African Journal of Inter/Multidisciplinary Studies
Assumptions linking poverty with sex, associating poverty with agency, as well as connecting agen... more Assumptions linking poverty with sex, associating poverty with agency, as well as connecting agency with suicide, are widespread. Women are often seen as being affected more by poverty than are men. Men are frequently considered to possess more agency than are women, and men are also more prone to suicide than are women. The research aims to assess if poverty, agency, and suicide differences occur across sexual lines, if a poverty-agency-suicide ideation relationship is supported by data, and how this relationship is influenced by sex. A cross-sectional survey design was used, and interviews were conducted with 3,531 participants. Analyses of variance were performed to calculate whether differences in poverty, agency and suicide ideation exist across sexual lines. Correlation analysis was implemented to test for the poverty-agency-suicide ideation relationship, and regression analyses were used to test the moderating effects of sex on the poverty-agency-suicide ideation relationship...
Projectivised multisite research is gaining popularity, but is not without its pitfalls. Presente... more Projectivised multisite research is gaining popularity, but is not without its pitfalls. Presented are eight possible challenges that could be encountered, and strategies to manage them. This article presents valuable information to scholars planning projectivised multisite research endeavours.
Background: Corporate entrepreneurship (CE) is credited for many positive organisational outcomes... more Background: Corporate entrepreneurship (CE) is credited for many positive organisational outcomes, including systemic growth and increased revenue. Several terms associated with CE, including strategic renewal, corporate venturing and intrapreneurship are frequently used interchangeably and often confuse scholars, researchers and practitioners. The lack of clarity about the exact meaning of these terms is detrimental to the synergy in the current body of knowledge and the development of models involving these concepts. Objective: The aim of this paper was to describe CE as a unique concept, distinguishable from related concepts. Methodology: Several definitions of CE as well as the related terms were dissected, to identify core elements associated with each of them. The validity of these comprehensive definitions was tested by requesting 68 master's degree students to classify the definitions. Inter-rater reliabilities were calculated in order to assess the level of agreement in the classification of the constructs. Results: The results indicate that CE is difficult to distinguish from strategic renewal and corporate venturing, but that intrapreneurship seems to be better defined and separate from the other constructs. Conclusion: These results emphasise the conceptual confusion that exists around CE and the need for further clarification of terminology.
Integrity is an essential element of orderly co-existance and an important facet of professional ... more Integrity is an essential element of orderly co-existance and an important facet of professional policing. The objective of this study was to psychometrically evaluate the Integrity Profile 200 (IP 200), an instrument widely used in South Africa, to assess its utility as an integrity measure for use in the South African Police Service. Although the literature indicates that the constructs measured with the IP 200 are sound, an exploratory investigation in the South African Police Service reveals poor reliability and unacceptable inter-item correlations. This suggests poor factorial validity (model fit). Subsequently an exploratory factor analysis (N = 1457) was done to adapt the scale and improve the model fit. Four factors were extracted and analysed, and satisfactory psychometric properties were found for these factors, including the absence of race-based item bias. The factors are: (i) Integrity restricting orientation; (ii) Moral conscientiousness and accountability; (iii) Organisational/management integrity, and (iv) Lie scale. The results account for a significant deviation and simplification from the original instrument structure. It is recommended that the original IP 200 should not be used in this context but that the adapted scale be used.
Orientation: Within both the South African context and abroad, leaders are increasingly being req... more Orientation: Within both the South African context and abroad, leaders are increasingly being required to engage with staff members whose cultures differ from their own. As the attractiveness of different leadership styles varies in line with staff member cultural preferences, the challenge leaders face is that their behaviours may no longer be apposite. To this end, it is mostly unknown whether those leaders who are deemed culturally intelligent behave in a specific manner, that is, display the empowering and directive leadership styles.Research purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between leader cultural intelligence and the empowering and directive styles of leadership, as perceived by subordinates.Motivation for the study: To operate successfully, leaders need to adopt and display those leadership styles that best match the cultural expectations of their staff members. Cultural intelligence may assist in this respect. Most of the studies on leader c...
