Emotional Intelligence as a Moderator in the Relationship between Occupational Stress and Organizational Citizenship Behavior among Nigerian Graduate Employees

The study investigated emotional intelligence as a moderator in the relationship between occupational stress and organizational citizenship behavior among graduate employees in Nigeria. The purpose of the study was in twofold: firstly, to empirically examine the relationship between occupational stress and organizational citizenship behavior. Secondly, to empirically investigate if emotional intelligence would moderate the relationship between occupational stress and organizational citizenship behavior. The study was conducted to demonstrate whether the presence of emotional intelligence could result in a better level of employee performance, even as employees experience a certain level of occupational stress. In view of the above, the study has contributed to the formation of a new model of psychological intervention for occupational stress and organizational citizenship behavior. The study adopted the positivist explanatory cross-sectional (survey) research design to systematically sample opinions of 1,532 male and female graduate employees across. The various sectors of the Nigerian economy, using a structured and validated questionnaire and version 20 of the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), two hypotheses were stated and analyzed using Pearson Correlation Analysis and Multiple Regression Analysis while the percentage, mean, standard deviation and the frequency of the biographical and occupational data were also determined by the descriptive statistics. The results showed that there was a weak positive relationship between occupational stress and organizational citizenship behavior. Emotional intelligence significantly moderated the relationship between occupational stress and organizational citizenship behavior. Human resource managers should develop emotional intelligence in employees in order to increase the level of organizational performance, and reduce the negative impact of occupational stress. This could be achieved through training and seminar participation. Recommendations of the study could assist in training and developing effective manpower capacity towards improving the economy of the nation

Evaluation of the Components of Psychological Capital and Organizational Citizenship Behavior among Nigerian Graduate Employees

In consideration of implications of organizational citizenship behavior, it is quite necessary for scholars and human resource management practitioners, to urgently investigate the correlates of psychological capital dimensions and the dimensions of organizational citizenship behavior. The purpose of the study was twofold. Firstly, to examines the relationship between psychological capital and organizational citizenship behavior. Secondly, to investigate the relationships between the dimensions of organizational citizenship behavior and psychological capital. The study is important, because its outcomes would help the corporate world, governments and human resource managers to avert the problem of underperformance among employees by improving psychological capital and organizational citizenship behavior. The study adopted the positivist explanatory cross-sectional (survey) research design to systematically sample opinions of 1,532 male and female graduate employees across the various sectors of the Nigerian economy, using a structured and validated questionnaire, and the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). The results of the statistical analysis of data showed that there was a significant positive relationship between psychological capital and organizational citizenship behavior, r = 0.588, p<0.01. The results also showed that altruism, conscientiousness and civic virtue dimensions of organizational citizenship behavior are significantly positively interrelated to hope, optimism, resilience and self-efficacy dimensions of psychological capital. The study suggested that human resource managers should develop psychological capital in employees in order to increase the level of organizational performance. Recommendations of the study could assist in training and developing effective manpower capacity towards improving the economy of the nation.&nbsp

Influence of Perceived Time and Entrepreneurial Skills Constraints on Entrepreneurship Interest among Final Year Undergraduate and Honours Students at the University of Fort Hare

Several scholarly efforts have been previously exerted in investigating student entrepreneurship interest in the developed countries, and several studies have contributed in this direction, yet little was achieved in South Africa. The main aim of this study was to empirically assess perceived time and entrepreneurial skills constraints as possible barriers to entrepreneurial interest among a sample of 366 (205 (56%) male and 161 (46%) female) final year undergraduate and postgraduate ‘honours' students of a previously disadvantaged university in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, using the survey research design, and a structured validated questionnaire. Three hypotheses were stated and tested using Multiple Regression Analysis. The results revealed that perceived time and entrepreneurial skills constraints jointly influenced entrepreneurship interest, F (2, 363) = 25.887; R2 = 0.120; p<. 01. The results further revealed that perceived time constraint independently influenced entrepreneurship interest, (β = 0.226; t= 4.108; p< .01). Likewise, the results showed that entrepreneurial skills constraint independently influenced entrepreneurship interest, (β = 0.188; t= 3.415; p< .01). The findings are valuable to the policy makers and professionals in promoting the spirit of entrepreneurship among the youth, with the consequence decline rate of joblessness

Role of Psychological Capital in Effective Management of Work-stress among Tertiary Institutions' Staff in Nigeria

 Work-stress is synonymous to occupational stress. It is a common form of strain that is usually experienced by employees, in the course of performing their official duties and responsibilities. In the contemporary world of work, including the Nigerian work environment, work-stress is identified as a ‘corporate epidemic’. Its symptoms are mostly observed physically, psychologically and socially in the lives of affected employees, while the negative effect of occupational stress is specifically, measured on employee performance and organizational effectiveness. It is for the above-described nature and effect of work-stress that this study examined the role of psychological capital in effective management of work-stress among the staff of tertiary institutions in Nigeria. It adopted the explanatory survey research design, purposive and convenience sampling techniques in sampling a total number of 202 (male = 116, 57.4% and female = 86, 42.6%) academic and administrative staff of five (5) public and private tertiary institutions, in the western region of Nigeria, who served as participants in the study. All participants were Nigerians English speakers. Research participation eligibility was strictly based on the current enlistment of employees on the pay-roll of the institutions as at the time of the study. A structured validated questionnaire was used as an instrument. Hypotheses were stated and analyzed based on the data collected. Results revealed that the four psychological capital states jointly influenced work-stress management F(4,197) = 8.375; R2= 0.128; p<.05; resilience (β=0.145; t=1.983; p<.05) and optimism (β=0.294; t=3.756; p<.05) independently influenced workstress management; optimism (r=.224, P(.001)<.01), resilience (r=.350, P(.000)<.01) and hope (r=.247,P(.000)<.01) significantly correlated with work-stress management. The study concluded that psychological capital is one of the important factors that effectively helps in managing work-stress, and suggested that the management of institutions or organizations should sensitize employees on the importance of psychological capital in effective management of work-stress through seminars, trainings and conferences

