Abstract
D.Phil. (Industrial Psychology)
Over the past thirty years, universities internationally have undergone significant transformation.
This transformation has constricted the academic sense of freedom, placed pressure on research
outputs, and overwhelmed academics with increasing teaching and administrative
responsibilities. With this upheaval, academic’s constructs of flourishing have similarly changed.
This thesis explores this change in a three-phase mixed-mode research process.
In Phase 1, by means of the repertory grid method, 13 academics from a South African
metropolitan university personally constructed flourishing and languishing. Two clear and rich
shared mental models were developed from the findings. One positive mental model of
flourishing included the constructs of achievement, recognition, personal freedom, and fulfilment
from student’s achievements amongst others. One negative mental model of languishing
included the constructs of isolation, pressure to perform, dealing with internal politics, and
ethical disappointments, amongst others.
In phase 2, by means of the positive participatory action research method of appreciative inquiry,
flourishing in academic life was socially constructed by seven of the academics. A socially
constructed action plan or a path forward was designed and delivered, in which leadership was
the deliverable.
In phase 3, by means of a constructivist grounded theory approach, a theory of flourishing in
academic work life was developed. The grounded theory produced a model showing that the
participating academics were caught between flourishing and languishing, and uncovered the
process by which they were able to transcend and construct their own flourishing.