Human Capital Development and Sustainability of Academic Staff of Federal Universities in South-East Nigeria
Abstract
The study investigated the effect of human capital development and sustainability of academic staff of federal universities in South-East Nigeria. Specifically, the study examined the effect of staff development on financial sustainability; employee training on social sustainability and knowledge acquisition on environmental sustainability of academic staff of federal universities in South-East Nigeria. Relevant literature was reviewed taking cognizance of the problem and the hypotheses of the study. The study was anchored on Human Capital Theory. Descriptive research design was adopted. The study was conducted in the South-East, Nigeria. Data were sourced from primary and secondary source. The population comprised 13168 lecturers from all the ten public universities in South East, Nigeria. The sample size consist 1050 academic staff using purposive technique. Questionnaire was used for data collection. Face and content validity was adopted in the study. The reliability of instrument was established through the test- retest method and Cronbach Alpha. Simple percentage analysis was employed to answer the research questions, while Linear Regression Analysis was use in testing research hypotheses. The result reveals that staff development has a significant effect on financial sustainability of academic staff; employee training has significant effect on environmental sustainability of academic staff; and, knowledge acquisition has a significant effect on environmental sustainability of academic staff of federal universities in South-East Nigeria. The study concluded that human capital development had a positive significant effect on sustainability of academic staff of federal universities in South-East Nigeria. The study recommended among others, that federal universities management should continue to ensure that, from time to time, the academic staff are further developed especially in the area of advanced studies (both locally and internationally) as education for academic staff is a continuous process and it is important for them to have a good mastery of their field in order to produce qualified graduates
