M.Com. (Industrial Psychology) / The main objective of the study was to investigate the moderating effect of psychological wellbeing on the relationship between personality and job satisfaction. A quantitative, cross-sectional research design was used. A survey was created using the shortened version of the Basic Traits Inventory, Ryff‟s Scale of Psychological Wellbeing and the shortened version of the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire. The survey was distributed online and in hard copy to various organisations in South Africa (N=207). Results showed that the psychological wellbeing traits of self-acceptance, environmental mastery, and purpose in life moderate the relationship between neuroticism and job satisfaction; personal growth moderates the relationship between extraversion and job satisfaction; and the relationship between conscientiousness and job satisfaction is moderated by self-acceptance, environmental mastery, purpose in life, and personal growth. It was concluded that certain facets of psychological wellbeing serve to strengthen the positive effects and mitigate the negative effects of personality traits on job satisfaction. It is thus advised that management consider the impact of employees‟ psychological wellbeing on their level of satisfaction at work, and create a working environment that is conducive to the personal growth and development of employees.

M.B.A. / Throughout the world companies are restructuring there processes. Companies are trying to provide a better service to the customers with the same cost or alternatively at a lower cost. The service-profit chain is an equation that establishes the relationship between corporate policies, employee satisfaction, value creation, customer loyalty and profitability. This paper examines the direct relationship between employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction. It concentrates on the elements that influence employee and customer satisfaction in line with “Heskett’s Service Profit Chain” model.

Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Technology: Marketing, Durban University of Technology, 2008. / South Africa will host the Soccer World Cup in 2010. About 2.7 million local spectators and 400,000 visitors need to be transferred to and from the 1() host cities in 43 days . .This is a huge challenge to the intercity bus transport ihdustry, because the current transport system may not meet the demand for one of the world's largest sporting event. The purpose of this study is to identify the current barriers to good service quality in the intercity bus transport industry. It focuses on the measurement of service quality and I communication. In this research, the literature survey defined the service quality 'gap' in this industry, identified the role of effective communication. in the service delivery system, measured the variables affecting current service delivery using the SERVQUAL instrument, and prioritized the importance of the factors influencing service delivery in this industry. A questionnaire with 25 questions was designed to coUect data. This study used convenience sampling to select 400 passengers as a sample, viz. 348 South Africans and 52 foreigners at the Durban bus station, since Durban is one of the ten host cities of the 2010 FIFAWorld Cup. The data was analysed using SPSS. The results of this research pointed to the importance of external communication in the industry. Specific recommendations are made to improve the productivity, reduce vacancy rate and maximize the benefits to this industry in 2010 and beyond. / M

M.Sc. (Nursing), Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, 2009 / The purpose of this study is to undertake an interpretive, descriptive meta synthesis of available literature of primary qualitative research findings on patient satisfaction with nursing care of adult patients in hospitals across the world. The study addresses the question about the experiences and expectations of adult patients regarding nursing care. It is argued that patient satisfaction provides a meaningful focus for improving quality of care, planning and evaluation of health care services. The data collected in this study were from the identified articles from a range of databases including Science direct, PubMed, CINAHL and EBSCO host. The findings reveal that 13 studies met the inclusion criteria. Four of these were undertaken in the Sweden, two in the USA, two in the UK, and one each from China, Iceland, Ireland, Greece and Western Australia. The population study sampled was 341 adult patients in the included primary research reports. The total population comprises of 132 males and 166 females. In the literature 49 themes were derived which were synthesised to four new themes namely: Caring, quality of care, communication and information, professional technical skills and competence, organizational and environmental factors. Therefore, this study focuses on these five themes that contribute to patient satisfaction. In conclusion, this study points out that despite the dissatisfaction with nursing care, some satisfaction were experienced and that these should be used for those considering whether or not to use patient satisfaction views and opinions in the care.

