Systematic review: Burnout and occupational stress in higher education employees

Abstract

Research findings indicated that the higher education sector is progressively experiencing occupational stress and burnout. There are many factors that contribute to the increase in stress and burnout, such as transformational policies, student protests, issues of retention and throughput, internalisation and student mobility, funding challenges, massification, curricular changes informed by decolonisation, providing epistemological access, and contextual relevance. Continuous changes in the academic landscape and student protests have become a reality of the past two decades. As a result, higher education is considered more stressful as functions are performed in a Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous (VUCA) environment.