Job satisfaction is a prognosticator of organizational commitment. One can thus presume that if e... more Job satisfaction is a prognosticator of organizational commitment. One can thus presume that if employees feel fulfilled in the job they are doing in an airline company, their organizational commitment is good and they are likely to remain with the company for an extended period of time. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between job satisfaction and organisational commitment for different age groups in an airline company. Organisations are constantly seeking to gain advantage over their competitors in order to improve their performance, while maintaining and retaining a healthy workforce. An able, committed and loyal workforce includes employees who are satisfied with their work environment and who are consequently motivated to continue their relationship with the organisation. Although several studies have been conducted to investigate the relationship between job satisfaction and organisational commitment internationally and locally, studies conducted in th...
Orientation: It is scientifically questionable whether a predominantly Western construct and inst... more Orientation: It is scientifically questionable whether a predominantly Western construct and instrument could be used in the culturally diverse South African context. The sound measurement of transformational leadership in a multicultural context with the Transformational Leadership Questionnaire (TLQ), developed by , is studied from an etic perspective. Research purpose: Our study aimed to investigate the TLQ in terms of its construct validity. The instrument was developed outside the South African and the broader African and context; our study thus adopted an etic approach. Motivation for the study: The psychometric properties of the TLQs are examined through a contextual lens (the South African context), building on the previously conducted work of and . Research approach/design and method: This research employed a typical empirical paradigm using a cross-sectional design and quantitative analysis. The sample comprised 3805 respondents. A multi-factorial model was explored and confirmed using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The results support the original conceptualisation of the overall construct, but with an adjusted factorisation. Main findings: Two factors of transformational leadership were confirmed, namely leadership focused on organisational, group and individual transformation and leadership focused on creativity and innovation. Good psychometric properties, in terms of good fit and acceptable levels of convergent and discriminant validity were reported for a two-factor model. The adapted TLQ was found to be valid on structural (factorial) as well as external levels, and it was found to be reliable. The results suggest that transformational leadership could be used with confidence within the South African context. Our study established a valid measure of transformational leadership from an etic approach. The necessity for our study originated from the diverse nature of the South African workforce. Participants from both the private and public sectors were included in our study.
This study investigated the importance of specific career anchors and career enablers for differe... more This study investigated the importance of specific career anchors and career enablers for different age groups. The participants were all employed within an open distance electronic learning (ODeL) higher education institution (HEI) where 54.5% of the 1392 participants were females and 45.5% males. The participants’ ages ranged from 18 to 65 years, with 79.7% representing professional and support staff and 20.3% representing academic staff. The employees were interviewed through a structured career anchorand career enabler framework. The responses were captured electronically and analysed to determine the mean differences in work life stages denoted by age. The research findings suggest that younger employees are motivated by a need to develop their technical/functional knowledge and they expect to be challenged on their abilities while older employees tend to concentrate more on the integration of work and family life. Younger (18-25 years) and middle aged (26-35 years) employees h...
Background: Leadership and specifically Leader, member exchange has a definite impact on employee... more Background: Leadership and specifically Leader, member exchange has a definite impact on employee behaviour and attitudes, and specifically their state of Psychological capital. The interactionist construct of person-organisational fit (P-O fit), consisting of a combination of supplementary fit (indirect fit or value congruence) and complementary fit (direct or person-job fit, as well as needs-supply fit) may, however, impact on the relationship between LMX and psychological capital. The unique permutations of these relationships are important not only for conceptualisation purposes, but also for intervention design to enhance the employees' psychological capital; this would contribute to positive employee behaviour and attitudes. Aim: The purpose of this study was to determine whether a relationship exists between LMX and psychological capital, with possible mediation by P-O fit. Setting: The research was conducted with ±60 employees from each of 43 private sectors and four public sector organisations in South Africa. Method: This study utilised a positivist methodology based on an empirical approach, while using a cross-sectional design and quantitative analysis. The sample is relatively representative (in terms of race, gender and the South African work force), as it consisted of 60 employees from each of the 43 South African organisations that participated in the study, with 2 486 respondents in total. Results: Significant, positive relationships were found between LMX, P-O fit and psychological capital. Additionally, it was found that P-O fit partially mediates the relationship between ethical leadership and supervisory trust, confirming the proposed model. Conclusion: A strong, positive relationship exists between LMX (consisting of Affect, Loyalty, Contribution and Professional Respect) and psychological capital (consisting of Self-efficacy, Hope, Resilience and Optimism) which is partially mediated by P-O fit (consisting of supplementary fit and complementary fit).
This study was based on an interdisciplinary paradigm for religious research, with the manifestat... more This study was based on an interdisciplinary paradigm for religious research, with the manifestation of inter-disciplinarity in terms of content (the specific field being the psychology of religion which traditionally coincide within two separate disciplines), as well as the methodology (embracing a true positivistic approach). Although 40 624 individuals from a large public service institution in South Africa participated in the study, only 32 413 datasets were usable for this study. Religiousness, comprising of two factors, namely Salience and Participation was measured. The instrument reported an acceptable internal consistency in terms of the Cronbach alpha coefficient and inter-item correlation. High reliability scores were reported on the eight Salience and three Participation items. Overall, religion was seen as an important aspect in the lives of all the participants. All the participants had a positive attitude towards religion and all agreed that religion played an important part in their family life, their wellness, their work performance and in their relationships with others. The overall participation in religious activities, including the involvement in Religious leadership roles, the frequency of Religious participation, as well as the extent of Religious expression, measured high. Religiousness (expressed as the aggregate score of the two factors) measured high, which is an indication that the participants generally believed in a higher power and had positive attitudes towards institutional/religion-specific practices. The participants also indicated that they valued religion as an important aspect of their lives. No meaningful inferences could be made in terms of the impact of race, gender, age and the specific religion on Religiousness.