Psychological capital as a moderator in the relationship between occupational stress and organisational citizenship behaviour among Nigerian graduate employees

Orientation: It is a documented fact that occupational stress is widespread worldwide. Moreover, there are clear signs of many variables that affect Nigerian graduate employees, which are most likely to cause severe occupational stress, and this, in turn, could negatively affect employees and their organisational ability to demonstrate citizenship behaviour. Research purpose: The purpose of this study was twofold: firstly, to examine the nature of relationship between occupational stress and organisational citizenship behaviour, and, secondly, to investigate whether psychological capital significantly moderates the relationship between occupational stress and organisational citizenship behaviour. Motivation for the study: The study was conducted to demonstrate whether the presence of psychological capital could result in a better level of employee performance, even as employees experience a certain level of occupational stress. In view of the above, the study might have contributed to form a new model of psychological intervention for occupational stress and organisational citizenship behaviour. Research approach/design and method: The study adopted the positivist explanatory cross-sectional (survey) research design to systematically sample opinions of 1532 male and female graduate employees across various sectors of the Nigerian economy, using a structured and validated questionnaire and the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software. Main findings: The results showed that there was a weak positive relationship between occupational stress and organisational citizenship behaviour. Psychological capital significantly moderated the relationship between occupational stress and organisational citizenship behaviour. Practical/managerial implications: Human resource managers should develop psychological capital in employees in order to increase the level of organisational performance and reduce the negative impact of occupational stress. Contribution/value-add: Recommendations of the study could assist in training and developing effective workforce capacity towards improving the economy of the nation

Working-class postgraduates’ perceptions of studying while working at a selected university

The life of working-class postgraduates can be exhilarating and daunting, juggling the commitments of full-time employment and postgraduate studies. Insofar as can be established, little, if any, research has been conducted on exploring the experiences of such students in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. An in-depth investigation is necessary to assist management and academic institutions to support such students. The purpose of the study was to understand the selected working-class postgraduate students’ perceptions of studying while working simultaneously, as well as explore the experiences, challenges and coping mechanisms of the cohort of students

Psychological distress during pregnancy in a multi-ethnic community: findings from the born in Bradford cohort study

Purpose: Antenatal anxiety and depression are predictive of future mental distress, which has negative effects on children. Ethnic minority women are more likely to have a lower socio-economic status (SES) but it is unclear whether SES is an independent risk factor for mental health in pregnancy. We described the association between maternal mental distress and socio-demographic factors in a multi-ethnic cohort located in an economically deprived city in the UK. Methods: We defined eight distinct ethno-language groups (total N = 8,454) and classified a threshold of distress as the 75th centile of within-group GHQ-28 scores, which we used as the outcome for univariate and multivariate logistic regression for each ethnic group and for the sample overall. Results: Financial concerns were strongly and independently associated with worse mental health for six out of the eight ethnic groups, and for the cohort overall. In some groups, factors such as working status, education and family structure were associated with worse mental health, but for others these factors were of little importance. Conclusions: The diversity between and within ethnic groups in this sample underlines the need to take into consideration individual social, migration and economic circumstances and their potential effect on mental health in ethnically diverse areas

The psychometric properties of the subscales of the GHQ-28 in a multi-ethnic maternal sample: results from the Born in Bradford cohort

Background: Poor maternal mental health can impact on children’s development and wellbeing; however, there is concern about the comparability of screening instruments administered to women of diverse ethnic origin. Methods: We used confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to examine the subscale structure of the GHQ-28 in an ethnically diverse community cohort of pregnant women in the UK (N = 5,089). We defined five groups according to ethnicity and language of administration, and also conducted a CFA between four groups of 1,095 women who completed the GHQ-28 both during and after pregnancy. Results: After item reduction, 17 of the 28 items were considered to relate to the same four underlying concepts in each group; however, there was variation in the response to individual items by women of different ethnic origin and this rendered between group comparisons problematic. The EFA revealed that these measurement difficulties might be related to variation in the underlying concepts being measured by the factors. Conclusions: We found little evidence to recommend the use of the GHQ-28 subscales in routine clinical or epidemiological assessment of maternal women in populations of diverse ethnicity

Occupational Stress as a Correlate of Organisational Citizenship Behaviour and Psychological Capital Among Graduate Employees in Nigeria

It is a documented fact that occupational stress is widespread worldwide. Moreover, there are clear signs of many variables, related to occupational stress. The study therefore, was conducted to demonstrate whether the presence of occupational stress in the world of work correlates in any form (positive or negative) with a better level of organisational performance and employee psychological wellbeing