Sebastiaan Rothmann

North-West University | NWU · Optentia Research Unit

Orientation: A lack of employability attributes is often suggested as one of the main reasons for the existing new graduate supply–demand gap. Research purpose: The study aimed to empirically explore managerial expectations of new graduate employability attributes and what managers are prepared to do to enable new graduates in this regard. Motiva...

Studying the sustainable employability of emergency nurses is important, given the precarious environment in which they work. This study used a cross-sectional survey of 204 emergency nursing professionals to investigate their sustainable employability in a South African context from the perspectives of precarious work, mental toughness, capabiliti...

Purpose-This study aims to investigate the associations among decent work (DW), capabilities and the flourishing of employees in a South African context. Design/methodology/approach-A cross-sectional survey was conducted with a convenience sample (N = 436) of early childhood development practitioners from two South African provinces. A demographic...

Emergency nurses are prone to burnout due to the nature of their profession and working environment, potentially putting their sustainable employability at risk and so too the care provided by and success of emergency departments. Psychological research has predominantly focused on samples drawn from western, educated, industrialized, rich, and dem...

Orientation: Education trends in Africa indicate that key ingredients for effective education are elusive, impacting the teachers who need to remain productive, motivated and healthy in this environment. Research purpose: Using machine learning active learning technology, the study aimed to review current literature related to the factors affectin...

This study investigated emergency nurses’ job demands-resources profiles and the associations thereof with their work capabilities, job performance, and intention to leave. A cross-sectional survey was used to gather data from emergency nurses working in South Africa (n = 204). The Job Demands-Resources Scale, Capability Set for Work Questionnaire,...

Intergroup contact provides a reliable means of reducing prejudice. Yet, critics suggested that its efficacy is undermined, even eliminated, under certain conditions. Specifically, contact may be ineffective in the face of threat, especially to (historically) advantaged groups, and discrimination, experienced especially by (historically) disadvanta...

The self-determination theory denotes that employees’ basic psychological needs should be fulfilled for them to experience optimal functioning (‘bright’ pathway). However, these needs may also be thwarted, often resulting in less favorable outcomes (‘dark’ pathway). Although need satisfaction has been widely researched, need frustration has been ex...

This study aimed to investigate the impact of demographic and contextual variables on boredom in English and mathematics, and to test structural models of boredom, learner burnout, learner engagement, and life satisfaction. Using a cross-sectional survey design and employing a convenience sampling technique, 544 secondary school learners in the Sed...

This study aimed to identify job embeddedness profiles of employees in a paper manufacturing organization in South Africa and examine the associations between these profiles and employees’ relations with supervisors and their job satisfaction and work engagement. A sample of 213 participants from a paper manufacturing organization in South Africa t...

Orientation: Special schools cannot execute their mandate if teachers lack emotional well-being and meaning in their work, perform poorly and quit their jobs. Research purpose: This study aimed to investigate the work capabilities of Namibian special education teachers and the effects thereof on their functionings. Motivation for the study: The c...

Orientation: The capability for work framework led to a shift in thinking about occupational health psychology. The value of work can only be preserved if decision-makers recognise that employees value their work and the competencies needed to excel at work. Research purpose: This study aimed to develop a list of capabilities from 21st-century com...

This study aimed to investigate the job demands-resources profiles and work capabilities of special education teachers in Namibia and their effect on work engagement and intention to leave. A convenience sample was taken of teachers from seven different regions across Namibia (N = 200). The Capability Set for Work Questionnaire, the Job Demands-Res...

Institutions cannot ignore the need for the sustainable employability of people. This study aimed to investigate the sustainable employability of special education teachers from the perspective of employment precariousness, capabilities, and functioning (flourishing and intention to leave) of special education teachers in Namibia. Using a cross-sec...

Despite its popularity in practice, the Grit-O Scale has shown inconsistent factorial structures and differing levels of internal consistency in samples outside the USA. The validity of the Grit-O Scale in different contexts is, therefore, questionable. As such, the purpose of this paper was to determine whether the Grit-O Scale could be used as a...

