Research Articles (Industrial Psychology)

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A confirmatory factor analytic study of a counterproductive work behaviour measure in Zimbabwe
(AOSIS (pty) Ltd, 2024) Gwamanda, Nelson; Mahembe, Bright
Orientation: Counterproductive work behaviour (CWB) has detrimental effects on organisations if not managed. Therefore, its accurate measurement will enhance proper decision-making to mitigate its effects. Research purpose: The primary goal of the present study was to test the psychometric properties of the Workplace Deviance Scale (WDS) on a Zimbabwean sample. Motivation for the study: The WDS developed in Europe is a widely used questionnaire. Therefore, there is a need to assess the reliability and construct validity of the WDS on a Zimbabwean sample. Research approach/design and method: A quantitative research design was used. A total of 304 conveniently selected participants completed the WDS used to measure CWB. Item, dimensional, and confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) were conducted on the data. Main findings: High reliability coefficients were recorded on the two subscales of the WDS. The discriminant validity of the two subscales was achieved. Reasonable model fit with the data was found for the first and second order as well as the bi-factor and single-factor measurement models through CFA. Practical/managerial implications: The questionnaire can help to develop prevention strategies aimed at reducing the frequency and severity of counterproductive behaviours in Zimbabwean organisations. Contribution/value-add: The study promotes the use of accurate, reliable, and valid instruments in Zimbabwe by confirming the psychometric properties of the WDS.
Precarious employment practices in South African universities
(AOSIS (Pty) Ltd, 2024) Solomon, Shihaam; du Plessis, Marieta
Orientation: The study explored the employment experiences of contract academic staff working in universities. Research purpose: This study aimed to explore higher education employment practices experienced by contract academic staff. Recommendations for fair and inclusive human resource practices to address negative employee experiences was offered. Motivation for the study: Research on employment practices and non-standard employment arrangements in the South African context are scant and outdated. Consequently, it is important to shed light on the experience of contract academic staff in universities given the widespread practice of employing contract academic staff in the sector. Research approach/design and method: A qualitative research approach was employed. A total of 26 temporary employed contract academic staff members from 15 different departments across three institutions of higher education in South Africa participated in semi-structured interviews. Main findings: The findings of this study highlight how contract academic staff experience being employed in universities. The themes identified were, a lack of job orientation and onboarding, last-minute contract offers, vague contract terms, lack of employment benefits, lack of rights and legal standing, limited career development and funding opportunities, unfair work demands, lack of performance feedback, and lack of human resources and organisational support. Practical/managerial implications: Understanding the influence of university employment practices on contract academic staff will aid human resources departments in re-evaluating policy and practice to combat the negative effects thereof. Particularly, how the employment contract process is managed, the lack of support available to staff, and the general disregard for the value that this category of staff adds to the academic offering. Contribution/value-add: This study provides valuable insight for improving policies and practices that enhance the employment experience of contract academic staff in universities.
Insights into leadership practices in South African Higher Education
(AOSIS (pty) Ltd, 2024) Venter, Beverly G; du Plessis, Marieta
Orientation: The complexity of higher education highlights leadership’s significance. Effective leadership ensures quality education and institutional survival, with senior academics (specifically, professors and associate professors) greatly influencing reputation and research. Exploring senior academics’ leadership experiences is therefore crucial. Research purpose: This study aimed to explore senior academics’ experiences of leadership behaviours at a South African higher education institution, extracting their experiences of positive and negative behaviours. Motivation for the study: Senior academics play significant roles, with vital teaching, research, and reputation contributions to the quality of the university’s educational service. Despite numerous leadership studies, none have explored senior academics’ experiences in South Africa. Research approach/design and method: In this study, a qualitative descriptive design was employed to investigate the experiences and perspectives of 14 senior academics. The participants were selected using stratified random and snowball sampling techniques. Main findings: Participants experienced positive, effective behaviours and negative, destructive behaviours, highlighting the complexity of leadership experiences through contrasting experiences. Positive, effective leadership behaviours include constructive engagement, compassionate support, psychological safety and enabling growth. Negative, destructive leadership behaviours include poor communication and collaboration, eroding integrity and regard, unresolved issues, depersonalisation and toxic practices. Practical/managerial implications: Understanding experiences and implementing recommendations could incorporate positive leadership behaviours into competency frameworks for human resources practices. Awareness of the leadership ethos dichotomy can potentially establish a unique and characteristic leadership culture. Contribution/value-add: This study provides senior academics’ leadership behaviour perspectives and produces lists of positive and negative leadership practices.
