Browsing by Subject "South African Navy"

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    Investigating how personality traits and career anchors relate to organisational commitment and turnover intention among uniformed personnel in the South African Navy
    (2025) Groenewald, Johan A; Fontaine, Yolandi-Eloïse; de Kock, Francois
    Employee retention remains a critical challenge in both civilian- and military organisations. Therefore, to gain a better understanding as to which individual differences may relate to retention, this study applied person-environment fit theories to investigate how personality traits and career anchors, respectfully relate to organisational commitment, and turnover intention. More specifically, a quantitative cross-sectional design was employed, inviting uniformed personnel in the South African Navy to complete a survey. The survey comprised different sections, which included the Big Five Inventory, Career Orientations Inventory, Organisational Commitment Questionnaire, and Turnover Intention Scale. Person correlation analyses revealed that some personality traits (i.e., extraversion, agreeableness, and emotional stability) were associated with higher organisational commitment, whilst low emotional stability was associated with turnover intention. Regression analysis revealed that high openness and low emotional stability positively predicted turnover intention, but none of the traits predicted organisational commitment. Furthermore, some career anchors (i.e., autonomy, entrepreneurial creativity, and lifestyle) were associated with both lower organisational commitment and higher turnover intention. Additionally, multiple linear regression showed that autonomy and lifestyle emerged as predictors of low organisational commitment, but lifestyle demonstrated higher organisational commitment. Lastly, pure challenge predicted low turnover intention. Fundamentally, insights from this research could be used to refine selection processes and inform targeted retention strategies, best aligning individual differences with the organisation's culture, values, and needs.
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    Sexual harassment of women in the South African Navy
    (2009) Van Wijk, Charles; Finchilescu, Gillian; Tredoux, Colin
    We report on a study that investigated sexual harassment within the South African Navy. We firstly used a survey to examine the prevalence of sexual harassment in the shore-based fleet, just prior to the gender integration of naval ships, and found evidence of widespread sexual harassment. Secondly, we used interviews and focus groups to examine the experiences of sexual harassment on ships one year after gender integration, and found a relative absence of sexual harassment. A number of contributing factors are considered (e.g. methodological issues, organisational factors, contextual constructions of masculinity), before informal mechanisms of behaviour regulation (e.g. the enactment of informal discipline, and sailors' use of metaphors) are introduced as mechanisms to understand the differences between the survey and interview findings. We argue that using divergent methodological approaches would lead to a more nuanced understanding of the experiences around sexual harassment on navy ships.