African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure, 2019
Fundamentally, it would be expected that men and women are treated equally, also where private ma... more Fundamentally, it would be expected that men and women are treated equally, also where private matters such as the access to toilets is concerned. Previous research reports on how gender discrimination is embedded in the design of public toilets, resulting in (dis)similar outcomes. This study, however, goes beyond simply comparing the number of toilets available to men and women, and also engages in the different experiences, associated by a male or a female using toilets while travelling for leisure purposes. Data were collected during a 12-day leisure trip departing from Johannesburg, visiting the south of France, and ultimately the city of Moscow. A mix-method of data generation was followed, incorporating quantitative observations of ablution facilities, as well as autoethnographical comments, which formed the qualitative part of the research. Quantitative data were collected from 16 sites. The quantitative data confirm previous findings that, at a numerical level, men have more...
African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure, 2018
It is noticeable that many restaurants in South Africa fail to keep their doors open – and this m... more It is noticeable that many restaurants in South Africa fail to keep their doors open – and this most often applies to non-franchised eateries. Small business entities may be deficient in market research, which could result in a mismatch between what is offered by them and what customers expect. The aim of this study was to analyse and present customer experiences and expectations of eateries in order to offer present and aspiring restaurateurs guidance on what may be required of them to succeed by retaining customers. An auto-ethnographic approach was followed, where customers (the participants) were required to document their experiences of eateries, focusing on what made them attractive and what they found repellent. Following the collection of the documents, the scripts were pooled and compared – to identify common themes, but also to identify idiosyncratic preferences. It was found that the food and drink offering played an important role in customer satisfaction, but that facto...
African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure, 2019
Employees are inclined to be passive or proactive, and proactive individuals are particularly val... more Employees are inclined to be passive or proactive, and proactive individuals are particularly valued in situations which call for action beyond that which is accepted as the customary, namely situations requiring contingency actions, as often experienced in the hospitality industry and the allied sectors. As the proactive personality (PP) was conceptualised in the United States of America (USA), and as it is associated with several valuable outcomes, the validation of the concept (via a measure thereof), within the South African context constitutes the aim of this study. South African employees (more than 3 000), across different organisations provided information on their inclinations to be proactive in their respective work contexts. A cross-sectional survey design was used, collecting quantitative data generated through standardised instruments, assessing PP traits, and correlations thereto, in order to test theoretically informed hypotheses. All the measures had acceptable relia...
Academic tourism has many definitions, mostly framed positively. However, when academics attend c... more Academic tourism has many definitions, mostly framed positively. However, when academics attend conferences or courses at foreign destinations, they are often accused of opportunism, implying that tourism and leisure take preference to academic goals. In this article the benefits associated with a visit to an academic institution in a foreign country are discussed. The article contrasts the leisure and monetary position of an academic attending a short course abroad versus someone who does not have the opportunity to travel. The results indicate that some leisure is afforded to those attending conferences, though this cannot be viewed in absolute terms. With regard to monetary benefits, no advantages are formally afforded to the academic who wants to engage in tourism activities while visiting foreign countries. Sceptics of academics travelling abroad and those who accuse them of opportunism are encouraged to quantify their arguments and not to blindly criticise those who travel for...
Researchers are often confronted with the dilemma of how many items to include in a questionnaire... more Researchers are often confronted with the dilemma of how many items to include in a questionnaire. On the one hand the researcher requires accurate and comprehensive information but, on the other, textbooks alert us to the danger of respondent fatigue and respondents disengaging as a result of completing lengthy questionnaires. This paper aims to empirically address the question of how many items a questionnaire can contain before additional items can be considered to be superfluous, as well as the question of at what stage fatigue and disengagement set in. The responses of 3 180 individuals to a questionnaire of 153 items were analysed, focusing on the number of missing cases as well as on zero-variance and flat response patterns. The results reveal that neither the number of missing values, nor zero-variance or flat response patterns, are a function of the number of items (already) completed. The results further reveal that the response pattern of respondents, on a battery of 153 ...
