Social Awareness and Relationship Management as Correlates of Academics’ Career Performance in Colleges of Education in Benue State, Nigeria

Purpose: The study examined social awareness and relationship management as factors related to academics’ career performance in colleges of education in Zone C, Benue State. Design: The study adopted a correlational research design. Instruments: Three instruments were developed by the researcher and validated by three experts in the Faculty of Education, Reverend Father Moses Orshio Adasu University, Makurdi: The Academic Staff Social Awareness Questionnaire (ASSAQ), the Academic Staff Relationship Management Questionnaire (ASRMQ), and the Academic Staff Career Performance Questionnaire (ASCPQ). The instruments had reliability coefficients of 0.87, 0.84, and 0.86, respectively, and were used for data collection. Sampling: A multistage sampling procedure was used to select a sample of 213 academics from a population of 1,146 staff in colleges of education across Zone C, Benue State. Method: Pearson Product-Moment Correlation (PPMC) statistics were applied to answer the research questions and test the hypotheses. Findings: The findings indicated that social awareness and relationship management have significant positive correlations with the career performance of the academic staff. It was concluded that social awareness and relationship management significantly relate to the career performance of academics in colleges of education in Zone C, Benue State. Conclusions: Professional bodies responsible for teacher education in Nigeria should liaise with National Commission for Colleges of Education and the National Universities Commission to integrate the social awareness and relationship management skills in teacher education curriculum so as to train future teachers on how to cope with the relationships at work place with students and colleagues.