Background: The significance of how occupational noise can influence attitudes towards occupational noise exposure, susceptibility to hearing loss and job performance has generally been neglected in the past studies.Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine the impact of occupational noise on attitudes towards occupational noise exposure, susceptibility to hearing loss and job performance of manufacturing small and medium enterprises (SMEs) workers in Zimbabwe.Method: A survey was conducted involving 250 respondents, including manufacturing SME workers, and the hypotheses were analysed by applying structural equation modelling.Results: Occupational noise had a positive and significant effect on attitudes towards occupational noise exposure and perceived susceptibility to hearing loss amongst manufacturing SME workers. In addition, attitudes towards exposure to occupational noise and the perceived susceptibility of hearing loss have had a positive and significant impact on manufacturing SME workers’ job performance.Conclusion: The novelty of the research is its analysis of occupational noise as an indicator of attitudes towards occupational noise exposure and susceptibility to hearing loss as well as job performance. This study provides practitioners with beneficial implications. Collective knowledge on occupational noise could help manufacturing SME managers in recognising the perceptions of employees on occupational noise and how it ultimately affects job performance. Moreover, this study is intended to add new knowledge to the current body of African occupational noise literature – a context that has not received much research attention in developing countries.

Organisational politics has developed into an essential construct in organisational research. It has attracted the attention of management researchers and organisational psychologists worldwide. Politics is an integral part of any organisation; however, there are key variances in the level and strength of such politics. Organisational politics is a significant element of organisational being, which represents a conduct in which individual benefits are secured over the organisational benefits. There is however, till to date insufficient research in the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) sector. This study examines the influence of organisational politics on job stress among SMEs employees in Matlosana Local District. A quantitative method (questionnaire survey) was used to gather data from 431 SMEs employees in Matlosana Local District of South Africa. Smart PLS 3 was used to test the relationships among the six hypotheses. The study validates that there is a significant positive relationship between political behaviour, get ahead, pay and promotion policies on time stress and anxiety. The findings also emphasised that organisational politics is considered as a hindrance-related stressor that hampers the proper functioning of individual employees. RK LETSHABA EC CHINOMONA Organisational Politics and Job Stress among SMES Employees

In this ever-changing business milieu, growth is generally perceived positively for business as it is considered a measure of success and a key driver in the creation of wealth, employment, and economic development. This paper therefore investigates the relationship between structural differentiation, organisational learning capability, co-operative venturing and business growth from the perspective of SME managers. To this end, a unique conceptual model was developed and empirically tested. The survey method was adopted where a questionnaire was administered to SME managers within the Gauteng province of South Africa. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS 25 and Smart PLS 3.0 to generate the sample profile and to test the proposed hypothesis, respectively. Organisational learning capabilities had a noticeably stronger impact on successful corporate venturing as compared to structural differentiation, suggesting that SMEs have to invest more resources toward improving employees’ knowledge of the job within their respecting roles within SMEs.