One key focus in the 21st century is adjusting work and personal life in order for individuals to find a rhythm to help them combine work with other responsibilities and aspirations in their personal lives. Over the past few decades it has become evident that work and personal life are interrelated domains and that employed individuals experience interaction between these domains. Although the amount and extent of work-family research studies in South Africa have progressed considerably over the past decade, it is not clear how the experiences of the interference between work and nonwork roles compare to the experiences of employees in other countries. There is also no South Africa instrument that measures the interference between work and different nonwork roles in both directions (work-to-nonwork and nonwork-to-work). This could pose potential problems for organisations and future workfamily studies in South Africa. The objectives of this research were 1) to gain insight into the interaction between work and personal life in the South African context and how South African employees experience this interaction; 2) to develop a new work-nonwork interference instrument that is suitable for the South African context and that addresses measurement and theoretical issues relating to previous work-family instruments; and 3) to test the psychometric properties of the newly developed work-nonwork interference instrument. The empirical study consisted of three phases. During the first phase, exploratory interviews (i.e. 92 interviews) were conducted in order to gather information regarding the interaction that individuals experience between their work and their personal lives. Thereafter, a new instrument that measures work-nonwork interference was developed and tested with a pilot study (n = 245) in order to overcome some of the measurement limitations relating to previous work-family instruments. During the final phase, the psychometric properties of the newly developed work-nonwork interference instrument were tested (Le. construct validity, discriminant validity, convergent validity and external validity; n = 366). Results from the exploratory phase indicated that South African employees experience various forms of interaction between their work and other dimensions in their personal life (e.g. domestic, leisure, exercise, studies, community, extended family and religion/spirituality). In addition, South African employees experience various stressors in their work environment that contribute to this interaction (i.e. general stressors such as pressure, overload, workload, stressful working arrangements, and strenuous relationships at work, and more occupation-specific stressors such as stressful nature of the job and not being valued in an unsupportive work environment). Additional supportive aspects present in their work environment included supportive work arrangements, supportive relationships at work and occupation satisfaction. Results also indicated consequences specifically related to all the forms of interaction (e.g. time-based consequences, build-up and spillover of emotions, and energy depletion) and consequences that are more related to a specific form of interaction (e.g. mental preoccupation, strain on relationships, managing responsibilities, limiting of work opportunities, energy generation, learned skills). From the exploratory study, very similar findings were obtained and some unique contributions were made to existing workfamily literature. The antecedents mentioned are in line with international literature (physical workload, time pressures, physical stressors, shift work and recipient contact) and the consequences are very similar to categorised consequences reported in international research (i.e. physical, psychological, behavioural, attitudinal, organisational consequences or work, nonwork and health-related consequences). During the second phase a new work-nonwork interference (W-NWI) instrument was developed which differentiates among interference between work and various specific roles in an individuals' personal life (i.e. work-parent interference, parent-work interference, workspouse interference, spouse-work interference, work-religion/spirituality interference, religion/spirituality-work interference, work-domestic interference, domestic-work interference). During the evaluation study various problematic items were eliminated using the Rasch measurement model. The fmal phase included the validation study where the psychometric properties of the new instrument were investigated. The results provided evidence for constrUct, discriminant and convergent validity, reliability and significant relations with external variables. Tills study provides evidence for the psychometric properties of the new instrument, which researchers and managers can use to investigate the specmc interference between work and different nonwork roles in employees' private lives. Recommendations for future research were made. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Industrial Psychology)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2010.

