RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN JOB DEMANDS, JOB RESOURCES, WORK ENGAGEMENT AND JOB PERFORMANCE OF METALWORK EMPLOYEES IN UNIVERSITIES IN SOUTH-SOUTH, NIGERIA

The study investigated the relationship between job demands, job resources, work engagement and job performance of Metalwork employees in universities in South-South, Nigeria. Two purposes with corresponding two research questions were answered and two null hypotheses were formulated. The study employed Correlational research design. The population for the study was 87 Metalwork employees. The instrument for data collection was a structured questionnaire. The instrument was validated by five experts. The instrument reliability coefficient was determined using Cronbach alpha reliability technique. The reliability coefficients include, job demand and resources = 0.83, employees work engagement =0.69, job performance =0.67 with overall coefficient of 0.73. with a total of 62 items on a 5-point rating scale, ranging from never =1, rarely = 2, some-times =3, often =4 and very often = 5. Data collected were analyzed using Pearson Product Moment Correlation, while, Regression analysis was used to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study revealed that a very weak relationship exist between job demands and job performance of metalwork employees, very weak relationship also exists between job resources and work engagement of metalwork employees. The study also revealed that job demands does not have significant relationship with work engagement, and positive correlation does not exist between job demands and resources of metalwork employees. It was therefore recommended among others that TVET institutions should provide resources to foster employee growth to increase employee engagement and job performance. Institutions should also increase the cooperation among employees.