Personality and job engagement among municipal workers in the Eastern Cape province, South Africa

Orientation: Although researchers have discovered many of the beneficial and positive consequences of job engagement, little is known about the multitude of antecedent factors that lead to employee engagement such as personality. Research purpose: The aim of the study was to investigate the relation...

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Main Authors: Tatenda S. Mhlanga, Themba Q. Mjoli, Shingirayi F. Chamisa
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: AOSIS 2019-11-01
Series:SA Journal of Human Resource Management
Subjects:
Online Access:https://sajhrm.co.za/index.php/sajhrm/article/view/1188
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author Tatenda S. Mhlanga
Themba Q. Mjoli
Shingirayi F. Chamisa
author_facet Tatenda S. Mhlanga
Themba Q. Mjoli
Shingirayi F. Chamisa
author_sort Tatenda S. Mhlanga
collection DOAJ
description Orientation: Although researchers have discovered many of the beneficial and positive consequences of job engagement, little is known about the multitude of antecedent factors that lead to employee engagement such as personality. Research purpose: The aim of the study was to investigate the relationship between the big five personality traits and job engagement among municipal workers. Motivation for the study: The motivation of this study is to examine the relationship between personality and psychological conditions. It was premised on previous research that personality is associated with many employees’ behaviours. Research approach/design and method: The present study employed a quantitative, cross-sectional research design by using a questionnaire on a sample of 403 district municipal workers in the Eastern Cape province, South Africa. Main findings: The study findings show that openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion and agreeableness had a positive relationship with job engagement, whereas neuroticism has a negative relationship with job engagement. Municipalities and educational qualifications had an impact of job engagement. Practical/managerial implications: The study recommends managers to switch from an intervention-based focus to a selection-based focus as municipalities can maximise their resources by being able to better predict job success early in the selection process as opposed to trying to maximise the performance on a continual basis through interventions. Contribution/value-add: This study adds to an understanding of the influences of personality on work outcomes such as job engagement, giving areas for exploration in coaching or feedback interviews based on personality assessment.
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spelling doaj.art-b009a224fd874497a413991352eff8202022-12-22T02:30:38ZengAOSISSA Journal of Human Resource Management1683-75842071-078X2019-11-01170e1e1110.4102/sajhrm.v17i0.1188519Personality and job engagement among municipal workers in the Eastern Cape province, South AfricaTatenda S. Mhlanga0Themba Q. Mjoli1Shingirayi F. Chamisa2Department of Industrial Psychology, University of Fort Hare, AliceDepartment of Industrial Psychology, University of Fort Hare, AliceDepartment of Industrial Psychology, University of Fort Hare, AliceOrientation: Although researchers have discovered many of the beneficial and positive consequences of job engagement, little is known about the multitude of antecedent factors that lead to employee engagement such as personality. Research purpose: The aim of the study was to investigate the relationship between the big five personality traits and job engagement among municipal workers. Motivation for the study: The motivation of this study is to examine the relationship between personality and psychological conditions. It was premised on previous research that personality is associated with many employees’ behaviours. Research approach/design and method: The present study employed a quantitative, cross-sectional research design by using a questionnaire on a sample of 403 district municipal workers in the Eastern Cape province, South Africa. Main findings: The study findings show that openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion and agreeableness had a positive relationship with job engagement, whereas neuroticism has a negative relationship with job engagement. Municipalities and educational qualifications had an impact of job engagement. Practical/managerial implications: The study recommends managers to switch from an intervention-based focus to a selection-based focus as municipalities can maximise their resources by being able to better predict job success early in the selection process as opposed to trying to maximise the performance on a continual basis through interventions. Contribution/value-add: This study adds to an understanding of the influences of personality on work outcomes such as job engagement, giving areas for exploration in coaching or feedback interviews based on personality assessment.https://sajhrm.co.za/index.php/sajhrm/article/view/1188personalityjob engagementemployee engagementmunicipal workerseastern cape
spellingShingle Tatenda S. Mhlanga
Themba Q. Mjoli
Shingirayi F. Chamisa
Personality and job engagement among municipal workers in the Eastern Cape province, South Africa
SA Journal of Human Resource Management
personality
job engagement
employee engagement
municipal workers
eastern cape
title Personality and job engagement among municipal workers in the Eastern Cape province, South Africa
title_full Personality and job engagement among municipal workers in the Eastern Cape province, South Africa
title_fullStr Personality and job engagement among municipal workers in the Eastern Cape province, South Africa
title_full_unstemmed Personality and job engagement among municipal workers in the Eastern Cape province, South Africa
title_short Personality and job engagement among municipal workers in the Eastern Cape province, South Africa
title_sort personality and job engagement among municipal workers in the eastern cape province south africa
topic personality
job engagement
employee engagement
municipal workers
eastern cape
url https://sajhrm.co.za/index.php/sajhrm/article/view/1188
work_keys_str_mv AT tatendasmhlanga personalityandjobengagementamongmunicipalworkersintheeasterncapeprovincesouthafrica
AT thembaqmjoli personalityandjobengagementamongmunicipalworkersintheeasterncapeprovincesouthafrica
AT shingirayifchamisa personalityandjobengagementamongmunicipalworkersintheeasterncapeprovincesouthafrica