Much research has been done on the best time to purchase airline tickets. Most of these studies w... more Much research has been done on the best time to purchase airline tickets. Most of these studies were conducted within the United States of America (USA) and no such research relevant to the South African context could be located. The aim of this study was to determine the optimal time to buy airline tickets to international destinations from South Africa at low prices. The prices of airline tickets issued by seven airlines operating on seven different international routes constituted sources for departure dates ranging from one week to12 months in advance. Similar to USA research, the results revealed that the best time to purchase tickets at the most advantageous fare is between 150 and 200 days prior to departure. The collected data are presented as graphs reflecting the fluctuations in price over time. The results further revealed that the pricing of airline tickets to international destinations peaks around July and January each year. Pricing therefore seems to be seasonal, foll...
Foreign tourists' visits potentially constitute a valuable contributor to the gross domestic ... more Foreign tourists' visits potentially constitute a valuable contributor to the gross domestic product and foreign currency reserves of the host country. Governments seemingly acknowledge this and often introduce specific programmes to attract foreign tourists. This research proposes that general good governance alone relates to the number of tourists to be expected and that countries with good governance attract larger numbers of tourists than those who display poor governance. A hypothesis was tested where six proxies of good governance were used to predict tourism numbers in 158 countries. The data revealed that four of these proxies predicted tourism numbers, declaring 18.7% of the variance in tourism numbers. This research is important as it shows that tourists are attracted to countries which show high levels of good governance. When programmes to attract tourists are designed, this type of information should be included. These results should, however, be interpreted with ca...
CHAPTER 1 ORIENTATION 1.1 Background 1.2 Problem statement 1.3 Goals and objectives 1.4 Importanc... more CHAPTER 1 ORIENTATION 1.1 Background 1.2 Problem statement 1.3 Goals and objectives 1.4 Importance of the study 1.5 Delineation 1.6 Limitations 1.7 Research method 1.7.1 Literature review 1.7.2 Empirical investigation 1.8 Chapter divisions CHAPTER 2 OBJECTIVE 1 The relationship between leadership styles, innovation and organisational performance: A systematic review CHAPTER 3 OBJECTIVE 2 Organizational climate, innovation and performance: A systematic review CHAPTER 4 OBJECTIVE 3 The relationship between leadership style, organisational climate, innovation and organisational performance: An investigation into the research methodology used CHAPTER 5 OBJECTIVE 4 An examination of the instruments used to measure incremental and radical innovations: A systematic review CHAPTER 6 OBJECTIVE 5 10.1.1 Conclusions concerning the literature review 10.1.2 Conclusions concerning the empirical investigation 10.2 Cumulative summary and concluding remarks 10.3 Limitations and achievements 10.4
This paper presents the case of a large travel agency and relationships between HR practices and ... more This paper presents the case of a large travel agency and relationships between HR practices and employee attitudes (EA) in that specific organisation. A number of studies have shown that effective human resource (HR) practices correlate with positive employee attitudes (EA).The attitudes of interest in this study were job satisfaction, organisational commitment, work engagement as well as intention to quit. Positive EA are desirable as these are considered to constitute antecedents to organisational performance. As HR practices are under the control of managers, EA and organisational performance can be optimised should managers engage in implementing effective HR practices. Arguments for the use of universalistic, contingency and configurational perspectives in the implementation of HR practices are found in academic literature. However, literature generally does not indicate which perspective is applicable to a specific organisation. To optimise the validity of the results the rel...
Business coaching as an approach to leadership development has entered the field as a force to be... more Business coaching as an approach to leadership development has entered the field as a force to be reckoned with the past ten to fifteen years. It is, however, also slowly growing as an academic discipline despite the fact that it only has a small number of active researchers. The motivation behind this article is to report on and critically assess the qualitative research projects in business coaching research. A framework has been developed to analyse the information on qualitative methods used in social sciences research. Data on qualitative research and design strategies in business coaching was collected following the systematic literature methodology. The data was synthesised according to the following framework: title and abstract, literature reviews, method, findings and discussion. The article critically analyses the available information to give an overview of the research and design strategies that are used in research articles on business coaching. This article may serve ...
