This research is comprised of two narrative interview studies of Māori in two different settings, New Zealand (n=20) and Hawai'i (n=30). The data was gathered over the 1994-1996 period. The two settings have some commonalities and differences. In both settings Māori are required to make decisions about the continuity of their ethnic Māori identities and hereditary cultural identities of iwi, hapu and whanau, and the part that they wish these identities to play in their daily lives. The focus of this research was about how Māori create meaning in their lives and maintain their social identities across and within those contexts they move through. The findings of this research suggest that Māori in New Zealand continue to value and gain meaning and satisfaction from their cultural collectivities and the social identities derived from them. However, the results tend to suggest that there are changes in the ways that individuals conceptualise these identities and concomitantly, how they see of themselves. For New Zealand participants, conceptions of hapu and iwi appear to be converging with an increasing focus on the physicality of marae, its environment and symbolism, and the social events and relationships negotiated in that space. New Zealand participants saw some hapu and iwi maintenance activities as more legitimate than others. More value was placed on returning to hapu and iwi homelands however irregular these returns were. In contrast, conceptions of hapu and iwi held by participants in Hawai'i seemed less intense. There were few opportunities to engage with other hapu or iwi members. Being Māori had greater meaning and was understood, probed and valued by others in the culturally plural context of Hawai'i. For New Zealand participants, being Māori was enacted in the context of being a discriminated, negatively constructed minority. All were aware of the defining effect that the presence of a dominant majority could have and countered these effects by engaging in social justice and in-group solidarity activities. The changing identity conceptions held by members of Māori social groups will have implications for a sense of community and social cohesion, for tribal asset management, service delivery and crown settlement processes. If Māori are redefining and renegotiating their social identities to achieve greater meaning and satisfaction then these changes are important to respond to and recognise.

This study looks at the roles of kaum tua and investigates how these roles have changed over time. With the ageing Māori population and the reported importance of kaum tua roles in the wellbeing of Māori communities, the findings of this study provide an insight into the possible future direction of these roles. The study was conducted with the assistance of members of one hapu (N=47) that were 65 years of age and over. The study was by interview, utilising a semi-structured questionnaire with both open ended and closed questions. Narratives from participants was analysed and compared to the roles of kaum tua that were found in the literature, namely; Leadership, cultural knowledge, dispute resolution, protection and nurturing of young, provide spiritual and other guidance, social control, provide rituals, preserve te reo Māori and live active and healthy lives. Findings of this research supported the roles found in the literature. The roles of kaum tua still exist but may have diminished over time. The change in roles is in the adaptation to meet the needs of the time period while maintaining the core values of each role and providing a continuation of practices.

The application of personality assessment measures for clinical and personnel decisions has long been a major activity for psychologists all over the world. In South Africa personality assessment tools are often used to aid decisions relating to selection, placement, determination of job satisfaction and development. Psychological testing in South Africa was originally initiated with white test-takers in mind, and currently none of the personality questionnaires available have been found to provide a reliable and valid picture of personality for all cultural (and language) groups living in South Africa. The promulgation of the new South African constitution in 1996 and, more specifically, the Employment Equity Act of 1998 have resulted in a stronger demand for the cultural appropriateness of psychological tests. In this study, the implicit perspectives of personality of Afrikaans-speaking South Africans were determined to further the goal of developing a personality assessment tool that can be applied fairly to all South African cultural (language) groupings. A qualitative research design was applied with an interview as data-gathering instrument. Afrikaans-speaking fieldworkers were recruited to interview a purposive stratified sample of 120 Afrikaans-speaking South Africans. From the 7 184 responses obtained through this process, personality-relevant adjectives, nouns and metaphors were identified. Content analysis was subsequently used to analyse, interpret and reduce the descriptors to a total of 378 personality characteristics, which imply the most important perspectives of personality for Afrikaans-speaking individuals. The personality characteristics were divided into 12 categories, namely Altruism/ Agreeability, Extraversion, Integrity, Conscientiousness, Emotionality, Intellect, Dynamism, Forcefulness, Humility, Moralism, Conventionality, and Autonomy. While Afrikaans- speaking persons do not hesitate to pronounce themselves and others as stubborn, impatient and short-tempered, they also generally refer to their agreeable nature by describing themselves and familiar others as friendly, helpful, loving and generous. Valuing the virtues associated with conscientiousness, Afrikaans-speaking respondents also made noteworthy reference to religiousness, a sense of humour and aspects of honesty and integrity. Limitations in the research have been identified and recommendations for future research have been presented. / Thesis (M.Com. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

