A research report submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Commerce (specialising in Marketing) / The twentieth-century dietary evolution has resulted in livestock being used as the primary source of protein in many countries. This has various implications on the wellbeing of humans, animals, and planet earth itself. The choices consumers make regarding food not only affect our personal health, but it also directly affects the wellbeing of our current ecosystems where modern meat production systems place a worrying burden on the environment. Sustainable consumption practice is often a result of two main driving forces, the first being individual or health (egoistic) motives and the second being animal welfare and environmental concern (altruistic) motives. The growing demand for meat products worldwide is unsustainable and there is a clear gap between our responsible intentions as citizens of the world and our hedonic needs as consumers referred to as the ‘Citizen-Consumer’ gap. Experts argue that technological innovations and more efficient production methods would serve as a future solution for the environmental and social implications of the livestock industry however current scholars emphasise that a technological fix will not be sufficient and that it is imperative for society to undertake a behavioural fix, such as lowering meat intake and discovering more sustainable means of protein consumption Consequently, the purpose of this study is to assess health consciousness, environmental concern and animal welfare as key predictors of consumers’ locus of control and attitudes towards meat consumption among university students, in Johannesburg, South Africa. The study used a design that was quantitative in nature, which resulted in the researcher employing a deductive approach, using a positivistic method. Data was collected by means of a survey questionnaire and was used to test the hypotheses. By means of Partial Least Squares – Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM), the significance of the hypotheses statements was determined from a sample of 172 students enrolled at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. The findings generated by SmartPLS 3 statistical software revealed that health consciousness was the key predictor of external locus of control and that external locus of control had the most significant relationship with consumers’ attitude toward meat consumption, as compared to the second mediator variable – internal locus of control. It is anticipated that the findings of this study will contribute to both theory and practice in modern society, and it is trusted that the findings of this study will greatly inform future research endeavours. / NG (2020)

Thesis (M.A.(Clinical Psychology))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Humanities, 2004 / The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between the four dimensions of health locus of control and behaviours that predispose South African youth to HIV infection (HIV risk behaviours). Health locus of control (HLC) represents people's perception regarding controllability of health outcomes; whether health outcomes are controlled by internal or personal factors, powerful others like health care professionals, and chance or fate. Both powerful others health locus of control (PHLC) and chance health locus of control (CHLC) form the fourth dimension of external health locus of control (EHLC). A sample of 84 (n=84) South African young adults, 44 females and 40 males, whose ages ranged from 18 to 24 years old were selected for the study. They were requested to complete two questionnaires: Multidimensional Health Locus of Control and HIV risk behaviour assessment scale. Correlational analyses were done to establish the relationship between HLC and HIV risk behaviour. The findings of the research indicate that participants who scored higher on internal health locus of control (IHLC) tended to score insignificantly lower on HIV risk behaviour scale (r = - 0.17 with p of 0.1242). Participants who scored higher on PHLC scored insignificantly higher on HIV risk behaviour scale (r = 0.17 with p of 0.1195). While participants who scored higher on both CHLC and EHLC tended score significantly higher on HIV risk behaviour scale (CHLC r = 0.40 with P of 0.0001 and EHLC r = 0.37 withp of 0.0005). These results suggest that when both CHLC and EHLC scores go high, the risk of HIV infection also increases. Therefore, youth who have greater CHLC and EHLC tendencies are more likely to engage in behaviour that may predispose them to HIV than those who are high in IHLC. The findings of this study could provide further clarity on why many South African youth continue to engage in behaviour that predispose them to HIV infection. And therefore, to curb the spread of HIV, intervention strategies need to be informed by the understanding of the relationship between HLC and factors that predispose youth to HIV.

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This study investigated the relationship between job engagement and locus of control on the one hand, and organisational citizenship behaviour on the other among non-academic and academic employees of the University of Fort Hare. Job engagement and locus of control were the independent variables and organisational citizenship behaviour was the dependent variable. Data was drawn from a sample of 300 participants. A questionnaire was used to collect the data. It consisted of four sections including biographical and occupation data questionnaire. To measure job engagement, the 18-item Rich et al., (2010) job engagement scale, with a 5-point Likert scale was used. To measure locus of control, the 16-item Spector (1988) work locus of control scale was used, with 6-point Likert scale. To measure organisational citizenship behaviour, the Fox & Spector (2011) 20 item organisational citizenship behaviour questionnaire, with a 5-point Likert scale was used. Data was analysed using various statistical techniques including the Pearson Product Moment Correlation Technique and the generalised linear regression model. The results indicated that job engagement has a significant positive correlation with organisational citizenship behaviour and locus of control also has a significant positive correlation with organisational citizenship behaviour. However the results also indicated that when job engagement and locus of control are put together, they do not account for a significantly higher proportion of variance in organisational citizenship behaviour than each of them separately. Furthermore, as far as OCB-P and OCB-O are concerned, the results indicated a partial support of the research hypothesis that job engagement and locus of control together account for a significantly higher proportion of variance in organisational citizenship behaviour than any of the two separately. The study recommends that managers in organisations must focus on improving job engagement and promoting internal locus of control in order to ensure high levels of organisational citizenship behaviour.