Magister Commercii (Industrial Psychology) - MCom(IPS) / A large body of research on staff turnover report that intention to leave the organisation is one of the key predictor’s to staff turnover (Chen & Francesco, 2003; Steel & Lounsbury, 2009). Researchers agree that when organisational commitment is high amongst staff the result is low turnover (Abdulkadir & Orkan, 2009; Culpepper, 2011; Muse & Stamper, 2007; Rhoades & Eisenberger, 2002). A strong correlation between voluntary turnover and the three organisational commitment dimensions (namely, affective, continuance and normative) was also found (Tansky & Cohen, 2001; Ucar & Otten, 2010). Organisational commitment has been identified as an important employee job related behaviour and perceived organisational support plays a vital role in enhancing employees’ organisational commitment. As employees’ commitment increases, employees feel more obligated and committed towards their organisation and products of this increased commitment are favourable benefits such as organisational effectiveness, reduced turnover, improved performance and reduced absenteeism (Yang, Wu, Chang, & Chien, 2011). The purpose of this study was to identify the relationship between perceived organisational support, organisational commitment and turnover intentions. Convenience sampling was used to identify the sample and questionnaires were used to collect the data. The questionnaires used to gain information include a biographical questionnaire; Eisenberger et al.’s Survey of Perceived Organisational Support, Meyer and Allen’s Organisational Commitment Questionnaire and Roodt’s Turnover Intentions Questionnaire. These questionnaires were administered to individuals employed as load control agents and support staff at a selected company in the aviation industry. The data was analysed using SPSS version 22. The results of the study reveal that no statistically significant relationship exists between perceived organisational support and turnover intentions amongst employees, however a statistically significant relationship between organisational commitment and its various dimensions namely, affective, continuance and normative commitment was found with turnover intentions. Furthermore, a statistically significant relationship between perceived organisational support and organisational commitment and its various dimensions namely, affective, continuous and normative commitment was also found. In addition to this both perceived organisational support and organisational commitment were found to predict turnover intentions. However, organisational commitment was found to be a stronger predictor of turnover intentions than perceived organisational support. Furthermore, when exploring the dimensions of organisational commitment and turnover intentions, normative commitment was found to be the strongest predictor of turnover intentions. Limitations of the findings are presented and possible recommendations for the organisation and future research are also provided.

The Aviation Industry in South Africa is considered to be a budding industry with an expected growth rate of 14% for each of the next three years. Considering that, plenty investment and expansion possibilities are probably available in this industry. Nonetheless, given the current economic situation, challenges may exist that necessitates the development of a decision framework. The aim of this framework should thus be to assist with informed decision-making; whether to invest in, or utilize opportunities that may occur within a given prospective “high” growth situation. In the light of all of this, a specific aviation entity desires to exploit possible business opportunities that may occur. Provided the relative high growth situation in the Aviation Industry, as mentioned above, the entity has a specific need for a decision tool which could determine whether to invest in new projects or not. In order to meet this need, a decision framework has been developed during this study. Considering the emphasis currently placed on wealth creation in the business environment, it is considered appropriate to utilize the value-based management approach in this study, with specific reference to capital budgeting techniques in developing a decision framework. Data for the study has been obtained from the participating aviation entity, who was considering investment in a specific project, given the previously referred to prospective high growth situation in the Aviation Industry. The decision framework or model was developed using Microsoft Excel as the development platform. Based on the input data, as received from the aviation entity, the results from the decision model indicated that the considered project was indeed financially viable. / MBA, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

The Aviation Industry in South Africa is considered to be a budding industry with an expected growth rate of 14% for each of the next three years. Considering that, plenty investment and expansion possibilities are probably available in this industry. Nonetheless, given the current economic situation, challenges may exist that necessitates the development of a decision framework. The aim of this framework should thus be to assist with informed decision-making; whether to invest in, or utilize opportunities that may occur within a given prospective “high” growth situation. In the light of all of this, a specific aviation entity desires to exploit possible business opportunities that may occur. Provided the relative high growth situation in the Aviation Industry, as mentioned above, the entity has a specific need for a decision tool which could determine whether to invest in new projects or not. In order to meet this need, a decision framework has been developed during this study. Considering the emphasis currently placed on wealth creation in the business environment, it is considered appropriate to utilize the value-based management approach in this study, with specific reference to capital budgeting techniques in developing a decision framework. Data for the study has been obtained from the participating aviation entity, who was considering investment in a specific project, given the previously referred to prospective high growth situation in the Aviation Industry. The decision framework or model was developed using Microsoft Excel as the development platform. Based on the input data, as received from the aviation entity, the results from the decision model indicated that the considered project was indeed financially viable. / MBA, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