The objective of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the BTI for all the of... more The objective of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the BTI for all the official language groups in South Africa. Item bias analysis was performed by means of Rasch analysis for a sample of 105 342 respondents with representation of each of the 11 language groups. Reliability values were good for all the language groups and bias was revealed in only 12 of the 193 items (6.2%) through item response modelling. Based on these results, the BTI may be an appropriate measure of personality for all the different language groups in South Africa.
Understanding what drives tourists is an important issue which can make or break a destination. S... more Understanding what drives tourists is an important issue which can make or break a destination. Since tourists consume products and services and return visit/s and sustainability is desired by destinations, it is important to identify variables that influence the motivation, behaviour and satisfaction levels of tourists. The town of Clarens which is situated in the foothills of the Maluti Mountains in the Free State province of South Africa was the focus of this research study. It is labelled as the "Jewel of the Eastern Free State". Using a questionnaire survey, the researchers categorized tourists according to their demographic and socio-economic characteristics. Disconfirmation of expectations was measured using five point Likert-scales against eighteen selected variables. The findings of this study suggested that tourists were mostly satisfied with facilities, natural attractions and relaxation facilities provided by the destination. In essence, nature and adventure we...
vii 2.4.1.1 First stage-Early trait theories a. Allport and Odbert (1936) b. Cattell (1943) 2.4.1... more vii 2.4.1.1 First stage-Early trait theories a. Allport and Odbert (1936) b. Cattell (1943) 2.4.1.2 Second stage theories-discovering the Big Five personality traits a. Fiske (1949) b. Tupes and Christal (1961) c. Norman (1963) d. Goldberg (1990) 2.4.1.3 Third stage-development of the Five Factor Model of Personality 2.4.2 Further development of the Big Five and Five Factor Model (FFM) 2.4.2.1 Defining the factors 2.4.2.2 Comparability between the Big Five and the FFM 2.4.3 Limitations of the Big Five and FFM 2.4.3.1 Theoretical limitations of the Big Five theory 2.4.3.2 Factor analysis limitations 2.4.3.3 The number of factors 2.4.3.4 Completeness of the Big Five as trait taxonomy 2.4.3.5 Limitations in predicting life outcomes 2.4.3.6 The Big Five derived from a natural language perspective 2.5 RESEARCH ON PERSONALITY INSTRUMENTS 2.5.1 General personality instruments (non-Big Five and non-FFM) 2.5.1.1 The 16PF 2.5.
Proceedings of the 44th International Academic Conference, Vienna, 2018
Background: Leadership and specifically Leader, member exchange has a definite impact on employee... more Background: Leadership and specifically Leader, member exchange has a definite impact on employee behaviour and attitudes, and specifically their state of Psychological capital. The interactionist construct of person-organisational fit (P-O fit), consisting of a combination of supplementary fit (indirect fit or value congruence) and complementary fit (direct or person-job fit, as well as needs-supply fit) may, however, impact on the relationship between LMX and psychological capital. The unique permutations of these relationships are important not only for conceptualisation purposes, but also for intervention design to enhance the employees' psychological capital; this would contribute to positive employee behaviour and attitudes. Aim: The purpose of this study was to determine whether a relationship exists between LMX and psychological capital, with possible mediation by P-O fit. Setting: The research was conducted with ±60 employees from each of 43 private sectors and four public sector organisations in South Africa. Method: This study utilised a positivist methodology based on an empirical approach, while using a cross-sectional design and quantitative analysis. The sample is relatively representative (in terms of race, gender and the South African work force), as it consisted of 60 employees from each of the 43 South African organisations that participated in the study, with 2 486 respondents in total. Results: Significant, positive relationships were found between LMX, P-O fit and psychological capital. Additionally, it was found that P-O fit partially mediates the relationship between ethical leadership and supervisory trust, confirming the proposed model. Conclusion: A strong, positive relationship exists between LMX (consisting of Affect, Loyalty, Contribution and Professional Respect) and psychological capital (consisting of Self-efficacy, Hope, Resilience and Optimism) which is partially mediated by P-O fit (consisting of supplementary fit and complementary fit).
Higher education institutions (HEIs) need to improve their work environment to ensure an environm... more Higher education institutions (HEIs) need to improve their work environment to ensure an environment conducive to learning, including a healthy organisational climate, as one of the important aspects of sustainability. The first objective of the current study was to conceptualise organisational climate within an HEI and specifically one in an open distance learning (ODL) environment. The conceptualisation was done through the construction of an organisational climate questionnaire standardised for the ODL HEI. Secondly, the objective was to determine the psychometric properties of the newly constructed organisational climate questionnaire. A survey design was followed with a questionnaire, consisting of an item pool of 90 questions, which was administered to 2 086 personnel members of an ODL HEI. Six factors, with acceptable psychometric properties, were extracted using a factor analysis method. These factors were labelled leadership, my manager, organisational citizenship, compensa...
