A renewed interest in work has developed world-wide during the last decade. One of the reasons for this is that organizations are responding to the changing economic, social, technological and environmental demands in ways that are fundamentally transforming the nature of organizations and the meaning of work for employees. Work has changed tremendously, not only in nature but also its importance. The current demands placed on organizations and employees include, among others, global competition, cost-cutting, downsizing and restructuring and information processing on a large scale. It is intuitive to think that these changes and demands will affect employees in some way or the other. For many employees changes brought different job descriptions, more roles to fulfil and more complicated tasks to complete with more uncertainty and less clear-cut instructions. The work commitment construct has been part of a lively debate since Morrow's (1983) call for a moratorium on the development of further work commitment measures due to the existence of concept redundancy within and among the work commitment facets. It has been proposed that the work commitment construct consists of four main facets i.e. job involvement, organizational commitment, career commitment and work values. It has been unclear up to now on how these facets are interrelated. The relationships between the work commitment facets, role strain and intention to quit have also not been studied together in a single study before. The current study investigated the underlying dimensions of the work commitment construct, the underlying dimensions of each proposed facet, as well as determined the relationships among the work commitment facets, role strain and intention to quit, based on a large diverse South African sample. This was done by using Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analyses, the calculation of intercorrelations and Structural Equation Modeling. Each instrument was standardized for South African conditions. The results indicated that although the instruments were portable to South Africa, unique results and factors were obtained. Promising results were obtained with regard to the causal relationships among the variables. / Thesis (DPhil)--University of Pretoria, 1997. / gm2014 / Psychology / Unrestricted

Magister Administrationis - MAdmin / The call centre industry has been one of the fastest growing industries in South Africa. Call centres have for most companies become a basic business requirement for servicing customers. Zapf, Isic, Bechtoldt and Blau (2003: 311) argue that there are high levels of stress amongst employees in call centres, which they believe to be the result of both the work tasks and the interactions with customers. The aim of this study was to establish whether call centre work design and structure contributed to role stress amongst client service representatives (CSRs). It was also the aim of this study to establish whether role stress affected the CSRs' levels of job satisfaction and their intentions to quit from their jobs. / South Africa

Magister Commercii - MCom / Consent for the research study was obtained from the divisional executive of the financial services division being researched and all ethical factors were clarified. All potential participants were engaged in a divisional communication session where participation was advised to be voluntary and anonymity and confidentiality was assured. The results of the study revealed that there was no statically significant relationship between intention to quit and organisational commitment but a statically significant relationship between organisational commitment and age, tenure, marital status and staff with dependants respectively were revealed. Further to that, a statistically significant relationship between intention to quit and age, tenure, marital status was also revealed. Therefore, based on the understanding gained, and the relationship it had with respect to the biographical factors used in the study, it presents organisations with the insight and opportunity to better retain staff. Clear understandings of the limitations of the findings presented are also discussed and additional recommendations for future research are also provided. / South Africa

Les nombreux modèles de turnover que l’on peut trouver dans la littérature en gestion des ressources humaines illustrent l’importance pour les équipes des ressources humaines de prendre en considération ce sujet. L’objectif de cette recherche est d’étudier les facteurs organisationnels et individuels qui influencent l’intention de départ des managers français issus du secteur privé. Il s’agit ainsi d’analyser les effets de variables organisationnelles comme le soutien organisationnel perçu, la satisfaction de carrière, le conflit famille travail, le plafonnement subjectif ainsi que ceux de deux variables de personnalité, le locus de contrôle et les ancres de carrière, sur les intentions de départ.Pour répondre à ces questions de recherche, une enquête par questionnaire a été réalisée en septembre 2015 auprès de managers français issus de différentes entreprises. L’échantillon est composé de 305 répondants.Les résultats montrent le rôle prépondérant du soutien organisationnel perçu dont les effets sur l’intention de départ sont modérés par le locus de contrôle. Ainsi, il s’avère que les managers les plus internes, s’ils se sentent soutenus par leur employeur, sont plus volontiers satisfaits de leur carrière et éprouvent moins que les plus externes de conflits de rôle entre leur vie familiale et leur vie professionnelle ou encore de plafonnement hiérarchique. En revanche, nos résultats ont montré que, s’ils éprouvent, a contrario, une perception négative quant au support de leur employeur, ils développent alors davantage d’intentions de départ que les profils externes.Les variables socio démographiques telles que l’ancienneté entreprise, l’ancienneté dans le poste, l’âge ou la rémunération contribuent à expliquer l’intention de quitter l’entreprise. / The many turnover models that can be found in the literature on human resources management illustrate the importance of human resources teams to consider this topic. The objective of this research is to study the organizational and individual factors that influence the intention of French managers to quit from the private sector. This involves analyzing the effects of organizational variables such as perceived organizational support, career satisfaction, work-family conflict, hierarchical plateauing, and two personality variables, locus of control and career anchors on the intentions of departure.To answer these research questions, a questionnaire survey was conducted in September 2015 with French managers from different companies. The sample is composed of 305 respondents.The results show the preponderant role of perceived organizational support, whose effects on intention to quit are moderated by the locus of control. Thus, it appears that the most internal managers, if they feel supported by their employer, are more likely to be satisfied with their careers and have less than the most external role conflicts between their family and professional lives or still have a hierarchical plateauing. On the other hand, our results show that if they have a negative perception of their employer's support, they develop more intentions than external profiles to quit.Socio-demographic variables such as length of service, length of service, age or earnings contribute to explaining the intention to leave the company.