The application of personality assessment measures for clinical and personnel decisions has long been a major activity for psychologists all over the world. In South Africa personality assessment tools are often used to aid decisions relating to selection, placement, determination of job satisfaction and development. Psychological testing in South Africa was originally initiated with white test-takers in mind, and currently none of the personality questionnaires available have been found to provide a reliable and valid picture of personality for all cultural (and language) groups living in South Africa. The promulgation of the new South African constitution in 1996 and, more specifically, the Employment Equity Act of 1998 have resulted in a stronger demand for the cultural appropriateness of psychological tests. In this study, the implicit perspectives of personality of Afrikaans-speaking South Africans were determined to further the goal of developing a personality assessment tool that can be applied fairly to all South African cultural (language) groupings. A qualitative research design was applied with an interview as data-gathering instrument. Afrikaans-speaking fieldworkers were recruited to interview a purposive stratified sample of 120 Afrikaans-speaking South Africans. From the 7 184 responses obtained through this process, personality-relevant adjectives, nouns and metaphors were identified. Content analysis was subsequently used to analyse, interpret and reduce the descriptors to a total of 378 personality characteristics, which imply the most important perspectives of personality for Afrikaans-speaking individuals. The personality characteristics were divided into 12 categories, namely Altruism/ Agreeability, Extraversion, Integrity, Conscientiousness, Emotionality, Intellect, Dynamism, Forcefulness, Humility, Moralism, Conventionality, and Autonomy. While Afrikaans- speaking persons do not hesitate to pronounce themselves and others as stubborn, impatient and short-tempered, they also generally refer to their agreeable nature by describing themselves and familiar others as friendly, helpful, loving and generous. Valuing the virtues associated with conscientiousness, Afrikaans-speaking respondents also made noteworthy reference to religiousness, a sense of humour and aspects of honesty and integrity. Limitations in the research have been identified and recommendations for future research have been presented. / Thesis (M.Com. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

Cross-cultural assessment in South Africa has become more prominent since the first democratic elections held in April 1994, and stronger demands for the cultural appropriateness of psychological tests have arisen. The use of psychometric testing, including personality assessment in the workplace, is now strictly controlled by legislation, among others the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (Act 108 of 1996), the Labour Relations Act (66 of 1995), and the Employment Equity Act (55 of 1998), and the Health Professions Act (56 of 1974). Much controversy has arisen regarding the relevance and applicability of assessment instruments in South Africa. The majority of assessment procedures still make use of imported instruments that are either used in their original or adapted form. Psychological assessment instruments imported from abroad have an insufficient suitability in the multicultural South African context. There are various perspectives regarding the appropriate measurement of personality across cultures. In this research study implicit perspectives of personality, the lexical approach, indigenous psychology and the emic approach were used to determine the personality perspectives of the Tsonga culture in South Africa. The objectives of this study were to investigate how personality is conceptualised in literature, to identify the problems surrounding personality measurement for the South African context, to explore how personality perspectives could be determined and to investigate the personality descriptive terms in the Tsonga language group. A qualitative research design was used to collect the data of this research. A total of 5 502 personality descriptors were obtained through the 1 0-item interview questionnaires. Content analysis was used to analyse, reduce and interpret the data obtained from the participants. The personality descriptors obtained were reduced by removing superfluous words. These personality descriptors were then interpreted and categorised into a total of 109 personality dimensions. These characteristics were categorised into nine clusters, namely Optimism, Agreeableness, Emotional Stability, Narrow-mindedness, Intelligence, Conscientiousness, Aggressiveness, Dominance and Sociability. The following personality dimensions had the highest frequency: Emotional Stability, Caring, Helpful, Hard working, Advising, Generous, Traditional, Aggression, Recreational, Substance use, Religious, Sociable and Loving. Recommendations for future research were made. / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

Thesis (M.Com. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.