South Africa is regarded as a major tourist attraction with tourism contributing immensely to the... more South Africa is regarded as a major tourist attraction with tourism contributing immensely to the country’s economy, although it is being hampered by relatively high levels of crime and corruption. These aspects are very complex and does not form part of this study. This study explores a new concept of perceived ethical capacity (PEC). PEC is a combination of ethical climate (EC) and ethical leadership (EL) within organisations in South Africa. Some ethical barometer (in terms of expected ethical treatment) when tourists decide to visit the country is provided. The concept is derived from a multi-level perspective, supported by the social learning, social exchange and behavioural isomorphism theories. This conceptualisation is intended to supplement and not to replace other ethics-related conceptualisations or models. The data from two independent studies (a total of 2123 respondents, across 36 organisations in both the private and public sectors) was analysed. The results, based on...
Employee wellbeing is regarded to be important, not only for the individual, but also to improve ... more Employee wellbeing is regarded to be important, not only for the individual, but also to improve organisational performance. The question remains whether it is the sole responsibility of the organisation to ensure employee wellbeing. Alternatively, the question is asked if a dual responsibility exist, in other words employees should also take responsibility for their wellbeing, e.g. taking time off to rest, going on holiday and spending quality time with the family. The purpose of the study was to determine the extent to which the organisational initiated work-life balance practises (macro component) contribute to employee wellbeing (the absence of burnout – as micro component) from a meso-paradigm perspective. The meso component included in the study (as mediating variable) was work locus of control, thus focusing on the individual. The contribution and value of work locus of control to wellbeing is conceptualised in terms of the planned behaviour theory. A cross sectional and surv...
African Journal of Employee Relations (Formerly South African Journal of Labour Relations), 2019
The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between person– organisation fit an... more The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between person– organisation fit and an individual’s intention to leave the organisation (turnover intention) as a precursor to voluntary turnover. The impact the psychological contract has on the individual’s intention to leave the organisation (turnover intention) was also determined. The study included an analysis of specific groups in the organisation that pose a higher risk of voluntary turnover. The sample for the study consisted of 1920 participants, with 60 randomly selected employees from 32 organisations. The person–organisation fit instrument consisted of three factors, namely indirect fit, direct fit and person–job fit (nine items in total). The instrument that measures psychological contract consisted of two factors, namely self and organisational items (six items). The turnover intention measure consisted of four items. All three instruments reported acceptable psychometric properties. Indirect fit (...
ABSTRACT Research suggests that ethical leadership (EL) affects employee behavior and organizatio... more ABSTRACT Research suggests that ethical leadership (EL) affects employee behavior and organizational functioning. This study aimed to determine the relationship between EL and productive energy (PE), as mediated by person-organizational fit (POF). The study used assumptions of the social learning and social exchange theories that posit that leadership has a direct impact on employee behavior, mainly through role modeling and the reciprocal nature thereof. An empirical paradigm using a cross sectional quantitative design was used. The PE instrument (developed in the USA) was assessed for construct validity within the South African context (exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis). The analysis included a comparison between the private and public sectors, emphasizing the importance of context as differentiator. Relatively high, statistically significant correlations were found between the variables for both sectors and the combined sample. The hierarchical regression analysis indicated that 18% of the variance in PE is explained by EL. This model was improved by the inclusion of POF (total variance of 32% explained). The conceptual model was confirmed with structural equation modeling (SEM). The findings of this study suggest that EL has a significantly positive effect on PE and POF, which mediates the relationship between EL and PE. Sectoral differences were reported.
Orientation: Human resources (HR) practices and specifically the perceptions thereof are not only... more Orientation: Human resources (HR) practices and specifically the perceptions thereof are not only important for organisational strategy and performance but have a direct impact on employee attitudes and behaviour. The accurate measurement of these perceptions is therefore important.Research purpose: The goal of this study was to validate the Human Resource Practices Perceptions Questionnaire for the South African context (which is unique in terms of its apparent collectivistic nature), from an etic perspective.Motivation for the study: The accurate measurement of employees’ perception of HR practices are essential to give the organisation a competitive advantage. This study was done to validate a HR practices perceptions questionnaire in a seemingly collectivistic context.Research approach/design and method: This study is based on a cross-sectional survey design, collecting primary data on the perceptions of HR practices from 1676 South African employees in public and private sector...
This article is based on research that examined the differences between the aspirations of female... more This article is based on research that examined the differences between the aspirations of females and males in the workplace in terms of Schein‟s career anchors and enablers. The stereotype that females only work to ensure enhanced family lifestyles remains evident in the daily life of all (Hoobler, Lemmon & Wyane, 2014, p. 704; Mihail, 2006). Furthermore the stereotype that males‟ focus is much more ambitious in terms of reaching the highest managerial achievement/technical/ functional competence is regarded as a reality within society (Hoobler, Lemmon & Wyane, 2014, p. 704; Mihail, 2006). Insight into the question whether females work to live or live to work was investigated and this article reports on the differences between females and males regarding their work life ambitions. The data resulted from a quantitative research approach and the population consisted of 4 200 employees within an Open Distance electronic Learning (ODeL) Higher Education Institution (HEI) in South Afri...