Orientation: Perceived Talent Management Practices, Perceived Organizational Support and Perceived Supervisor Support are distinct but related constructs, and all of them appear to influence an employee’s intention to quit an organization. Research Purpose – The objective of this study was to investigate Generation Y’s perception of an organization’s talent management practices and to determine how it relates to their intention to quit the organization. In essence, the study aims to establish possible relationships of four constructs: Perceived Talent Management Practices, Perceived Organizational Support (POS), Perceived Supervisor Support (PSS) and Intention to Quit. The mediating/moderating characteristics of POS and PSS on the relationship between Perceived Talent Management Practices and Intention to Quit are also investigated. Motivation for the study – Talent is the new tipping point in corporate success. It has the potential to be the origin of an organisation’s demise or the reason for its continuous success. A concept that exuberates this much potential for both disaster and prosperity validates some examination into its protection. Research design, approach and method – Four Instruments (HCI Assessment of Talent Practices (HCI), Survey of Perceived Organizational Support (SPOS), Survey of Perceived Supervisor Support and an Intention to Quit Scale) was administered to a convenience sample of 135 employees from a population of 450 employees working in three provinces in which the organization was operational. Pearson product-moment correlation analysis and Multiple Regression analysis were used to investigate the structure of the integrated conceptual model on Perceived Talent Management Practices, POS, PSS and Intention to Quit. Main findings - The findings of this study indicates a strong practically significant positive correlation (r(df = 135; p < 0.001) = 0.724, large effect). between Perceived Organizational Support (POS) and Perceived Supervisor Support (PSS). A strong practically significant positive relationship (r(df = 135; p < 0.001) = 0.640, large effect) was found between Perceived Organizational Support (POS) and the employee’s perception of the organization’s Talent Practices. The study confirmed a strong practically significant negative relationship (r(df = 135; p < 0.001) =-0.569, large effect) between Perceived Organizational Support (POS) and the employee’s Intention to Quit. A medium practically significant negative relationship (r(df = 135; p < 0.001) = -0.436, medium effect) was established between Intention to Quit and Perceived Supervisor Support (PSS). This study determined a medium practically significant positive correlation (r(df = 135; p < 0.001) = 0.471, medium effect) between Perceived Supervisor Support (PSS) and the employee’s perception of the organization’s Talent Practices. The findings also establishes a medium practically significant negative relationship (r(df = 135; p < 0.001) = -0.477, medium effect) exists between employees’ perception of the organization’s Talent Practices and their intention to quit the organization. Multiple regression confirmed that neither POS nor PSS mediates/moderates the relationship between Perceived Talent Management Practices and Intention to Quit. Practical/Managerial Implications - Cappelli (2008) stated that paradigms only come undone when they ”encounter problems that they cannot address. But before the old paradigm is overthrown, there must be an alternative, one that describes new developments better than the old one does” (Cappelli, 2008). This study provides evidence that management can use paradigm shifts as a talent retention strategy where the creation of a high perception of talent management practices will result in a lower intent to leave the organization. Contribution: The findings of this study indicate a positive relationship between perceived talent management practices, POS and PSS. The study also established a positive relationship between POS and PSS. A negative relationship was confirmed between POS, PSS and Perceived Talent Management Practices in relation to Intention to Quit. / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Human Resource Management / unrestricted