A research report submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Masters by Coursework and Research Report in the field of Industrial Organisational Psychology in the faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand. / The state of public health service and delivery in public hospitals in South Africa is concerning. Allied to this, is the prevalence of nursing shortage experienced in public hospitals in the country. Nursing shortage is an outcome that results from various factors; one such factor is actual turnover, preceded by intent to leave. Intent to leave is a strong predictor of actual turnover. It has been found to be negatively correlated with organisational commitment and job satisfaction. Organisational commitment and job satisfaction stem from various work states such job demands and job resources. It is important to understand that all occupations have job demands that are to be met by the required and relevant job resources. Failure to meet job demands with job resources results in numerous negative employee and organisational implications. In the nursing sector for instance, employee implications were found to include undesirable work behaviours (such as intent to leave) exerted by nurses which ultimately affect the state of the healthcare service and healthcare delivery. The purpose of the current research was to investigate the nature of relationships that exist among organisational commitment, job satisfaction, demographic variables and intent to leave among nurses working at a public hospital in Johannesburg, South Africa. The research postulated three hypotheses that were tested and proven Hypothesis 1: Organisational commitment (O_C) statistically predicts intent to leave (I_T_L) among nurse working at a public hospital; Hypothesis 2: Job satisfaction (J_S) statistically predicts intent to leave (I_T_L) among nurses working at a public hospital; Hypothesis 3: Demographic variables can also statistically predict intent to leave (I_T_L) among nurses working at a public hospital. Furthermore, the research aimed to find the best predictive model of the data. Lastly, the research investigated the relative importance of each significant independent variable in predicting intent to leave. The research design was a correlational cross-sectional. The public hospital received 200 questionnaires, of which 136 questionnaires were returned, with only 112 usable questionnaires to be analysed. Due to this, there were 112 participants. The sample fell predominantly in the 26-35 and 36-45 age categories. On the data collection days, nurses working in different wards received approximately three hours to complete a selfadministered questionnaire. Participants provided informed consent to be part of the research. The questionnaire collected demographic information, the respondent’s organisational commitment level, job satisfaction level and intent to leave level. All the three hypotheses were statistically proven, as indicated by results of the multiple linear regression. O_C was a statistically significant predictor of I_T_L (p < .05) among nurses at a public hospital. J_S was a statistically significant predictor of I_T_L (p < .05) among nurses at a public hospital. Nursing_position (category) as a demographic variable was also a statistically significant predictor of I_T_L (p < .05) among nurses at a public hospital. Hierarchical regression found the best predictive model of the data; the final predictive model was Model 3, which explained 17.3% of the variance in intent to leave. Model 3 included organisational commitment, job satisfaction and nursing position (category). Model3 equation = 61.848 + 2.395Nursing_position (category) + -.170O_C + -.111J_S. Lastly, the dominance analysis technique was applied in order examine the relative importance of each independent variable, to understand the role of each independent variable, and to assess the additional contribution of each independent variable in predicting intent to leave. O_C was found to have the additional contribution in predicting intent to leave. The current research showed that organisational commitment and job satisfaction remain applicable when examining intent to leave in the organisational behaviour. Therefore, the research findings are consistent with what has been previously discovered in the mid-nineties. Numerous strategies and plans have been put forward to increase organisational commitment and job satisfaction experienced by employees in order to mitigate nursing shortage, and to respond to the state of healthcare delivery in public hospitals. The challenge remains to be to translate these strategies and plans into actions. As it stands currently, thi is the only way to respond meaningfully to the highlighted phenomenon.