This study was based on an interdisciplinary paradigm for religious research, with the manifestat... more This study was based on an interdisciplinary paradigm for religious research, with the manifestation of inter-disciplinarity in terms of content (the specific field being the psychology of religion which traditionally coincide within two separate disciplines), as well as the methodology (embracing a true positivistic approach). Although 40 624 individuals from a large public service institution in South Africa participated in the study, only 32 413 datasets were usable for this study. Religiousness, comprising of two factors, namely Salience and Participation was measured. The instrument reported an acceptable internal consistency in terms of the Cronbach alpha coefficient and inter-item correlation. High reliability scores were reported on the eight Salience and three Participation items. Overall, religion was seen as an important aspect in the lives of all the participants. All the participants had a positive attitude towards religion and all agreed that religion played an importa...
This study was based on an interdisciplinary paradigm for religious research, with the manifestat... more This study was based on an interdisciplinary paradigm for religious research, with the manifestation of inter-disciplinarity in terms of content (the specific field being the psychology of religion which traditionally coincide within two separate disciplines), as well as the methodology (embracing a true positivistic approach). Although 40 624 individuals from a large public service institution in South Africa participated in the study, only 32 413 datasets were usable for this study. Religiousness, comprising of two factors, namely Salience and Participation was measured. The instrument reported an acceptable internal consistency in terms of the Cronbach alpha coefficient and inter-item correlation. High reliability scores were reported on the eight Salience and three Participation items. Overall, religion was seen as an important aspect in the lives of all the participants. All the participants had a positive attitude towards religion and all agreed that religion played an importa...
Higher education institutions (HEIs) need to continuously improve their work environment to promo... more Higher education institutions (HEIs) need to continuously improve their work environment to promote learning. One of the important aspects of sustainability, identified through research is a healthy organisational climate. The first objective of the current study was to conceptualise organisational climate within an HEI and specifically one in an open distance learning (ODL) environment. The conceptualisation was done through the construction of an organisational climate questionnaire standardised for the ODL HEI. Secondly, the objective was to determine the psychometric properties of the newly constructed organisational climate questionnaire. A survey design was followed with a questionnaire, consisting of an item pool of 90 questions, which was administered to 2 086 personnel members of an ODL HEI. Six factors, with acceptable psychometric properties, were extracted using a factor analysis method. These factors were labelled leadership, my manager, organisational citizenship, compensation, interpersonal relationships and clients, capacity and values.
This article is based on research that examined the differences between the aspirations of female... more This article is based on research that examined the differences between the aspirations of females and males in the workplace in terms of Schein’s career anchors and enablers. The stereotype that females only work to ensure enhanced family lifestyles remains evident in the daily life of all (Hoobler, Lemmon & Wyane, 2014, p. 704; Mihail, 2006). Furthermore the stereotype that males’ focus is much more ambitious in terms of reaching the highest managerial achievement/technical/ functional competence is regarded as a reality within society (Hoobler, Lemmon & Wyane, 2014, p. 704; Mihail, 2006).
Insight into the question whether females work to live or live to work was investigated and this article reports on the differences between females and males regarding their work life ambitions. The data resulted from a quantitative research approach and the population consisted of 4 200 employees within an Open Distance electronic Learning (ODeL) Higher Education Institution (HEI) in South Africa. The focus was on the composition of a structured career conversation framework, using the original Schein career anchors (Schein, 1978; 1990; 1996) and the three-factor career-enabler model, developed by Grobler, Bezuidenhout and Rudolph (2014). Descriptive statistics, chi-square statistics as well as independent t-test analysis was used to identify the differences between genders with regard to career anchors and career enablers in different career stages.
The results of the analysis illustrated that females focus more on the autonomy/independence- and lifestyle integration career anchors than males in the first 3 years of employment, thereafter their focus remains more on the lifestyle integration career anchor than males. Males however focus more on the general managerial career anchor in the first 3 years of their careers than women; and after 3 years males’ focus moves more to the entrepreneurial creativity career anchor. The reported differences between females and males bring forth further research questions worthwhile investigating – the difference between academic versus support female staff and the situation in other business environments.
Job satisfaction is a prognosticator of organizational commitment. One can thus presume that if e... more Job satisfaction is a prognosticator of organizational commitment. One can thus presume that if employees feel fulfilled in the job they are doing in an airline company, their organizational commitment is good and they are likely to remain with the company for an extended period of time. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between job satisfaction and organisational commitment for different age groups in an airline company. Organisations are constantly seeking to gain advantage over their competitors in order to improve their performance, while maintaining and retaining a healthy workforce. An able, committed and loyal workforce includes employees who are satisfied with their work environment and who are consequently motivated to continue their relationship with the organisation. Although several studies have been conducted to investigate the relationship between job satisfaction and organisational commitment internationally and locally, studies conducted in th...
