Includes abstract. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 68-74). / The primary purpose of the study was to analyse the relationship between role stress and turnover intention among registered professional nurses in three public academic hospitals in the Western Cape. It further examined the dimensions of role stress to establish a hierarchy of these variables as experienced by the sample population. Role stress comprised of the following dimensions: role conflict, role ambiguity, role overload, resources inadequacy, skills inadequacy and constant change.

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 74-87). / Absenteeism in the nursing profession poses a serious threat to South African health care institutions (Samdi, 2000; McHugh, 2001). This research investigated the association between role stress, and the impact thereof on nurse absence frequency, voluntary and involuntary absence. Data was collected from 230 nurses (N = 230) in the Western Cape using a structured self-report survey. Statistical analysis of the results revealed that constant change and resource scarcity were weak yet significant predictors of nurse absence frequency. The remaining role stress constructs had no influence on the outcome variables. A major finding of the research was that the association between the role stress constructs and absenteeism amongst public sector nurses was weak. Two possible reasons for these findings were explored, the first being a measurement error associated with self-report data in absenteeism research. The second involved questions raised about the theoretical model on which the research question was based. Implications for theory and practice were discussed and recommendations for future research, provided

Includes abstract. / Includes bibliographical references. / The objective is to investigate the theoretical and practical differences between Talent Management and Strategic Human Resource Management and whether Talent Management in is in fact any different to Strategic Human Resource Management. Qualitative research was utilised to explore Talent Management and Strategic Human Resources Management practises in industry through the experiences and opinions of expert Executive Talent Managers. In-depth face to face interviews and a semi-structured interview was utilised to obtain specific information about the perspective, views and social contexts of the research participants. The data was subjected to qualitative content analysis in order to make valid inferences from texts to the contexts of their use.

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 41-43). / Students who do not yet experience the demands of balancing the dual roles or work and family anticipate the conflict that the multiple role combination may entail. Anticipated work-family conflict (AWFC) was studied amongst a sample of 962 students from the Commerce Faculty at the University of Cape 'lawn (UCT). Based on social-cognitive theory maternal employment, parental role-sharing and parental education levels were investigated as social antecedents to AWFC. Sell-efficacy to manage future work-family conflict, positive affect and negative affect were proposed as personal antecedents to AWFC. Outcome variables examined in relation to AWFC: were career-altering strategies and family-altering strategies. No significant relationship was found between social antecedents and AWFC. Self-efficacy to manage future work-family conflict and negative affect significantly predicted AWFC whilst positive affect did not predict AWFC significantly in the regression model. In addition, students who anticipate work-family conflict in their future reduce their career aspirations and the number of children they intend to have, whilst not the age at which they intend to start a family. Male students were found to have significantly higher AWFC than female students. Data was obtained through a self-report questionnaire. Implications of these findings are discussed.

This study utilised the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) to investigate the intentions of South African working fathers to use flexible workplace arrangements (FWAs). The study aimed to broaden the limited knowledge of the experiences of working fathers in a South African context. Usable responses to an electronic questionnaire were received from white collar male employees across a variety of industries (N = 371). Exploratory Factor Analyses and reliability analyses showed strong support for the use of TPB scales in future behavioural research. Hierarchical binary logistic regression analyses showed that attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control help to predict working fathers intentions to use FWAs. Attitudes was the strongest predictor and subjective norms was the weakest. It was also found that intentions do not significantly predict actual behaviour for most of the FWAs assessed, however actual behavioural control helps predict actual use of FWAs. Support was found for using perceived behavioural control as a proxy measure for actual behavioural control. Theoretical and management implications of the present findings are discussed.

