This study used a structural equation modelling approach to assess the association between employee work-life policies, psychological empowerment, and academic staff job commitment in universities in Cross River State, Nigeria. Three null hypotheses were formulated to guide the study following a descriptive survey research design. Multistage sampling procedure was adopted in the selection of 315 academic staff from two universities in the study area. “Work-Life Policies, Psychological Empowerment and Job Commitment Questionnaire (WPPEJCQ)” was used as the instrument for data collection. The construct validity of the instrument was ascertained through an Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) using the Principal Component Analysis (PCA). The Kaiser-Meyer-Ohlin of .894 and the Bartlett coefficient of 7795.820 were obtained. Several fit indices of Confirmatory Factor Analysis were used to accept the model such as RMSEA=.031, TLI=.969, CFI=.971 and many others. The null hypotheses were all tested using Path analysis. Findings revealed, among others, that there is a significant effect of work-life policies on the affective (β=.774,t=21.636,p<.05), continuance (β=.450,t=8.932,p<.05), and normative (β=490,t=9.967,p<.05) dimensions of academic staff commitment; furthermore, psychological empowerment has a significant effect on the affective (β=.795,t=23.199,p<.05), continuance (β=.501,t=10.261,p<.05) and normative (β = .520, t = 10.795, p< .05) dimensions of staff commitment; and there is a significant composite effect of work-life policies and psychological empowerment on the affective, continuance, and normative commitment levels of academic staff in universities. Based on these findings, conclusions and recommendations were made

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Background/purpose -This study analyzed the contribution of three mentorship practices relatively and cumulatively to the research productivity of early-career academics in the field of educational psychology in universities. The study was conducted in the South-South region of Nigeria.Materials/methods -The research method adopted was the quantitative approach, following the ex-post facto research design. The study's population covered 723 early-career researchers (ECRs) in educational psychology distributed across 19 universities located in South-South Nigeria. The "Mentorship Practices and Research Productivity Questionnaire" (MPRPQ) was the instrument used for data collection. The questionnaire was designed by the researchers and then validated by three experts. Reliability analysis was performed using the Cronbach approach with estimates of .80, .79, .87, and .91 obtained for the four clusters. Primary data were collected from the field after copies of the instrument had been administered to respondents.Results -Mentorship practices were generally revealed to significantly contribute to the research productivity of ECRs in educational psychology in universities. Specifically, the adoption of cloning and apprenticeship approaches to mentorship contributed substantially to the ECRs' research productivity. However, the study highlighted that nurturing contributed only negligibly to the ECRs' research productivity.Conclusion -Mentorship practices are important determinants to the research productivity of early-career educational psychologists. In order to boost the productive research capacities of ECRs, there is a need for institutions to strengthen their mentorship practices.

BACKGROUND: Graduates’ job performance has become a matter that needs urgent attention. This is because many stakeholders are increasingly becoming interested in understanding the extent schools are able to produce output that meets the yearnings of society. Along these lines, we examined the contributions of alcohol intake to the job performance of higher education graduates while treating mental stress and psychotic experiences as mediators in the nexus. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study's population comprised all the graduates of higher education institutions in Nigeria between 2015 and 2020. Data were collected from a virtual cross-section of 3,862 graduates who self-reported to have taken alcohol in the past. These participants responded to an electronic questionnaire that was mailed to them. The scale content validity for clarity and relevance were 0.90 and 0.88, respectively, while the Cronbach alpha reliability estimate of the instrument is 0.86. RESULTS: Amongst many others, key findings indicate that alcohol intake, mental stress and psychotic experiences jointly made a significant negative contribution to the overall job performance of graduates ( R 2 = 0.256, 95% confidence interval (CI) [0.23, 0.28], P = 0.00). Mental stress ( B = −0.09, β = −0.14, z = −4.45, 95%CI [−0.24, −0.05], P = 0.00) and psychotic experiences ( B = −0.26, β = −0.43, z = −8.07, 95%CI [−0.68, −0.16], P = 0.01) have significant negative contributions to graduates’ job performance, respectively. Alcohol intake and mental stress jointly predict the psychotic experiences of graduates ( B = −0.26, β = −0.43, z = −8.07, 95%CI [−0.68, −0.16], P = 0.01). Alcohol intake has a positive contribution to the mental stress of graduates ( R 2 = 0.797, 95%CI [0.77, 0.825], P = 0.01). Mental stress and psychotic experiences jointly mediated the relationship between alcohol intake and graduates’ job performance. CONCLUSION: It was concluded that high intake of alcohol and high levels of mental stress and psychotic experiences significantly reduce graduates’ job performance generally and in specific aspects. Alcohol intake can increase graduates’ job performance to a small extent depending on the amount consumed.

Undiyaundeye & Otu, 2015); whereas it has been argued that job performance, as an abstract construct, is multidimensional (Ajanovic et al., 2021). Similarly, a study found three dimensions of job performance: job time, quality and quantity (Na-Nan et al., 2018). Even though some job performance dimensions can be generalised, some may differ between jobs (Ajanovic et al., 2021), whereas others can depend on the context and operational definition of the construct. Along these lines, the current study treated graduates' job performance multidimensionally by focusing on aspects such as teamwork, communication competence, customer service and job functions.