Orientation: It is scientifically questionable whether a predominantly Western construct and inst... more Orientation: It is scientifically questionable whether a predominantly Western construct and instrument could be used in the culturally diverse South African context. The sound measurement of transformational leadership in a multicultural context with the Transformational Leadership Questionnaire (TLQ), developed by , is studied from an etic perspective. Research purpose: Our study aimed to investigate the TLQ in terms of its construct validity. The instrument was developed outside the South African and the broader African and context; our study thus adopted an etic approach. Motivation for the study: The psychometric properties of the TLQs are examined through a contextual lens (the South African context), building on the previously conducted work of and . Research approach/design and method: This research employed a typical empirical paradigm using a cross-sectional design and quantitative analysis. The sample comprised 3805 respondents. A multi-factorial model was explored and confirmed using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The results support the original conceptualisation of the overall construct, but with an adjusted factorisation. Main findings: Two factors of transformational leadership were confirmed, namely leadership focused on organisational, group and individual transformation and leadership focused on creativity and innovation. Good psychometric properties, in terms of good fit and acceptable levels of convergent and discriminant validity were reported for a two-factor model. The adapted TLQ was found to be valid on structural (factorial) as well as external levels, and it was found to be reliable. The results suggest that transformational leadership could be used with confidence within the South African context. Our study established a valid measure of transformational leadership from an etic approach. The necessity for our study originated from the diverse nature of the South African workforce. Participants from both the private and public sectors were included in our study.
This study investigated the importance of specific career anchors and career enablers for differe... more This study investigated the importance of specific career anchors and career enablers for different age groups. The participants were all employed within an open distance electronic learning (ODeL) higher education institution (HEI) where 54.5% of the 1392 participants were females and 45.5% males. The participants’ ages ranged from 18 to 65 years, with 79.7% representing professional and support staff and 20.3% representing academic staff. The employees were interviewed through a structured career anchorand career enabler framework. The responses were captured electronically and analysed to determine the mean differences in work life stages denoted by age. The research findings suggest that younger employees are motivated by a need to develop their technical/functional knowledge and they expect to be challenged on their abilities while older employees tend to concentrate more on the integration of work and family life. Younger (18-25 years) and middle aged (26-35 years) employees h...
Background: Leadership and specifically Leader, member exchange has a definite impact on employee... more Background: Leadership and specifically Leader, member exchange has a definite impact on employee behaviour and attitudes, and specifically their state of Psychological capital. The interactionist construct of person-organisational fit (P-O fit), consisting of a combination of supplementary fit (indirect fit or value congruence) and complementary fit (direct or person-job fit, as well as needs-supply fit) may, however, impact on the relationship between LMX and psychological capital. The unique permutations of these relationships are important not only for conceptualisation purposes, but also for intervention design to enhance the employees' psychological capital; this would contribute to positive employee behaviour and attitudes. Aim: The purpose of this study was to determine whether a relationship exists between LMX and psychological capital, with possible mediation by P-O fit. Setting: The research was conducted with ±60 employees from each of 43 private sectors and four public sector organisations in South Africa. Method: This study utilised a positivist methodology based on an empirical approach, while using a cross-sectional design and quantitative analysis. The sample is relatively representative (in terms of race, gender and the South African work force), as it consisted of 60 employees from each of the 43 South African organisations that participated in the study, with 2 486 respondents in total. Results: Significant, positive relationships were found between LMX, P-O fit and psychological capital. Additionally, it was found that P-O fit partially mediates the relationship between ethical leadership and supervisory trust, confirming the proposed model. Conclusion: A strong, positive relationship exists between LMX (consisting of Affect, Loyalty, Contribution and Professional Respect) and psychological capital (consisting of Self-efficacy, Hope, Resilience and Optimism) which is partially mediated by P-O fit (consisting of supplementary fit and complementary fit).
This study was based on an interdisciplinary paradigm for religious research, with the manifestat... more This study was based on an interdisciplinary paradigm for religious research, with the manifestation of inter-disciplinarity in terms of content (the specific field being the psychology of religion which traditionally coincide within two separate disciplines), as well as the methodology (embracing a true positivistic approach). Although 40 624 individuals from a large public service institution in South Africa participated in the study, only 32 413 datasets were usable for this study. Religiousness, comprising of two factors, namely Salience and Participation was measured. The instrument reported an acceptable internal consistency in terms of the Cronbach alpha coefficient and inter-item correlation. High reliability scores were reported on the eight Salience and three Participation items. Overall, religion was seen as an important aspect in the lives of all the participants. All the participants had a positive attitude towards religion and all agreed that religion played an important part in their family life, their wellness, their work performance and in their relationships with others. The overall participation in religious activities, including the involvement in Religious leadership roles, the frequency of Religious participation, as well as the extent of Religious expression, measured high. Religiousness (expressed as the aggregate score of the two factors) measured high, which is an indication that the participants generally believed in a higher power and had positive attitudes towards institutional/religion-specific practices. The participants also indicated that they valued religion as an important aspect of their lives. No meaningful inferences could be made in terms of the impact of race, gender, age and the specific religion on Religiousness.
The objective of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the BTI for all the of... more The objective of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the BTI for all the official language groups in South Africa. Item bias analysis was performed by means of Rasch analysis for a sample of 105 342 respondents with representation of each of the 11 language groups. Reliability values were good for all the language groups and bias was revealed in only 12 of the 193 items (6.2%) through item response modelling. Based on these results, the BTI may be an appropriate measure of personality for all the different language groups in South Africa.