Cross-cultural assessment in South Africa has become more prominent since the first democratic elections held in April 1994, and stronger demands for the cultural appropriateness of psychological tests have arisen. The use of psychometric testing, including personality assessment in the workplace, is now strictly controlled by legislation, among others the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (Act 108 of 1996), the Labour Relations Act (66 of 1995), and the Employment Equity Act (55 of 1998), and the Health Professions Act (56 of 1974). Much controversy has arisen regarding the relevance and applicability of assessment instruments in South Africa. The majority of assessment procedures still make use of imported instruments that are either used in their original or adapted form. Psychological assessment instruments imported from abroad have an insufficient suitability in the multicultural South African context. There are various perspectives regarding the appropriate measurement of personality across cultures. In this research study implicit perspectives of personality, the lexical approach, indigenous psychology and the emic approach were used to determine the personality perspectives of the Tsonga culture in South Africa. The objectives of this study were to investigate how personality is conceptualised in literature, to identify the problems surrounding personality measurement for the South African context, to explore how personality perspectives could be determined and to investigate the personality descriptive terms in the Tsonga language group. A qualitative research design was used to collect the data of this research. A total of 5 502 personality descriptors were obtained through the 1 0-item interview questionnaires. Content analysis was used to analyse, reduce and interpret the data obtained from the participants. The personality descriptors obtained were reduced by removing superfluous words. These personality descriptors were then interpreted and categorised into a total of 109 personality dimensions. These characteristics were categorised into nine clusters, namely Optimism, Agreeableness, Emotional Stability, Narrow-mindedness, Intelligence, Conscientiousness, Aggressiveness, Dominance and Sociability. The following personality dimensions had the highest frequency: Emotional Stability, Caring, Helpful, Hard working, Advising, Generous, Traditional, Aggression, Recreational, Substance use, Religious, Sociable and Loving. Recommendations for future research were made. / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

Most psychometric instruments used in South Africa are based on Western theory. Questions have arisen on the suitability and validity of these instruments in this context. Usually tests are imported from foreign countries and then applied with the same confidence in terms of the accuracy and prediction that these tests have in those foreign countries. However, studies in recent times have found that there exist numerous problems with these assessments in the South African context. In South Africa personality assessment instruments are used for the purpose of recruitment, placement, to identify training and development and for performance appraisal of workers. Currently none of the available personality questionnaires have been found to be reliable and valid for all cultural groups. This presents a particular predicament seeing as the Labour Relations Act (66 of 1995), which regulates the use of these assessments, states that these tests are prohibited unless they are shown to be scientifically valid, reliable and can be fairly applied over all without any discrimination. The objectives of this study were to investigate how personality is conceptualised in literature, to identify problems with personality measurement in South Africa, to explore how personality perspectives could be determined and to investigate the personality descriptive terms of the Ndebele people. A qualitative research design was used with an interview as data-gathering instrument. isiNdebele-speaking fieldworkers were recruited to interview 107 isiNdebele-speaking South Africans from the Mpumalanga Province. A total of 4165 responses were obtained from the respondents and translated into English. Content analysis was used to analyse, interpret and reduce these descriptors to a total of 151 personality facets. The personality characteristics were divided into nine categories, namely: Agreeable, Tough-minded, Gregarious, Emotional Stability, Conscientious, Self-absorbed, Intellect/Open, Influential and Relationship Harmony. These findings were compared to the Five Factor Model and evidence was found for all of its dimensions. Recommendations for future research were made. / Thesis (M.Com. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.

