Carin Hill

The South African personality inventory (SAPI) : a culture-informed instrument for the country's main ethnocultural groups

We present the development and the underlying structure of a personality inventory for the main ethnocultural groups of South Africa, using an emic-etic approach. The South African Personality Inventory (SAPI) was developed based on an extensive qualitative study of the implicit personality conceptions in the countrys 11 official languages (Nel et al., 2012). Items were generated and selected (to a final set of 146) with a continuous focus on cultural adequacy and translatability. Students and community adults (671 Blacks, 198 Coloreds, 104 Indians, and 391 Whites) completed the inventory. A 6-dimensional structure (comprising a positive and a negative Social-Relational factor, Neuroticism, Extraversion, Conscientiousness, and Openness) was equivalent across groups and replicated in an independent sample of 139 Black and 270 White students. The SAPI correlated highly overall with impression-management aspects, but lower with lying aspects of social desirability. The SAPI social-relational factors were distinguishable from the Big Five in a joint factor analysis; the multiple correlations with the Big Five were .64 (positive) and .51 (negative social-relational). Implications and suggestions for emic-etic instrument and model development are discussed.

Personality and job satisfaction: their role in work-related psychological well-being

This study investigated the role of work related psychological well-being in the relationship between personality and job satisfaction. Participants were 207 (females = 58.9%, blacks = 20.3%, white = 64.3%, Indian = 7.7% and Coloured = 6.8%) employees of various South African organisations. The participants completed the Ryffs Scale of Psychological Well-being, Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire, and the Basic Traits Inventory. The data were analysed by means of moderated hierarchical regression analysis. Results show self-acceptance, environmental mastery, and purpose in life fully explain extraversion and job satisfaction, and partly explain conscientiousness and job satisfaction. Self-acceptance, environmental mastery and purpose in life also moderated the relationship between neuroticism and job satisfaction. Findings lead to the conclusion that aspects of work related psychological well-being are influenced by personality traits and job satisfaction, growth and development.

The construct validation of the Relationship Harmony and Soft–Heartedness Scales of the South African Personality Inventory

This study forms part of the South African Personality Inventory project that aims to develop: (a) an indigenous theoretical model of personality; and (b) a unique personality measure that is in line with South African legislation and that can be used fairly to assess personality across different South African language and cultural groups. In line with this mandate, the objectives in this study were twofold: first, to validate the Relationship Harmony and Soft-Heartedness Scales of the South African Personality Inventory and to determine whether these constructs are unique and distinct from the Big Five personality factors, and second, to determine whether Relationship Harmony and Soft-Heartedness are predictive of an external criterion, prosocial behaviour. A quantitative, cross-sectional research design with convenience sampling was used. Data were gathered from students (N = 431) at two tertiary institutions in South Africa, using preliminary Relationship Harmony and Soft-Heartedness Scales, the Basic Traits Inventory (Short form: Research Version), and the Prosocialness Scale. Results indicated that the Relationship Harmony and Soft-Heartedness Scales yielded five and six reliable factors, respectively, and presented good content, convergent, discriminant, and predictive validity, adding substantial predictive value for prosocial behaviour over and above the Big Five Model.

Job characteristics and work‐home interaction: does race moderate the relationship for South African police members?

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is too investigate whether race moderates the relationship between job characteristics (job demands and job resources) and negative and positive WHI (work‐home interaction) in a sample of white and African South African police members.Design/methodology/approach – Questionnaires were distributed to African (n=197) and white (n=222) ranked police members in the North West Province of South Africa. Hierarchical multiple regression and moderated multiple regression analyses were used to analyse the data.Findings – The results showed that race had moderating effects on the relationship between the positive spill‐over of mood and overload, as well as the relationship between the positive spill‐over of skills and overload. No interaction terms were found significant for the relationships between job characteristics and negative time‐based WHI, or for the relationships between job characteristics and negative strain‐based WHI. It is therefore concluded that race does not moder...

The Development and Evaluation of an Emotion Competence Intervention in the South African Police Service

Abstract The South African Police Service (SAPS) is an organisation where employees are exposed to numerous stressful and traumatic episodes which affects the employee’s emotion functioning. Although several pro-active psychological programs exist within the organisation, they do not effectively assist the employee with coping with stressors on an emotion level. The objective of this study was to develop and evaluate an emotion competence intervention for the SAPS. From the literature study, several emotion competencies were found that will illustrate emotion intelligent behaviour. The criteria, methodology and content to include in an emotion competence intervention for the SAPS was established and included in the development of the intervention. The intervention was evaluated by a panel of experts (N=13), suggesting only a few minor adaptations. These suggestions were incorporated in the final emotion competence intervention. Limitations included the small amount of experts that evaluated the intervention, as well as the absence of functional SAPS members as part of the panel of experts. Recommendations for future studies were made.

Analysis of responses to work-home interaction as measured by the SWING

The primary objective of this study was to analyse the responses of the Survey Work-home Interaction-Nijmegen – (SWING) using the Rasch measurement model. A quantitative, cross-sectional research design was used. Paper-and-pencil copies of the SWING were distributed to heterosexual working couples that lived in the greater Gauteng region in South Africa (n = 318; females = 50%; age range 25 to 65, Black Africans = 35%, various work sectors). The main findings of this study indicate that work-home interaction is a multidimensional construct that can validly be measured by the four SWING subscales: (1) negative work-home interaction; (2) positive work-home interaction; (3) negative home-work interaction; and (4) positive work-home interaction. Further validation work should seek to develop shorter and more efficient measures of SWING subscales.