The employee engagement (EE) approach has been utilised to combat burnout (BO) in both private and public sector institutions. With increasing research, self-perceived employability (SPE) is gaining popularity as an effective tool for reducing BO. Knowledge of the relationship between these three constructs is therefore important for public sector institutions and researchers in Industrial and Organisational (I/O) Psychology and human resource management (HRM) in South Africa.
The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between BO, EE and SPE amongst employees in South Africa’s public sector.
Numerous studies have highlighted the prevalence of poor service delivery in public sector institutions in connection with BO and highlighted a decrease in BO through EE and SPE. However, the relationship between these three constructs is still quite unknown. The study’s results will fill the void of research in this area and can be applied in I/O Psychology and HR practices.
This quantitative study involved a non-probability sample of 158 South African public sector employees. Correlational and descriptive statistical analyses were used to analyse the data.
Burnout has a significant negative relationship with EE; however, BO does not significantly correlate with SPE. There are significant differences between the various biographical groups and BO, EE and SPE.
Approaches to reducing BO amongst employees should consider EE and SPE as effective tools to enhance employees’ wellness, morale and improved service delivery.
Improving the EE levels and enhancing SPE will improve the well-being of employees in public sector institutions and help alleviate employee BO.
The promotion of employee health and wellness in organisations is regarded as a crucial factor for organisational success. Organisations have attempted to improve employee health and well-being and to advance human potential (Usman & Raja,
However, larger numbers of employees around the world, from both private and public sectors, for example, the United States of America, Canada, Taiwan, Japan, Ghana and South Africa, still suffer from numerous stressors. This may cause employees to experience certain levels of burnout (BO) (Hirayama & Fernando,
Engaged employees are more productive, more committed and more likely to remain with their employer (Gupta & Sharma,
This study focuses on the relationship between BO, employee engagement and SPE to fill the void in theory regarding the South African public sector. Public sector employees in the contemporary global economy are faced with a myriad of psychosocial stressors because of high job demands (Schaufeli & Taris,
Several approaches on combating experiences of BO have been realised in the world of work, such as EE and SPE. Traditionally, EE has been utilised as a tool to reduce BO (Maslach & Leiter,
Existing research refers to the relationship between BO and EE within the South African public sector, drawing specifically on police, healthcare and social welfare institutions (Schaufeli et al.,
Numerous studies have been conducted on the relationship between BO and EE within the South African public sector (Schaufeli et al.,
Furthermore, EE has been used as an intervention to erode BO amongst employees in organisations for over two decades now. Yet, employees currently experience high levels of BO in the workplace. Current literature has considered the postmodern, workplace environment of the 21st century, and newly emerged constructs such as SPE have gained significant popularity in the literature as important and relevant coping resource mechanisms (Van der Vaart,
Burnout is a prolonged response to chronic interpersonal stressors on the job (Maslach & Leiter,
Public sector employees in South Africa’s government tend to be affected by these factors, making them susceptible to BO. They further feel uncertain about their growth and career path (Bosman et al.,
Research on EE includes aspects of work and personal engagement, studying EE on an individual and organisational level, and defining it as enthusiasm for work and taking positive action to further the organisation’s reputation and interests (Nienaber & Martins,
Employee engagement is utilised in public sector institutions as a mechanism to attain positive outcomes for both the individual and the organisation (Martins,
Self-perceived employability refers to an individual’s perception of his or her capabilities of obtaining and retaining fulfilling work and having the knowledge, understanding, skills, experience and personal attributes to move self-sufficiently within the labour market (Coetzee et al.,
Recent studies have found evidence of the negative relationship between BO and SPE (Lu et al.,
The objective of this study was to determine the relationship between BO, EE and SPE amongst employees in the South African public sector. As highlighted, knowledge of the relationship between BO, EE and SPE is important for public sector institutions in South Africa to combat BO through a positive behaviour approach. This study adds to the body of research and knowledge of Industrial and Organisational (I/O) psychologists and human resource management (HRM) in conceptualising the factors moderating BO, EE and SPE. Knowledge of the nature and relationships between these constructs will enable researchers to provide valuable information and insight; diagnose and solve problems to improve the well-being of employees and work performance and reduce BO and its symptoms in employees.
