Although research has shown that mental health interventions are effective, many people who are afflicted with a mental disorder or emotional distress do not seek services (e.g., Wang et al., 2005). Perceived stigma, the belief that an individual will be devalued and discriminated against for seeking psychological assistance, is a barrier to seeking mental health services, as some people avoid these services in order to avoid the associated stigma. Another barrier to mental health service utilization is mental health literacy, which refers to how well-versed people are in information regarding mental illness and treatment (Jorm et al., 1997). Low levels of mental health literacy may inhibit people from seeking help as they may not recognize their need for services and may not be aware that effective services are available. The first of two studies examined a social influence intervention aimed at reducing perceived stigma and increasing intentions to seek counselling. One hundred and sixty-six undergraduate students watched videos of ingroup or outgroup speakers discussing their non-stigmatizing experience with therapy or speakers discussing a control topic. No significant differences were found between the groups after the intervention. The second study investigated an educational intervention aimed at improving mental health knowledge and increasing intentions to seek counselling. One hundred and fifty-five undergraduate participants listened to either a control lecture or a lecture about mental illness and treatment with or without a testimonial by the lecturer about her positive experience with therapy. The participants who listened to the lecture and testimonial had higher relevant mental health knowledge and intentions to seek counselling compared to the control condition. No differences were found between the education only and control conditions on intentions to seek counselling. The main finding of this project was that a combination of social influence and educational approaches has the most potential of improving intentions to seek mental health services, as each of these components does not appear to be effective independently.

At the bottom tip of the African continent lies South Africa – the economic powerhouse of the continent complimented by its rainbow nation with a myriad of cultures and even more opportunities, but an equal number of pressing challenges: Poverty, inequality, the prevalence of HIV/AIDS, a shortage of skilled people (or rather a surplus of unskilled people), poor quality of basic education, unemployment, and of particular importance for this study, youth unemployment. In September 2011 more than 1.3 million young South Africans aged 15 to 24 years were unemployed, and 1.85 million aged 25 to 34 years were without jobs. Combined these figures represented 71 percent of total unemployment in the third quarter of 2011. As a result, the problem statement central to this study is the expectation that the poor quality of general (basic) education and the lack of purposive entrepreneurship education and training in South African schools will continue to contribute towards high levels of youth unemployment and poverty, as well as the proliferation of dysfunctional communities and increased levels of state dependency among a large part of the country’s population. This study set out in search of answers – answers to questions regarding the impact of entrepreneurship training on the youth in South Africa as the primary objective and the potential for entrepreneurship to serve as the panacea for many of the country’s ills. The end result is a rendering of more than three years of intensive research culminating in valid conclusions and practical, attainable recommendations to promote entrepreneurial activity in the country. The study examines the theories and definitions of entrepreneurship and concludes that entrepreneurship is a combination of opportunity and risk in the presence of extraordinary levels of ‘want’ (desire) to promote self-interest, whether it being monetary reward or the attainment of personal fulfilment, as the main motivational factor driving entrepreneurial behaviour (Schumpeterian theory). The contemporary challenges facing South Africa are expounded to create a platform for the presentment of entrepreneurship as the ‘magical genie’, captured in the ‘bottle’ that is mainly the small and medium sized enterprise (SME) sector in the country, and capable of redressing many of the country’s ills by empowering the youth to take both charge of and responsibility for their own future. The concomitant discussion shows that the ‘genie’ is held firmly in the confines of its ‘bottle’ by barriers obstructing the free flow of an enterprising spirit, confirming that the release of an enterprising spirit among South Africans faces many obstacles to be overcome before the ‘genie’ can be released successfully to work its ‘magic’. The concept of entrepreneurship education is examined to determine whether it is a reality or a myth. The discussion concludes that entrepreneurship is indeed a learnt phenomenon – it can be taught successfully. It is put forward that it can only be deemed a reality to the extent in which measurable evidence of its positive impact on learners exists. This conclusion sets the tone for the empirical research in later chapters by questioning the capacity for effective entrepreneurship education in South Africa. The empirical research conducted for this study includes a pilot study and a national main study focused on examining the impact of entrepreneurship training on young learners in South African secondary schools. It is based upon the attitudinal and intentional approaches to entrepreneurship research and employs six validated entrepreneurship surveys suitable for use with young individuals to respectively measure entrepreneurial attitudes, entrepreneurial intentions, general enterprising tendencies, subjective personal wellbeing, adaptive cognition and innovation skills. A total of 342 learners from secondary schools in the Harrismith region (Free State province) participated in the pilot study, followed by 898 respondents in the pre-testing phase and 751 in the post test phase of the AEG-3 main study and 910 respondents in the pre-testing phase and 749 in the post test phase of the PMY-3 main study. Participants in the main study originated from seven of the nine provinces of South Africa and were mainly female black Africans aged 15 to 17 years attending grades 10 and 11 at secondary schools. The datasets gathered from both the AEG-3 and PMY-3 studies were subjected to extensive statistical analyses by Statistical Consultation Services of the North-West University (Potchefstroom campus). The results lead to the conclusion that the Mini-Enterprise Programme (MEP) of Junior Achievement South Africa (JASA) did not have any visible or practically significant impact on the entrepreneurial attitudes, entrepreneurial intentions, subjective personal wellbeing, adaptive cognition and innovation skills of learners in either of the two samples examined in the empirical research project. This conclusion reaffirms the challenges and barriers associated with releasing the spirit of enterprise among the South African youth. Although entrepreneurship can be taught effectively, it is dependent on long-term strategies providing adequate support to learners with the attitude and aptitude to become competent entrepreneurs, as well as suitable methods for continuous assessment and improvement. It further demands entrepreneurial learning enhanced by an extended period of deliberate practice (the ‘Eureka’-factor proposed in this study) flowing from ‘want’ (desire) on the part of the learner to have any chance of being truly effective. The study concludes that content and methodology borrowed from other countries may not be suited for the South African context. This conclusion exclaims the need for purposive South African entrepreneurship education and training programmes assessed with purposive South African entrepreneurship measuring scales. These conclusions are subsequently used to formulate practical and attainable recommendations for the promotion of effective youth entrepreneurship education and training in the country, including the need to get rid of high expectations, to never give up, stricter selection of learners for enrolment in entrepreneurship education and training programmes (other than those included in basic education), the need for continuous research, embracing the ‘power of one’, and finally, adopting an entrepreneurial solution for what is evidently an entrepreneurial problem. The outcome of this study brings forward the message that the challenge in South Africa is to create entrepreneurs, not young people with the capacity to perform entrepreneurial tricks. True entrepreneurs are not ordinary people, regardless of whether they are born or ‘made’. Although entrepreneurship can be learnt by any person, it takes a very special kind of ‘want’ (desire), determination and practise to become a successful entrepreneur, and even more ‘want’, determination and practise to become an expert entrepreneur. / Thesis (PhD (Business Administration))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013.