The purpose of this study was to examine how the psychological contract relates to the intention to quit the employment (ITQ) of professional primary school teachers. In addition to this, the purpose was to examine which form of contract in the psychological contract that most strongly predicts ITQ. A quantitative study was conducted, of which a digital survey was distributed via email to principals and/- or deputy principals for 312 municipal schools in Sweden and was shared on the social platform Meta as well. The survey was based on The Psychological Contract Inventory (PCI) by Rousseau and the Turnover Intention Scale - 6 items (TIS-6) by Roodt. The data collection generated 80 questionnaire responses which were then used for analysis through a hierarchical multiple regression analysis. The results showed that all four forms of contracts: transactional, relational, balanced and transitional contracts explained a larger part of the variance in ITQ. The balanced contract and the transitional contract were significant predictors of which the transactional contract and relational contract were not significant. The transitional contract predicted ITQ to the highest degree.

Magister Commercii (Industrial Psychology) - MCom(IPS) / Working students encounter challenges and responsibilities at university and work. In attempting to study the books and chapters assigned, meet assignment deadlines, take part in extracurricular activities and function at work, working students may be overwhelmed sensing inadequate time to complete all their responsibilities. These may lead to certain negative outcomes for the working student, such as languishing, poor grades, taking longer than the expected time to complete studies or, in the worse scenario, quitting their studies. The primary aim of this study was to examine and understand the influence of non-cognitive factors (including PsyCap, time management, and grit) on flourishing and the working students’ intention to quit employing correlational and hierarchical regression analysis. The secondary objective was to make recommendations to universities and organisations on how to aid working students to develop or increase non-cognitive factors to ensure their flourishing and a reduced intention-to-quit studies. A non-probability sampling technique indicating, convenience sampling and purposive sampling were employed to recruit respondents. Respondents had to be working students (part-time students). The sample included 194 respondents (n = 194) from a university in the Western Cape. The survey instrument included a biographical questionnaire, the academic PsyCap questionnaire, mental health continuum - short form (MHC-SF) questionnaire, Grit-Perseverance of effort subscale, the time management short-range planning subscale, and a self-developed intention-to-quit questionnaire. Numerous studies confirmed the validity and reliability of these instruments. The relationship amongst the non-cognitive variables (PsyCap, grit and time management), flourishing and intention-to-quit studies were assessed through Pearson correlation and hierarchical regression analysis. The non-cognitive variables had a positive relationship with flourishing and a negative relationship with intention-to-quit studies. PsyCap was established to explain the largest proportion of the variance in flourishing and intention-to-quit studies. This is consistent with the findings of studies with similar variables. Recommendations were made for lecturers, counsellors, and university officials to collaborate to incorporate programmes that will aid in developing these non-cognitive variables into the university’s curriculum.

Dans le contexte actuel de crise des ressources humaines en Afrique sub-saharienne, il est important de comprendre comment les professionnels de santé vivent leur travail et comment cela les affecte. Cette étude longitudinale se focalise sur les sages-femmes du Sénégal en raison de leur rôle stratégique dans la réduction de la mortalité maternelle et infantile dans le pays. Une cohorte de 226 sages-femmes de 22 hôpitaux au Sénégal a participé à l’étude. Leur satisfaction au travail a été mesurée en 2007-8 avec un instrument multidimensionnel développé en Afrique de l’Ouest. Trois effets attendus : le « burnout, » l’intention de quitter et la mobilité professionnelle ont été mesurés deux ans plus tard. Des statistiques descriptives ont comparé celles qui ont quitté leur poste à celles qui sont restées, et une série de régressions multiples a modélisé les liens entre les facettes de la satisfaction au travail et les variables d’effet, en contrôlant pour les caractéristiques individuelles et institutionnelles. Les résultats ont montré un taux relativement faible de « turnover » sur 2 ans (18%), malgré une forte intention de quitter son poste (58.9%), surtout pour faire une nouvelle formation professionnelle. Les départs étaient majoritairement volontaires (92%) et entièrement intra-nationaux. Les sages-femmes se disaient le moins satisfaites avec leur rémunération et leur environnent de travail, et une forte proportion éprouvait des niveaux élevés d’épuisement émotionnel (80.0%) et de dépersonnalisation (57.8%). Toutefois, elles rapportaient être satisfaites de leur moral et de la stabilité de leur travail, et seulement 12% avaient des niveaux faibles d’accomplissement personnel. L’épuisement émotionnel était associé avec l’insatisfaction vis-à-vis de la rémunération et des tâches, la recherche active d’emplois était liée avec être insatisfaite de la stabilité du travail et avoir quitté son poste était associé avec une insatisfaction avec la formation continue. Cette étude montre que les sages-femmes semblent souffrir de « burnout », mais qu’elles se sentent toujours confiantes et accomplies au travail. Les résultats suggèrent que promouvoir la formation continue pourrait aider à retenir les sages-femmes dans leurs postes et dans la profession. / In the context of a health workforce crisis in sub-Saharan Africa, a better understanding of how health professionals are experiencing their work and how it is affecting them is needed. This longitudinal study focuses specifically on Senegalese midwives, given their strategic role in the promotion of mother and child health in the country. A cohort of 226 midwives from 22 hospitals across Senegal participated in the study. Their job satisfaction was measured in 2007-8 using a multifaceted instrument developed in West Africa. Three purported effects were measured two years later: burnout, intention to quit and turnover. Descriptive statistics compared the midwives who stayed and left their posts during the study period, and a series of exploratory regressions investigated the correlations between the 9 facets of job satisfaction and each effect variable, while controlling for individual and institutional characteristics. Relatively low turnover was found over 2 years (18%) despite high levels of intention to quit within a year (58.9%), particularly in pursuit of a new professional specialty. Departures were largely voluntary (92%) and entirely domestic. The midwives reported themselves least satisfied with their remuneration and work environment, and a large proportion experienced “high” levels of emotional exhaustion (80.0%) and depersonalization (57.8%). However, they were found to be satisfied with their morale and the stability of their work, and only 12.4% reported diminished personal accomplishment. Emotional exhaustion was related to being dissatisfied with remuneration and job tasks, actively searching for jobs was associated with dissatisfaction with job stability and voluntary quitting was associated with being unhappy with continuing education. This study shows that although midwives seem to be burned-out and unhappy with their working conditions, they retain a strong sense of confidence and accomplishment in their work. It also suggests that strategies to retain them in their positions and in the profession should emphasize continuing education.