Introduction: Transformational leadership is hailed by many academics as a way of improving human... more Introduction: Transformational leadership is hailed by many academics as a way of improving human capital and increasing productivity. In the same way, corporate entrepreneurial spirit is seen as a road to innovation and transformation. Productivity, innovation and transformation are often cited as drivers of development, which could be important in promoting such activities in Africa. Objectives: To determine the extent to which an environment where transformational leadership is practised coincides with an environment that is conducive to the practice of corporate entrepreneurship. Method: Data was collected from 868 employees from 17 Southern African organisations. The respondents were asked to complete a series of questionnaires, including one on transformational leadership and one on corporate entrepreneurship. Informed consent was obtained before the questionnaires were administered. As well as descriptive statistics, correlations were also calculated. Results: The reliability...
The growth in the number of students engaging in research as part of their studies has increased ... more The growth in the number of students engaging in research as part of their studies has increased dramatically and, combined with the need to provide adequate research supervision, the exploration of alternative modes of conducting research together with students has emerged. One such mode of research can be called the hyper-structured student research project (HSSRP). This mode represents supervision where the research area, as well as the methodology, is specifically defined, and where students are supported and guided through every step of the research process, with the supervisor making most of the important research decisions on behalf of the students. Although the HSSRP has delivered on the institutional requirements of efficiency and throughput, there is a need to critically reflect on these projects to ascertain whether they meet academic and professional requirements. In this article, the acceptability of HSSRP projects will be analysed from a utilitarian perspective, considering dilemmas that may arise from, but also within such projects, and focusing on the public worth which follows from such projects. Several new insights have arisen from these analyses, and it has been found that the level of public worth of the HSSRP might be less than when more traditional modes of supervision are used. It may be concluded that the higher level outcomes, such as graduateness and professional preparedness, are not achieved through the HSSRP. This article presents an evaluation of the HSSRP from a multi-dimensional utility perspective and contributes to a debate often driven by self-serving bias and limited utilitarianism. This broader understanding of HSSRP can advance research through influencing the design of structured research projects so as to permit a more even distribution of utility and to support universities in delivering to a greater extent on their societal higher goals.
Literature suggests that performance appraisal (PA) contributes to innovation. However, the absol... more Literature suggests that performance appraisal (PA) contributes to innovation. However, the absolute and relative importance of PA to innovation, the different aspects of PA which drive innovation, as well as PA as a precursor among other antecedents to innovation, has not been adequately described. The aim of the study is to provide clarity on the drivers of innovation, specifically contextualising the impact of PA within the South African context. This study used a cross-sectional survey design, where only quantitative data was collected from full-time employees across private sector, parastatal, and government organisations. The respondents represented a broad cross-section of South African employees. PA and three other known antecedents to innovation, as well as innovation itself, were measured. It was found that PA (as a single variable) was responsible for 5.7% of the variance in innovation. Items in the PA scale with a clear link to innovation were identified, and thematicall...
Orientation: Innovation is essential to organisational survival, and several studies have shown t... more Orientation: Innovation is essential to organisational survival, and several studies have shown that performance appraisals (PAs) contribute to innovation.Research purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the importance of PA as an antecedent to innovation relative to other human resource practices (HRPs).Motivation for the study: The specific HRP drivers of innovation among employees and across organisations are not well specified, hindering appropriate resource allocation.Research approach/design and method: The PA–innovation link was investigated among 3180 employees across 53 South African organisations, utilising a cross-sectional survey design involving quantitative data, and focusing on correlation and regression analyses.Main findings: Human resource practices accounted for approximately 10% of the variance in innovation when considering individual employees. Performance appraisal was neither a common nor a unique predictor of innovation. When focusing on the link a...
Orientation: The effective delivery of human resource management (HRM) services is often associat... more Orientation: The effective delivery of human resource management (HRM) services is often associated with positive organisational outcomes, including innovation. Within the context of HRM service delivery, as well as within the scope of innovative behaviour, gender differences are often researched.Research purpose: To effectively research the role of HRM services in organisations, including the effects thereof on innovation, instruments that yield valid and invariant measures for men and women are required.Motivation for the study: To date no measurement invariance research on the Human Resource Practices Scale (HRPS), with reference to gender, could be located. Researchers and practitioners alike should be hesitant to use the HRPS without such information.Research approach/design and method: A cross-sectional quantitative survey design was used. The present study addressed the measurement invariance for the HRPS across men and women, applying pairwise multigroup confirmatory factor ...