The aviation industry has more than a hundred years in history in the United States. And the industry has always been one of the important projects to conduct of the country. The industry involves not only technology, capitals but also politics. In order to maintain the influential power to the world, countries, especially the United States and Western Europe invest huge amount in this industry. However, under the globalization and high oil prices era, the industry encounters some difficulties to change. Outsourcing has become the solution for those manufacturers. The high growth of economic in Asia becomes another battle field for western countries to fight, especially in China. Chinese power is getting stronger; however, western countries concern about the special political backgrounds in China. Nevertheless, conducting business and finding cheap labor resource have been multinational companies¡¦ priority these days. The influential power of multinational companies and those parent countries become the major decision maker in the game. The Boeing Company has all the characteristics of these controversial issues. Chinese government, the Boeing Company, the rival Airbus and the U.S. government in the game would affect the industry.

Portfolio includes: Research paper 1. Generic business strategy taxonomy - an evolutionary perspective from conventionalism to pragmatism -- Research paper 2. Incorporating environmental dynamics into business strategy taxonomy: an empirical investigation of the global commercial aviation industry from 2000 to 2002 -- Research paper 3. Financial performance implications of multi-dimensional business strategy taxonomy: an empirical investigation of the global commercial aviation industry from 2000 to 2002.

Magister Commercii - MCom / The aviation industry is one of many industries which is known to be a high-risk industry. Although it is a high risk industry, little research has been conducted within the industry especially with regards to safety culture. Safety culture is pivotal within the aviation industry as it reduces the potential to large scale disasters. While airlines are deemed to be highly reliable, when an accident occurs the cause usually tends to be human error. The aim of this study was to assess safety culture of professional pilots within selected South African based aviation organisations. This study utilized a safety culture quantitative survey instrument in order to collect data from pilots at selected South African based aviation organisations. The survey consisted of five themes (organisational commitment, management involvement, accountability systems, reporting systems and pilot empowerment). The pilots were required to respond to 49-item statements on a 5 point-likert scale, by only choosing one answer per statement. The results indicated that a majority of the participants had responded positively towards the items which represented a healthy safety culture within the selected South African based aviation organisations. Furthermore, a highly positive correlation exists between the themes of organisational commitment and management involvement. Multiple regression analysis showed there is an association between the five themes of safety culture with organisational commitment being a dependent variable. No significant difference was found between biographical information (such as rank, years of experience and flying hours), along with either the themes of organisational commitment or pilot empowerment.

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Die Darstellung der Beschäftigungswirkungen des Luftverkehrs spielt im politischen Leben in vielen westlichen Industrieländern eine große Rolle. Verbände der Luftverkehrswirtschaft versuchen, mit Gutachten die Bedeutung ihrer Branche für Wachstum und Beschäftigung zu untermauern. Viele dieser Gutachten halten keinen wissenschaftlichen Ansprüchen stand. Bereits 1992 hatte in den USA die amerikanische Luftverkehrsbehörde FAA die Qualitätsprobleme solcher Gutachten erkannt und bemängelt und Grundsätze für korrektes Arbeiten aufgestellt. In Österreich hat nun ein Streit um den weiteren Ausbau des Flughafens Wien zur Anfertigung mehrerer Interessentengutachten geführt. Diese Gutachten werden in der vorliegenden Studie evaluiert. Es zeigt sich, dass wissenschaftliche Standards nicht eingehalten werden. Die Regierung selbst verwendet Angaben aus solchen Gutachten in ihren Publikationen und tauscht stillschweigend Daten, die sich später als unhaltbar erweisen, gegen andere aus. Vergleiche mit Studienergebnissen von OECD, EU und Weltbank belegen große Differenzen. / Growth and Job-effects of Aviation play a crucial role in many western industrialized countries. Consortiums and federations of the aviation industry try to proof with assessments and expert opinions how important their sector is. However many of those studies do not have scientific quality. Already 1992 the American Federal Aviation Authority FAA realized problems and issued guidelines for acceptable reports. In Austria the planned enlargement of Vienna airport led to the production of several studies. This is the reason for the present paper. The most recent Austrian aviation studies, especially one by the Austrian IWI, are being analysed. It proves that the Austrian Aviation reports are not consistent with the standards set by the FAA guidelines. They contain exaggerated figures and omit critical aspects. Comparisons with studies of OECD, EU or Worldbank show the differences and imbalances.

