This qualitative study reports on the role of university lecturers in the wellbeing of undergraduate students. A sample of undergraduate student participants (n=335) at a large, urban residential university in the Gauteng Province of South Africa participated in rapid, face-to-face interviews. Interviews were conducted by student fieldworkers during multiple four-hour blocks on all weekdays. Data was analysed by means of thematic analysis. Findings indicate that university lecturers play a substantive role in the wellbeing of undergraduate students. These findings are significant in that they have emerged from open-ended questioning. Furthermore, the role of university lecturers is frequently unrecognised in terms of the psychological wellbeing of students and rather articulated in terms of the academic task. The findings present the role of lecturers in student wellbeing in a multi-faceted way. It is delineated as lecturer support, benevolence, lecturer competence, lecturer availability, interaction, and the lecturer's attitude towards their work.

Orientation: Qualitative research is marked by phenomenal growth and development over the years.Research purpose: This article aims to offer insight into the emerging qualitative methodologies used in the fields of Psychology, Industrial and Organisational Psychology and Human Resource Management.Motivation for the study: The value of qualitative organisational research has been recognised since the 1970s. Regardless of its perceived value, national and international trends show a greater tendency for quantitative research.Research design, approach and method: This article investigates qualitative articles (n = 242) published over two decades in the South African Journal of Industrial Psychology (SAJIP), South African Journal of Psychology (SAJP), and the South African Journal of Human Resource Management (SAJHRM). More specifically, a content analysis was conducted to highlight the trends of paradigms, designs and analysis methods employed in the studies.Main findings: Although there seems to be a slight increase in qualitative publications over the years, qualitative studies show a lower volume than its counterparts. The SAJIP published the least qualitative articles when compared to the SAJP and SAJHRM. There is a pattern of preference for specific paradigms and methods in all the journals. Overall, all the journals carry a large number of articles that do not specifically state their paradigmatic alignment or the designs they used, while some articles omits the methodology used in the studies altogether.Practical/managerial implications: The results indicate a clear need for increased exposure to qualitative methodology, both by publishing more qualitative studies in local journals and by providing formal training opportunities. A publication does not solely rely on authorship, but also on a review process. Therefore certain adjustments in this process may lead to more and better qualitative publications in future.Contribution/value-add: This article provides a critical analysis of the current trends and developments in qualitative research conducted in Industrial and Organisational Psychology(IOP) research in South Africa. The study identifies dominant methodologies in use, and thereby identifies possible opportunities to expand the ‘methodological menu’ of IOP research.

Our research aimed to expand the understanding of decent work at a micro level by exploring the concept among the intended target group for which the Psychology of Work Theory (PWT) was developed for (unskilled and semi-skilled workers). By using an interpretive phenomenological approach and drawing on 13 focus group discussions (with 71 South African blue-collar workers), our findings revealed both objective (e.g. job characteristics and resources, working conditions and skills reproduction) and subjective dimensions (e.g. challenge and mastery and fairness) of decent work. We expand existing knowledge about the work experiences of blue-collar workers as an underrepresented research sample, specifically within a non-western context (i.e. South Africa). Furthermore, we provide some in-depth nuances when considering the PWT for blue-collar workers. Based on our empirical findings and extant literature, our study shows ways in which the existing conceptualizations of decent work can be expanded in order to reflect the perceptions of blue-collar workers in South Africa.

This article is based on an autoethnographic study I carried out between 2004 and 2015 to explore the benefits of group supervision. I obtained my data from self-observations and self-reflections, documents and artefacts of my supervision practice, observations, and field notes on both the context and the students. I also collected external data from my (mostly master's) students through interactive interviews, informal conversations, e-mail exchanges and recordings of group supervision sessions. Most group supervision practices rely on highly structured faculty-wide implementation systems. My finding was that both student and supervisor benefitted significantly from group supervision even though the implementation was on a supervisor level. The benefits observed were enhanced when the group consisted of a small number of diverse students.