Understanding what drives tourists is an important issue which can make or break a destination. S... more Understanding what drives tourists is an important issue which can make or break a destination. Since tourists consume products and services and return visit/s and sustainability is desired by destinations, it is important to identify variables that influence the motivation, behaviour and satisfaction levels of tourists. The town of Clarens which is situated in the foothills of the Maluti Mountains in the Free State province of South Africa was the focus of this research study. It is labelled as the "Jewel of the Eastern Free State". Using a questionnaire survey, the researchers categorized tourists according to their demographic and socio-economic characteristics. Disconfirmation of expectations was measured using five point Likert-scales against eighteen selected variables. The findings of this study suggested that tourists were mostly satisfied with facilities, natural attractions and relaxation facilities provided by the destination. In essence, nature and adventure we...
vii 2.4.1.1 First stage-Early trait theories a. Allport and Odbert (1936) b. Cattell (1943) 2.4.1... more vii 2.4.1.1 First stage-Early trait theories a. Allport and Odbert (1936) b. Cattell (1943) 2.4.1.2 Second stage theories-discovering the Big Five personality traits a. Fiske (1949) b. Tupes and Christal (1961) c. Norman (1963) d. Goldberg (1990) 2.4.1.3 Third stage-development of the Five Factor Model of Personality 2.4.2 Further development of the Big Five and Five Factor Model (FFM) 2.4.2.1 Defining the factors 2.4.2.2 Comparability between the Big Five and the FFM 2.4.3 Limitations of the Big Five and FFM 2.4.3.1 Theoretical limitations of the Big Five theory 2.4.3.2 Factor analysis limitations 2.4.3.3 The number of factors 2.4.3.4 Completeness of the Big Five as trait taxonomy 2.4.3.5 Limitations in predicting life outcomes 2.4.3.6 The Big Five derived from a natural language perspective 2.5 RESEARCH ON PERSONALITY INSTRUMENTS 2.5.1 General personality instruments (non-Big Five and non-FFM) 2.5.1.1 The 16PF 2.5.
Proceedings of the 44th International Academic Conference, Vienna, 2018
Background: Leadership and specifically Leader, member exchange has a definite impact on employee... more Background: Leadership and specifically Leader, member exchange has a definite impact on employee behaviour and attitudes, and specifically their state of Psychological capital. The interactionist construct of person-organisational fit (P-O fit), consisting of a combination of supplementary fit (indirect fit or value congruence) and complementary fit (direct or person-job fit, as well as needs-supply fit) may, however, impact on the relationship between LMX and psychological capital. The unique permutations of these relationships are important not only for conceptualisation purposes, but also for intervention design to enhance the employees' psychological capital; this would contribute to positive employee behaviour and attitudes. Aim: The purpose of this study was to determine whether a relationship exists between LMX and psychological capital, with possible mediation by P-O fit. Setting: The research was conducted with ±60 employees from each of 43 private sectors and four public sector organisations in South Africa. Method: This study utilised a positivist methodology based on an empirical approach, while using a cross-sectional design and quantitative analysis. The sample is relatively representative (in terms of race, gender and the South African work force), as it consisted of 60 employees from each of the 43 South African organisations that participated in the study, with 2 486 respondents in total. Results: Significant, positive relationships were found between LMX, P-O fit and psychological capital. Additionally, it was found that P-O fit partially mediates the relationship between ethical leadership and supervisory trust, confirming the proposed model. Conclusion: A strong, positive relationship exists between LMX (consisting of Affect, Loyalty, Contribution and Professional Respect) and psychological capital (consisting of Self-efficacy, Hope, Resilience and Optimism) which is partially mediated by P-O fit (consisting of supplementary fit and complementary fit).
Higher education institutions (HEIs) need to improve their work environment to ensure an environm... more Higher education institutions (HEIs) need to improve their work environment to ensure an environment conducive to learning, including a healthy organisational climate, as one of the important aspects of sustainability. The first objective of the current study was to conceptualise organisational climate within an HEI and specifically one in an open distance learning (ODL) environment. The conceptualisation was done through the construction of an organisational climate questionnaire standardised for the ODL HEI. Secondly, the objective was to determine the psychometric properties of the newly constructed organisational climate questionnaire. A survey design was followed with a questionnaire, consisting of an item pool of 90 questions, which was administered to 2 086 personnel members of an ODL HEI. Six factors, with acceptable psychometric properties, were extracted using a factor analysis method. These factors were labelled leadership, my manager, organisational citizenship, compensa...
South Africa is regarded as a major tourist attraction with tourism contributing immensely to the... more South Africa is regarded as a major tourist attraction with tourism contributing immensely to the country’s economy, although it is being hampered by relatively high levels of crime and corruption. These aspects are very complex and does not form part of this study. This study explores a new concept of perceived ethical capacity (PEC). PEC is a combination of ethical climate (EC) and ethical leadership (EL) within organisations in South Africa. Some ethical barometer (in terms of expected ethical treatment) when tourists decide to visit the country is provided. The concept is derived from a multi-level perspective, supported by the social learning, social exchange and behavioural isomorphism theories. This conceptualisation is intended to supplement and not to replace other ethics-related conceptualisations or models. The data from two independent studies (a total of 2123 respondents, across 36 organisations in both the private and public sectors) was analysed. The results, based on...
