By developing strong, self-sustaining individuals in organisations, employees will need to
withstand the forces of stressors and be able to cope with continuous changes within their
working environment. To move the equilibrium level from the current to the desired
condition, the field of forces must be altered - by adding driving forces and by removing
restraining forces. An individual's sense of coherence may either alleviate or aggravate
reactions to a stressor and moderate the impact of occupational stressors on the individual's
affective outcomes. The objectives of this study were to validate the 13-item version of the
Orientation to Life Questionnaire (OLQ) (Antonovsky, 1987) and to determine the
experience of employees with high levels of sense of coherence regarding helping and
restraining factors within the workplace (compared to that of those with a low sense of
coherence).
A cross-sectional s w e y design was used. The total population (N = 2 678) of employees in a
financial institution in Gauteng was used in this study. Random samples of groups with a
strong (n = 300) and low (n = 300) sense of coherence were taken for purposes of the
qualitative study. The OLQ (Antonovsky, 1987) and a biographical questionnaire were
administered.
The scale showed acceptable reliability and construct validity. The study set out to determine
the applicability of the theoretical model of sense of coherence to employees in a financial
institution. Reliability analysis revealed that the three subscales of sense of coherence were
sufficiently internally consistent. The reliability of the measuring instrument were assessed
with the use of Cronbach alpha coefficients. Descriptive statistics (e.g. mean and standard
deviations) were used to analyse the data. By using the structural equation modelling approach, a one-dimensional factor structure for
sense of coherence amongst employees in a financial institution emerged. The reliability
analysis revealed that the alpha scores were acceptable. It can therefore be concluded that the
13-item version of the OLQ is a reliable and valid measuring instrument.
The results showed that although employee groups with high and low levels of sense of
coherence are experiencing similar helping and restraining factors within their working
environment, helping factors are being experienced with a higher frequency by groups with
high levels of sense of coherence and restraining factors with a higher frequency by groups
with low levels of sense of coherence.
Recommendations were made for future research. / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:nwu/oai:dspace.nwu.ac.za:10394/1307 |
| Date | January 2007 |
| Creators | Müller, Yolandé |
| Publisher | North-West University |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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