| Summary: | There is an apparent lack of in-depth knowledge about the processes that may underlie the
interaction between work and home life, and their relationships with employee health and
well-being. Work and home has traditionally been considered as separate domains, but during
the past decade of democracy, transformation developments (eg, Affirmative Action,
Employment Equity) changed the nature of the labour market and economy. This facilitated
the increase in the number of working single-parent, dual-earner families, and of women
participating in the workforce, which in turned influenced the work-home interaction of
employed individuals. Furthermore, various researchers regard burnout and engagement as
important constructs to consider in the well-being of employees. The level of a person's wellbeing
subsequently affects his/her functionality in both the work and home spheres. Thus,
there is a need to identify ways which both the individual and the organisation can apply to
increase personal well-being and the balance between work and home life.
South Africa has 11 different national languages, and only 8,3% of the population actually
speak English at home. Language differences should therefore be taken into account when
administering questionnaires. Studies in South Africa generally report race, education,
language, and understanding of English as the main factors which impact on construct and
item comparability of psychometric tests. There is consequently an obvious need to translate
research instruments before they are administered to individuals from different language
groups. If language differences are not taken into account, invalid conclusions regarding the
constructs under study could be made, with serious implications for culturally diverse settings
such as in South Africa.
The objectives of this research were to translate the Survey Work-Home Interaction
Nijmegen (SWING), Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey (MBI-GS) and Utrecth
Work Engagement Scale (UWES) into Afrikaans and Setswana, and to investigate the
construct validity, construct equivalence and reliability of these instruments. Furthermore,
differences between demographic groups regarding work-home interaction and well-being
were investigated. Finally, a structural model was tested, which included job characteristics,
negative and positive work-home interference (WHI) and well-being (burnout and
engagement).
A cross-sectional survey design was used. Random samples (N = 685) were taken from police
stations in the North West province. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to
determine the construct validity and equivalence of the measuring instruments and to test the
structural model.
The results indicated that work-home interaction can be described as a four-dimensional
construct consisting of negative WHI, positive WHI, negative home-work interference
(HWI), and positive HWI. This factor structure was equivalent across all three language
groups and all the scales were reliable. A four-factor model was confirmed for burnout and
included exhaustion, cognitive weariness, cynicism and professional efficacy. A one-factor
model was found for engagement. Both translated instruments were found to be equivalent
for the three language groups. Furthermore, a second order factor analysis revealed that the
underlying structure of well-being consists of two negatively related and equivalent factors,
namely burnout (exhaustion, cognitive weariness and cynicism) and an enlarged engagement
construct (engagement and professional efficacy).
Members reported more negative WHI than negative HWI, and more positive HWI than
positive WHI. Statistically significant differences exist between demographic groups
regarding work-home interaction based on language, gender, marital status. parental status
and education. Statistically significant differences of wellness exist between demographic
groups based on language and educational level.
The results of the structural equation modelling revealed that job demands were directly and
positively associated with negative WHI and burnout, while job resources were directly and
positively associated with positive WHI and work engagement. This also indicates the partial
mediating effect of WHI between job characteristics and wellness. In addition, a lack ofjob
resources was associated with higher levels of burnout.
Recommendations for future research were made. === Thesis (Ph.D. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.
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