For organisations in South Africa to preserve talented and skilled employees it is important that these organisations consider the psychological needs of their employees. This is particularly true for supervisors and their relationships with their subordinates. South Africans are daily engaged in working and influencing people within their workplaces. Although supervisors are not capable of addressing or changing all the problems and concerns of employees, they can intervene in order to improve the quality of their employees’ working lives. A suggested point to start with is within the supervisor’s behaviour and their relationships with employees, due to its effect on employee engagement and intentions to leave. Consequently, when employees experience a deprived relationship with their supervisors, it will contribute to lower employee engagement levels and higher intentions to leave. To possibly decrease the negative impact of supervisor behaviour, it is important that supervisors pay attention and create an environment in which satisfaction of the psychological needs of their subordinates can be maintained. The objectives of this study were to investigate the relations between supervisor behaviour (that supports psychological need satisfaction), psychological need satisfaction, employee engagement and intentions to leave. A convenience sample (N = 139) of employees working under the guidance of a leader/supervisor was taken from manufacturing companies across South Africa. Participation in the study was voluntary. A measuring battery measuring supervisor behaviour (i.e. perceptions of supervisor support, trust and competence-focused behaviour), work-related basic need satisfaction (i.e. the satisfaction of psychological needs such as autonomy, competence and relatedness) work engagement (i.e. cognitive, emotional and physical engagement) and intention to leave was used. Descriptive statistics, exploratory factor analyses, alpha coefficients, Pearson product-moment correlations, and multiple regression analyses were used to analyse the data. The results indicated that the measuring instruments used in this study were valid and reliable for further analyses. The results showed that supervisor support comprised one factor and not three factors as expected. Furthermore, the results showed that supervisor support for autonomy, competence and relatedness had a large effect on autonomy satisfaction and a medium effect on relatedness satisfaction. Supervisor relations did not impact competence satisfaction. The effect of supervisor support on autonomy satisfaction was larger than on relatedness satisfaction. Results from this study showed that supervisor support, autonomy satisfaction and competence satisfaction affected work engagement. Employees will tend to be engaged when supervisors demonstrate supportive behaviour and when they are able to regulate themselves because they feel a sense of competence and autonomy. The results also showed that supervisor support for psychological need satisfaction, autonomy satisfaction and relatedness satisfaction predicted employees’ intentions to leave organisations. Lastly, the results showed that supervisor support for psychological need satisfaction impacted employee engagement indirectly and positively via autonomy satisfaction, and indirectly and negatively impacted intention to leave via autonomy dissatisfaction. Recommendations were made for manufacturing organisations as well as for future research. Manufacturing organisations and employees should comprehend the impact of supervisor behaviour and psychological need satisfaction on outcomes such as employee engagement and intentions to leave, as both parties are similarly affected by its consequences. Interventions should be implemented to address the satisfaction of employees’ basic psychological needs. Additionally, manufacturing organisations should understand the importance of supervisor behaviour and the impact it can have on their business unit and the organisation as a whole. Recommendations for future research were made. / MA (Positive Psychology)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2015.

