Relationship between gender and job-burnout among student affairs personnel in Kenyan universities

Abstract

Job burnout is a state of mental, physical and emotional exhaustion resulting in job dissatisfaction, lowered productivity, absenteeism and hi gh turnover at the workplace. Student Affairs Personnel (SAPs) in universities are required to spend considerable and intense time with students facing psychological, social and physi cal problems. Given that they work continuously in such situations, they are bound to be drained emotionally, mentally and physically. This study examined gender differences as a factor in the experience of workplace- burnout among personnel working in the Student Affairs Departments in public and private universities in Kenya . In this study, 79 female and 70 male respondents constituted the study sample. The Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) was used as an instrument to assess the level of burnout differe nces of the SAPs in terms of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and reduced personal accomplishment. Results indicated that there was no significant difference in the levels of burnout among male and female respondents. Burnout awareness and mitigat ion should therefore help all the SAP s irrespective of gender. The assumption is that if one is aware of the burnout level then he/she can adopt relevant coping mechanisms. This study recommends that an effective burnout model be used to tackle the growi ng phenomenon of burnout among the SAPs in Kenyan Universities.