The Influence Factors of Job Demands Toward Mental Health Among Academics in Public Higher Education Institutions in Malaysia: A Conceptual Paper

Mental health has gained a lot of attention recently, especially because of the COVID-19 outbreak. COVID-19 compelled learning systems to transition away from face-to-face interaction and towards online learning. While most studies have focused on its influence on students, the academics have received little attention. Concerning it, this study aimed to create a theoretical framework that explained the influence of job demands on academics’ mental health. This conceptual paper explained how job demands (workload, role conflict, work-life imbalance) link demanding and resourceful aspects of one domain to outcomes in the other domain, using insights from the Job-Demand Resources model, which postulates a health impairment and motivational process. Self-administered online survey techniques will be implemented to obtain responses from the respondents. The structure, reliability, and validity of this unidimensional with a few items measured was constructed and focused on four independent heterogeneous samples of academicians employed in Malaysia (N=370). Three hypotheses were formulated in this conceptual paper based on the previous considerations and the JD-R model assumptions. The contributions and implications of this study are discussed especially those that will benefit the developing country context, Malaysia. Keywords: job demands, workload, role conflict, work-life imbalance, mental health