Effects of work-life balance on researchers’ job stress in selected research institutes in Oyo State Nigeria

Work-life balance (WLB) is a very important factor that determines the stress level of employees. This study was carried out to determine the effect of work-life balance on job stress among 121 researchers from the Forestry Research Institute of Nigeria (FRIN) and Institute of Agricultural Research and Training (IAR&T) in Oyo State. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data. Most of the respondents (41.5%) had M.Sc. /M. Agric. with the majority (78.3%) having ≤10 years working experience in their respective organizations. Most of the respondents (43.4%) earn above 150,000 naira (600 USD) on a monthly basis. Generally, there was a high level of work-life balance among the respondents. Furthermore, feeling frustrated due to difficulty attending to their personal life because of their job recorded the highest level of work-life balance (x̅=3.22). On respondents’ job stress, the majority 68.5% of respondents claimed they were stressed by their daily work. Of the 15 factors affecting WLB, lack of adequate incentives was the highest factor (mean 2.28, SD=0.927) while the least was involvement in religious activity (mean 1.25, SD=0.568). In addition, of the 9 factors affecting job stress, non-conducive environment was the highest factor (mean 2.32, SD=1.100) while the least was involvement in religious activity (mean 1.25, SD=0.568). Furthermore, prompt payment of salaries was the most frequently reported measure taken to enhance work-life balance. There was no significant relationship between all the socio-economic characteristics and job stress except for income (p<0.05). There was a significant difference in the level of both work-life balance and job stress between researchers in FRIN and IAR&T. The methods of analysis used were the chi-square test, product moment correlation, T-test, and Pearson correlation. Finally, there was a significant negative correlation between job stress and work-life balance in this study (P<0.05). Conclusively, the present level of WLB is high in this study hereby resulting in a low level of job stress. Efforts should focus on improving the work-life balance of the respondents as this will in turn reduce job stress.