A Qualitative Study of Faculty Members' Experiences of the Concept of "Role Overload"

The present research aims to represent faculty members’ experiences of their simultaneous performance of multiple family and university roles. An interpretive approach with the grounded theory method was applied. The University of Kurdistan was the research field, and potential participants were all full-time faculty members. A targeted sampling method with the maximum diversity was used. Eighteen faculty members were selected after achieving theoretical saturation. The data collection instrument was a semi-structured interview questionnaire with ten questions. To increase reliability, the review method was used by participants and non-participating faculty members. Data were analyzed using three-step theoretical coding using MAXqda software. Factors related to role overload were investigated in five categories: contextual, process, causal, strategies, and consequences. The findings indicated that male and female faculty members experienced the phenomenon of role overload in different ways. The attitudes of faculty members responsible for caring for their children or elderly parents impacted their adaptability to role overload. The role overload experience of those faculty members who also played a role in academic executive management was different from the experience of faculty members who were not involved in executive activities. According to university administrators, it is possible and necessary to adapt to the role overload. By changing faculty memberschr('39') attitudes towards university, having a regular work program, and prioritizing tasks, the amount of work and mental pressure on faculty members can be reduced. The interviewees believed that changing academic rules and having expectations according to their salary are other useful solutions to reduce faculty memberschr('39') role overload.