Violating Nigerian medical doctorcontract: Do I remain committed to my employer and nation?
(AOSIS (Pty) Ltd, 2025) Fashola, Timileyin M; Aderibigbe, John K.
Orientation: In recent years, the healthcare sector in Nigeria has faced significant challenges, including high turnover rates among medical professionals. Previous studies have only focused on monetary reasons for turnover, but there is a gap in understanding how psychological factors predict turnover.Research purpose: This study examined how psychological contract violation affects the intention to remain or leave among medical doctors in Nigeria. Motivation for the study: Having an understanding of how medical doctors navigate the breach of their contract and their commitment is important for improving retention strategies and subsequent overall healthcare system in Nigeria. Research approach/design and method: A cross-sectional survey research design was adopted and quantitative data were gathered from 362 medical doctors. More of the respondents (69.6%) were doing their residency. Main findings: Findings revealed that employee retention had a significant relationship with perceived breach and feelings of violation (p < 0.01). The dimensions of psychological contract violation accounted for about 53% variance in employee retention [R2=0.53; F (2, 359)=201.01; p < 0.01]; also, perceived breach and feelings of violation were significant independent predictors of employee retention. Practical/managerial implications: The study recommends that the Ministry of Health in Nigeria consider reviewing the bond and terms of the working relationship between medical doctors and employers to reduce the brain drain of medical doctors. Contribution/value-add: The study helps to connect psychological and organisational factors in the turnover rate of medical doctors, unraveling that non-monetary factors also play a crucial role.
An empirical investigation of ethnic-cultural procedural fairness effects and their boundary conditions among three societal groups in South Africa
(Routledge, 2024) Dierckx, Kim; Du Plessis, Marieta; Rothmann, Ian
Ethnic-cultural procedural fairness refers to the perception that societal actors use fair and unbiased procedures to make decisions is-à-vis one’s ethnic-cultural group. Prior research using ethnic-cultural minority samples has convincingly shown that such perceptions are associated with a range of desirable outcomes. Yet, this body of evidence has so far limited its scope to European and North American samples. Moreover, more research is needed on the underlying psychological processes. Therefore, the central aim of the present study was to investigate ethnic-cultural procedural fairness effects among three societal groups in South Africa. In Study 1 (N = 326 black South Africans), we observed relationships between ethnic-cultural fairness perceptions and positive institutional and intergroup attitudes. Institutional and social trust respectively mediated these associations. Study 2(N = 747) replicated these findings among white (n = 595), but not among coloured South Africans (n = 152). Notably, across both studies, we also obtained evidence for moderation. That is, procedural fairness effects on institutional attitudes were significantly smaller among socioeconomically burdened black participants, and procedural fairness effects on intergroup attitudes were fully curbed among white participants who reported high levels of perceived group discrimination. Taken together, our results call for enhanced attention to procedural fairness obstacles outside of typical WEIRD settings.
Academic career management intervention at a South African university: A modified Delphi study
(AOSIS (pty) Ltd, 2023) Barnes, Nina; du Plessis, Marieta; Frantz, Jose M
Orientation: Understanding the components for an academic career management intervention programme, to enable the development of the required academic pipeline to achieve the strategic objectives of higher education institutions. Research purpose: A consensus view across subject experts for a career management intervention programme to enable the progression of academic careers. Motivation for the study: While academic career literature captures an array of normative designs of career management programmes to cultivate the required academic talent consortium, literature indicates a lack of a comprehensive and systematic approach for career management to provide a framework for successfully managing academic careers. Research design, approach and method: A modified Delphi technique was employed, by presenting an expert panel with the findings of a broader research project to initiate the consensus-seeking methodology-a systematic approach to obtain concordance on the experts’ opinions through two rounds of structured questionnaires. Main findings: The identified components are structured and presented in five main themes (categories), including: (1) institutional, (2) individual, (3) overlapping, (4) cultural and (5) external.
