PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY, ETHICAL LEADERSHIP, GENDER AND AGE AS PREDICTORS OF WORK ENGAGEMENT AMONG ACADEMIC STAFF OF TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS IN IMO STATE

Abstract

The study examined psychological safety, ethical leadership, gender and age as predictors of work engagement among academic staff of tertiary institutions in Imo state. Two hundred fifty three (253) participants who were made up of 119 males and 134 females were selected through a convenience sampling technique from four tertiary institutions in Imo State, Participants were within the ages of 30-64 years with the mean age of 42.67 and a standard deviation of 8.45. Three instruments; Team Psychological Safety (Edmondson, 1996), Ethical Leadership Work Scale (Karianne, Deanne, & Annebel, 1997), and Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (Schaufeli, Salanova, Gonzalezz-Roma, & Bakker, 2002) were used for the study. The design of the study was cross sectional survey design while data were analyzed using Zero-order correlation and Hierarchical Multiple Regression. The result of the study showed that gender, and age were not predictors of work engagement. On the other hand, psychological safety significantly predicted the three dimensions of work engagement (dedication, absorption and vigour), and overall work engagement. Ethical leadership also significantly predicted work engagement. This study recommends that Industrial Psychologists in academic institutions and other work setting should promote ethical behaviour in both supervisors and subordinates by investing in management training programs that will enhance both leader and followers ethical behaviour.   Keywords: Psychological Safety, Ethical Leadership, Work Engagement, Gender, Age