This study adopted a quantitative approach using a survey design. Three key variables were identified for this study, namely public sector employees’ experience of BO, EE and perceived employability. The empirical relationship between these constructs was investigated by means of correlational statistical analysis, using the Pearson correlation (
The study sample consisted of 158 participants. The population constituted permanently employed public sector employees in a non-human services government institution. A non-probability approach, using a convenience sampling method, was applied. Most of the participants were African (75%) followed by white participants (25%). The African group included black (70%), coloured (4%) and Indian (1%) races. Fifty five per cent of the participants were married and 45.93% were unmarried, which comprised single, divorced and widowed participants. In terms of qualifications, most of the participants (58%) had obtained an undergraduate qualification, followed by 32% who had obtained a postgraduate qualification. The smallest group had obtained a matric qualification (10%). Most of the participants were older than 35 years (73.4%) with the mean age being 42 years (Standard deviation [SD] = 8.82). Most participants had more than 10 years’ experience and 38.60% of the participants had less than 10 years’ work experience. The mean tenure was 15 years (SD = 10.3).
Data was collected by using a biographical questionnaire, the Maslach BO Inventory (MBI-SS); the EE Dimensions scale (employee engagement instrument [EEI]) and the Employability Attributes Scale (EAS).
A biographical questionnaire was used to gather the biographical data of the participants such as age, gender, race, qualification, home language and marital status. The questionnaire comprised a set of multiple-choice options, where the respondents ticked the boxes pertaining to them. The biographical data provided a valuable analysis of BO, EE and SPE amongst the various biographical groups.
The MBI-SS consists of 16 items that constitute three scales, namely exhaustion (EX; five items), cynicism (CY; five items), and efficacy (EF; six items). All these items were rated on a seven-point rating scale starting from zero (never) to six (always). High scores on EX and CY and low scores on EF indicate BO (i.e. all EF items are reverse scored, which is denoted by rEF). The MBI-SS meets the psychometric properties of validity (construct) and reliability (Storm & Rothmann,
The EEI of 50 items consisted of six subscales, namely customer service (six items), immediate manager (seven items), organisational commitment (six items), organisational satisfaction (nine items), strategy implementation (10 items) and team (12 items). The EEI was rated on a five-point Likert scale: 1 for strongly disagree; 2 for disagree; 3 for unsure; 4 for agree; 5 for strongly agree. A study by Martins and Ledimo (
The EAS of 56 items constitutes eight subscales, namely career self-management (11 items), cultural competence (five items), self-efficacy (six items), career resilience (six items), sociability (seven items), entrepreneurial orientation (seven items), proactivity (seven items) and emotional literacy (seven items). High scores represent more perceived employability by the participants. According to Potgieter and Coetzee (
The questionnaires were manually distributed to the participants. The informed consent form explained to the participants the purpose of the research, procedure, potential benefits, confidentiality, anonymity, voluntary participation, withdrawal and their rights regarding participating in the study. All participants willingly signed the informed consent form and participation was voluntary. The study used convenience sampling (Raju & Prabhu,
To ensure validity, standardised measuring instruments, appropriate data analysis techniques, models and theories relevant to the research were utilised. In addition, a representative sample was utilised to obtain an internal validity of the research findings. The following measures were taken to ensure the validity of this study: (1) effective planning and structure of the research design to ensure the validity of the research findings, (2) the use of models and theories relevant to the research topic, aim and problem statement, (3) ensuring that the selected constructs were valid, appropriate and applicable, (4) selecting accurate, appropriate and applicable measuring instruments, (5) selecting a representative sample to ensure external validity, (6) collecting, storing and analysing data electronically, (7) ensuring data authenticity by means of encryption and password protection, and (8) conducting appropriate and accurate data analysis.
To ensure reliability, all instruments utilised were standardised instruments. The data was collected from only the South African public sector employees in a non-human services public sector organisation. The data analysis was conducted by using the SPSS Software program version 25.0. To ensure the reliability of the measure, Cronbach’s alpha coefficient (reliability analysis) was also computed. In terms of the research process, the following control mechanisms were implemented to ensure reliability: (1) the three measuring instruments used to collect data complied with stringent validity and reliability requirements; (2) only employees from the non-human services public sector institution were invited to participate; (3) all data collected was stored electronically by the administrator and access to this information was restricted to the researchers; (4) reliability in the analysis was ensured by the use of statistical packages (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences [SPSS] & Statistical Analysis System [SAS]) to analyse the data, and (5) Cronbach’s alpha coefficients were used to establish internal consistency and resultant reliabilities of the instruments used to collect data.