One key focus in the 21st century is adjusting work and personal life in order for individuals to find a rhythm to help them combine work with other responsibilities and aspirations in their personal lives. Over the past few decades it has become evident that work and personal life are interrelated domains and that employed individuals experience interaction between these domains. Although the amount and extent of work-family research studies in South Africa have progressed considerably over the past decade, it is not clear how the experiences of the interference between work and nonwork roles compare to the experiences of employees in other countries. There is also no South Africa instrument that measures the interference between work and different nonwork roles in both directions (work-to-nonwork and nonwork-to-work). This could pose potential problems for organisations and future workfamily studies in South Africa. The objectives of this research were 1) to gain insight into the interaction between work and personal life in the South African context and how South African employees experience this interaction; 2) to develop a new work-nonwork interference instrument that is suitable for the South African context and that addresses measurement and theoretical issues relating to previous work-family instruments; and 3) to test the psychometric properties of the newly developed work-nonwork interference instrument. The empirical study consisted of three phases. During the first phase, exploratory interviews (i.e. 92 interviews) were conducted in order to gather information regarding the interaction that individuals experience between their work and their personal lives. Thereafter, a new instrument that measures work-nonwork interference was developed and tested with a pilot study (n = 245) in order to overcome some of the measurement limitations relating to previous work-family instruments. During the final phase, the psychometric properties of the newly developed work-nonwork interference instrument were tested (Le. construct validity, discriminant validity, convergent validity and external validity; n = 366). Results from the exploratory phase indicated that South African employees experience various forms of interaction between their work and other dimensions in their personal life (e.g. domestic, leisure, exercise, studies, community, extended family and religion/spirituality). In addition, South African employees experience various stressors in their work environment that contribute to this interaction (i.e. general stressors such as pressure, overload, workload, stressful working arrangements, and strenuous relationships at work, and more occupation-specific stressors such as stressful nature of the job and not being valued in an unsupportive work environment). Additional supportive aspects present in their work environment included supportive work arrangements, supportive relationships at work and occupation satisfaction. Results also indicated consequences specifically related to all the forms of interaction (e.g. time-based consequences, build-up and spillover of emotions, and energy depletion) and consequences that are more related to a specific form of interaction (e.g. mental preoccupation, strain on relationships, managing responsibilities, limiting of work opportunities, energy generation, learned skills). From the exploratory study, very similar findings were obtained and some unique contributions were made to existing workfamily literature. The antecedents mentioned are in line with international literature (physical workload, time pressures, physical stressors, shift work and recipient contact) and the consequences are very similar to categorised consequences reported in international research (i.e. physical, psychological, behavioural, attitudinal, organisational consequences or work, nonwork and health-related consequences). During the second phase a new work-nonwork interference (W-NWI) instrument was developed which differentiates among interference between work and various specific roles in an individuals' personal life (i.e. work-parent interference, parent-work interference, workspouse interference, spouse-work interference, work-religion/spirituality interference, religion/spirituality-work interference, work-domestic interference, domestic-work interference). During the evaluation study various problematic items were eliminated using the Rasch measurement model. The fmal phase included the validation study where the psychometric properties of the new instrument were investigated. The results provided evidence for constrUct, discriminant and convergent validity, reliability and significant relations with external variables. Tills study provides evidence for the psychometric properties of the new instrument, which researchers and managers can use to investigate the specmc interference between work and different nonwork roles in employees' private lives. Recommendations for future research were made. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Industrial Psychology)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2010.

Livestock farms have recently experienced a significant growth in their size and this is due to the increase in animal products. This has a technical impact on farmers' daily activities. As there are more animals, it becomes more difficult for the farmers to monitor, take care of and ensure the animals are treated in a healthy manner. The purpose of this study is to examine how farmers are affected by the use of the Precision Livestock Farming (PLF) systems and how they have come to accept the technology. The study will take up an important aspect of the impact and effect of PLF. The aim of the study is to find out how farmers are affected by PLF systems in regard to Ease of Use (EOU) and Usefulness. A total of five semi-structured interviews consisting of two researchers, one product advisor, one support worker and one farmer were conducted. An observation was also conducted along with the farmer and support worker. During the interviews, the participants answered our questions regarding PLF and its EOU and Usefulness. The data was analyzed using a thematic analysis and the results showed that PLF systems are important and useful but need further EOU development. Furthermore, the results showed that the poorly designed user interfaces impact the farmers’ attitude and intention towards using the system, which also affects their attitude towards the Usefulness of the PLF systems. The research confirms the importance of including farmers under the development phase of PLF systems. Lastly, this research might be the foundation for further research on how to improve and develop a more user-friendly PLF system.

Yes / Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to perform a systematic review of articles that have used the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT). Design/methodology/approach – The results produced in this research are based on the literature analysis of 174 existing articles on the UTAUT model. This has been performed by collecting data including demographic details, methodological details, limitations, and significance of relationships between the constructs from the available articles based on the UTAUT. Findings – The findings indicated that general purpose systems and specialized business systems were examined in the majority of the articles using the UTAUT. The analysis also indicated that crosssectional approach, survey methods, and structural equation modelling analysis techniques were the most explored research methodologies whereas SPSS was found to be the largely used analysis tools. Moreover, the weight analysis of independent variables indicates that variables such as performance expectancy and behavioural intention qualified for the best predictor category. Moreover, the analysis also suggested that single subject or biased sample as the most explored limitation across all studies. Research limitations/implications – The search activities were centered on occurrences of keywords to avoid tracing a large number of publications where these keywords might have been used as casual words in the main text. However, we acknowledge that there may be a number of studies, which lack keywords in the title, but still focus upon UTAUT in some form. Originality/value – This is the first research of its type which has extensively examined the literature on the UTAUT and provided the researchers with the accumulative knowledge about the model.

