The objective of this research was to determine the relationship between personality dimensions and job performance. A cross-sectional survey design was used. The study population consisted of 159 employees of a pharmaceutical company. The NEO-Personality Inventory – Revised and Performance Appraisal Questionnaire were used as measuring instruments. The results showed that Emotional Stability, Extraversion, Openness to Experience and Conscientiousness were related to task performance and creativity. Three personality dimensions, namely Emotional Stability, Openness to Experience and Agreeableness, explained 28% of the variance in participants’ management performance.<p> <strong>Opsomming</strong> <br>Die doelstelling van hierdie navorsing was om die verband tussen persoonlikheidsdimensies en werksprestasie te bepaal. ‘n Eenmalige dwarsdeursnee-ontwerp is gebruik. Die ondersoekgroep het bestaan uit 159 werknemers binne ‘n farmaseutiese organisasie. Die NEO-Personality Inventory – Revised en die Prestasiebeoordelingsvraelys is as meetinstrumente gebruik. Die resultate het aangetoon dat Emosionele Stabiliteit, Ekstroversie en Konsensieusheid met taakverrigting en kreatiwiteit verband hou. Drie persoonlikheidsdimensies, naamlik Emosionele Stabiliteit, Openheid vir Ervaring en Inskiklikheid, het 28% van die variansie in bestuursprestasie (soos beoordeel deur toesighouers) voorspel

No abstract

The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between job satisfaction, occupational stress, burnout and work engagement as dimensions of work-related wellbeing in a sample of members of the police force in South Africa. A survey design was used. Stratifed random samples of members of the police force (N = 677) were taken in the North West Province of South Africa. The Minnesota Job Satisfaction Questionnaire, Police Stress Inventory, Maslach Burnout Inventory – General Survey and Utrecht Work Engagement Scale were used as measuring instruments. The results provided support for a four-factorial model of work-related wellbeing consisting of the following dimensions: job satisfaction (indicating pleasure vs. displeasure), occupational stress (indicating anxiety vs. comfort), burnout (indicating fatigue vs. vigour), and engagement (indicating enthusiasm vs. depression).

The present study, part of the development of the South African Personality Inventory (SAPI), explores the implicit personality structure in the 11 official language groups of South Africa by employing a mixed-method approach. In the first, qualitative part of the study, semistructured interviews were conducted with 1,216 participants from the 11 official language groups. The derived personality-descriptive terms were categorized and clustered based on their semantic relations in iterative steps involving group discussions and contacts with language and cultural experts. This analysis identified 37 subclusters, which could be merged in 9 broad clusters: Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability, Extraversion, Facilitating, Integrity, Intellect, Openness, Relationship Harmony, and Soft-Heartedness. In the second, quantitative part, the perceived relations between the 37 subclusters were rated by 204 students from different language groups in South Africa and 95 students in the Netherlands. The outcomes generally supported the adequacy of the conceptual model, although several clusters in the domain of relational and social functioning did not replicate in detail. The outcomes of these studies revealed a personality structure with a strong emphasis on social-relational aspects of personality.

<strong>Orientation:</strong> The psychological empowerment of employees might affect their engagement. However, psychological empowerment and employee engagement might also be influenced by job insecurity.<p><strong>Research purposes:</strong> The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between psychological empowerment, job insecurity and employee engagement.</p><p><strong>Motivation for the study:</strong> Employee engagement results in positive individual and organisational outcomes and research information about the antecedents will provide valuable information for the purposes of diagnosis and intervention.</p><p><strong>Research design, approach and method:</strong> A correlational design was used. Survey design was conducted among 442 employees in a government and a manufacturing organisation. The measuring instruments included the Psychological Empowerment Questionnaire, the Job Insecurity Inventory, and the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale.</p><p><strong>Main findings:</strong> Statistically significant relationships were found between psychological empowerment, job insecurity and employee engagement. A multivariate analysis of variance showed that affective job insecurity had a main effect on three dimensions of psychological empowerment (viz. competence, meaning and impact) and on employee engagement. Affective job insecurity moderated the effect of psychological empowerment on employee engagement.</p><p><strong>Practical implications:</strong> The implication of the results is that interventions that focus on the psychological empowerment of employees (viz. meaningfulness, competence, self-determination and impact) will contribute to the engagement (vigour, dedication and absorption) of employees. If job insecurity is high, it is crucial to attend to the psychological empowerment of employees.</p><p><strong>Contribution:</strong> This study contributes to knowledge about the conditions that precede employee engagement, and shows that the dimensions of psychological empowerment (namely experienced meaningfulness, competence, impact and self-determination) play an important role in this regard.</p><p><strong>How to cite this article:<br /></strong> Stander, M.W., & Rothmann, S. (2010). Psychological empowerment, job insecurity and employee engagement. <em>SA Journal of Industrial Psychology/SA Tydskrif vir Bedryfsielkunde</em>,<em> 36</em>(1), Art. #849, 8 pages. DOI:10.4102/sajip.v36i1.849</p>