Satisfaction in a University , 1994 .

[22]  R. Mayer,et al.  Predicting Participation and Production Outcomes Through a Two-Dimensional Model of Organizational Commitment , 1992 .

[23]  Cl Smith,et al.  EFFECTIVE APPROACHES TO NEW FACULTY-DEVELOPMENT , 1994 .

[24]  Cary L. Cooper,et al.  Well‐being and occupational health in the 21st century workplace , 2001 .

[25]  Craig McInnis,et al.  The work roles of academics in Australian universities , 1999 .

[26]  Craig McInnis,et al.  Change and Diversity in the Work Patterns of Australian Academics. , 1996 .

[27]  Richard Winter,et al.  The Academic Work Environment in Australian Universities: A motivating place to work? , 2002 .

[28]  M. Braga,et al.  Exploratory Data Analysis , 2018, Encyclopedia of Social Network Analysis and Mining. 2nd Ed..

[29]  U Wagner,et al.  Stress and strain in teaching: a structural equation approach. , 2001, The British journal of educational psychology.

[30]  J. Cook,et al.  Scales for the measurement of some work attitudes and aspects of psychological well‐being , 1979 .

[31]  P. Ashurst,et al.  Survey of Members , 1987 .

[32]  Kevin Daniels,et al.  Occupational Stress, Social Support, Job Control, and Psychological Well-Being , 1994 .

[33]  Gail Kinman,et al.  'Running Up the Down Escalator': Stressors and strains in UK academics , 2003 .

[34]  Con Stough,et al.  Occupational stress in universities: Staff perceptions of the causes, consequences and moderators of stress , 2001 .

[35]  Steven P. Brown.  A meta-analysis and review of organizational research on job involvement. , 1996 .

[36]  Y. Fried,et al.  The effects of hours of work on health: A meta-analytic review. , 1997 .

[37]  C. Forlin.  Inclusion: identifying potential stressors for regular class teachers , 2001 .

[38]  Oi Ling Siu,et al.  Occupational Stressors and Well‐being among Chinese Employees: The Role of Organisational Commitment , 2002 .

[39]  P. K. Wilke,et al.  Sources of stress in academe: A national perspective , 1984 .

[40]  G. Kinman.  Pressure points : a survey into the causes and consequences of occupational stress in UK academic and related staff , 1998 .

[41]  Jaana Pentti,et al.  Effect of organisational downsizing on health of employees , 1997, The Lancet.

[42]  T. Begley,et al.  Panel analysis of the moderating effects of commitment on job satisfaction, intent to quit, and health following organizational change. , 1993, The Journal of applied psychology.

[43]  J. Garrison,et al.  Correlates of Drinking and Drug Use by Higher Education Faculty and Staff: Implications for Prevention , 1991, Journal of drug education.

[44]  Shirley Fisher,et al.  Stress in Academic Life: The Mental Assembly Line , 1994 .

[45]  I. Schonfeld,et al.  Stress in 1st-year women teachers: the context of social support and coping. , 2001, Genetic, social, and general psychology monographs.

[46]  C. Cooper,et al.  The UK Perspective: A Review of Research on Organisational Stress Management Interventions , 2003 .

[47]  A. Guppy,et al.  The influences of gender and grade on perceived work stress and job satisfaction in white collar employees , 1996 .