Acknowledgement to reviewers

No abstract available.

The future and the role of human resource management in South Africa during the Fourth Industrial Revolution

Orientation: The world of work is evolving at an alarming rate, and human resource (HR) practitioners need to familiarise themselves with the future of human resource management (HRM) in order to add value to their organisations.Research purpose: This article presents South African HR practitioners’ views about the future and the role of HRM in the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) from a qualitative perspective.Motivation for the study: Human resource practitioners play a central role in the 4IR, but theories on how their role is enacted remain insufficient.Research approach/design and method: A qualitative survey design was used to study the views of 105 HR practitioners affiliated with the South African Board of People Practices. Three open-ended questions were sent to participants by means of a SurveyMonkey link. Deductive and inductive coding were used to thematically analyse the data.Main findings: The following themes were identified: technology-driven, data-driven, ethically driven, change driven, business-driven, human–machine collaboration and presilience.Practical/managerial implications: South African HR practitioners should be prepared for the future world of work. If these HR practitioners are not technology-driven, data-driven, ethically driven, change driven, business-driven, human–machine collaboration and presilient, they may have difficulty to add value to the organisation in the 4IR.Contribution/value-add: This study extends the body of knowledge about the future world of work and the role of HRM in South Africa by founding that HR practitioners must have presilience and respect ubuntu. The study also extends contemporary scholarship by using an open-ended qualitative review design to investigate the future of HRM in South Africa during the 4IR.

Constructive interpersonal leadership relations in knowledge-based organisations: A theoretical framework

Orientation: Acknowledging the need for a deeper understanding of interpersonal communication as part of interpersonal leadership in knowledge-based organisational contexts.Research purpose: This study aimed to propose a theoretically based definition of constructive interpersonal leadership relations (ILRs) and a generic model of ILR with guidelines for fostering constructive ILR in knowledge-based contexts.Motivation for the study: Emerging trends showed knowledge-based organisations presented unique sets of challenges for constructive ILR in South Africa.Research approach/design and method: We conducted a qualitative study using the interpretivist research paradigm. Two convenience samples were used for the data collection: semi-structured in-depth interviews with eight experts in the field, and 31 questionnaires were sent to leaders or followers that examined the micro-perspective in knowledge-based organisations in South Africa. The data analysis and interpretation were performed by thematic analysis.Main findings: We established that the leader–follower dyad is the locus of interpersonal leadership, and that in constructive ILR, leaders or followers actively and mutually nurture the leader–follower dyad, that leaders oversee these relationships without using a formal hierarchy and that the leader–follower interaction has meaning on informational and relational levels.Practical/managerial implications: The findings can be used by leaders in knowledge-based organisations as useful guidelines to create and maintain an organisational environment that is supportive of constructive ILR.Contribution/value-add: This study provides insight into personal attributes relevant for ILR in knowledge-based organisational contexts.

The impact of emotional intelligence on behavioural factors during transition: A case of the Free State Technical and Vocational Education and Training colleges

Orientation: Numerous changes at the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) requires some degree of emotional intelligence (EI) to achieve any level of efficiency, competitiveness and success.Research purpose: The primary purpose of this research is to empirically contribute to a comprehension of how a leader’s EI can be utilised to positively influence organisational behaviours during the transitional period.Design/methodology/approach: The study adopted a positivist research approach, that is descriptive in nature. A survey was conducted by providing a structured questionnaire to a sample of 310 academics and support staff of the TVET college sector in the Free State Province of South Africa. Data analysis was based on a total of 188 questionnaires collected, giving a return rate of 61%. The structural equation modelling (SEM) analysis and interpretation was conducted using a component-based approach to establish the correlation between the items.Main Findings: The SEM findings revealed that EI of Free State TVET college managers significantly affects all the dependent variables namely, organisational work commitment, employee job satisfaction, task-oriented behaviour, teamwork except staff morale. Emotional intelligence reflects a reasonable power of predictability toward all other variables except staff morale of the respondents.Practical/managerial implications: To ensure sustained exceptional performance, recruitment strategy for managers must deliberately incorporate EI measurements at TVET colleges.Contribution/value add: The study demonstrates empirical proof of the positive impact of a leader’s EI on organisational behaviours, thereby confirming that EI is an enabler of organisational work commitment, job satisfaction, task-oriented behaviour, teamwork, but not staff morale.