For organisations in South Africa to preserve talented and skilled employees it is important that these organisations consider the psychological needs of their employees. This is particularly true for supervisors and their relationships with their subordinates. South Africans are daily engaged in working and influencing people within their workplaces. Although supervisors are not capable of addressing or changing all the problems and concerns of employees, they can intervene in order to improve the quality of their employees’ working lives. A suggested point to start with is within the supervisor’s behaviour and their relationships with employees, due to its effect on employee engagement and intentions to leave. Consequently, when employees experience a deprived relationship with their supervisors, it will contribute to lower employee engagement levels and higher intentions to leave. To possibly decrease the negative impact of supervisor behaviour, it is important that supervisors pay attention and create an environment in which satisfaction of the psychological needs of their subordinates can be maintained. The objectives of this study were to investigate the relations between supervisor behaviour (that supports psychological need satisfaction), psychological need satisfaction, employee engagement and intentions to leave. A convenience sample (N = 139) of employees working under the guidance of a leader/supervisor was taken from manufacturing companies across South Africa. Participation in the study was voluntary. A measuring battery measuring supervisor behaviour (i.e. perceptions of supervisor support, trust and competence-focused behaviour), work-related basic need satisfaction (i.e. the satisfaction of psychological needs such as autonomy, competence and relatedness) work engagement (i.e. cognitive, emotional and physical engagement) and intention to leave was used. Descriptive statistics, exploratory factor analyses, alpha coefficients, Pearson product-moment correlations, and multiple regression analyses were used to analyse the data. The results indicated that the measuring instruments used in this study were valid and reliable for further analyses. The results showed that supervisor support comprised one factor and not three factors as expected. Furthermore, the results showed that supervisor support for autonomy, competence and relatedness had a large effect on autonomy satisfaction and a medium effect on relatedness satisfaction. Supervisor relations did not impact competence satisfaction. The effect of supervisor support on autonomy satisfaction was larger than on relatedness satisfaction. Results from this study showed that supervisor support, autonomy satisfaction and competence satisfaction affected work engagement. Employees will tend to be engaged when supervisors demonstrate supportive behaviour and when they are able to regulate themselves because they feel a sense of competence and autonomy. The results also showed that supervisor support for psychological need satisfaction, autonomy satisfaction and relatedness satisfaction predicted employees’ intentions to leave organisations. Lastly, the results showed that supervisor support for psychological need satisfaction impacted employee engagement indirectly and positively via autonomy satisfaction, and indirectly and negatively impacted intention to leave via autonomy dissatisfaction. Recommendations were made for manufacturing organisations as well as for future research. Manufacturing organisations and employees should comprehend the impact of supervisor behaviour and psychological need satisfaction on outcomes such as employee engagement and intentions to leave, as both parties are similarly affected by its consequences. Interventions should be implemented to address the satisfaction of employees’ basic psychological needs. Additionally, manufacturing organisations should understand the importance of supervisor behaviour and the impact it can have on their business unit and the organisation as a whole. Recommendations for future research were made. / MA (Positive Psychology)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2015.

The importance of psychological needs for optimal mental and physical well-being has been well documented within the literature. However, there remains little consensus on the definition of basic psychological needs, on which needs are most important or fundamental, and on how to best assess basic needs in individuals. The purpose of this dissertation was to develop and validate a comprehensive measure of fundamental psychological needs and to examine its predictive utility for both mental and physical health. To fulfil these objectives, measure construction and validation studies were conducted in 2 separate undergraduate student samples (N = 226; N = 283). Participants completed online self-report measures of emotional and psychological symptoms, negative life events, personality characteristics, and psychological needs. Factor Analyses of the Psychological Needs Questionnaire (PNQ) revealed that needs can be classified in a three-level multi-factorial confirmatory model and that self-worth and relationship types of psychological needs can be further divided into several, second-level factors. Results also indicated that the PNQ is reliable and possesses good construct validity as well as predictive utility for numerous psychological and physical problems. In addition, psychological needs moderated the relationship between depressive personality characteristics and mood. Future studies should examine the proposed needs-based model in a longitudinal fashion, both in community and clinical samples. In addition to functioning as a global introduction and providing an overview of the relevant literature, Chapter 1 proposes a new model of psychological needs. Chapter 2 describes in further detail the importance of each need identified by the new model, with a particular emphasis on the consequences associated with having each need unfulfilled. Chapter 3, 4, and 5 represent three academic journal articles resulting from the data collected in the current project. Finally, chapter 6 provides a global discussion of the entire dissertation.

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The first objective was to test the prospective relationship between need satisfaction and coping. A total of 113 undergraduate students completed a measure of need satisfaction at Time 1 (T1; i.e. a few weeks before the midterm exams) as well as a measure of coping at Time 2 (T2; i.e. a few weeks after the midterm exams). Results indicated that need satisfaction T1 explained unique variance in both dimensions of coping T2, namely task-oriented and disengagement-oriented coping, even after having statistically controlled for gender, Conscientiousness, Neuroticism, and social desirability at T1. The second objective was to examine a model in which need satisfaction and coping predict the amount of progress towards academic goals and, in turn, how coping and goal progress are associated to increases in need satisfaction over the course of a semester. A total of 166 undergraduate students completed a measure of need satisfaction at Time 1 (T1; i.e. a few weeks before the midterm exams) as well as measures of coping, goal progress, and need satisfaction at Time 2 (T2; i.e. a few weeks after the midterm exams). Results from structural equation modeling indicated that coping T2 fully mediated the relationship between need satisfaction T1 and goal progress T2. Results also indicated that goal progress T2 partially mediated the relation between task-oriented coping T2 and need satisfaction T2 as well as between disengagement-oriented coping T2 and need satisfaction T2.