A relational bureaucracy framework for meaningful internal stakeholder engagement post-Covid 19
(AOSIS (pty) Ltd, 2024) Schutte, Nico E; van der Sluis, Lidewey E. C; Barkhuizen, Emmerentia N.
Orientation: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic forced organisations to rapidly redesign workplace structures to adapt to a changed and disrupted business world and improve stakeholder relationships. The relational bureaucracy theory (RBT) provides a valuable foundation for increasing stakeholder participation. Research purpose: We investigate how a relational bureaucracy’s organisational structure promotes internal stakeholders’ involvement in a post-Covid workplace. Motivation for the study: Limited frameworks illustrate how a newly emergent relational bureaucratic structure can enhance stakeholder involvement and engagement in the new world of work. Research approach/design and method: The researchers followed a literature review to derive shared meanings in constructing an RBT framework for promoting stakeholder involvement. Main findings: According to our preliminary research, the organisational type known as the engaged ambassador could be named the relational bureaucratic stakeholder prototype. Seven zones crucial to the business’s overall operation are identified in the stakeholder landscape. Additionally, we illustrate the relational bureaucracy design ideas that promote stakeholder participation. Practical/managerial implications: We propose that organisations could benefit from stakeholder engagement through interpersonal coordination mechanisms that create, maintain and improve stakeholder relationships through strategic human resource management (HRM) frameworks and RBT. We further argue that a relational bureaucracy’s structure raises stakeholder participation for organisational leadership, coordination and coproduction. Contribution/value-add: This article integrates some main effects of relational bureaucratic theory to provide a landscape for the needs of internal stakeholders in a disrupted workplace.
Will working students flourish or give up? exploring the influence of academic psychological capital, grit, and time management
(South African Journal of Higher Education, 2022) Amadi, Winston; Du Plessis, Marieta; Solomon, Shihaam
Working students are faced with challenges and responsibilities both at university and in their employment. In attempting to study the books and chapters assigned, meet assignment deadlines, participate in extracurricular activities, and functions at work, working students may be overwhelmed. The primary aim of this study was to examine and understand the influence of non-cognitive factors (including Psychological Capital, time management, and grit) on flourishing and the working student’s intention to quit their studies. A non-probability sampling technique indicating convenience sampling and purposive sampling were employed to recruit respondents. The sample (n = 194) was from a residential university in the Western Cape of South Africa. Non-cognitive variables had a positive relationship with flourishing and a negative relationship with intention-to-quit studies. Academic mindset measured as Psychological Capital explained the largest proportion of the variance in flourishing and intention-to-quit studies. Lecturers, counsellors, and university officials should collaborate to incorporate programmes that will aid in developing these non-cognitive variables into the university’s curriculum. These interventions may help improve academic success and throughput of working students.
Academics in lockdown: A gendered perspective on self-esteem in academia during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown
(MDPI, 2023) Walters, Cyrill; Ronnie, Linda; du Plessis, Marieta
This qualitative research explores the experiences and sense-making of self-worth of 1857 South African women academics during the enforced pandemic lockdown between March and September 2020; the study was conducted through an inductive, content analysis process. Since worldwide lockdowns were imposed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, women academics, in particular, have reported a unique set of challenges from working from home. Gender inequality within the scientific enterprise has been well documented; however, the cost to female academics’ selfesteem, which has been exacerbated by the pandemic, has yet to be fully realized. The findings of the study include negative emotional experiences related to self-worth, engagement in social comparisons, and the fear of judgement by colleagues, which were exacerbated by peer pressure.
Working-class postgraduates’ perceptions of studying while working at a selected university
(AOSIS, 2022) Rockman, Dimitri A.; Aderibigbe, John K.; Allen-Ile, Charles O.