A measurement scale for assessing intellectual capital disclosure

Orientation: Intellectual capital disclosure (ICD) including structural capital (SC), human capital (HC), and relational capital (RC) of non-financial information creates a shareholder value. Conflicting evidence on this voluntary disclosure suggests the need to develop an ICD measurement scale for reducing information asymmetry in the annual financial reporting.Research purpose: The main aim of this study was to develop a multi-dimensional measurement scale consisting of groups of items for critically examining the extent of ICD in the corporate annual reports or integrated reports to build investor confidence.Motivation for the study: The lack of voluntary disclosure on intellectual capital (IC) increases information asymmetry and negatively affects investor decision-making. An ICD measurement scale is expected to facilitate the reliable extraction of non-financial information from the annual reports or integrated reports.Research approach/design and method: A quantitative cross-sectional study was used with an ICD measurement scale for extracting information from 150 annual reports of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) listed companies. The measurement scale was subjected to exploratory factor analysis (EFA).Main findings: The ICD measurement scale yielded one factor structures across all three dimensions with internal reliability statistics (Cronbach alphas) of SC (0.849), HC (0.806) and RC (0.749), after the second level factor analysis.Practical/managerial implications: The ICD measurement scale will enable the market participants to understand how non-financial information can be extracted reliably from the annual reports and use to assess the value of intangible assets.Contribution/value-add: The novel contribution of the study is the construction of a measurement scale for assessing ICD.

A study of job satisfaction and work engagement at the National Treasury of South Africa

Orientation: There is overwhelming research on job satisfaction and work engagement as it relates to the private sector when compared with the public sector. Noting differences between the two sectors, the undeniable importance of the latter and that its employees are central to service delivery the dynamics of the concepts must be understood comprehensively. This study aims to add to this body of knowledge.Research purpose: To determine the level of job satisfaction and work engagement at National Treasury, and whether job satisfaction is a significant predictor of work engagement.Motivation for the study: South African Government’s financial performance, which is largely the responsibility of National Treasury is unsatisfactory. As this responsibility is carried out by its employees, noting that job satisfaction and work engagement are some of the more recognised antecedents for employee performance, these need to be understood as the first step towards intervention.Research approach/ design and method: A quantitative approach was followed wherein two questionnaires were administered via online census survey to all employees (n = 1189). Data collected were analysed using the mean and the frequency polygon. Multiple linear regression was conducted using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS).Main findings: Somewhat low levels of job satisfaction and work engagement were observed. Multiple linear regression has confirmed that job satisfaction is a predictor of work engagement (R2 = 49.1%). It was also discovered that non-monetary aspects of the former such as communication and access to promotional opportunities are significant predictors while pay is not.Practical / managerial implications: Job satisfaction, which relates to a focused state of work engagement, can also be harnessed through non-monetary aspects of the job.Contribution/ value added: The study provided insight into the level of job satisfaction and engagement at National Treasury and reinforced the sentiment that satisfied employees tend to be vigorous, dedicated and absorbed.