At the bottom tip of the African continent lies South Africa – the economic powerhouse of the continent complimented by its rainbow nation with a myriad of cultures and even more opportunities, but an equal number of pressing challenges: Poverty, inequality, the prevalence of HIV/AIDS, a shortage of skilled people (or rather a surplus of unskilled people), poor quality of basic education, unemployment, and of particular importance for this study, youth unemployment. In September 2011 more than 1.3 million young South Africans aged 15 to 24 years were unemployed, and 1.85 million aged 25 to 34 years were without jobs. Combined these figures represented 71 percent of total unemployment in the third quarter of 2011. As a result, the problem statement central to this study is the expectation that the poor quality of general (basic) education and the lack of purposive entrepreneurship education and training in South African schools will continue to contribute towards high levels of youth unemployment and poverty, as well as the proliferation of dysfunctional communities and increased levels of state dependency among a large part of the country’s population. This study set out in search of answers – answers to questions regarding the impact of entrepreneurship training on the youth in South Africa as the primary objective and the potential for entrepreneurship to serve as the panacea for many of the country’s ills. The end result is a rendering of more than three years of intensive research culminating in valid conclusions and practical, attainable recommendations to promote entrepreneurial activity in the country. The study examines the theories and definitions of entrepreneurship and concludes that entrepreneurship is a combination of opportunity and risk in the presence of extraordinary levels of ‘want’ (desire) to promote self-interest, whether it being monetary reward or the attainment of personal fulfilment, as the main motivational factor driving entrepreneurial behaviour (Schumpeterian theory). The contemporary challenges facing South Africa are expounded to create a platform for the presentment of entrepreneurship as the ‘magical genie’, captured in the ‘bottle’ that is mainly the small and medium sized enterprise (SME) sector in the country, and capable of redressing many of the country’s ills by empowering the youth to take both charge of and responsibility for their own future. The concomitant discussion shows that the ‘genie’ is held firmly in the confines of its ‘bottle’ by barriers obstructing the free flow of an enterprising spirit, confirming that the release of an enterprising spirit among South Africans faces many obstacles to be overcome before the ‘genie’ can be released successfully to work its ‘magic’. The concept of entrepreneurship education is examined to determine whether it is a reality or a myth. The discussion concludes that entrepreneurship is indeed a learnt phenomenon – it can be taught successfully. It is put forward that it can only be deemed a reality to the extent in which measurable evidence of its positive impact on learners exists. This conclusion sets the tone for the empirical research in later chapters by questioning the capacity for effective entrepreneurship education in South Africa. The empirical research conducted for this study includes a pilot study and a national main study focused on examining the impact of entrepreneurship training on young learners in South African secondary schools. It is based upon the attitudinal and intentional approaches to entrepreneurship research and employs six validated entrepreneurship surveys suitable for use with young individuals to respectively measure entrepreneurial attitudes, entrepreneurial intentions, general enterprising tendencies, subjective personal wellbeing, adaptive cognition and innovation skills. A total of 342 learners from secondary schools in the Harrismith region (Free State province) participated in the pilot study, followed by 898 respondents in the pre-testing phase and 751 in the post test phase of the AEG-3 main study and 910 respondents in the pre-testing phase and 749 in the post test phase of the PMY-3 main study. Participants in the main study originated from seven of the nine provinces of South Africa and were mainly female black Africans aged 15 to 17 years attending grades 10 and 11 at secondary schools. The datasets gathered from both the AEG-3 and PMY-3 studies were subjected to extensive statistical analyses by Statistical Consultation Services of the North-West University (Potchefstroom campus). The results lead to the conclusion that the Mini-Enterprise Programme (MEP) of Junior Achievement South Africa (JASA) did not have any visible or practically significant impact on the entrepreneurial attitudes, entrepreneurial intentions, subjective personal wellbeing, adaptive cognition and innovation skills of learners in either of the two samples examined in the empirical research project. This conclusion reaffirms the challenges and barriers associated with releasing the spirit of enterprise among the South African youth. Although entrepreneurship can be taught effectively, it is dependent on long-term strategies providing adequate support to learners with the attitude and aptitude to become competent entrepreneurs, as well as suitable methods for continuous assessment and improvement. It further demands entrepreneurial learning enhanced by an extended period of deliberate practice (the ‘Eureka’-factor proposed in this study) flowing from ‘want’ (desire) on the part of the learner to have any chance of being truly effective. The study concludes that content and methodology borrowed from other countries may not be suited for the South African context. This conclusion exclaims the need for purposive South African entrepreneurship education and training programmes assessed with purposive South African entrepreneurship measuring scales. These conclusions are subsequently used to formulate practical and attainable recommendations for the promotion of effective youth entrepreneurship education and training in the country, including the need to get rid of high expectations, to never give up, stricter selection of learners for enrolment in entrepreneurship education and training programmes (other than those included in basic education), the need for continuous research, embracing the ‘power of one’, and finally, adopting an entrepreneurial solution for what is evidently an entrepreneurial problem. The outcome of this study brings forward the message that the challenge in South Africa is to create entrepreneurs, not young people with the capacity to perform entrepreneurial tricks. True entrepreneurs are not ordinary people, regardless of whether they are born or ‘made’. Although entrepreneurship can be learnt by any person, it takes a very special kind of ‘want’ (desire), determination and practise to become a successful entrepreneur, and even more ‘want’, determination and practise to become an expert entrepreneur. / Thesis (PhD (Business Administration))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013.

