| Summary: | The mining industry is driven by performance and intense working environments,
accompanied by high demands, hazardous working conditions and socially undesirable
working hours. These factors could impact on the interaction between work and home, as
well as contributing to health problems of employees. The objectives of this research were to
test the construct validity, construct equivalence and reliability of a work-home interaction
measuring instrument, the Survey Work-Home Interaction - Nijmegen (SWING), to
determine if work-home interaction differences exist between different demographical
groups, and to test a structural model of job characteristics (job demands and job resources),
ill health and negative work-home interference.
Random samples (n = 320) were taken from employees working in the mining industry (gold,
platinum and phosphate mines) in the Gauteng, North West and Northern provinces. The
SWING, a self-developed job characteristics questionnaire and an adapted version of the
General Health Questionnaire were administered. Structural equation modelling, descriptive
statistics, Cronbach alpha coefficients, Pearson product-moment correlations, multivariate
analysis of variance (MANOVA) and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to
analyse the data.
Structural equation modelling confirmed the four-factor structure of the SWING and the
construct equivalence for two language and ethnic groups. The four factors showed
acceptable internal consistencies. Statistically significant differences were found based on
age, ethnicity, gender, qualification, marital and parental status, language, flexibility at work
and whether individuals had a partner with a paid job. Regarding the structural model, the
results showed that job demands and job resources have an impact on ill health, and that ill
health is associated with negative WHI. It was also found that job demands and job resources
have a direct relationship with negative WHI on their own, but when both high demands and a lack of resources are present, only an indirect relationship with negative WHI exists
though ill health. === Thesis (M.Com. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007
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