The data was analysed with the SPSS, version 25.0. Descriptive statistics were computed to describe the data in terms of sample composition and average scores on the BO inventory, the EE measurement, and the EAS by using frequencies, means, and SDs. Correlational analysis was computed with the Pearson correlation (
The researchers obtained ethical clearance from the University’s Ethics Review Committee (RERC) to conduct the study. The researchers also obtained permission to collect data from the management of the organisation in which the current study was conducted.
The mean scores for the MBI-SS (BO), EEI (EE) and EAS (SPE) ranged between 3.25 and 4.61. The participants obtained a higher mean score on EAS (
The participants scored higher on professional EF (
In terms of the means, the participants scored higher means on team
The participants obtained a higher mean on self-efficacy (
Correlations between subscales of employee engagement and burnout: Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients,
Variable | Burnout | Exhaustion | Cynicism | Professional efficacy |
---|---|---|---|---|
EE | −0.55948 | −0.44627 | −0.41778 | −0.40383 |
< 0.0001 |
< 0.0001 |
< 0.0001 |
< 0.0001 |
|
Customer service | −0.45137 | −0.33203 | −0.34732 | −0.34994 |
< 0.0001 |
< 0.0001 |
< 0.0001 |
< 0.0001 |
|
Immediate manager | −0.37042 | −0.30979 | −0.28835 | −0.23662 |
< 0.0001 |
< 0.0001 |
0.0002 |
0.0028 |
|
Organisational commitment | −0.55148 | −0.42971 | −0.43813 | −0.38240 |
< 0.0001 |
< 0.0001 |
< 0.0001 |
< 0.0001 |
|
Organisational satisfaction | −0.67298 | −0.52758 | −0.57158 | −0.42272 |
< 0.0001 |
< 0.0001 |
< 0.0001 |
< 0.0001 |
|
Strategy implementation | −0.43306 | −0.37189 | −0.27872 | −0.32752 |
< 0.0001 |
< 0.0001 |
0.0004 |
< 0.0001 |
EE, employee engagement.
Correlations between subscales of burnout and self-perceived employability: Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients,
Variables | Burnout | Exhaustion | Cynicism | Professional efficacy |
---|---|---|---|---|
Employability | −0.07937 | −0.00100 | 0.00041 | −0.20020 |
0.3215 | 0.9901 | 0.9960 | 0.0117 |
|
158 | 158 | 158 | 158 | |
Career self-management | −0.11466 | −0.03141 | −0.06791 | −0.17747 |
0.1514 | 0.6953 | 0.3965 | 0.0257 |
|
158 | 158 | 158 | 158 | |
Cultural competence | −0.08960 | −0.04467 | −0.02063 | −0.14910 |
0.2645 | 0.5785 | 0.7976 | 0.0624 | |
157 | 157 | 157 | 157 | |
Self-efficacy | 0.07657 | 0.13700 | 0.11660 | −0.10391 |
0.3405 | 0.0871 | 0.1459 | 0.1953 | |
157 | 157 | 157 | 157 | |
Career resilience | −0.05418 | −0.01240 | 0.03024 | −0.15429 |
0.4990 | 0.8771 | 0.7060 | 0.0529 |
|
158 | 158 | 158 | 158 | |
Sociability | −0.06633 | 0.04498 | 0.00404 | −0.22898 |
0.4076 | 0.5746 | 0.9598 | 0.0038 |
|
158 | 158 | 158 | 158 | |
Entrepreneurial orientation | 0.00865 | 0.05410 | 0.07286 | −0.12487 |
0.9144 | 0.5010 | 0.3645 | 0.1192 | |
157 | 157 | 157 | 157 | |
Proactivity | −0.11974 | −0.03882 | −0.05054 | −0.19980 |
0.1340 | 0.6282 | 0.5283 | 0.0118 |
|
158 | 158 | 158 | 158 | |
Emotional literacy | −0.10314 | −0.06757 | −0.00313 | −0.17360 |
0.1986 | 0.4004 | 0.9690 | 0.0297 |
|
157 | 157 | 157 | 157 |
None of the dimensions of the employability scale correlated significantly with the EX and CY variables. The relationship between the overall BO and the overall employability was negative, but not significant.