Orientation: Graduate employability remains high on researchers’ and practitioners’ agendas. Consequently, many studies have been conducted on the topic (also from a managerial perspective). A synthesis of these studies is however lacking, complicating decision-making for stakeholders with a vested interest in the topic. Research purpose: This stu...

Positive psychology is one of the fastest-growing sub-disciplines of psychology and established itself as a genuinely transdisciplinary science. It has broadened our understanding of the elements of wellbeing and the factors that undermine it. However, despite its growth and contribution, positive psychology is not without its challenges. Since its...

This study aimed to identify the capabilities of secondary school teachers-valued aspects of work that are enabled and can be realized-and investigate the effects of these capabilities on three functionings: flourishing at work, organizational citizenship behavior, and intention to leave. A convenience sample of secondary school teachers (N = 144)...

Academic self-efficacy (ASE) refers to a student's global belief in his/her ability to master the various academic challenges at university and is an essential antecedent of wellbeing and performance. The five-item General Academic Self-Efficacy Scale (GASE) showed promise as a short and concise measure for overall ASE. However, of its validity and...

In general, being unemployed has negative implications for the individual and the mental health of the public as a collective. One way to escape this situation is to search for a job. However, following self-determination theory (SDT), unemployed people’s different reasons (i.e., their motivation) for engaging in a job search influence their well-b...

Positive psychology is one of the fastest-growing sub-disciplines of psychology and established itself as a genuinely transdisciplinary science. It has broadened our understanding of the elements of wellbeing and the factors that undermine it. However, despite its growth and contribution, positive psychology is not without its challenges. Since its...

The aim of this study was to investigate how job crafting, work engagement, and workaholism were related in public sector organizations. The participants (N = 213) were civil servants from three Finnish public organizations, representing different professions, such as school personnel, secretaries, directors, parking attendants, and ICT specialists...

Caregiver monitoring and warmth have protective mental health effects for adolescents, including vulnerable adolescents. However, combinations of the aforesaid parenting behaviours and their relationship with adolescent mental health are underexplored, especially among younger and older South African (SA) adolescents challenged by structural disadv...

Orientation: Employee social well-being is likely to influence individual and organisational outcomes, especially in African countries where a high premium is often placed on one’s personhood being rooted in one’s relations with others. Research purpose: This study investigated the associations between social well-being, job satisfaction, organisa...

Using person-centered latent profile analyses, this article reports two distinct sub-groups—nominal versus robust cultural allegiance—that characterize how a sample of 14- to 24-year-olds from stressed environments in South Africa ( n = 576, n females = 314, n males = 257) and Canada ( n =V481; n females = 270, n males = 211) engage with four cultu...

Providing a complete and contemporary overview of the evolving and fascinating world of work, this new edition of Work and Organizational Psychology is the perfect textbook, outlining not only key theoretical ideas, but how they relate to the role of psychologists advising today’s organizations. Integrating the fields of human resource management a...

According to the self-determination theory, individuals' basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness should be satisfied for optimal psychological growth. The satisfaction of these needs seems to vary due to changes in a person's social context, and the outcomes of the satisfaction of these needs also vary along with the nee...

The recent empirical data represented the unprecedented opportunity to understand how threatful situations affect people adaptive and mal-adaptive behaviour and diverse ways to cope with the situation. In particular, the people with existing mental health issues such as dark tetrad personality found to be higher in forming an unhealthy relationship...

The study aimed to identify trust profiles in the work domain and to study how these patterns related to psychological need satisfaction, work engagement, and intentions to leave. A cross-sectional survey with a convenience sample (N = 298) was used. The Behavioral Trust Inventory, the Work-related Basic Need Satisfaction Scale, the Work Engagement...

Strengths use is an essential personal resource to consider when designing higher-educational programs and interventions. Strengths use is associated with positive outcomes for both the student (e.g., study engagement) and the university (e.g., academic throughput/performance). The Strengths Use Scale (SUS) has become a popular psychometric instrum...