The research objective was to develop, through two phases involving development and validation, a measure of the psychological work contract for managerial level employees. The psychological contract is the unwritten implicit contract that forms in the minds of employees and contains the obligations and expectations that they believe exists between themselves and the organization. In the first and qualitative phase of the study, a structured interview procedure resulted in the collection of 651 responses from a convenience sample of 35 managers from seven New Zealand organizations. Responses related to what these managers believed they were obligated to provide the organization (perceived organizational expectations), and what they believed the organization was obligated to provide them (their expectations). Content analysis of these 651 statements resulted in the development of two initial measures of the psychological contract (employee obligations, organization obligations). The employee obligations measure (perceived organizational expectations of the employee) contained 16 items, and the organization obligations measure (employee expectations of the organization) contained 23 items. In the second and quantitative phase of the study, and using the same criteria for participation as for phase one, a convenience sample of 124 managers from 13 New Zealand organizations completed questionnaires. The questionnaires included the measures of psychological contract content developed in phase one of the study, and 8 organizational psychology variables to be included in a nomological network. The nomological network included intention to quit, perceived organizational support, work and job involvement, job satisfaction, career plateau, organizational commitment, person-organization fit, and 2 performance measures. A separate questionnaire covering job performance and organizational citizenship behaviour was completed by 94 of the participants' managers. Of the 54 relationships predicted in the nomological network, 41 were significant. Of the 13 non-significant relationships, 10 involved relationships with the two performance measures. The measures of the psychological contract were subjected to a construct validation process involving two steps. The first step involved item and factor analysis. Factor analysis of the two measures of the psychological contract revealed two factors in each. One factor, termed relational obligations and reflecting a collective interest between the employee and the organization, included the items that were believed to influence more directly the relationship between managers and the organization. This factor included items such as be committed to the job (an employee obligation) and provide a physically and socially safe environment (an organizational obligation). The other factor, termed transactional obligations and reflecting a self/other interest on the part of the employee, included the items that were believed to be of a more direct employment transactions nature. This factor included items such as stay true to your own values and beliefs (an employee obligation) and provide professional and personal support (an organizational obligation). In the second step of the validation process, the measures of the psychological contract were embedded into the nomological network and their relationships with the ten variables in that network were tested. Of the ten hypothesised relationships, only one emerged as significant, that being the relationship between the organization obligations component of the psychological contract and person-organization fit. Minimal support for construct validity of the measures of the psychological contract was provided confirming that further effort will be required before complete construct validity may be claimed for the measured. Although the contribution the research makes to the field of knowledge may be limited, it does provide some validation of existing measures of the psychological contract, developed in other studies using different samples. The present findings increase our knowledge of the content of the psychological contract for managers. Additionally, a methodological framework has been established for continuing research into the content of psychological contracts, including an exploration of the relationship between content and fulfilment, along with a structure for comparing the psychological contract of disparate occupational groups. The most likely explanation for the hypotheses not being fully supported is that it is fulfilment (or conversely breach or violation) of the psychological contract, rather than the content of the contract per se, that is related to the variables in the nomological network. Whilst the hypotheses were based on research that considered fulfilment of the contract, this study focussed on the content of psychological contracts. The reasons for basing the hypotheses on research that considered fulfilment, the influence of this decision on hypothesis testing, and other possible explanations for the hypotheses not finding greater support, are explored. The limitations of the study, and possible directions for future research, are discussed.

