Occupational Role Stressors as Predictors of Psychological Strain among Academic Officers of Higher Educational Institutions

The main objective of the study was to assess the extent to which role stressors predict psychological strain of academic officers of higher educational institutions in Oromia regional state of Ethiopia. For this purpose, a total of 251 academic officers were selected using multistage sampling techniques from higher educational institutions in the state. The data were collected from participants using Occupational Stress Inventory-Revised (Osipow, 1998). The analyses were carried out using appropriate statistical techniques such as Pearson Product Moment correlation and linear regression analysis. The findings of the study indicated that over 35.2 percent of variations in psychological strain of academic officers of higher educational institutions were accounted for combined effects of role stressors (i.e., role boundary, role overload, role insufficiency, and role ambiguity). The findings of the study also indicated that role boundary, role overload, and role insufficiency were found to be significant determinates of psychological strain. On the basis of findings of the study implications and suggestions are also forwarded.