Although research has shown that mental health interventions are effective, many people who are afflicted with a mental disorder or emotional distress do not seek services (e.g., Wang et al., 2005). Perceived stigma, the belief that an individual will be devalued and discriminated against for seeking psychological assistance, is a barrier to seeking mental health services, as some people avoid these services in order to avoid the associated stigma. Another barrier to mental health service utilization is mental health literacy, which refers to how well-versed people are in information regarding mental illness and treatment (Jorm et al., 1997). Low levels of mental health literacy may inhibit people from seeking help as they may not recognize their need for services and may not be aware that effective services are available. The first of two studies examined a social influence intervention aimed at reducing perceived stigma and increasing intentions to seek counselling. One hundred and sixty-six undergraduate students watched videos of ingroup or outgroup speakers discussing their non-stigmatizing experience with therapy or speakers discussing a control topic. No significant differences were found between the groups after the intervention. The second study investigated an educational intervention aimed at improving mental health knowledge and increasing intentions to seek counselling. One hundred and fifty-five undergraduate participants listened to either a control lecture or a lecture about mental illness and treatment with or without a testimonial by the lecturer about her positive experience with therapy. The participants who listened to the lecture and testimonial had higher relevant mental health knowledge and intentions to seek counselling compared to the control condition. No differences were found between the education only and control conditions on intentions to seek counselling. The main finding of this project was that a combination of social influence and educational approaches has the most potential of improving intentions to seek mental health services, as each of these components does not appear to be effective independently.