Employees discretion over the scheduling of their work hours, often referred to as schedule flexibility, has been repeatedly linked to increases in both job satisfaction and family satisfaction. Despite the international research, evidence on these relationships has not been empirically tested in the South African context. There is also a gap in understanding the role of perceived work-to-family enrichment on the relationship between schedule flexibility and domain-specific satisfaction. To address these gaps in our knowledge, this study investigated the relationship between schedule flexibility and domain-specific satisfaction amongst South African employees, and assessed the role of work-to-family enrichment as a mediator of this relationship. Work-to-family enrichment occurs when a resource gain in the work domain promotes gains in the family domain. The propositions were tested among working parents that used schedule flexibility (N= 121) across multiple organisations in South Africa. Working parents responded to a self-report online survey. The questionnaire contained, inter alia, measures of schedule flexibility use, schedule flexibility availability, work-to-family enrichment, job satisfaction, family satisfaction and personal demographics. Correlation and regression analysis were used to test the propositions. Preacher and Hayes' (2004) PROCESS script was used to test mediation effects. The results of the analyses indicated that there is a significant positive and proportional relationship between the use of schedule flexibility and domain-specific satisfaction. The use of schedule flexibility was more strongly correlated to job satisfaction than employee knowledge regarding the availability of schedule flexibility in the organisation. Further analysis showed that work-to-family enrichment mediated the relationship between schedule flexibility use and domain-specific satisfaction.

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 42-50). / This research study investigated the relationship between injustice at work and cunterproductive work behaviour (CWB). Participants consisted of 152 blue-collar workers from a national retail group consisting of six chain stores. The research was conducted in the Western Cape in two of these chain stores and comprised of an exploratory survey with Likert-type scales.

Includes bibliographical references. / Employee wellbeing has become a major concern for organisations globally, with an increased interest in the prevention of burnout and the maximisation of employee work engagement. Burnout and work engagement are of particular importance to organisations due to their respective negative and positive outcomes on employees. While burnout is linked to high turnover intentions and low performance, work engagement has a positive correlation with job satisfaction, life satisfaction and extra-role performance. Accordingly, the job demands-resources (JD-R) model was developed as a theoretical framework, highlighting those work characteristics that predict employee work engagement and burnout. A main criticism of the JD-R model is its lack of consideration for the impact of personal resources on employee wellbeing. Emanating from this concern, the current study used the conservation of resources (COR) theory to empirically test whether the personal resource of psychological capital or PsyCap (conceptualised as self-efficacy, hope, optimism and resilience) interacted within the health impairment and motivation processes of the JD-R model. More specifically, this study examined whether PsyCap moderated the relationship between job demands and burnout and mediated the relationship between job resources and work engagement.

This study examined the relationship between family-focused organisational and .supervisor support and the positive work outcomes, job satisfaction, affective commitment, continuous commitment and work-family enrichment.

In South Africa, where there are many recruitment and selection challenges due to scarce skills and education gaps that exist within the country, the employment interview process may contribute to maintaining racial and gender gaps if decision-making is discriminatory. The purpose of the research was to determine whether interviewers base decisions on stereotypical information, and whether interviewer first impressions can be influenced and changed when interviewees display stereotype congruent or incongruent behaviour in the employment interview. A total of 360 psychology students from the University of Cape Town participated in the study. Participants completed one of eight randomly assigned versions corresponding to eight experimental conditions, in which they rated a black male, black female, white male or white female face in terms of competence, likeability and trustworthiness. Participants rated the same face again after receiving additional information portraying the presented person as either assertive or nice. Results revealed that males and females seen as equally likeable and equally competent, although females are seen as more trustworthy than males. White and black individuals are seen as equally competent however; white females rate white individuals as more competent than black individuals. Black individuals are seen as more likeable than white individuals. White individuals rate white faces as more trustworthy than black faces, while black individuals tended to rate black and white faces as equally trustworthy. Competence and trustworthy ratings increased when individuals displayed assertive behaviour, regardless of candidate race or gender. Likeability ratings, however, were influenced by candidate race and gender, and were in line with assumptions about stereotypical behaviour. Results thus indicate that out-group biases still exist, and that being assertive, regardless of whether it is congruent with an individual's race or gender stereotype or not, increases perceptions of competence.