Dans le contexte actuel de crise des ressources humaines en Afrique sub-saharienne, il est important de comprendre comment les professionnels de santé vivent leur travail et comment cela les affecte. Cette étude longitudinale se focalise sur les sages-femmes du Sénégal en raison de leur rôle stratégique dans la réduction de la mortalité maternelle et infantile dans le pays. Une cohorte de 226 sages-femmes de 22 hôpitaux au Sénégal a participé à l’étude. Leur satisfaction au travail a été mesurée en 2007-8 avec un instrument multidimensionnel développé en Afrique de l’Ouest. Trois effets attendus : le « burnout, » l’intention de quitter et la mobilité professionnelle ont été mesurés deux ans plus tard. Des statistiques descriptives ont comparé celles qui ont quitté leur poste à celles qui sont restées, et une série de régressions multiples a modélisé les liens entre les facettes de la satisfaction au travail et les variables d’effet, en contrôlant pour les caractéristiques individuelles et institutionnelles. Les résultats ont montré un taux relativement faible de « turnover » sur 2 ans (18%), malgré une forte intention de quitter son poste (58.9%), surtout pour faire une nouvelle formation professionnelle. Les départs étaient majoritairement volontaires (92%) et entièrement intra-nationaux. Les sages-femmes se disaient le moins satisfaites avec leur rémunération et leur environnent de travail, et une forte proportion éprouvait des niveaux élevés d’épuisement émotionnel (80.0%) et de dépersonnalisation (57.8%). Toutefois, elles rapportaient être satisfaites de leur moral et de la stabilité de leur travail, et seulement 12% avaient des niveaux faibles d’accomplissement personnel. L’épuisement émotionnel était associé avec l’insatisfaction vis-à-vis de la rémunération et des tâches, la recherche active d’emplois était liée avec être insatisfaite de la stabilité du travail et avoir quitté son poste était associé avec une insatisfaction avec la formation continue. Cette étude montre que les sages-femmes semblent souffrir de « burnout », mais qu’elles se sentent toujours confiantes et accomplies au travail. Les résultats suggèrent que promouvoir la formation continue pourrait aider à retenir les sages-femmes dans leurs postes et dans la profession. / In the context of a health workforce crisis in sub-Saharan Africa, a better understanding of how health professionals are experiencing their work and how it is affecting them is needed. This longitudinal study focuses specifically on Senegalese midwives, given their strategic role in the promotion of mother and child health in the country. A cohort of 226 midwives from 22 hospitals across Senegal participated in the study. Their job satisfaction was measured in 2007-8 using a multifaceted instrument developed in West Africa. Three purported effects were measured two years later: burnout, intention to quit and turnover. Descriptive statistics compared the midwives who stayed and left their posts during the study period, and a series of exploratory regressions investigated the correlations between the 9 facets of job satisfaction and each effect variable, while controlling for individual and institutional characteristics. Relatively low turnover was found over 2 years (18%) despite high levels of intention to quit within a year (58.9%), particularly in pursuit of a new professional specialty. Departures were largely voluntary (92%) and entirely domestic. The midwives reported themselves least satisfied with their remuneration and work environment, and a large proportion experienced “high” levels of emotional exhaustion (80.0%) and depersonalization (57.8%). However, they were found to be satisfied with their morale and the stability of their work, and only 12.4% reported diminished personal accomplishment. Emotional exhaustion was related to being dissatisfied with remuneration and job tasks, actively searching for jobs was associated with dissatisfaction with job stability and voluntary quitting was associated with being unhappy with continuing education. This study shows that although midwives seem to be burned-out and unhappy with their working conditions, they retain a strong sense of confidence and accomplishment in their work. It also suggests that strategies to retain them in their positions and in the profession should emphasize continuing education.