Correlations between subscales of employee engagement and self-perceived employability: Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients,
EEI and EAS | Employee engagement | Customer service | Immediate manager | Organisational commitment | Organisational satisfaction | Strategy implementation | Team |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Employability | 0.11040 | 0.18478 | −0.03667 | 0.09240 | 0.11547 | 0.14956 | 0.03383 |
0.1673 | 0.0201 | 0.6474 | 0.2482 | 0.1485 | 0.0607 | 0.6730 | |
Career-self management | 0.18135 | 0.27372 | −0.01581 | 0.14978 | 0.19898 | 0.22026 | 0.05558 |
0.0226 |
0.0005 |
0.8437 | 0.0603 | 0.0122 | 0.0054 |
0.4879 | |
Cultural competence | 0.01802 | 0.03060 | −0.04212 | 0.03595 | 0.00421 | 0.05778 | 0.00133 |
0.8227 | 0.7036 | 0.6004 | 0.6549 | 0.9583 | 0.4723 | 0.9869 | |
Self-efficacy | −0.02250 | 0.07792 | −0.11589 | −0.02451 | −0.01761 | 0.00132 | 0.00790 |
0.7797 | 0.3320 | 0.1484 | 0.7606 | 0.8268 | 0.9870 | 0.9218 | |
Career resilience | 0.08343 | 0.08747 | −0.00837 | 0.11295 | 0.09672 | 0.13602 | 0.01561 |
0.2973 | 0.2744 | 0.9168 | 0.1577 | 0.2267 | 0.0884 | 0.8457 | |
Sociability | 0.14457 | 0.16474 | −0.07399 | 0.11504 | 0.14710 | 0.23083 | 0.07806 |
0.0699 | 0.0386 |
0.3555 | 0.1501 | 0.0651 | 0.0035 |
0.3296 | |
Entrepreneurial orientation | 0.02986 | 0.13782 | −0.05819 | 0.02619 | 0.03162 | 0.06336 | −0.02541 |
0.7104 | 0.0852 | 0.4691 | 0.7448 | 0.6943 | 0.4305 | 0.7521 | |
Proactivity | 0.10281 | 0.17253 | −0.04232 | 0.07113 | 0.11326 | 0.10111 | 0.07912 |
0.1987 | 0.0302 |
0.5975 | 0.3745 | 0.1565 | 0.2062 | 0.3231 | |
Emotional literacy | 0.09262 | 0.16785 | 0.07436 | 0.05159 | 0.08155 | 0.07628 | .01555 |
0.2486 | 0.0356 |
0.3546 | 0.5211 | 0.3099 | 0.3424 | 0.8467 |
EEI, employee engagement instrument; EAS, employability attributes scale.
Prob > |
Correlations between subscales of burnout, employee engagement and self-perceived employability: Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients,
Variables | Burnout | Exhaustion | Cynicism | Professional efficacy |
---|---|---|---|---|
Employee engagement | −0.55948 | −0.44627 | −0.41778 | −0.40383 |
< 0.0001 |
< 0.0001 |
< 0.0001 |
< 0.0001 |
|
Employability | −0.07937 | −0.00100 | 0.00041 | −0.20020 |
0.3215 | 0.9901 | 0.9960 | 0.0117 |
The current study was conducted in a non-human services public sector organisation where the mandate is performed behind a desk (office work) and does not involve serving people directly. It includes performing work at a professional, managerial or administrative level. The differences in terms of the nature of work and environment contributed to the findings.
Based on the correlational analysis, a negative and significant correlation between BO and EE was found. Also, a negative but non-significant relationship between BO and SPE was found. Furthermore, a positive but non-significant relationship between EE and SPE was found. Positive and significant correlations were found between EE dimensions, namely customer service and strategy and implementation, as well as between employability dimensions, namely career self-management sociability and proactivity.
A multiple regression analysis was used to determine the regression between BO, EE and SPE, as well as the relationship between the demographic variables, BO, EE and SPE.
Multiple regression statistics summary: Burnout as dependent variable and employee engagement, self-perceived employability and demographics as independent variables.