<p>Syftet med studien är att undersöka huruvida interna och externa variabler påverkar personers friskhet samt utreda hur långtidsfriska skiljer sig från övriga medarbetare. Undersökningen genomfördes med ett frågeformulär bland personal med olika arbetsuppgifter. 150 medarbetare besvarade enkäten. De undersökningsvariabler som ingår i den interna skalan är personlighetsdrag, locus of control, KASAM och optimism. Den externa skalan består av krav, kontroll, stöd, ledarskap samt organisationskultur. Resultatet visar att långtidsfriska är mer optimistiska, stresståliga och självsäkra än övriga. Den interna skalan har ett signifikant samband med långtidsfriskhet och ledarskap är den bästa prediktorn tillsammans med kontroll, optimism och locus of control. En slutsats är att både interna och externa variabler är viktiga för hälsan och för att nå friskhet är det viktigt att arbeta med alla delarna.</p> / <p>The purpose of this study is to investigate whether internal and external variables affect individual’s health and examine how long-term healthy people differ from other co-workers. The examination was carried out with a questionnaire among employees with different work. The internal scale contains variables of personality trait, locus of control, sense of coherence and optimism. The external scale contains demand, control, support, leadership and organizational culture variables. The result shows that long-term healthy people are more optimistic, self-confident and endure stress better than others. The internal scale has a significant relation with long-term health, and leadership is the best predictor for long-term health together with control, optimism and locus of control. One conclusion is that both internal and external variables are important for the health and it is important to work with all parts to achieve health.</p>

Syftet med studien är att undersöka huruvida interna och externa variabler påverkar personers friskhet samt utreda hur långtidsfriska skiljer sig från övriga medarbetare. Undersökningen genomfördes med ett frågeformulär bland personal med olika arbetsuppgifter. 150 medarbetare besvarade enkäten. De undersökningsvariabler som ingår i den interna skalan är personlighetsdrag, locus of control, KASAM och optimism. Den externa skalan består av krav, kontroll, stöd, ledarskap samt organisationskultur. Resultatet visar att långtidsfriska är mer optimistiska, stresståliga och självsäkra än övriga. Den interna skalan har ett signifikant samband med långtidsfriskhet och ledarskap är den bästa prediktorn tillsammans med kontroll, optimism och locus of control. En slutsats är att både interna och externa variabler är viktiga för hälsan och för att nå friskhet är det viktigt att arbeta med alla delarna. / The purpose of this study is to investigate whether internal and external variables affect individual’s health and examine how long-term healthy people differ from other co-workers. The examination was carried out with a questionnaire among employees with different work. The internal scale contains variables of personality trait, locus of control, sense of coherence and optimism. The external scale contains demand, control, support, leadership and organizational culture variables. The result shows that long-term healthy people are more optimistic, self-confident and endure stress better than others. The internal scale has a significant relation with long-term health, and leadership is the best predictor for long-term health together with control, optimism and locus of control. One conclusion is that both internal and external variables are important for the health and it is important to work with all parts to achieve health.

Våren 2007 offentliggjorde USA planerna på att upprätta ett missilförsvar i Polen och Tjeckien som ett skydd mot missilangrepp från Iran. Från Ryssland blev reaktionen mot planerna kraftfull. Retoriken från Moskva påminde om kalla krigets dagar. Vilka är de bakomliggande orsakerna till denna starka reaktion? Syftet med studien är att undersöka vilka orsaker, såväl externa som interna, det är som styr den ryska inställningen. Studien är teorianvändande med teorier inom den politiska realismen som verktyg. Analysen genomförs i två delar där först externa och därefter interna orsaker till motståndet kartläggs. Förklaringen till motståndet inom den externa dimensionen finns i att missilförsvaret med en framtida utbyggnad kan komma att utgöra ett hot mot rysk andraslagsförmåga och därmed hota Rysslands kapacitet till kärnvapenavskräckning. Interna orsaker till motståndet finns i att såväl den ryska makteliten som Rysslands befolkning anser att landet är utsatt för ett hot från USA. Då Ryssland är väl sammanhållet inom fyra avgörande interna områden ges möjligheten för den förda utrikespolitiken. / In the spring of 2007 the United States went public with its plans to build a missile defence system in Poland and the Czech Republic as a protection to missile attacks from Iran. The Russian reaction to the plans was harsh. The Moscow rhetoric reminded of the Cold War days. What are the underlying reasons to this strong reaction? The purpose of this essay is to analyse what reasons there are, both external and domestic, that direct the Russian attitude. The essay uses theories from the political realism as tool. The analysis is done in two parts where first external and then domestic reasons to the attitude are surveyed. The reason to the attitude is in the external dimension to be found in the fact that the missile defence, if in the future extended, may poses a threat to Russian second strike capacity and by that poses a threat to Russian nuclear deterrence capacity. Domestic reasons to the attitude are to be found in the fact that both the ruling political elite in Russia as well as the Russian population believes that the country is subject to threat from the United States. As Russia is well united in four crucial domestic areas, the possibility for the current foreign policy is given.