Employee wellbeing is regarded to be important, not only for the individual, but also to improve ... more Employee wellbeing is regarded to be important, not only for the individual, but also to improve organisational performance. The question remains whether it is the sole responsibility of the organisation to ensure employee wellbeing. Alternatively, the question is asked if a dual responsibility exist, in other words employees should also take responsibility for their wellbeing, e.g. taking time off to rest, going on holiday and spending quality time with the family. The purpose of the study was to determine the extent to which the organisational initiated work-life balance practises (macro component) contribute to employee wellbeing (the absence of burnout – as micro component) from a meso-paradigm perspective. The meso component included in the study (as mediating variable) was work locus of control, thus focusing on the individual. The contribution and value of work locus of control to wellbeing is conceptualised in terms of the planned behaviour theory. A cross sectional and surv...
African Journal of Employee Relations (Formerly South African Journal of Labour Relations), 2019
The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between person– organisation fit an... more The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between person– organisation fit and an individual’s intention to leave the organisation (turnover intention) as a precursor to voluntary turnover. The impact the psychological contract has on the individual’s intention to leave the organisation (turnover intention) was also determined. The study included an analysis of specific groups in the organisation that pose a higher risk of voluntary turnover. The sample for the study consisted of 1920 participants, with 60 randomly selected employees from 32 organisations. The person–organisation fit instrument consisted of three factors, namely indirect fit, direct fit and person–job fit (nine items in total). The instrument that measures psychological contract consisted of two factors, namely self and organisational items (six items). The turnover intention measure consisted of four items. All three instruments reported acceptable psychometric properties. Indirect fit (...
ABSTRACT Research suggests that ethical leadership (EL) affects employee behavior and organizatio... more ABSTRACT Research suggests that ethical leadership (EL) affects employee behavior and organizational functioning. This study aimed to determine the relationship between EL and productive energy (PE), as mediated by person-organizational fit (POF). The study used assumptions of the social learning and social exchange theories that posit that leadership has a direct impact on employee behavior, mainly through role modeling and the reciprocal nature thereof. An empirical paradigm using a cross sectional quantitative design was used. The PE instrument (developed in the USA) was assessed for construct validity within the South African context (exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis). The analysis included a comparison between the private and public sectors, emphasizing the importance of context as differentiator. Relatively high, statistically significant correlations were found between the variables for both sectors and the combined sample. The hierarchical regression analysis indicated that 18% of the variance in PE is explained by EL. This model was improved by the inclusion of POF (total variance of 32% explained). The conceptual model was confirmed with structural equation modeling (SEM). The findings of this study suggest that EL has a significantly positive effect on PE and POF, which mediates the relationship between EL and PE. Sectoral differences were reported.
Orientation: Human resources (HR) practices and specifically the perceptions thereof are not only... more Orientation: Human resources (HR) practices and specifically the perceptions thereof are not only important for organisational strategy and performance but have a direct impact on employee attitudes and behaviour. The accurate measurement of these perceptions is therefore important.Research purpose: The goal of this study was to validate the Human Resource Practices Perceptions Questionnaire for the South African context (which is unique in terms of its apparent collectivistic nature), from an etic perspective.Motivation for the study: The accurate measurement of employees’ perception of HR practices are essential to give the organisation a competitive advantage. This study was done to validate a HR practices perceptions questionnaire in a seemingly collectivistic context.Research approach/design and method: This study is based on a cross-sectional survey design, collecting primary data on the perceptions of HR practices from 1676 South African employees in public and private sector...
This article is based on research that examined the differences between the aspirations of female... more This article is based on research that examined the differences between the aspirations of females and males in the workplace in terms of Schein‟s career anchors and enablers. The stereotype that females only work to ensure enhanced family lifestyles remains evident in the daily life of all (Hoobler, Lemmon & Wyane, 2014, p. 704; Mihail, 2006). Furthermore the stereotype that males‟ focus is much more ambitious in terms of reaching the highest managerial achievement/technical/ functional competence is regarded as a reality within society (Hoobler, Lemmon & Wyane, 2014, p. 704; Mihail, 2006). Insight into the question whether females work to live or live to work was investigated and this article reports on the differences between females and males regarding their work life ambitions. The data resulted from a quantitative research approach and the population consisted of 4 200 employees within an Open Distance electronic Learning (ODeL) Higher Education Institution (HEI) in South Afri...
This study was based on an interdisciplinary paradigm for religious research, with the manifestat... more This study was based on an interdisciplinary paradigm for religious research, with the manifestation of inter-disciplinarity in terms of content (the specific field being the psychology of religion which traditionally coincide within two separate disciplines), as well as the methodology (embracing a true positivistic approach). Although 40 624 individuals from a large public service institution in South Africa participated in the study, only 32 413 datasets were usable for this study. Religiousness, comprising of two factors, namely Salience and Participation was measured. The instrument reported an acceptable internal consistency in terms of the Cronbach alpha coefficient and inter-item correlation. High reliability scores were reported on the eight Salience and three Participation items. Overall, religion was seen as an important aspect in the lives of all the participants. All the participants had a positive attitude towards religion and all agreed that religion played an importa...
