Quality of Work Life (QWL) Factors and Academic Staff’s Affective Commitment in Public Universities in Lagos State, Nigeria

Abstract

Nigeria’s university education received a low rating in the 2025 Times Higher Education World University Rankings. This coupled with a seemingly diminishing morale in Nigerian universities necessitated the need to understand the factors that might improve the affective commitment of academic staff. This study investigated how Quality of Work Life (QWL) factors affect affective commitment among academic staff in public universities in Lagos State with specific focus on how work environment, non-wage benefits and work-life balance affects academic staff affective commitment. The study is anchored on Job Demands-Resources (JDR) model and Herzberg’s Two-Factor. A structured questionnaire was given to 328 academic staff from University of Lagos (UNILAG) and Lagos State University (LASU), and the data were analysed using multiple linear regression and descriptive statistics. The results showed that among the three QWL factors examined, only work environment (β = 0.528, p = .000) and work-life balance (β = –.129, p = .009) significantly predicted affective commitment while non-wage benefits (β = –.068, p = .229) did not have a statistically significant effect on academic staff affective commitment. These findings support the claims of the Job Demands-Resources (JDR) Theory and Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory. Both theories argue that good job conditions and well-structured motivators can improve employee commitment. Therefore, policy makers and administrators of public universities in Nigeria should focus on enhancing the academic work environment and reassessing work-life policies to prevent unintended negative effects on staff engagement.