Student employment in the higher education sector: an investigation of the nature, extent and psychological impact of combining work and study
Creators: name: Xing, Dan
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025

description: Since the 1990s researchers in the UK have focused attention on students in Higher Education (HE) who combine part-time employment with their full-time academic study. Previous research has suggested that work had an impact on HE students’ academic achievement, physical fatigue, and psychological distress and anxiety. This thesis aims to establish contemporary information on the nature and extent of part-time employment. By focusing on one HE institution (HEI) in Scotland the thesis is able to consider potential changes in part-time employment over time. An additional aim is to investigate impact of employment on a number of psychological factors including stress, coping and self-efficacy. A mixed methods design was implemented, consisting of a systematic review (Study 1), two quantitative studies (Studies 2 and 3 as the short-term longitudinal design) and a subsequent qualitative study (Study 4). In Study 1, a systematic review, 36 articles were identified for review. Scrutiny of these articles showed that few studies paid specific attention to the psychological impact of working whilst studying at university. Those studies which had paid attention tended to treat psychological consequences as a secondary or supplementary factor in their investigation of either the nature or extent of employment or the association between work and academic achievement. The review identified key psychological variables that should be considered in the context of student employment, namely, stress, coping strategies and self-efficacy. Two quantitative surveys formed a short-term longitudinal design to explore the nature and extent of student employment and the potential association between employment status and key psychological outcomes. An online quantitative survey of 827 HE students was conducted in 2019 (Study 2), and in 2021 (Study 3) a second online survey was completed with 456 HE students. Study 2 showed that working while studying in HE is the norm for students in 2019. Approximately, 70% of current students were currently working or had worked. A comparison between a 1998 data set and the 2019 study provided evidence of an increasing trend in paid term-time employment and increased weekly working hours. The dominant job types were also found to have changed over the two decades between the studies. Study 2 also found that employment status was associated with coping strategy, including problem solving, social contact and cognitive restructuring strategy. Type of job was associated with interpersonal relationship stress, total stress and self-efficacy. Furthermore, Study 2 found that for current workers weekly work hours was positively correlated with total stress, physical stress, academic stress, express emotions, social contact, emotion focused engagement and overall engagement coping. Specifically, higher total stress was predicted by higher working hours along with lower levels of self-efficacy and more wishful thinking, social withdrawal and problem solving, but less problem avoidance. Study 3 explored the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on student employment during the period of January 2020 through to April 2021. The results showed that the proportion of students involved in employment dropped from 67% to just over half with approximately 10% of students stopping work during the pandemic. The findings from Study 3 also showed that during the pandemic students weekly working hours increased and employment levels in the various job sectors changed with social care jobs increasing. Employment patterns (consistent workers, interrupted workers, who lost jobs, job finders, and no work groups) during this time were found to be related to coping strategies but not to stress or self-efficacy. Consistent workers used significantly more emotion expression and social contact coping than those students who did not work. Those students who lost their jobs used significantly more social contact coping than students who did not work. Additionally, consistent worker utilised significantly more emotion focused engagement than non-workers.Study 4 adopted a qualitative approach consisting of an online semi-structured interview. Twelve participants were sampled from consistent workers, intermittent workers and the no workers group. Template Analysis explored the relationship between changes in employment, psychological impact and coping processes. Students indicated that they had experienced disruptions and modification to their employment due to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. Such changes impacted students stress, well-being and sense of control. In reacting to these negative outcomes, students adopted both preventative and reactive coping. By using preventative coping students sought to avoid future stress by having well-being awareness and setting their priorities. In using reactive coping students took active actions and behaviours which included problem-solving and time management to deal with stress from employment changes and managing time between work and study. They also managed personal impact via rationalising and releasing emotions in supportive social circles. Sense of control underpinned such coping processes and this was identified as an area for future study. Overall, from their stories, employment was considered to be a way of coping within HE both financially and psychologically. Based on the above four studies, it is clear student employment is a highly dynamic phenomenon. Part-time employment can be considered to be part of the normative experience of students within HE and employment is associated with a number of psychological outcomes such as stress. However, the findings also suggest that part-time employment is a way for undergraduates to cope with their financial and psychological needs whilst in HE. This thesis contributes to the existing empirical, theoretical and methodological knowledge. Based on the overall findings, practical implications are suggested for the specific HEI and other stakeholders.