Service quality is an integral part of the product/service offering provided to a customer. Along with continuously identifying customer expectations and perceptions about service quality, it is imperative for service providers to also investigate whether the service quality increases customer satisfaction and their behavioural intentions. This PhD study theoretically contributes by evaluating one comprehensive service quality model, SERVQUAL designed by Parasuraman et al. (1988), for its potential applicability. The study further contributes by identifying a gap in the literature that the original SERVQUAL model does not entirely represent LCC service quality therefore, LCCSQUAL is proposed: a revised conceptual model with twenty-five variables that reflect the industry-specific attributes of LCC services in the Middle East. LCCs became a common feature in the West after the appearance of Southwest airline in 1971, however in the Middle East; LCCs are a relatively new phenomenon. LCCs are growing rapidly due to the current development of the aviation industry, deregulation and open skies policies in many parts of the Middle East. Most research to date has focused on LCCs in Western or Asian culture, whereas limited research has been conducted in the Middle East region, hence, this study will focus on highlighting the historical development of the Middle East’s aviation industry and the phenomenal growth of the region’s LCCs. This research is first of its kind in the Middle East to be conducted on the LCC service quality as well as in a new cultural background and therefore, it is important to consider that passengers’ are influenced by their culture while making decisions, however; the original SERVQUAL model developed by Parasuraman et al. in (1985) does not include culture as one of the influences in consumer. This PhD study, therefore, bridges another gap in the knowledge by testing the LCCSQUAL in Middle Eastern culture. This PhD followed a multi methodology using both inductive and deductive approaches consisting of qualitative (interviews and a focus group discussion) and quantitative (a self-administered survey questionnaire) methods at Dubai International airport, which has a dedicated LCC terminal. A total of 540 questionnaires was distributed; however, only 516 were finally employed for quantitative analysis. For qualitative analysis, nine in-depth interviews with senior executives of LCC airlines and seven LCC passenger interviews was conducted along with one focus group interview with seven Emirati ladies, first time LCC travellers. Content analysis and NVivo 10 were utilised for qualitative findings and descriptive analysis, Spearman’s rank correlation, factor analysis and cross tabulation were employed to examine the quantitative results. Comparing the results of both methodologies indicated that, passengers experienced wider gaps in the tangibility, reliability and responsiveness dimensions of LCC service quality in the Middle East. The findings of the study concluded that LCC passengers have higher expectations of the LCC services due to receiving luxury services for a long time in the Middle East region. The revised model; LCCSQUAL was tested in the Middle Eastern culture with additional variables and is recommended to be further developed to be culture and country specific. Factor analysis results also highlighted that there are gaps between the expectations and perceptions of the passengers travelling with LCC. This study concludes with several recommendations to LCC management, such as, on-time performance, well-trained staff and crew members, providing clear information to the passengers and providing quality services with low fares.

Controlling the authenticity of a product in the supply chain has been a struggle formanufacturers, and increasing complexity of the chains intensifies the imitation andcounterfeiting threats. Indeed, counterfeiting is absent from effective control in supply chainand manufacturers are looking for a technology to supply this control. The ability of RFID toprovide a tagged item with unique electronic code, it’s characteristic to hold some historicaldata about the item and supply automatic, immediate and accurate data about the tagged itemattracts manufacturers to use RFID technology to provide the effective control throughout thesupply chain. In line with this issue, SToP1 (Stop Tampering of Products), an EU foundedproject, aimed at developing an anti-counterfeiting solution based on auto-identificationtechnologies for consortium companies concerned with or affected by fake products. SToP iscommitted to establish the business cases, do research and at the end issue applicationguidelines for using RFID technology against counterfeiting in particular business contexts.Under SToP’s umbrella, this master thesis is initiated with the purpose to design a practicalguideline for choosing an appropriate RFID system for anti-counterfeiting in the aviationindustry that is one of the affected industries.The conclusion of the thesis consists of a number of sections, which altogether fulfill thepurpose of the thesis. The thesis forms a base for continues challenge of implementing RFIDas an anti-counterfeiting device focusing on the aviation industry, proposes solution scenariosbased on RFID technology, suggests applicable standards and proposes a secure RFID methodto prevent counterfeiting specially in the aviation industry. Jointly, these sections fromguidelines as a foundation for decision-making for kind of RFID system for anti-counterfeitingapplication in the aviation industry. / Uppsatsnivå: D