The Effects of Physical, Emotional, and Cognitive Demands on Academic Leaders’ Performance in Malaysian Research Universities

Abstract

This study attempted to investigate the possible impact of physical, emotional, and cognitive job demands on burnout among Malaysian academic leaders at Research Universities (RU). Another objective of the study was to study the direct and mediating role of burnout on the job performance of the target population. Through a quantitative study and by using a five-Likert point, 250 academic leaders in Malaysian Research Universities (MRUs) were surveyed. The obtained primary data were subject to quantitative analysis through outer loading of the items using Smart PLS software. The exploratory and confirmatory tests applied to the primary data earlier to the inferential tests started with testing the direct hypotheses structured followed by the indirect effect. Findings indicated that based on the model extracted and the loaded factors, it was found that cognitive, emotional, and physical demands have a significant impact on burnout. Burnout also showed a significant effect on in-role and extra-role performance of the academic leaders and an indirect effect of burnout between job demands and job performance was observed. As an implication, this study can have pedagogical implications for educational policymakers, education syllabus designers, and academic leaders. Assessing the interaction role of gender type suggests further research, which benefit the policymakers in diversifying the job demand for each type.