UNDERLYING FACTORS OF HOUSING CHOICE AMONG ACADEMIC STAFF OF MOSHOOD ABIOLA POLYTECHNIC, OGUN STATE, NIGERIA

Purpose: The study examined prominent determinants of housing choice of academic staff of tertiary institution in Nigeria. This was done with a view to providing information on critical factors that could influence the housing choice of the academic staff when thinking of their dwelling place.

Methodology: The study administered 92 questionnaires to the academic staff of Moshood Abiola Polytechnic (MAPOLY), Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria, out of which 53(57.21%) were retrieved and analysed. The study deployed statistical tools such as frequency distribution, mean score, chi-square and Kruskal Wallis test to analysis the data.

Findings: The result of the analysis showed that, critical underlying factors include security of workers’ family, proximity to place of interest, institution housing scheme (corporative) and income level. The least significant factors were government policy and land/rental prices around the campus.

Research limitations/Implications: The limitation includes the use of educational facilities for academic staff and factors underlined their housing choice.

Practical implication: The result ascertained that no significant difference in the opinions of the academic staff on majority of the underlying factors. Conclusively, security of a worker’s family welfare plays out to be the paramount determinant, therefore the study suggests that, educational institution whether public or private especially at tertiary level should take into consideration not only the security of the environment where the educational facilities will be located but also the welfare of the employees’ family especially for institutions that lack staff housing quarters.