African Journal of Inter/Multidisciplinary Studies
Assumptions linking poverty with sex, associating poverty with agency, as well as connecting agen... more Assumptions linking poverty with sex, associating poverty with agency, as well as connecting agency with suicide, are widespread. Women are often seen as being affected more by poverty than are men. Men are frequently considered to possess more agency than are women, and men are also more prone to suicide than are women. The research aims to assess if poverty, agency, and suicide differences occur across sexual lines, if a poverty-agency-suicide ideation relationship is supported by data, and how this relationship is influenced by sex. A cross-sectional survey design was used, and interviews were conducted with 3,531 participants. Analyses of variance were performed to calculate whether differences in poverty, agency and suicide ideation exist across sexual lines. Correlation analysis was implemented to test for the poverty-agency-suicide ideation relationship, and regression analyses were used to test the moderating effects of sex on the poverty-agency-suicide ideation relationship...
Projectivised multisite research is gaining popularity, but is not without its pitfalls. Presente... more Projectivised multisite research is gaining popularity, but is not without its pitfalls. Presented are eight possible challenges that could be encountered, and strategies to manage them. This article presents valuable information to scholars planning projectivised multisite research endeavours.
Background: Corporate entrepreneurship (CE) is credited for many positive organisational outcomes... more Background: Corporate entrepreneurship (CE) is credited for many positive organisational outcomes, including systemic growth and increased revenue. Several terms associated with CE, including strategic renewal, corporate venturing and intrapreneurship are frequently used interchangeably and often confuse scholars, researchers and practitioners. The lack of clarity about the exact meaning of these terms is detrimental to the synergy in the current body of knowledge and the development of models involving these concepts. Objective: The aim of this paper was to describe CE as a unique concept, distinguishable from related concepts. Methodology: Several definitions of CE as well as the related terms were dissected, to identify core elements associated with each of them. The validity of these comprehensive definitions was tested by requesting 68 master's degree students to classify the definitions. Inter-rater reliabilities were calculated in order to assess the level of agreement in the classification of the constructs. Results: The results indicate that CE is difficult to distinguish from strategic renewal and corporate venturing, but that intrapreneurship seems to be better defined and separate from the other constructs. Conclusion: These results emphasise the conceptual confusion that exists around CE and the need for further clarification of terminology.
Integrity is an essential element of orderly co-existance and an important facet of professional ... more Integrity is an essential element of orderly co-existance and an important facet of professional policing. The objective of this study was to psychometrically evaluate the Integrity Profile 200 (IP 200), an instrument widely used in South Africa, to assess its utility as an integrity measure for use in the South African Police Service. Although the literature indicates that the constructs measured with the IP 200 are sound, an exploratory investigation in the South African Police Service reveals poor reliability and unacceptable inter-item correlations. This suggests poor factorial validity (model fit). Subsequently an exploratory factor analysis (N = 1457) was done to adapt the scale and improve the model fit. Four factors were extracted and analysed, and satisfactory psychometric properties were found for these factors, including the absence of race-based item bias. The factors are: (i) Integrity restricting orientation; (ii) Moral conscientiousness and accountability; (iii) Organisational/management integrity, and (iv) Lie scale. The results account for a significant deviation and simplification from the original instrument structure. It is recommended that the original IP 200 should not be used in this context but that the adapted scale be used.
Orientation: Within both the South African context and abroad, leaders are increasingly being req... more Orientation: Within both the South African context and abroad, leaders are increasingly being required to engage with staff members whose cultures differ from their own. As the attractiveness of different leadership styles varies in line with staff member cultural preferences, the challenge leaders face is that their behaviours may no longer be apposite. To this end, it is mostly unknown whether those leaders who are deemed culturally intelligent behave in a specific manner, that is, display the empowering and directive leadership styles.Research purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between leader cultural intelligence and the empowering and directive styles of leadership, as perceived by subordinates.Motivation for the study: To operate successfully, leaders need to adopt and display those leadership styles that best match the cultural expectations of their staff members. Cultural intelligence may assist in this respect. Most of the studies on leader c...