The above research investigates what incentives and disincentives are present within the education system and how these factors impact on educator satisfaction. Increasingly, educators are becoming dissatisfied with their status in society as well as with their working environment. The research looks at a small group of Johannesburg based South African educators and, through an in-depth questionnaire, compares the situation with educators from the United States as well as from China in order to find similarities. A number of authors work was researched that looked at what “satisfaction” is and, how it affects the workplace. Various educational authors were also looked at in order to gain a historical and sociological view. Various news articles and media reports were also taken into consideration as a number of educators felt that the media reflected the education system in a negative light. It is evident from the research conducted that, increasingly, educators are becoming more despondent and less satisfied with their careers and a large degree of this dissatisfaction appears to stem from the organisational structures within education. Using South African based work, similarities were also established between the United States as well as China. The similarities and findings suggested that a more structured approach needs to be taken in terms of the organisational structure, not only in South Africa but perhaps within the United States and China too. If these changes were to be instituted, educators may experience improved satisfaction.

Thesis advisor: Bernard O'Brien / This study investigated the phenomenology of marriage as experienced by couples who professed to enjoy a successful marriage. A qualitative approach was chosen to elucidate the multifaceted levels of experience in the marital relationship. In-depth interviews were conducted with twelve middle class, Caucasian couples from an urban area on the East Coast. Subjects were chosen from volunteers who had been married for at least twenty years and whose youngest child was out of high school. The interview covered the development of the couples' relationships from the initial attraction through the child-rearing years, and into the current post-child-rearing stage. Expectations, roles, and problem-solving were examined. Socioeconomic factors, religion, family, ethnicity, and finances were discussed as they related to the marriage. The influence of participants' parents' marriages was explored. The data collected were analyzed for salient themes, categories and critical issues in marital satisfaction. Twelve major themes emerged from the data. Of the twelve, four were salient: expectations of marriage, similarity of values, mutuality, and selective understanding. The strategy of selective understanding proved to be the core category, the one which related to the majority of other categories. These findings are useful for clinical and preventive applications, for their contribution to theories of marital satisfaction, and for guiding future research. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 1992. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Education.

Thesis advisor: Franklin Harkins / Thesis advisor: Stephen Brown / Thesis (STL) — Boston College, 2017. / Submitted to: Boston College. School of Theology and Ministry. / Discipline: Sacred Theology.

This thesis examines whether the influence of reference price discrepancy on consumer post-purchase satisfaction depends on the type of price discrepancy. Based on Bolton, Warlop, and Alba's (2003) transaction space framework, this thesis proposes that the influence of reference price discrepancy on satisfaction can be classified into three types: across-time price discrepancy, across-consumer price discrepancy, and across-firm price discrepancy. The thesis proposes and tests a satisfaction model that incorporates types of reference price discrepancy, based on perceived fairness, retrospective regret, and disappointment in six experiments. Experiment 1 identifies a negative relationship between perceived fairness of a situation and retrospective regret, independent of the outcomes of comparable others. The findings in experiment 1 are replicated in another context in experiment 2. The findings are generalized beyond price as an attribute into performance in experiment 3. The findings suggest that self-blame mediates the negative relationship between fairness and regret, supporting a just-world explanation. Experiment 4 demonstrates that the influences of reference price discrepancies on perceived fairness, retrospective regret, and disappointment are type-dependent. Experiment 5 provides explanations to as why the influences of reference price discrepancy on fairness, regret, and disappointment are type-dependent. The finding suggests that satisfaction models examining only one antecedent of satisfaction and models without considering retrospective regret have reduced goodness of fit indices and have inflated estimators than the proposed and other alternative models. Finally, experiment 6 demonstrates how mixed reference price information can be separated into its components. This method allows future research to incorporate multidimensional reference price information in research following a generalized utility model. The findings of this thesis have implications for satisfaction modeling, reference price typology, and differential pricing practice. This thesis sends a simple and direct message to marketing practitioners that fairness is the most important antecedent of satisfaction. / Tang, Tzu Lung Felix. / Adviser: Jian-min Jamie Jia. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-06, Section: A, page: 2148. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 141-154). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI : ProQuest dissertations and theses, [201-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / School code: 1307.

by Lo Wai-kwok and Mak Bing-leung, Rufin. / Bibliography: leaves 167-171 / Thesis (M.B.A.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1984