The Influence of Work Stress and Job Satisfaction on Soldiers’ Morale in Theater of War in Northeast Nigeria

Military deployment has consistently been shown to expose soldiers to distressing situations, with reported deleterious effects on emotional and mental functioning. It was hypothesized that work stress and job satisfaction would significantly influence the morale of soldiers deployed in northeast Nigeria. The design was a cross-sectional survey which was employed to purposively select One Hundred and Sixteen military personnel who are currently serving in different military formations across the North East. Result from correlational analysis for hypothesis one showed a statistical significant negative relationship between work stress and soldiers’ morale (r= -.06; p<.01). Multiple regression analysis findings on hypothesis two indicated a significant joint [R = .585, R2= .34, F (2,113) = 29.33, P<.01] and independent influence of work stress on soldiers’ morale (β= -.57, t = .75, P<.05); it was recommended that Nigerian Army should make work environment less stressful.