Variable | Parameter estimate | Standard error | Standardised | Adjusted |
||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Intercept | 3.85258 | 0.65020 | 0 | 5.93 | < 0.0001 | 7.66 | 0.4876 | 0.5608 |
Gender | −0.14661 | 0.12552 | −0.07661 | −1.17 | 0.2449 | - | - | - |
Race | 0.49607 | 0.29541 | 0.22649 | 1.68 | 0.0955 | - | - | - |
Qualification | −0.14386 | 0.13311 | −0.07480 | −1.08 | 0.2818 | - | - | - |
Marital status | −0.06748 | 0.11898 | −0.03554 | −0.57 | 0.5716 | - | - | - |
Job level | 0.20532 | 0.15497 | 0.09202 | 1.32 | 0.1875 | - | - | - |
Age | −0.17655 | 0.16605 | −0.09068 | −1.06 | 0.2896 | - | - | - |
Tenure | 0.01409 | 0.14401 | 0.00726 | 0.10 | 0.9222 | - | - | - |
Customer service | −0.03366 | 0.10782 | −0.02805 | −0.31 | 0.7554 | - | - | - |
Immediate manager | −0.02128 | 0.07629 | −0.02191 | −0.28 | 0.7807 | - | - | - |
Organisational commitment | −0.15915 | 0.12495 | −0.12944 | −1.27 | 0.2050 | - | - | - |
Organisational satisfaction | −0.78603 | 0.12212 | −0.69158 | −6.44 | < 0.0001 |
- | - | - |
Strategy | 0.12931 | 0.10830 | 0.12032 | 1.19 | 0.2346 | - | - | - |
Team | 0.20213 | 0.09072 | 0.15558 | 2.23 | 0.0276 |
- | - | - |
Career-self management | 0.01844 | 0.14055 | 0.01549 | 0.13 | 0.8958 | - | - | - |
Cultural competence | −0.14027 | 0.08712 | −0.13559 | −1.61 | 0.1098 | - | - | - |
Self-efficacy | 0.22436 | 0.12966 | 0.16300 | 1.73 | 0.0859 | - | - | - |
Career-resilience | 0.18491 | 0.17125 | 0.14431 | 1.08 | 0.2822 | - | - | - |
Sociability | 0.22235 | 0.13851 | 0.20135 | 1.61 | 0.1108 | - | - | - |
Entrepreneurial orientation | 0.20380 | 0.15437 | 0.15133 | 1.32 | 0.1891 | - | - | - |
Proactivity | −0.49359 | 0.19672 | −0.38226 | −2.51 | 0.0133 |
- | - | - |
Emotional literacy | −0.14126 | 0.10560 | −0.12270 | −1.34 | 0.1833 | - | - | - |
The regression of the EE subscales, SPE subscales and demographic variables on BO produced a statistically significant model (
As shown in
Multiple regression statistics summary: Burnout as a dependent variable and employee engagement and self-perceived employability as an independent variable.
Variable | Unstandardised |
Standardised estimate | Adjusted |
|||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Parameter estimate | Standard error | |||||||
Intercept | 4.82429 | 0.53463 | 0 | 9.02 | <0.0001 |
35.36 | 0.3045 | 0.3133 |
Employability | −0.02571 | 0.09663 | −0.01782 | −0.27 | 0.7905 | - | - | - |
Employee engagement | −0.81768 | 0.09822 | −0.55752 | −8.33 | <0.0001 |
- | - | - |
Burnout produced a negative and statistically significant regression with EE. Burnout produced a negative but not statistically significant regression with SPE. The regression of the demographic variables (age, qualification, marital status and gender) on BO was negative but not statistically significant. The EE subscales on BO for organisational satisfaction and team produced a statistically significant regression. The SPE instrument on BO produced a statistically significant regression on proactivity.
The test for significant mean differences was conducted for all three constructs regarding the demographics on age, marital status, race, gender, tenure and qualification.
No statistically significant mean differences were found between the participants who were below or equal to 35 years and the participants older than 35 years in terms of BO, EE and SPE (
Significant mean differences: Age.
Age categories | Mean | Std. deviation | Sig | |
---|---|---|---|---|
35 years and younger | 42 | 1.8878 | 0.94358 | 0.881 |
Older than 35 years | 116 | 1.9141 | 0.98231 | |
35 years and younger | 42 | 3.5257 | 0.78052 | 0.593 |
Older than 35 years | 116 | 3.4634 | 0.59006 | |
35 years and younger | 42 | 4.6185 | 0.68241 | 0.859 |
Older than 35 years | 116 | 4.5976 | 0.64248 |
Significant mean differences: Marital status.