Organisations lose a lot of money by not retaining their star performers each year. This is of great concern to top level managers, for it influences the profit of the organisations. The big question that is asked is why do people leave organisation? Factors like; job satisfaction, working climate, organisational commitment, and job alternatives are important to understand turnover of employees. The aim of the study was to investigate the relationship between job characteristics, job satisfaction and intentions to quit, that could assist management in retaining the skilled employees in an organisation. The theoretical research conducted in this study was on job characteristics, job satisfaction and the influence both have on quitting intention of employees to establish a good understanding of why skilled employees stay and why they intend to leave an organisation. The empirical study conducted was on a group of skilled employees of about 300, working for a multi–national petrochemical industry. A questionnaire was distributed throughout a specific group in the organisation to determine how the theoretical and empirical data compare. The study concluded that there were some variables that might have an effect on an employee's decision to leave this specific multi–national petrochemical company. The variables in this study were; work variety, ambiguities at work, lack of information and extrinsic job satisfaction. Organisations need to focus on talent retention and talent management to establish the needs and to successfully retaining their skilled employees. Recommendations for future studies and to organisations are provided in this study. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

This study reviews the burgeoning literature on followership and tests propositions from a recently developed theoretical framework to explore the relationship between follower behaviours, leaders’ perceptions of follower trustworthiness (trusting beliefs), and leaders’ subsequent willingness to be vulnerable to the actions of their followers (trusting intentions). Leaders’ implicit followership theories (IFTs) were examined as a potential moderator of both relationships. Results revealed that passive followership influenced leaders’ trusting beliefs negatively, whereas collaborative followership had a positive influence on leaders’ trusting beliefs as well as leaders’ trusting intentions. The most extreme form of proactive followership, challenging followership, had nonsignificant relationships with leaders’ trusting beliefs and intentions. In addition, leaders’ IFTs did not interact with followership behaviour to produce any change in leaders’ trusting beliefs. However, IFTs were found to moderate the relationship between leaders’ trusting beliefs and trusting intentions. Implications for research and practice are discussed in light of the results.

Organisations lose a lot of money by not retaining their star performers each year. This is of great concern to top level managers, for it influences the profit of the organisations. The big question that is asked is why do people leave organisation? Factors like; job satisfaction, working climate, organisational commitment, and job alternatives are important to understand turnover of employees. The aim of the study was to investigate the relationship between job characteristics, job satisfaction and intentions to quit, that could assist management in retaining the skilled employees in an organisation. The theoretical research conducted in this study was on job characteristics, job satisfaction and the influence both have on quitting intention of employees to establish a good understanding of why skilled employees stay and why they intend to leave an organisation. The empirical study conducted was on a group of skilled employees of about 300, working for a multi–national petrochemical industry. A questionnaire was distributed throughout a specific group in the organisation to determine how the theoretical and empirical data compare. The study concluded that there were some variables that might have an effect on an employee's decision to leave this specific multi–national petrochemical company. The variables in this study were; work variety, ambiguities at work, lack of information and extrinsic job satisfaction. Organisations need to focus on talent retention and talent management to establish the needs and to successfully retaining their skilled employees. Recommendations for future studies and to organisations are provided in this study. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

