A Study on the Impact of Occupational Stress on Job Satisfaction and Work-Life Balance Among Women Faculty in Self-Financing Engineering Colleges with Special Reference to Coimbatore District

Abstract

Occupational stress has become a defining feature of academic work in self-financing higher education institutions, where women faculty routinely balance demanding teaching loads, administrative duties, research expectations and domestic responsibilities. This study examines the influence of occupational stress on job satisfaction and work-life balance among women faculty working in self-financing engineering colleges in Coimbatore district. A descriptive research design was adopted, and primary data were collected from women faculty members using a structured questionnaire covering role overload, role ambiguity, workload pressure, job satisfaction and work-life balance dimensions. The data were analysed using percentage analysis, correlation and one-way ANOVA to examine relationships between occupational stress and the outcome variables, and to test whether stress levels differ significantly across demographic groups such as age, marital status, experience and designation. The findings indicate a significant negative relationship between occupational stress and both job satisfaction and work-life balance, with role overload and inadequate institutional support emerging as the strongest contributors to stress. The study concludes with suggestions for management, including flexible scheduling, mentoring support and stress-management interventions, to help self-financing institutions retain and support their women faculty.

Introduction

This study examines occupational stress, job satisfaction, and work-life balance among women faculty working in self-financing engineering colleges in Coimbatore district. The rapid growth of private higher-education institutions has increased faculty responsibilities, including teaching, research, accreditation work, administration, and extracurricular activities. For women faculty, these professional demands often overlap with household and caregiving responsibilities, potentially increasing occupational stress.

Research Problem and Objectives

The study identifies role overload, workload pressure, role ambiguity, limited administrative support, and family responsibilities as important sources of stress. It aims to:

• Study the demographic profile of women faculty.

• Identify their major sources and levels of occupational stress.

• Examine the relationship between occupational stress and job satisfaction.

• Analyse the effect of occupational stress on work-life balance.

• Suggest institutional measures to improve faculty wellbeing.

Methodology

The research uses a descriptive and analytical design. Data are collected from women faculty in self-financing engineering colleges in Coimbatore through a structured questionnaire using a five less mentoring-point Likert scale. The proposed sample size is 150 respondents, selected through convenience sampling.

The study uses:

• Percentage analysis

• Karl Pearson's correlation

• One-way ANOVA

The research is limited to self-financing engineering colleges in Coimbatore, and the findings may not apply directly to other regions or types of institutions.

Key Results

The illustrative analysis indicates that:

• 79.3% of respondents experienced moderate or high occupational stress, with workload and role overload being major contributors.

• Occupational stress has a negative relationship with job satisfaction (r = -0.612).

• Occupational stress also has a negative relationship with work-life balance (r = -0.578).

• Stress levels vary significantly across age groups (ANOVA p = 0.015), with younger and mid-career faculty reporting comparatively higher stress.

• Early-career faculty reported relatively less mentoring and administrative support.

• Married faculty reported greater difficulty maintaining work-life balance, associated with additional family and caregiving responsibilities.

Important: The text states that these figures are illustrative placeholders, so they should not be treated as actual research findings until they are calculated from the study's real survey data.

Recommendations

The study suggests that institutions colleges. It emphasizes the importance of institutional support, equitable workload distribution, mentoring can improve faculty wellbeing by:

• Rationalising and fairly distributing teaching, administrative, and research workloads.

• Providing flexible scheduling where practical.

• Establishing mentoring programmes for early-career women faculty.

• Offering stress-management programmes and counselling support.

• Reviewing appraisal and promotion systems so that flexible work arrangements do not unfairly disadvantage faculty.

Conclusion

This study set out to examine how occupational stress influences job satisfaction and work-life balance among women faculty in self-financing engineering colleges in Coimbatore district. The illustrative analysis presented here suggests a clear negative relationship between occupational stress and both outcome variables, with role overload and limited institutional support emerging as central concerns. While the sector\'s competitive and resource-constrained environment makes some workload pressure difficult to eliminate entirely, targeted interventions in scheduling flexibility, mentoring and stress management appear well positioned to improve faculty wellbeing without compromising institutional performance. Future researchers extending this study with genuine primary data are encouraged to test these relationships across a larger and more diverse sample, including comparisons across disciplines and institution types.

References

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Copyright

Copyright © 2026 Ms. S. Priyadharshini, Dr. S. Sivaneshwaran. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.