Marital status | Mean | Std. deviation | Std. error mean | Sig | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Married | 87 | 1.9130 | 0.94472 | 0.10128 | 0.933 |
Unmarried | 71 | 1.8998 | 1.00520 | 0.11930 | - |
Married | 87 | 3.4276 | 0.66003 | 0.07076 | 0.259 |
Unmarried | 71 | 3.5442 | 0.62267 | 0.07390 | - |
Married | 87 | 4.6323 | 0.67279 | 0.07213 | 0.535 |
Unmarried | 71 | 4.5674 | 0.62661 | 0.07436 | - |
Results on race indicate no significant mean differences between age and EE. However, on two of the subscales of EE, namely organisational commitment (black group,
In terms of SPE, statistically significant mean differences were found between the racial groups and SPE and its subscales. Overall, the mean scores of the black group (
The results show no statistically significant mean differences between gender for BO, EE and SPE. However, significant mean differences in gender were found in terms of SPE dimensions, namely entrepreneurial orientation (males,
Tenure was clustered in participants with less or more than 10 years’ work experience. Significant mean differences were found between EE (less than 10 year,
Finally, the results show that significant mean differences were found between qualification categories and the dimensions of EE, namely organisational commitment (participants with a matric qualification,
The results indicate that employees experience low levels of BO and hardly suffer from physical and emotional work stressors. The moderate to high levels of EE shows that employees are proactive, productive, committed and attached to their work (Martins & Ledimo,
Considering the low scores in BO, the results confirm previous studies, showing that employees who possess more attributes of SPE experience fewer symptoms of BO (Lu et al.,
The results showed a positive but not significant correlation between EE and SPE. Customer service (EE dimension) positively correlated significantly with the SPE as well as with career self-management, sociability and proactivity. By this, the participants demonstrated taking care of customers’ needs and providing professional quality service, whilst perceiving themselves as capable of managing their careers, being sociable and innovative. Strategy and implementation also correlated significantly and positively with career self-management and sociability, showing encouragement and positive morale about the institution’s objectives.
The results provided evidence that EE and SPE negatively relate to BO. However, the correlation was only significant in terms of BO and EE, but not significant in terms of BO and SPE, and it displayed that the sample perceived themselves as employable. They scored lower on BO and experienced lower levels of BO, supporting previous research and showing that employees who possess personal resources (e.g. SPE) experience fewer symptoms of BO (Lu et al.,
The black group obtained higher mean scores in EE than the white group (in organisational commitment and strategy and implementation), meaning that the black group experienced these dimensions significantly more positively. These differences have been observed before (Oosthuizen et al., 2014). However Segal (
Approaches to reduce BO have hardly considered EE and SPE amongst employees before and should consider EE and SPE as effective tools to enhance employees’ wellness, morale and productivity. Improving EE and enhancing employees’ employability increases employee well-being. The increased well-being will positively impact on limiting BO and help alleviate employee BO. The current study showed that EE and SPE were negatively related to BO. Although the relations were only statistically significant between BO and EE, both the constructs appeared as effective tools for reducing BO and enhancing employees’ well-being and work productivity. Strategies to alleviate or prevent BO should consider the differences observed between age, race, tenure, qualification, gender and marital status in terms of their EE and SPE attributes.
The majority of the black participants, males, those with fewer years of work experience, and the least qualified employees were more engaged and possessed relatively more of the employability attributes compared to the other groups. These results indicate that wellness programmes could aim to particularly foster members of a specific subgroup in the organisation to promote well-being. Such programmes could enhance the understanding of these groups; about how their levels of EE and perceived employability influence their performance in terms of service delivery and how their health and wellness relate to their capability of being fully engaged and employable.
The correlational design was limited to examining only the strength and direction of the relations between the variables that were studied. As a result of the application of the convenience sampling approach, unequal distribution of the respondents in terms of gender groups was obtained, causing the need for the study to be replicated in broader samples and different public sector institutions but of a similar nature, for a more comprehensive conclusion to be drawn about the relationship. In addition, as the convenience sampling method was used, results are also not generalisable whereas a random sampling method may have improved the generalisability of the findings.
The public service organisation and the respondents who participated in the study are acknowledged.
The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
N.Z. was the project leader, and R.O. of the University of South Africa and C.M. of the University of Johannesburg wrote the manuscript.
This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.
Data sharing is applicable to this article as new data were created and analysed in this study.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any affiliated agency of the authors.