The importance of psychological needs for optimal mental and physical well-being has been well documented within the literature. However, there remains little consensus on the definition of basic psychological needs, on which needs are most important or fundamental, and on how to best assess basic needs in individuals. The purpose of this dissertation was to develop and validate a comprehensive measure of fundamental psychological needs and to examine its predictive utility for both mental and physical health. To fulfil these objectives, measure construction and validation studies were conducted in 2 separate undergraduate student samples (N = 226; N = 283). Participants completed online self-report measures of emotional and psychological symptoms, negative life events, personality characteristics, and psychological needs. Factor Analyses of the Psychological Needs Questionnaire (PNQ) revealed that needs can be classified in a three-level multi-factorial confirmatory model and that self-worth and relationship types of psychological needs can be further divided into several, second-level factors. Results also indicated that the PNQ is reliable and possesses good construct validity as well as predictive utility for numerous psychological and physical problems. In addition, psychological needs moderated the relationship between depressive personality characteristics and mood. Future studies should examine the proposed needs-based model in a longitudinal fashion, both in community and clinical samples. In addition to functioning as a global introduction and providing an overview of the relevant literature, Chapter 1 proposes a new model of psychological needs. Chapter 2 describes in further detail the importance of each need identified by the new model, with a particular emphasis on the consequences associated with having each need unfulfilled. Chapter 3, 4, and 5 represent three academic journal articles resulting from the data collected in the current project. Finally, chapter 6 provides a global discussion of the entire dissertation.

The first objective was to test the prospective relationship between need satisfaction and coping. A total of 113 undergraduate students completed a measure of need satisfaction at Time 1 (T1; i.e. a few weeks before the midterm exams) as well as a measure of coping at Time 2 (T2; i.e. a few weeks after the midterm exams). Results indicated that need satisfaction T1 explained unique variance in both dimensions of coping T2, namely task-oriented and disengagement-oriented coping, even after having statistically controlled for gender, Conscientiousness, Neuroticism, and social desirability at T1. The second objective was to examine a model in which need satisfaction and coping predict the amount of progress towards academic goals and, in turn, how coping and goal progress are associated to increases in need satisfaction over the course of a semester. A total of 166 undergraduate students completed a measure of need satisfaction at Time 1 (T1; i.e. a few weeks before the midterm exams) as well as measures of coping, goal progress, and need satisfaction at Time 2 (T2; i.e. a few weeks after the midterm exams). Results from structural equation modeling indicated that coping T2 fully mediated the relationship between need satisfaction T1 and goal progress T2. Results also indicated that goal progress T2 partially mediated the relation between task-oriented coping T2 and need satisfaction T2 as well as between disengagement-oriented coping T2 and need satisfaction T2.

The first objective was to test the prospective relationship between need satisfaction and coping. A total of 113 undergraduate students completed a measure of need satisfaction at Time 1 (T1; i.e. a few weeks before the midterm exams) as well as a measure of coping at Time 2 (T2; i.e. a few weeks after the midterm exams). Results indicated that need satisfaction T1 explained unique variance in both dimensions of coping T2, namely task-oriented and disengagement-oriented coping, even after having statistically controlled for gender, Conscientiousness, Neuroticism, and social desirability at T1. The second objective was to examine a model in which need satisfaction and coping predict the amount of progress towards academic goals and, in turn, how coping and goal progress are associated to increases in need satisfaction over the course of a semester. A total of 166 undergraduate students completed a measure of need satisfaction at Time 1 (T1; i.e. a few weeks before the midterm exams) as well as measures of coping, goal progress, and need satisfaction at Time 2 (T2; i.e. a few weeks after the midterm exams). Results from structural equation modeling indicated that coping T2 fully mediated the relationship between need satisfaction T1 and goal progress T2. Results also indicated that goal progress T2 partially mediated the relation between task-oriented coping T2 and need satisfaction T2 as well as between disengagement-oriented coping T2 and need satisfaction T2.