The application of personality assessment for clinical and personnel decisions has long been an activity of interest to psychologists all over the world. In South Africa, personality assessment tools are used for the purpose of hiring, for placement decisions, to guide and assess training and development, and to evaluate the performance of workers. Psychological testing in South Africa was formerly initiated with white test takers in mind. It has been found that, currently, none of the available personality questionnaires provide a reliable and valid picture of personality for all cultural (language) groups living in South Africa. With South Africa's new Constitution in 1994 came stronger demands for the cultural appropriateness of psychological tests. The implicit perspectives of personality of Zulu-speaking South Africans were determined in this study. These will enable psychologists to work towards developing a personality assessment tool that is fair to all South African cultural (language) groupings. A qualitative research design was used with an interview as data-gathering instrument. A Zulu-speaking fieldworker was recruited to interview 141 Zulu-speaking South Africans, mainly from KwaZulu-Natal. The study population was purposely drawn from different sections of the Zulu-speaking population. A total of 6 465 Zulu-speaker personality descriptors was obtained from the respondents and then translated into English. Content analysis was used to analyse, interpret, and reduce these descriptors to a total of 179 (reduced to 128 personality characteristics), which highlight the most important perspectives of personality for Zulu-speaking individuals. The personality characteristics were divided into six categories, namely, drive, emotions, interpersonal factor, meanness, sociability, and other. The majority of the characteristics are representative of the socialistic nature of the Zulu people. Zulu-speaking persons are caring, loving, religious, helping, talkative, in touch with their sexuality, and extroverted. The findings of this study were compared to the Five Factor Model (FFM), and evidence was found for the extroversion factors, but no support or evidence was found for the openness to experience factor, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and agreeableness. In comparison with the Chinese Personality Assessment Inventory (CPAI), support was found for 13 of the 22 personality scales. Characteristics such as emotionality, responsibility, inferiority versus self-acceptance, meanness, slickness, family orientation, relationship orientation, harmony, flexibility, modernisation, introversion versus extroversion, leadership, and social orientation can be seen as characteristics indigenous to the Zulu culture. Recommendations were made for future research. / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

Most psychometric instruments used in South Africa are based on Western theory. Questions have arisen on the suitability and validity of these instruments in this context. Usually tests are imported from foreign countries and then applied with the same confidence in terms of the accuracy and prediction that these tests have in those foreign countries. However, studies in recent times have found that there exist numerous problems with these assessments in the South African context. In South Africa personality assessment instruments are used for the purpose of recruitment, placement, to identify training and development and for performance appraisal of workers. Currently none of the available personality questionnaires have been found to be reliable and valid for all cultural groups. This presents a particular predicament seeing as the Labour Relations Act (66 of 1995), which regulates the use of these assessments, states that these tests are prohibited unless they are shown to be scientifically valid, reliable and can be fairly applied over all without any discrimination. The objectives of this study were to investigate how personality is conceptualised in literature, to identify problems with personality measurement in South Africa, to explore how personality perspectives could be determined and to investigate the personality descriptive terms of the Ndebele people. A qualitative research design was used with an interview as data-gathering instrument. isiNdebele-speaking fieldworkers were recruited to interview 107 isiNdebele-speaking South Africans from the Mpumalanga Province. A total of 4165 responses were obtained from the respondents and translated into English. Content analysis was used to analyse, interpret and reduce these descriptors to a total of 151 personality facets. The personality characteristics were divided into nine categories, namely: Agreeable, Tough-minded, Gregarious, Emotional Stability, Conscientious, Self-absorbed, Intellect/Open, Influential and Relationship Harmony. These findings were compared to the Five Factor Model and evidence was found for all of its dimensions. Recommendations for future research were made. / Thesis (M.Com. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.