Electronic Theses and Dissertations (Masters)
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10539/37990
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Item Hybrid working and organisational commitment: the role of perceived organisational support(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-08) Tresidder-Angelo, Miguel Richard; Milner, KarenCovid-19 has brought about many changes that has affected the workforce both positively and negatively. The major change brought about by Covid-19 is the alteration in the way individuals work. For many years remote working was a concept most employees had dreamed of, but through Covid-19 it became accessible to all. Now that the pandemic is at the point of phasing out and the seriousness of it has lessened, organisations are searching for a new way to maintain, motivate and increase their employees’ performance without losing the flexibility and autonomy that is afforded to remote working. This has come in the form of hybrid work which seeks to blend the benefits of remote work and the benefits of in-office work, to meet the expectations and needs of all employees and improve on both ways of work. This new concept could shape the way of work which is under-researched particularly in terms of how it will affect the employee’s attitudinal outcomes such as perceived job stress and organisational commitment. Therefore, this study explored the relationship between these two variables within a hybrid working context employees will be negative. Traditional organisational research also seemed to suggest that perceived organisational support could moderate this relationship. The aim of this study was therefore to examine the effect of job stress on organisational commitment and whether or not perceived organisational support moderates this relationship within a hybrid working context. This was done through acquiring data through purposive non-probability convenience sampling which allowed the study to obtain a sample of 106 individuals within the IT and Data Management sector. Participants were administered a self-report survey which contained three scales - Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), Organisational Commitment Questionnaire (OCQ), and Perceived Organisational Support scale (POS). A correlation coefficient test was conducted to determine the association between perceived job stress and organisational commitment and a hierarchical moderated regression was run to determine if perceived organisational support moderates this relationship within a hybrid working context. The results of this found a weak statistically negative relationship between perceived job stress and organisational commitment. Perceived organisational support was found to have a statistically non-significant moderation effect on the relationship between perceived job stress and organisational commitment.Item Does it matter where I work? Examining the effect of Remote Work on employees’ Work Engagement and Burnout(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-08) Tau, Lebogang Tlotlo; Pitman, MichaelThe global COVID-19 pandemic caused a significant shift in how and where work is conducted. Governments around the world initiated national lockdowns to enforce certain restrictions to curb the spread of infection and keep society functioning as normal. Businesses and institutions had to adopt flexible, remote working arrangements to achieve their ends during the pandemic. This study examined if remote work had any effect on employees’ work engagement and burnout, and if this relationship would be moderated or mediated by work overload and organisational support in South African organisations. A cross-sectional questionnaire design was utilized to obtain data from the sample. A sample of 103 employees from different organisations in South Africa participated in the study. Work overload and organisational support was measured using their respect subscales on the Job Demands-Resource scale. The Utrecht Work Engagement Scale, Oldenburg Burnout Inventory were used to measure the work engagement and burnout respectively. The results indicate that remote work does not predict both work engagement and burnout, nor was this relationship moderated by work overload and organisational support.Item Experiences of E-Leadership: A Qualitative Study(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-04) Gilchrist, Chloe; Milner, KarenMany leaders’ daily work entails practicing leadership in the virtual sphere, yet our understanding of how leadership is enacted in technologically-mediated environments (i.e., e-leadership) is limited. By exploring both leaders’ and employees’ experiences of e-leadership, this study seeks to acquire a deeper understanding of e-leadership. To achieve this, the research utilised a hermeneutic phenomenological qualitative research approach. The sample for the research comprised of employees and leaders, and a snowball sampling strategy was used to recruit the participants. The interviews used a self-developed questionnaire based on the literature, centred on the participant’s subjective meanings, understandings and experiences regarding e-leadership. After the interviews were transcribed, Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was employed to analyse the data. Overall, the key findings indicated that e-leaders need to exert greater effort than traditional leaders in a number of areas, including, establishing and maintaining connection, communication, exposure to knowledge share, trust, engagement and motivation, as well as humanising the work experience (Hertel et al., 2005; Savolainen, 2014; Liu et al., 2018; Van Wart et al., 2017; DasGupta, 2011; Hart & Mcleod, 2003; Kayworth & Leidner 2001). Consequently, merely translating traditional leadership practices into the virtual realm as an e-leader does not suffice.