Orientation: Teachers face a demanding work environment which might cause stress. Depending on teachers’ coping profile, distress might indirectly affect teachers’ intentions to resign from their jobs via their flourishing. Research purpose: This study aimed to investigate the associations between teachers’ perceived stress, flourishing at work, i...

The COVID-19 lockdown has significantly disrupted the higher education environment within the Netherlands and led to changes in available study-related resources and study demands of students. These changes in study resources and study demands , the uncertainty and confusion about educational activities, the developing fear and anxiety about the di...

This study aimed to identify teachers’ stress profiles from their perceived stress responses, and to determine the relationships between their stress profiles, coping strategies, and mental health. Participants were a convenience sample of teachers (n = 209) in the Sedibeng East District in South Africa (female = 80.4%; mean age = 41.59 years, SD =...

Positive organizational interventions (POIs) have emerged as popular mechanisms to facilitate the professional development and well-being of employees. These interventions draw from positive psychological principles, processes, and practices to enhance the positive capabilities of individuals, teams and organizations; the goal is to improve perform...

Unemployment has negative consequences for individuals’ psychological well-being. Consequently, interventions should be designed and implemented to alleviate the psychological burden of unemployment. The design of these interventions should, however, be approached with care, as ‘the unemployed’ may not be a homogeneous group. The aim of the study w...

Purpose: The aim of the study was to assess the associations leader empowering behaviour have with person–environment fit, job satisfaction and intention to leave. Design/methodology/approach: A cross-sectional survey design was used with a sample (N = 398) of retail employees from Gauteng. The Leader Empowering Behaviour Questionnaire, Job Satisf...

Purpose: This exploratory study aimed to provide a description of the experiences and perceptions of survivalist entrepreneurs in under-resourced communities. These survivalist entrepreneurs perceived themselves as ‘temporary’ entrepreneurs. They engaged in entrepreneurial ventures, whilst actively searching for secure formal employment. Design/me...

ORIENTATION: Research has been conducted regarding job demands, job resources and well-being of individuals in a variety of jobs. However, no studies have focused on the work experiences of judges in an African context RESEARCH PURPOSE: This study aimed to explore job demands and job resources, and the effects thereof, on the well-being of judges i...

Introduction: Previous studies have revealed the significant influence of electronic devices, especially social media use, on sleep difficulties among adolescents. In this study, disturbed sleep due to social media use (DSSM) was defined as reduced or troubled sleep caused by nighttime-specific behaviors such as waking to check updates, being noti...

This study explored work beliefs, work-role fit, well-being, intention to leave, and organisational citizenship behaviour in a sample of judges in South Africa. We employed an exploratory, multi-method design to survey South African judges (n = 25 for the qualitative study and n = 28 for the quantitative study). Findings from qualitative analyses i...

No validated intervention that specifically addresses the psychosocial needs of unemployed people exists in the South African context. This study intends to evaluate an evidence-based job-search program, called the JOBS intervention, that is aimed at the self-efficacy, amotivation, and self-esteem related to participants searching for jobs. A quasi...

Orientation: Research indicates that teachers are more vulnerable to work-related stress, psychological distress and burnout than many other occupational groups. Despite these hindrances, and against all odds, some teachers are able to feel and function well at work. As positive teacher functioning is an achievable objective, it is important that m...

The purpose of this study was to identify distinctive mental health profiles for industrial psychologists based on the Mental Health Continuum. Further, it aimed to determine how these profiles differ with respect to work-role fit, meaningfulness and work engagement. It also aimed to investigate whether industrial psychologists within managerial or...

Orientation: Positive organisational functioning is a paradox. Both positive and negative tendencies could enable positive functioning. While an overemphasis on either the positive or the negative aspect is dysfunctional, positive factors must be given extra emphasis for positivity to occur because negativity usually dominates. Research purpose: T...

Background: South Africa is challenged with high levels of unemployment, comprising many people with low levels of education and also individuals who have never held a job before. Despite having many vulnerable participants, interventions aimed at the unemployed generally exclude psychosocial training and are methodologically weak. Aim: The JOBS p...