African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure, 2019
Fundamentally, it would be expected that men and women are treated equally, also where private ma... more Fundamentally, it would be expected that men and women are treated equally, also where private matters such as the access to toilets is concerned. Previous research reports on how gender discrimination is embedded in the design of public toilets, resulting in (dis)similar outcomes. This study, however, goes beyond simply comparing the number of toilets available to men and women, and also engages in the different experiences, associated by a male or a female using toilets while travelling for leisure purposes. Data were collected during a 12-day leisure trip departing from Johannesburg, visiting the south of France, and ultimately the city of Moscow. A mix-method of data generation was followed, incorporating quantitative observations of ablution facilities, as well as autoethnographical comments, which formed the qualitative part of the research. Quantitative data were collected from 16 sites. The quantitative data confirm previous findings that, at a numerical level, men have more...
African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure, 2018
It is noticeable that many restaurants in South Africa fail to keep their doors open – and this m... more It is noticeable that many restaurants in South Africa fail to keep their doors open – and this most often applies to non-franchised eateries. Small business entities may be deficient in market research, which could result in a mismatch between what is offered by them and what customers expect. The aim of this study was to analyse and present customer experiences and expectations of eateries in order to offer present and aspiring restaurateurs guidance on what may be required of them to succeed by retaining customers. An auto-ethnographic approach was followed, where customers (the participants) were required to document their experiences of eateries, focusing on what made them attractive and what they found repellent. Following the collection of the documents, the scripts were pooled and compared – to identify common themes, but also to identify idiosyncratic preferences. It was found that the food and drink offering played an important role in customer satisfaction, but that facto...
African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure, 2019
Employees are inclined to be passive or proactive, and proactive individuals are particularly val... more Employees are inclined to be passive or proactive, and proactive individuals are particularly valued in situations which call for action beyond that which is accepted as the customary, namely situations requiring contingency actions, as often experienced in the hospitality industry and the allied sectors. As the proactive personality (PP) was conceptualised in the United States of America (USA), and as it is associated with several valuable outcomes, the validation of the concept (via a measure thereof), within the South African context constitutes the aim of this study. South African employees (more than 3 000), across different organisations provided information on their inclinations to be proactive in their respective work contexts. A cross-sectional survey design was used, collecting quantitative data generated through standardised instruments, assessing PP traits, and correlations thereto, in order to test theoretically informed hypotheses. All the measures had acceptable relia...
Academic tourism has many definitions, mostly framed positively. However, when academics attend c... more Academic tourism has many definitions, mostly framed positively. However, when academics attend conferences or courses at foreign destinations, they are often accused of opportunism, implying that tourism and leisure take preference to academic goals. In this article the benefits associated with a visit to an academic institution in a foreign country are discussed. The article contrasts the leisure and monetary position of an academic attending a short course abroad versus someone who does not have the opportunity to travel. The results indicate that some leisure is afforded to those attending conferences, though this cannot be viewed in absolute terms. With regard to monetary benefits, no advantages are formally afforded to the academic who wants to engage in tourism activities while visiting foreign countries. Sceptics of academics travelling abroad and those who accuse them of opportunism are encouraged to quantify their arguments and not to blindly criticise those who travel for...
Researchers are often confronted with the dilemma of how many items to include in a questionnaire... more Researchers are often confronted with the dilemma of how many items to include in a questionnaire. On the one hand the researcher requires accurate and comprehensive information but, on the other, textbooks alert us to the danger of respondent fatigue and respondents disengaging as a result of completing lengthy questionnaires. This paper aims to empirically address the question of how many items a questionnaire can contain before additional items can be considered to be superfluous, as well as the question of at what stage fatigue and disengagement set in. The responses of 3 180 individuals to a questionnaire of 153 items were analysed, focusing on the number of missing cases as well as on zero-variance and flat response patterns. The results reveal that neither the number of missing values, nor zero-variance or flat response patterns, are a function of the number of items (already) completed. The results further reveal that the response pattern of respondents, on a battery of 153 ...