The life of working-class postgraduates can be exhilarating and daunting, juggling the commitments of full-time employment and postgraduate studies. Insofar as can be established, little, if any, research has been conducted on exploring the experiences of such students in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. An in-depth investigation is necessary to assist management and academic institutions to support such students. The purpose of the study was to understand the selected working-class postgraduate students’ perceptions of studying while working simultaneously, as well as explore the experiences, challenges and coping mechanisms of the cohort of students.
A study of conflict resolution mechanisms and employment relations in multinational corporations in Africa: Empirical evidence from Nigeria and South Africa
(AOSIS, 2022) Olabiy, Olaniyi J.
When it comes to employment relations, a strong and effective conflict resolution mechanism (CRM) is critical for achieving industrial tranquillity and collaboration among social partners. This study evaluated the usefulness of CRMs in employment relations at a large multinational company (MNC) in Nigeria and South Africa. Negotiating and dialoguing about employment relations must be an integral part of CRMs in order to alleviate disharmony in employment relations.
Authentic leadership, organisational citizenship behaviours, and intention to quit: the indirect effect of psychological ownership
(South African journal of Psychology, 2020) du Plessis, Marieta
The aim of this study was to explore the influence of perceived authentic leadership on followers’ citizenship behaviour and their intention to quit their jobs, and to examine the indirect effect of psychological ownership in the relevant relationships. The study used a cross-sectional survey design to gather data from a sample of South African service industry employees (N = 384). It employed structural equation modelling to test the hypotheses formulated. The study found that psychological ownership indirectly affected the relationship between authentic leadership and employees’ organisational citizenship behaviour and intention to quit. This study enables organisations to gain a better understanding of how a contextual resource such as authentic leadership behaviours can influence followers’ organisational citizenship and intention to quit through increasing feelings of ownership of the organisation.
Influential factors impacting leadership effectiveness: A case study at a public university
(AOSIS, 2022) Jansen van Vuuren, Carel D.; Visser, Kobus; du Plessis, Marieta
As a result of increased globalisation and rapid changes in the technological, social, economic and political spheres, the environment in which businesses and organisations function has become increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA). This has created a unique set of challenges for the leaders of these organisations, including higher education (HE) in South Africa. This study aimed to identify potential influential factors that have impact on leader effectiveness in a HE VUCA environment.
Women academics and the changing psychological contract during Covid-19 lockdown
(Frontiers Media, 2022) Ronnie, Linda; du Plessis, Marieta; Walters, Cyrill
This study examines the psychological contract between academics and their institutions during a time of great stress—the COVID-19 pandemic. Given that relationships between these parties have been found to be deteriorating prior to the pandemic, we believed it pertinent to explore how environmental changes brought about through lockdown conditions may have shifted the academic-institution relationship. Through a qualitative research design, our data is from 2029 women academics across 26 institutions of higher learning in South Africa.
Walking the tightrope of job demands and resources: Leveraging work engagement to counter turnover intentions of information technology professionals
(Frontiers Media, 2022) Van Heerden, Jana; Du Plessis, Marieta; R. Becker, Jurgen
Organisations within the banking industry are increasingly confronted with attraction and retention challenges within their Information Technology (IT) divisions, driven by an increase in demand for skilled resources within the market. Therefore, the primary objective of the study was to explore the impact of job resources and job demands on work engagement and employee turnover intentions within the IT division of a South African bank. The Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model was applied as theoretical framework to identify the unique job resources and job demands driving work engagement and turnover intentions of employees within this highly specialised section of the South African banking industry. Quantitative data was collected from 239 IT professionals via a self-administered, web-based survey measuring work engagement, job demands and resources, and turnover intentions.