This study was based on an interdisciplinary paradigm for religious research, with the manifestat... more This study was based on an interdisciplinary paradigm for religious research, with the manifestation of inter-disciplinarity in terms of content (the specific field being the psychology of religion which traditionally coincide within two separate disciplines), as well as the methodology (embracing a true positivistic approach). Although 40 624 individuals from a large public service institution in South Africa participated in the study, only 32 413 datasets were usable for this study. Religiousness, comprising of two factors, namely Salience and Participation was measured. The instrument reported an acceptable internal consistency in terms of the Cronbach alpha coefficient and inter-item correlation. High reliability scores were reported on the eight Salience and three Participation items. Overall, religion was seen as an important aspect in the lives of all the participants. All the participants had a positive attitude towards religion and all agreed that religion played an importa...
Higher education institutions (HEIs) need to continuously improve their work environment to promo... more Higher education institutions (HEIs) need to continuously improve their work environment to promote learning. One of the important aspects of sustainability, identified through research is a healthy organisational climate. The first objective of the current study was to conceptualise organisational climate within an HEI and specifically one in an open distance learning (ODL) environment. The conceptualisation was done through the construction of an organisational climate questionnaire standardised for the ODL HEI. Secondly, the objective was to determine the psychometric properties of the newly constructed organisational climate questionnaire. A survey design was followed with a questionnaire, consisting of an item pool of 90 questions, which was administered to 2 086 personnel members of an ODL HEI. Six factors, with acceptable psychometric properties, were extracted using a factor analysis method. These factors were labelled leadership, my manager, organisational citizenship, compensation, interpersonal relationships and clients, capacity and values.
This article is based on research that examined the differences between the aspirations of female... more This article is based on research that examined the differences between the aspirations of females and males in the workplace in terms of Schein’s career anchors and enablers. The stereotype that females only work to ensure enhanced family lifestyles remains evident in the daily life of all (Hoobler, Lemmon & Wyane, 2014, p. 704; Mihail, 2006). Furthermore the stereotype that males’ focus is much more ambitious in terms of reaching the highest managerial achievement/technical/ functional competence is regarded as a reality within society (Hoobler, Lemmon & Wyane, 2014, p. 704; Mihail, 2006).
Insight into the question whether females work to live or live to work was investigated and this article reports on the differences between females and males regarding their work life ambitions. The data resulted from a quantitative research approach and the population consisted of 4 200 employees within an Open Distance electronic Learning (ODeL) Higher Education Institution (HEI) in South Africa. The focus was on the composition of a structured career conversation framework, using the original Schein career anchors (Schein, 1978; 1990; 1996) and the three-factor career-enabler model, developed by Grobler, Bezuidenhout and Rudolph (2014). Descriptive statistics, chi-square statistics as well as independent t-test analysis was used to identify the differences between genders with regard to career anchors and career enablers in different career stages.
The results of the analysis illustrated that females focus more on the autonomy/independence- and lifestyle integration career anchors than males in the first 3 years of employment, thereafter their focus remains more on the lifestyle integration career anchor than males. Males however focus more on the general managerial career anchor in the first 3 years of their careers than women; and after 3 years males’ focus moves more to the entrepreneurial creativity career anchor. The reported differences between females and males bring forth further research questions worthwhile investigating – the difference between academic versus support female staff and the situation in other business environments.
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Papers by Sonja Grobler
Insight into the question whether females work to live or live to work was investigated and this article reports on the differences between females and males regarding their work life ambitions. The data resulted from a quantitative research approach and the population consisted of 4 200 employees within an Open Distance electronic Learning (ODeL) Higher Education Institution (HEI) in South Africa. The focus was on the composition of a structured career conversation framework, using the original Schein career anchors (Schein, 1978; 1990; 1996) and the three-factor career-enabler model, developed by Grobler, Bezuidenhout and Rudolph (2014). Descriptive statistics, chi-square statistics as well as independent t-test analysis was used to identify the differences between genders with regard to career anchors and career enablers in different career stages.
The results of the analysis illustrated that females focus more on the autonomy/independence- and lifestyle integration career anchors than males in the first 3 years of employment, thereafter their focus remains more on the lifestyle integration career anchor than males. Males however focus more on the general managerial career anchor in the first 3 years of their careers than women; and after 3 years males’ focus moves more to the entrepreneurial creativity career anchor. The reported differences between females and males bring forth further research questions worthwhile investigating – the difference between academic versus support female staff and the situation in other business environments.
Insight into the question whether females work to live or live to work was investigated and this article reports on the differences between females and males regarding their work life ambitions. The data resulted from a quantitative research approach and the population consisted of 4 200 employees within an Open Distance electronic Learning (ODeL) Higher Education Institution (HEI) in South Africa. The focus was on the composition of a structured career conversation framework, using the original Schein career anchors (Schein, 1978; 1990; 1996) and the three-factor career-enabler model, developed by Grobler, Bezuidenhout and Rudolph (2014). Descriptive statistics, chi-square statistics as well as independent t-test analysis was used to identify the differences between genders with regard to career anchors and career enablers in different career stages.
The results of the analysis illustrated that females focus more on the autonomy/independence- and lifestyle integration career anchors than males in the first 3 years of employment, thereafter their focus remains more on the lifestyle integration career anchor than males. Males however focus more on the general managerial career anchor in the first 3 years of their careers than women; and after 3 years males’ focus moves more to the entrepreneurial creativity career anchor. The reported differences between females and males bring forth further research questions worthwhile investigating – the difference between academic versus support female staff and the situation in other business environments.