Much research has been done on the best time to purchase airline tickets. Most of these studies w... more Much research has been done on the best time to purchase airline tickets. Most of these studies were conducted within the United States of America (USA) and no such research relevant to the South African context could be located. The aim of this study was to determine the optimal time to buy airline tickets to international destinations from South Africa at low prices. The prices of airline tickets issued by seven airlines operating on seven different international routes constituted sources for departure dates ranging from one week to12 months in advance. Similar to USA research, the results revealed that the best time to purchase tickets at the most advantageous fare is between 150 and 200 days prior to departure. The collected data are presented as graphs reflecting the fluctuations in price over time. The results further revealed that the pricing of airline tickets to international destinations peaks around July and January each year. Pricing therefore seems to be seasonal, foll...
Foreign tourists' visits potentially constitute a valuable contributor to the gross domestic ... more Foreign tourists' visits potentially constitute a valuable contributor to the gross domestic product and foreign currency reserves of the host country. Governments seemingly acknowledge this and often introduce specific programmes to attract foreign tourists. This research proposes that general good governance alone relates to the number of tourists to be expected and that countries with good governance attract larger numbers of tourists than those who display poor governance. A hypothesis was tested where six proxies of good governance were used to predict tourism numbers in 158 countries. The data revealed that four of these proxies predicted tourism numbers, declaring 18.7% of the variance in tourism numbers. This research is important as it shows that tourists are attracted to countries which show high levels of good governance. When programmes to attract tourists are designed, this type of information should be included. These results should, however, be interpreted with ca...
CHAPTER 1 ORIENTATION 1.1 Background 1.2 Problem statement 1.3 Goals and objectives 1.4 Importanc... more CHAPTER 1 ORIENTATION 1.1 Background 1.2 Problem statement 1.3 Goals and objectives 1.4 Importance of the study 1.5 Delineation 1.6 Limitations 1.7 Research method 1.7.1 Literature review 1.7.2 Empirical investigation 1.8 Chapter divisions CHAPTER 2 OBJECTIVE 1 The relationship between leadership styles, innovation and organisational performance: A systematic review CHAPTER 3 OBJECTIVE 2 Organizational climate, innovation and performance: A systematic review CHAPTER 4 OBJECTIVE 3 The relationship between leadership style, organisational climate, innovation and organisational performance: An investigation into the research methodology used CHAPTER 5 OBJECTIVE 4 An examination of the instruments used to measure incremental and radical innovations: A systematic review CHAPTER 6 OBJECTIVE 5 10.1.1 Conclusions concerning the literature review 10.1.2 Conclusions concerning the empirical investigation 10.2 Cumulative summary and concluding remarks 10.3 Limitations and achievements 10.4
This paper presents the case of a large travel agency and relationships between HR practices and ... more This paper presents the case of a large travel agency and relationships between HR practices and employee attitudes (EA) in that specific organisation. A number of studies have shown that effective human resource (HR) practices correlate with positive employee attitudes (EA).The attitudes of interest in this study were job satisfaction, organisational commitment, work engagement as well as intention to quit. Positive EA are desirable as these are considered to constitute antecedents to organisational performance. As HR practices are under the control of managers, EA and organisational performance can be optimised should managers engage in implementing effective HR practices. Arguments for the use of universalistic, contingency and configurational perspectives in the implementation of HR practices are found in academic literature. However, literature generally does not indicate which perspective is applicable to a specific organisation. To optimise the validity of the results the rel...
Business coaching as an approach to leadership development has entered the field as a force to be... more Business coaching as an approach to leadership development has entered the field as a force to be reckoned with the past ten to fifteen years. It is, however, also slowly growing as an academic discipline despite the fact that it only has a small number of active researchers. The motivation behind this article is to report on and critically assess the qualitative research projects in business coaching research. A framework has been developed to analyse the information on qualitative methods used in social sciences research. Data on qualitative research and design strategies in business coaching was collected following the systematic literature methodology. The data was synthesised according to the following framework: title and abstract, literature reviews, method, findings and discussion. The article critically analyses the available information to give an overview of the research and design strategies that are used in research articles on business coaching. This article may serve ...