Career competencies for academic career progression: Experiences of academics at a South African university
(Frontiers Media, 2022) Barnes, Nina; du Plessis, Marieta
An understanding of career competencies is critical for the progression of academic careers, as it influences the availability of adequate and capable academic staff at all levels within universities. The study aimed to explore and describe the career competencies that academics demonstrate to successfully progress in their careers, while theoretically underpinned by an integrated competency framework. This report is based on the qualitative experiences, gathered through semi-structured interviews of eight academic staff in various career phases, in a South African university. Data was thematically analysed, while a deductive modality was adopted to identify the competencies. The findings align very closely with the dimensions of the integrated competency framework, including reflective competencies: gap analysis, self-evaluation, social comparison, and goal orientation; communicative competencies: information seeking and negotiation; and behavioural competencies: strategy alignment, control and agency, university awareness, continuous learning and collaboration.
An evaluation of job crafting as an intervention aimed at improving work engagement
(AOSIS, 2020) Thomas, Emmarentia C.; Plessis, Marieta du; Thomas, Kevin G.F.
In the construction industry, a lack of engagement by employees can have serious and costly health and safety consequences. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether a job-crafting intervention could improve the work engagement of individuals employed in the construction industry. Because of tight deadlines and stringent requirements, managers in the construction industry are often unable to reduce the demands on, or increase the resources available to, their employees. Hence, if employees are to increase their work engagement, they need to exert personal agency by recrafting their own jobs.
The role of emotional intelligence and autonomy in transformational leadership: A leader member exchange perspective
(AOSIS, 2020) Waglay, Maryam; Becker, Jurgen R.; du Plessis, Marieta
The role of emotional intelligence, autonomy and leader member exchange (LMX) is examined in the relationship between transformational leadership and unit-level performance.The goal of the present study was to investigate the role of emotional intelligence and autonomy in the effectiveness of leadership in organisations through high LMX relationships.The relationship between transformational leadership and unitlevel performance is well documented. However, the specific role of emotional intelligence, job autonomy and high-quality LMX relationships as transmission mechanisms is not well understood.
The influence of servant leadership on psychological empowerment and organisational citizenship on a sample of teachers
(AOSIS, 2021) van der Hoven, Adrian G.; Mahembe, Bright; Hamman-Fisher, Desiree
The exhibition of organisation citizenship behaviour (OCB) by teachers is of great benefit for human capital development. Teachers’ perceptions of school principals as servant leaders play a critical role in their psychological empowerment and exhibition of OCBs.The goal of the study was to analyse the relationship between servant leadership, psychological empowerment and OCB of teachers in the South African school system.Teachers are usually under pressure to attend to the academic needs of the learners, which may be required either during normal working hours or after hours. This has necessitated the need to investigate the role played by a school principal’s servant leadership style in influencing the exhibition of OCBs.
South African higher education institutions at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic: Sense-making and lessons learnt
(Frontiers, 2022) Du Plessis, Marietta; Jansen van Vuuren, Carel Daniel; Simons, Abigail; Frantz, Jose M.; Roman, Nicolette Vanessa; Andipatin, Michelle
After the unprecedented changes experienced in higher education due to the Covid-19 pandemic, there is a need to integrate initial thoughts and reflective experience to decide on the way forward. This study aimed to reflect on, and make sense of the events related to South African higher education institutions HEIs at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic by using the Cynefin framework. Data from a rapid review of online media at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic and a collaborative autoethnography session 1 year since lockdowns were implemented are used to present perspectives for the sense-making process. This offers insights to both ends of the spectrum as it highlights the evolution of processes taking place at multiple levels from government policies to institutional practices, as well as how this impacted on both staff and students. The Cynefin framework demonstrated sense-making efforts in the disordered, to the chaotic, to the complex, then to the complicated and eventually to the simple domain. Each domain ushered in its peculiarities and highlighted the issues ranging from vulnerabilities experienced in the higher education sector, to trying to reconfigure the academic year, to dealing with wicked problems, to eventually relying on expert assistance to navigate the virtual university space. Trying to establish causality in the simple domain proved challenging as the information available during the time was sparse. Despite these challenges, the lessons learnt include the importance of the sense-making process among all academic staff, the significance of collaboration and team efforts and the need to adapt leadership and self-leadership approaches to the changed ways of working in higher education institutions.

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