How much role conflict is there in the job of university lecturer? An international comparison

Abstract

Teaching members of two South African and two Nigerian universities were asked to rate the importance of four roles in their jobs; teaching, administration, research, and character building of students. The Nigerian lecturers rated teaching and character building as more important than did the South African lecturers, who rated research as more important than did the Nigerian lecturers. In both countries the emphasis on research was positively related to the prestige and size of the university; while that on teaching and character building was greater in both countries among lecturers in the humanities than among those in the natural sciences. The results are interpreted in the light of the growing conflict faced by lecturers between the research role (to secure promotion, tenure, and salary increments) and the teaching and character development roles (to satisfy students).