This research was initiated from two questions: what personality San Antonio has as a tourist destination despite its being an inanimate object and what relationships there are among destination personality, self-congruity, and visitors’ intentions. A conceptual framework was employed based on these questions, and this research focused on the generation of the destination personality of San Antonio and how destination personality and self-destination congruity influence visitors’ intentions. Data were collected from students (n=143) at Texas A&M University in consideration of Texas residents who have visited San Antonio as the focal population for this research. A personality scale consisting of 31 items for San Antonio was first developed from a preliminary survey (n=19), which were then included in a main survey for the measurement of destination personality. Using an exploratory factor analysis, destination personality dimensions were generated with the 31 personality traits. Finally, five personality dimensions were extracted with 25 traits. The five personality dimensions were: competence, sincerity, culture, excitement, and vibrancy. Three of five dimensions were found in Aaker’s (1997) scale: competence, sincerity, and excitement. The dimension of culture was specific to San Antonio, while the dimension of vibrancy was found in another destination personality study. In this research, six hypotheses regarding the relationships among destination personality, self-congruity, and visitors’ intentions were tested using a multiple regression analysis. The results indicated that: (1) hypotheses 1 and 2, destination personality will have a positive impact on visitors’ intentions to return and to recommend, were supported in part; (2) hypotheses 3 and 4, four types of self-congruity (actual, ideal, social, and ideal social self-congruity) will have a positive effect on visitors’ intentions to return and to recommend, were not supported, but self-congruity as a single dimension was significant; (3) hypotheses 5 and 6, four types of congruity will mediate the relationship between destination personality and intentions to return and to recommend, were not supported, while destination personality as a single dimension was significant in terms of visitors’ intentions. The results offered practical implications. First, destination marketers need to focus on the personality of a destination from a marketing perspective. Specifically, destination marketers for San Antonio should place emphasis on sincerity regarding intention to return and sincerity and excitement regarding intention to recommend in order to attract potential visitors to San Antonio. Second, destination marketers should know that there is a connection between destination personality and visitors’ personalities. They should make their efforts to market to potential visitors who have personalities that are consistent with the destination’s personality.

I present behavioural data contributing to existing research that (implicit) self-predictions are overly reliant on current intentions at the time of the decision (Koehler & Poon, 2006). Results are consistent with previous findings that self-predictions are often insensitive to translatability cues and overly influenced by desirability cues. We show that although participants typically benefit from a reminder, it is undervalued at the time of the decision (Experiment 1 & 3a) as participants are not willing to pay for a reminder service, unless it is offered free of charge (Experiment 2). Our findings also show that participants fail to incorporate temporal delay sufficiently in their opt-in decisions, even though temporal delay was found to be a significant predictor return behaviour (Experiments 1, 2 & 3b). Instead, decisions were found to be highly influenced by desirability factors (Experiments 1 & 2) which were not significant predictors of task completion. Finally, using a construal manipulation intended to induce participants to think about the decision options in either a concrete or abstract way influenced decisions (Experiment 3a), and subsequently influenced how much participants benefitted from the reminder in task completion (Experiment 3b).

This thesis aimed to describe the conditions under which transfer of training would occur and the processes that are involved in the transfer of training to the workplace. Two studies were conducted that assessed the individual, situational, and training design factors that impacted on the transfer of training to the workplace. Study 1 examined the influence of individual and situational factors on the achievement of trainees’ transfer goals. Trainees’ goals for transfer and their commitment to those transfer goals were found to act as mediators of the influence of self-efficacy, motivation, and situational constraints on transfer goal achievement. This result supported previous research that has shown that the impact of personal and situational factors on performance is mediated by the personal goal level and level of goal commitment (Wofford, Goodwin & Premack, 1992). Study 2 was based on a model of the determinants of training transfer proposed by Thayer and Teachout (1995). The model was modified to focus on the determinants of trainees’ transfer implementation intentions and implementation activities. Climate for transfer was assessed prior to training commencing and was found to influence pre-training levels of self-efficacy. However, positive and negative affect also influenced pre-training levels of both self-efficacy and motivation, and the two climate for transfer factors (Positive and Negative Work Climate) were found to influence positive and negative affectivity, respectively. It was concluded that climate for transfer does impact direct and indirectly on pre-training levels of self-efficacy and motivation. A second structural model found that pre-training self-efficacy is a strong determinant of the learning that occurs during training, and the level of post-training self-efficacy. Post-training self-efficacy is a strong determinant of transfer implementation intentions, which in turn were a strong determinant of implementation activities. Implementation activities were positively related to transfer success. Separate structural models were developed to assess the impact of in-training transfer enhancing activities on learning, post-training self-efficacy, transfer implementation intentions, and implementation activities. Self-control cues, relapse prevention activities, and goal setting (when assessed separately) were found to positively influence post-training self-efficacy and implementation intentions. Relapse prevention activities and goal setting (when assessed separately) were also found to positively influence implementation activities. The results strongly supported the modified model of training transfer that was presented. It was also concluded that situational factors do exert an indirect influence on the transfer process, apart from simply influencing what trainees are able to do after training has completed (Mathieu & Martineau, 1997, Quiñones, 1997).