An investigation on the role of secondary school teachers’ psychological capital and perceived supervisor support on job stress, in Windhoek, Namibia
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Date
2024
Authors
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
University of Namibia
Abstract
Secondary School teacher in Namibia have a substantial influence on the progression
of both the social and economic aspects of the community. However, in fulfilling
this responsibility, teachers in Namibia are confronted with numerous issues that
contribute to job stress. In order to identify possible measures to mitigate this issue,
the study’s purpose was to investigate the role of secondary school teacher’s
psychological capital and perceived supervisor support on job stress, in Windhoek,
Namibia. The study implemented the convenience sampling technique with a
participant pool of 263 teachers. Furthermore, the investigation utilised a quantitative
approach through the implementation of questionnaires. This included the use of the
Work Stress Questionnaire to measure job stress, the Compound Psychological
Capital Scale to assess psychological capital and the supervisor relations subscale
derived from the Antecedents Scale, to measure perceived supervisor support. Data
analysis was conducted using SPSS Version 29, wherein measures of internal
reliability, Pearson correlation and regression analysis were determined. The study
uncovered an insignificant correlation between psychological capital and job stress
(r= -.07, p>.05) This reveals that psychological capital is not associated with the
changes in the level of job stress. However, subsets of psychological capital, such as
hope (r=-.15, p<.05), and resilience were found to have a negative significant
correlation (r= -.15, p<.05); thus indicating that an increase in psychological capital
is associated with a decrease in job stress. Moreover, self-efficacy was observed to
have a negative significant relationship with the subsets of job stress, specifically
influence at work (r= -.20, p<.05) and individual demands and commitment (r=-.15,
p<.05), therefore, indicating that an increase in self-efficacy was associated with the
decrease in job stress dimensions influence at work and individual demands and
ii
commitment. The study also revealed that the most effective regression model for
intervention development is one that encompasses the subsets of psychological
capital and perceived supervisor support. Hence, the study provided
recommendations that foster psychological capital and perceived supervisor support
at individual level, organisational and regional level. It is further recommended that
further investigations should be carried out to obtain a comprehensive understanding
of other factors that could influence work-related stress, such as coping mechanisms
and leadership styles
Description
A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of master in industrial psychology
Keywords
Job stress, Psychological capital, Perceived supervisor support, Namibia