Introduction: Transformational leadership is hailed by many academics as a way of improving human... more Introduction: Transformational leadership is hailed by many academics as a way of improving human capital and increasing productivity. In the same way, corporate entrepreneurial spirit is seen as a road to innovation and transformation. Productivity, innovation and transformation are often cited as drivers of development, which could be important in promoting such activities in Africa. Objectives: To determine the extent to which an environment where transformational leadership is practised coincides with an environment that is conducive to the practice of corporate entrepreneurship. Method: Data was collected from 868 employees from 17 Southern African organisations. The respondents were asked to complete a series of questionnaires, including one on transformational leadership and one on corporate entrepreneurship. Informed consent was obtained before the questionnaires were administered. As well as descriptive statistics, correlations were also calculated. Results: The reliability...
The growth in the number of students engaging in research as part of their studies has increased ... more The growth in the number of students engaging in research as part of their studies has increased dramatically and, combined with the need to provide adequate research supervision, the exploration of alternative modes of conducting research together with students has emerged. One such mode of research can be called the hyper-structured student research project (HSSRP). This mode represents supervision where the research area, as well as the methodology, is specifically defined, and where students are supported and guided through every step of the research process, with the supervisor making most of the important research decisions on behalf of the students. Although the HSSRP has delivered on the institutional requirements of efficiency and throughput, there is a need to critically reflect on these projects to ascertain whether they meet academic and professional requirements. In this article, the acceptability of HSSRP projects will be analysed from a utilitarian perspective, considering dilemmas that may arise from, but also within such projects, and focusing on the public worth which follows from such projects. Several new insights have arisen from these analyses, and it has been found that the level of public worth of the HSSRP might be less than when more traditional modes of supervision are used. It may be concluded that the higher level outcomes, such as graduateness and professional preparedness, are not achieved through the HSSRP. This article presents an evaluation of the HSSRP from a multi-dimensional utility perspective and contributes to a debate often driven by self-serving bias and limited utilitarianism. This broader understanding of HSSRP can advance research through influencing the design of structured research projects so as to permit a more even distribution of utility and to support universities in delivering to a greater extent on their societal higher goals.
Literature suggests that performance appraisal (PA) contributes to innovation. However, the absol... more Literature suggests that performance appraisal (PA) contributes to innovation. However, the absolute and relative importance of PA to innovation, the different aspects of PA which drive innovation, as well as PA as a precursor among other antecedents to innovation, has not been adequately described. The aim of the study is to provide clarity on the drivers of innovation, specifically contextualising the impact of PA within the South African context. This study used a cross-sectional survey design, where only quantitative data was collected from full-time employees across private sector, parastatal, and government organisations. The respondents represented a broad cross-section of South African employees. PA and three other known antecedents to innovation, as well as innovation itself, were measured. It was found that PA (as a single variable) was responsible for 5.7% of the variance in innovation. Items in the PA scale with a clear link to innovation were identified, and thematicall...
Orientation: Innovation is essential to organisational survival, and several studies have shown t... more Orientation: Innovation is essential to organisational survival, and several studies have shown that performance appraisals (PAs) contribute to innovation.Research purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the importance of PA as an antecedent to innovation relative to other human resource practices (HRPs).Motivation for the study: The specific HRP drivers of innovation among employees and across organisations are not well specified, hindering appropriate resource allocation.Research approach/design and method: The PA–innovation link was investigated among 3180 employees across 53 South African organisations, utilising a cross-sectional survey design involving quantitative data, and focusing on correlation and regression analyses.Main findings: Human resource practices accounted for approximately 10% of the variance in innovation when considering individual employees. Performance appraisal was neither a common nor a unique predictor of innovation. When focusing on the link a...
Orientation: The effective delivery of human resource management (HRM) services is often associat... more Orientation: The effective delivery of human resource management (HRM) services is often associated with positive organisational outcomes, including innovation. Within the context of HRM service delivery, as well as within the scope of innovative behaviour, gender differences are often researched.Research purpose: To effectively research the role of HRM services in organisations, including the effects thereof on innovation, instruments that yield valid and invariant measures for men and women are required.Motivation for the study: To date no measurement invariance research on the Human Resource Practices Scale (HRPS), with reference to gender, could be located. Researchers and practitioners alike should be hesitant to use the HRPS without such information.Research approach/design and method: A cross-sectional quantitative survey design was used. The present study addressed the measurement invariance for the HRPS across men and women, applying pairwise multigroup confirmatory factor ...
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Papers by Renier Steyn