The aim of this research was to explore the travel motivations of Taiwanese tourists who visited Australia, their satisfactions, and destination loyalty, as well as examining the relationship between customer satisfaction, need satisfaction, and destination loyalty. This study is important because of the fact that the number of Taiwanese tourists to Australia has decreased since 1999; however, there have not been any academic studies to ascertain the travel motivations of Taiwanese group package tourists who visited Australia, their need satisfaction, and future intentions. Furthermore, the literature on tourist need satisfaction, customer satisfaction and loyalty has been categorised into discrete areas of study, with little integration of these three concepts in the tourism literature. Thus, the relationship between these concepts is an area of theoretical interest that has been examined in this study. To achieve the aims of the research, one research question and 11 hypotheses were developed. The research question specifically explored the travel motivations of the Taiwanese when visiting Australia. Two hypotheses were designed to test the differences between Taiwanese travel motivations and their need satisfaction, and the differences between travel motivation groups. In addition, nine hypotheses were used to examine the relationships between customer satisfaction, need satisfaction, and destination loyalty. A four-stage research methodology was used. Firstly, the study adopted a qualitative approach using focus group interviews of 33 participants to explore the motivations of Taiwanese group package tourists to Australia. Following the qualitative study, two pre tests including a pre and post survey were conducted in order to develop the scales for travel motivations, customer satisfaction, need satisfaction, and destination loyalty of Taiwanese tourists. Finally, a formal pre and post survey was administered. A pre and post survey design was used to consider the potential changes in tourist motivations after the trip. Cluster sampling was used to select the travel agencies, and five travel agencies agreed to participate in this research. The collection of data for the formal survey began in September 2005 and was completed at the end of February 2006. A total of 547 questionnaires were fully completed with a response rate of 72.9%. The validity and reliability of the various scales for push and pull motivations, destination attributes/services, group package tour services, perceived value, equity, emotion, overall need satisfaction, overall satisfaction, and destination loyalty were examined using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, as well as Cronbach’s alpha, and all scales were found to be satisfactory. A total of 17 push and 18 pull motivation items were also determined. Taiwanese tourists had the highest travel motivation scores for ‘travelling around the world’, and ‘having a comfortable trip’, and were attracted by certain attributes of Australia, such as the ‘sunshine and scenery’, and ‘a place to go for good value’. The differences between travel motivations and motivation satisfaction were examined using a paired sample t-test, and the hypothesis was partially supported. Based on the results of these t-tests, importance-performance analysis (IPA) was used to analyse the motivation satisfaction levels, and the results showed that the main travel motivations of Taiwanese travellers to Australia were generally satisfied after the trip, with the push motivation factor ‘having a comfortable trip’ and the pull motivation factor ‘sunshine and scenery’ scoring highest on the satisfaction scale. Factor-cluster analysis was further used to segment tourists in regard to their travel motivations. The results revealed that there were four different travel motivation groups. These groups were significantly different in terms of their customer satisfaction and destination loyalty. The importance level of travel motivations of ‘high motivation travellers’ before the trip was high compared to other groups and the customer satisfaction and destination loyalty were also high after the trip. Taiwanese tourists were generally satisfied with their trip to Australia; however, only two tourist groups: the ‘high motivation travellers’ and the ‘comfort/attraction seekers’ showed any interest in revisiting Australia in the future. The relationship between customer satisfaction, need satisfaction, and destination loyalty was also examined using multiple regression analysis. The results confirmed the hypotheses that customer satisfaction had a positive impact on need satisfaction; need satisfaction positively influenced overall need satisfaction; and overall need satisfaction and overall satisfaction both had a positive relationship with destination loyalty. This shows that tourist need satisfaction and customer satisfaction are related, and customer satisfaction is the antecedent of tourist need satisfaction. Furthermore, tourist need satisfaction is influenced by travel experiences, and destination loyalty is influenced by overall need satisfaction and overall satisfaction. This research has contributed to theory, methodology and to practice. A relationship between customer satisfaction, need satisfaction, and destination loyalty was found. As a result, this study has also successfully integrated the concepts of travel motivation, customer satisfaction, need satisfaction, and destination loyalty. A pre and post survey methodology was used in this research to obtain Taiwanese travellers’ original motivations and their satisfaction levels. Finally, the findings concerning the motivations of Taiwanese tourists to Australia, their need satisfaction, customer satisfaction, and destination loyalty have been found to be useful for tourism managers to assist them in making successful business decisions, improving services, and developing new promotional strategies to encourage Taiwanese visitors to travel to Australia.

Autonomy-supportive parenting yields manifold benefits. To gain more insight into the family-level dynamics involved in autonomy-supportive parenting, the present study addressed three issues. First, on the basis of self-determination theory, we examined whether mothers’ satisfaction of the psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness related to autonomy-supportive parenting. Second, we investigated maternal autonomy support as an intervening variable in the mother–child similarity in psychological need satisfaction. Third, we examined associations between autonomy-supportive parenting and autonomy-supportive sibling interactions. Participants were 154 mothers (M age = 39.45, SD = 3.96) and their two elementary school-age children (M age = 8.54, SD = 0.89 and M age = 10.38, SD = 0.87). Although mothers’ psychological need satisfaction related only to maternal autonomy support in the younger siblings, autonomy-supportive parenting related to psychological need satisfaction in both siblings and to an autonomy-supportive interaction style between siblings. We discuss the importance of maternal autonomy support for family-level dynamics. / Peer review