Factors influencing intention to leave of younger employees in an academic institution

Orientation: The retirement age of most of the academics currently in the workforce is approaching fast. To understand factors that would influence younger academics to leave the profession is becoming more important in order for institutions to avoid a knowledge gap and ensure information and skill transfer.Research purpose: The purpose of the study was to investigate factors influencing the intention to leave younger employees in an academic institution. The objective was to explore factors that would result in younger employees leaving the institution.Motivation for study: It is important to understand how younger employees experience the academic world in order to attract, develop and retain them within academia as employees.Research design, approach and method: Purposive sampling was utilised, which provided the researcher the opportunity to gain further understanding on participants whilst exploring their experiences. The participants were under the age of 35 years, either in possession of a master’s degree or in the process of obtaining a master’s degree. A thematic analysis was conducted after 17 semi-structured interviews were completed and transcribed.Main findings: The study revealed that employment practices are the leading reason for the intention to leave of younger academics followed by job satisfaction. Further reasons why employees considered leaving the institution were work engagement and well-being. These findings can assist in developing effective methods of attracting, managing, engaging and retaining these younger employees in the academic institution.Practical/managerial implications: The results of this study provide insights into human resource management practices to better manage and design methods to reduce younger academics’ intention to leave the institution.Contribution/value-add: Thoroughly exploring factors that can influence younger academics’ intention of leaving the profession, meaningful methods to encourage them to stay in these academic institutions could be designed.

Erratum: Burnout, employee engagement and self-perceived employability in the South African public sector

No abstract available.

Performance management as a mediator for work engagement and employment relationships in the public sector in South Africa

Orientation: To improve service delivery to its citizens, the South African public sector should aim to improve employees’ performance by implementing effective performance management that would impact positively on work engagement and employment relationships.Research purpose: The primary objective of this study was to determine whether performance management could be a mediator for work engagement and employment relationships in the public sector in South Africa.Motivation for the study: The success of the public sector relies primarily on performance management that strengthens work engagement and employment relationships, which in turn positively influence employee performance. Managers need to understand the influence of performance management on work engagement and employment relationships.Research approach/design and method: A quantitative approach was employed. Non-probability purposive sampling was used to select 400 permanent employees with more than 5 years of experience at job levels 1–12 in eight national departments based in Gauteng. A structured questionnaire was utilised as a data collection method in this study. The questionnaire for the study was divided into four sections and consisted of 74 Likert-scale questions.Main findings: This study showed a moderate correlation between performance management and work engagement and a strong correlation between performance management and employment relationships. This study indicated that performance management was indeed a mediator between work engagement and employment relationships.Practical/managerial implications: Management should ensure that employees understand the function of performance management as a whole, display a positive attitude towards the implementation of performance management, ensure that employees’ Key Performance Indicator (KPIs) adequately reflect their areas of responsibility, motivate the use of performance management through the reward structure and finally, training and orientation on performance management should also be provided to newly appointed and existing staff members to ensure strong work engagement and good employment relationships.Contribution/value-add: Contribution of the study to knowledge and practice surrounding performance management, work engagement and employment relationships. The contribution of this study is to impress on managers and leaders the influence of performance management on work engagement and employment relationships.

Self-perceived employability among undergraduate students at a South African university

Orientation: South Africa has been suffering from persistently high levels of unemployment since 2008. The youth is regarded as the most at-risk group in the South African labour market and unemployment amongst the youth is considered one of the most critical socio-economic problems in South Africa. Increasing one’s employability is essential to securing employment and enhancing one’s well-being.Research purpose: This study aimed to explore the self-perceived employability of undergraduate students at a South African university.Motivation for the study: Currently, there is a scarcity of published research on the self-perceived employability amongst undergraduate students at higher education institutions in South Africa.Research approach/design and method: The study was conducted within a positivistic research paradigm. A quantitative-based cross-sectional survey design was used. Convenience sampling was used to select the students who were included in the survey. Data were collected through a web-based survey, using a standardised coded questionnaire that consisted of a five-point Likert-type scale.Main findings: The results indicated that the respondents were relatively confident about their internal employability, but they were less confident about their opportunities in the external labour market.Practical/managerial implications: Understanding one’s employability and the accompanied issues creates awareness of one’s potential, skills and knowledge to become a successful citizen and employee.Contribution/value-add: The study shed light on the self-perceived employability of undergraduate students at a South African university and consequently contributes to the existing literature on employability in the South African context.