3. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - All submissions

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    The relationship between perceived discrimination, organisation-based self-esteem (OBSE) and job satisfaction among women at work.
    (2014-01-14) Bhana, Sarika
    The study aimed to test whether or not Organisational-based Self-Esteem (OBSE) mediated the relationship between perceived discrimination and job satisfaction. OBSE was expected to have an impact on Job Satisfaction, whilst Perceived Discrimination was argued to have an effect on OBSE. The study was conducted with a sample of 238 women as previous research indicates women are more likely to experience discrimination in the workplace. Contrary to expectations, the SEM revealed that perceived discrimination did not have a significant impact on job satisfaction. Also, the results obtained suggest that OBSE does not mediate the relationship as there was no significant relationship between perceived discrimination and OBSE. There was evidence that OBSE could be a moderator in the relationship instead. Furthermore, opposing the literature, the results supported the notion of global SE mediating the relationship between perceived discrimination and job satisfaction as it was the only significant path in the SEM. Overall, the study contributed to a body of literature and added value by suggesting that the role of perceived discrimination is underestimated as its impact extend outside of the workplace and may have deeper repercussions.
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    What are the experiences of service workers in urban informal economy workplaces? : a study of informal hairdressing operations in the Johannesburg CBD.
    (2013-10-03) Mpye, Dipalesa Xoliswa
    This research study examines the experiences of service workers in the informal economy by exploring informal hairdressing operations within the Johannesburg CBD. Drawing on ethnography at a hairsalon in Braamfontein and semi-­‐structured interviews with hairdressers, customers, hairsalon owners and City of Johannesburg officials, it argues that the emotional and affective labour in this kind of work offers hairdressers an important basis for them to weave meaning into their work. The affective relationships that they create through hairdressing present them with the potential for the self-­‐constitution of their work and lives.
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    Consenting to servitude : a case study of restaurant workers in Gauteng.
    (2013-10-02) Loonat, Atiyyah
    Due to high levels of globalization and outsourcing of employment an important aspect emerges which is the concept of decent work. This concept is important in that the struggle for many companies to stay afloat under global competition requires the cutting of costs. The cost which is the most easy to manipulate is that of labour. Through global competitiveness companies often increase working hours, decrease wages and decrease benefits for employees. This has caused increased attention to the idea and concept of decent work. This leads to the problem of providing and assuring decent work on a global scale. Decent work is an objective of the International Labour Organization (ILO) which aims to provide equitable employment to people of all spheres. This goal is wide and deals with nine indicators which are quantitative in nature. However these aspects do not deal with the subjective measures which pertain to employment. These subjective measures are as important as the quantitative measures. To better attain the goal of decent work this report argues that there is a need for the incorporation of these subjective measures when determining the level of decent employment. For the purposes of this research report the subjective measures are collectively termed job satisfaction. However while this combination of objective and subjective indicators better reflects working conditions, there is a need for more comprehensive concepts in understanding vulnerable work. In order to develop this deeper understanding of vulnerable work. This research report utilizes various literature in in the sociology of work . The restaurant industry in Gauteng is used as the site for this research report as a means of illustrating the pitfalls to the narrowly defined concepts of decent work and job satisfaction. This industry is particularly interesting as it is very different from other sectors as it is marked by interactive service work that involves high levels of emotional labour. Tips play a large role in supplementing the workers income. Tips , the report argues, is a means of workers consenting to servitude as they actively participate in their exploitation through conforming to the enterprises interests. This is not merely done through the system of tipping but also through their performance of emotional labour which is often increased in order to play these “games “which allow for higher tips. Consenting to servitude is not only the acceptance of exploitation but also the creation of a submissive and subservient work force. The notion of consenting to servitude is what lacks in both concepts. Exploitation plays a large role in whether a job is deemed decent or not but it is largely ignored within both the concepts of decent work and job satisfaction. Instead it is necessary to go beyond these two concepts and draw on the body of social theory on the world of work such as Burawoy and Foucault, if one wants to explain the nature of work and workers responses in the hospitality industry in Gauteng. This illustrates that every workplace is different and requires differing sets of indicators. The concepts of job satisfaction and decent work although incomplete on their own carry various advantages and cannot merely be dismissed.
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    Pay satisfaction, organisational commitment, voluntary turnover intention, and attitudes to money in a South African context.
    (2013-08-05) Kantor, Romy Lee
    The present study explored the relationships between pay satisfaction, affective organisational commitment, voluntary turnover intention, and attitudes to money in a South African context, as well as whether attitudes to money acted as a moderator and affective organisational commitment as a mediator in the relationship between pay satisfaction and voluntary turnover intention. All participants received a web link to an online survey host in which a questionnaire was presented. The questionnaire included a self-constructed demographic questionnaire, the Pay Satisfaction Questionnaire (Heneman & Schwab, 1985), the Organisational Commitment Questionnaire (Mowday, Steers, & Porter, 1979), an adapted six-item questionnaire assessing voluntary turnover intention, and the Money Ethics Scale (Tang, 1992). The final sample (n = 190) consisted of respondents from a corporate company, as well as a snowball sample from social networks (Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn). The results suggested that pay satisfaction may best be viewed as a multi-dimensional construct both internationally and within a South African context. The study provides further support that this is robust across different types of samples and contexts and in different organisational fields. Furthermore, pay satisfaction was positively related to affective organisational commitment and negatively related to voluntary turnover intention. Voluntary turnover intention was also significantly and very strongly negatively related to affective organisational commitment. Moreover, affective organisational commitment mediated the relationship between pay satisfaction and voluntary turnover intention. This supported international findings regarding these relationships. Although one of the subscales of pay satisfaction, pay benefits, was significantly and negatively related to ‘good’ attitude to money, overall pay satisfaction and the other subscales did not significantly relate to money being seen as ‘good’. Pay satisfaction and all its subscales were also not related to money being seen as ‘evil’, an ‘achievement’, ‘respect’ for money, ‘budget’, ‘freedom’, or overall attitude to money. Furthermore, overall attitude to money and all of the subscales were not significantly related to either organisational commitment or voluntary turnover intention. In addition, further analyses found no moderating effect for attitudes to money in terms of the relationship between pay satisfaction and voluntary turnover intention. These results were unexpected given the limited theory available and further research is required.
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