This study aimed to identify latent mental health profiles for managers in agribusinesses. Additionally, we aimed to investigate how these profiles differed regarding the managers’ job satisfaction, organisational citizenship behaviour, and intention to leave. Managers (N = 507) from agribusinesses in South Africa participated in the study. The man...

Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ) for diff erent language groups working in a chemical factory, and to investigate the relationship between job satisfaction and demographic variables. The study was carried out with a sample (N = 583) representing diff erent job levels in a chemical factory. The 20-item MSQ and a biographical questionnaire were admin...

In the long-term future, the quality, brand and reputation of universities would be crucial factors impacting experiences of work of knowledge and innovation workers. Academics in universities will play a significant role in preparing knowledge and innovation workers for their work. The aim of this chapter was to investigate the relationship betwee...

This study investigated possible pathways to flourishing among pharmacy students attending a South African university (N = 799; females = 81.6%; Afrikaans-speakers = 84.7%, mean age = 20.42 years, SD = 2.25 years). The students completed the Mental Health Continuum – Short Form (MHC-SF) and an Overload and Lecturer Support Survey. Of the 779 pharma...

This study aimed to validate a scale that could be used to measure the effectiveness of interventions aimed at enhancing flourishing at work. A cross-sectional survey design was used, with a stratified random sample of 779 employees in a company in the fast-moving consumer goods industry. The Flourishing-at-Work Scale and Job Demands-Resources Scal...

Positive psychological interventions (PPIs) have been subjected to considerable criticism in recent years. Following similar movements across other domains of psychology, attempts to replicate classic PPI studies have failed or have produced mixed results. Such failures are often justified with arguments that invoke the complexity of human nature,...

This study investigated the relationships among strength use, training and development, psychological need satisfaction, thriving, and intention to leave of academics in higher education institutions. A cross-sectional survey design was used, with a convenience sample of 276 academic employees from three universities of technology in South Africa....

Orientation: Given the absence of organised and accessible information on programmes relating to unemployment in South Africa, it may be difficult for beneficiaries to derive value from existing programmes; and for stakeholders to identify possible gaps in order to direct their initiatives accordingly. Research purpose: The purpose of this study w...

Alleviating the psychological burden of unemployment and preventing the unemployed from withdrawing from the labor market remains a priority for unemployment researchers and practitioners alike. Job search motivation and the differential relationships with experienced psychological need satisfaction (and need frustration) potentially induce differe...

Orientation: Research regarding strengths use, deficit correction and thriving of academics in higher education institutions is necessary, given the possible effects thereof on their task and contextual performance. Research purpose: This study aimed to investigate the relationships among strengths use and deficit correction, thriving at work and...

Orientation: Research regarding subjective well-being (including life satisfaction and domain- specific satisfaction) is necessary, given the effects thereof on health, work performance, social relationships and ethical behaviour of employees. Research purpose: This study aimed to investigate the relationships among life satisfaction, job satisfact...

Orientation: The continuous growth of employee attrition, especially within the highly skilled talent pool, is becoming increasingly problematic. Therefore, one should continually explore the different factors that impact employee retention and performance. This casts the attention to the person–environment fit and workplace flourishing (WF).Resear...

Meaningful work appears to be critical to individual and organizational outcomes for different countries and diverse individuals and cultures. Steger (2017) suggests that it is necessary to move beyond engagement and commitment to focus on meaningful work as an essential lever to improve individual functioning and organizational performance. Yeoman...

This volume presents innovative and contemporary methodologies and intervention protocols for the enhancement of positive psychological attributes in multicultural professional and organizational contexts. Most methods, models and approaches that underpin positive psychological interventions are confined to clinical samples, closed systems or monoc...

This volume presents clearly defined and described evidence-based positive psychology interventions (PPIs), which have been validated in multi-cultural contexts. It discusses validated PPIs which have been shown to have a significant impact in both clinical and real-world settings. From the late 1990s, there has been an upsurge in popular psycholog...