Abstract
Background: Several studies seem to suggest that the fairness perceptions employees hold of the workplace affect how they behave at work. Such perceptions have previously been shown to be positively linked to job performance and a lack thereof can cause employees to feel frustrated or to retaliate against the organisation. In line with this reasoning, the current study asserts that BBBEE may be perceived as unfair. Previous research argued that BBBEE unfairly discriminates against non-beneficiaries on the grounds of ethnicity. It has also been put forward that BBBEE serves the interest of certain established organisations. Also, that BBBEE has not succeeded in the redistribution of power and structural relations. What is unclear from these studies are the psychological processes and perceptions concerning BBBEE nor did the outcomes of these studies involve the design and the development of a suitable instrument for the measurement of fairness perceptions of BBBEE. Previous studies seem to suggest that employees associate perceptions of fairness in the workplace with transformational and transactional leaders. A possible explanation for this could be that leaders who adopt a transformational leadership style appeal to the psychological needs of their followers by treating each subordinate with respect and dignity and are considerate of their subordinates’ needs and concerns. Employees may perceive such behaviour from leaders as a sign of concern and support, which might motivate them to enhance their job performance at work. On the other hand, transactional leaders are said to also foster fairness perceptions of the workplace by clearly communicating the expectations that employees are expected to satisfy and administer rewards and punishment in a consistent and standardised way. This may positively affect the job performance of the transactional leader’s subordinates because expectations have been clarified by the transactional leader. Research has also shown that employees’ personal resources, that may be of use in achieving organisational goals, are vulnerable to the perceived lack of fairness in the workplace; where when employees
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perceive violations to fairness within the workplace, they may feel worn out and thus get the sense that their personal resources are inadequate. Despite the growing interest in this area of research, studies have not investigated the possible association between the fairness perceptions of BBBEE and organisational behaviour. For this reason, it was important to understand if fairness perceptions that people hold of BBBEE influence employees’ job performance through transformational and transactional leadership styles as well as through psychological availability. Research objectives: The overall objectives of this study were to a) explore the psychological processes and perceptions concerning BBBEE, b) to develop an appropriate measurement of fairness perceptions of BBBEE and c) to investigate how these perceptions relate to organisational outcomes of South African workers. The objectives were achieved by following a three-phase approach. The primary objective of Phase 1 was to explore the fairness perceptions of BBBEE held by individual employees by answering the following research question: what are the perceptions people hold of the fairness of BBBEE within the workplace? Building on from the research findings of Phase 1, the objective of Phase 2 was to develop and validate the BBBEE Fairness Perception Questionnaire within the South African context. The objective of Phase 3 was to evaluate the predictive validity of the BBBEE Fairness Perception Questionnaire alongside job performance, leadership styles and psychological availability. Research design: To satisfy the objectives of each phase of the study, an exploratory sequential mixed-method was applied. More specifically, Phase 1 utilised a qualitative research design, where semi-structured interviews were conducted with a purposive snowball sample of eight participants, for the purposes of exploring the perceptions people hold of BBBEE. Thematic analysis was used in the analysis of the qualitative data. Phase 2
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subsequently followed a quantitative research design, where the quotes and themes identified from Phase 1 were converted into measurement items. The items were subjected to a process of content and face validity, where two methodologists, two subject matter experts, as well as three laypersons, assessed and identified the items that should be accepted, modified, or rejected. Following on from there, the BBBEE Fairness Perception Questionnaire was administered to a sample of 300 participants. Using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS-25), the items were subsequently subjected to an exploratory factor analysis to further validate the items, as well as to determine the internal consistency of the items, including the overall reliability of the instrument. Once the validity and reliability of the measure was established, the predictive validity of the BBBEE Fairness Perception Questionnaire was determined. This constituted Phase 3 of the study. Within this phase, a multiple regression analysis was performed in the Rstudio program version 3.5.2 (R Core Team, 2018), to investigate the relationships between the validated measure alongside job performance through transformational leadership styles, transactional leadership styles and psychological availability.
Results: Within Phase 1, the results revealed that, on the one hand, employees perceive BBBEE as fair as it serves in empowering individuals by providing equitable opportunities to Black South Africans. On the other hand, the findings revealed that the participants were of the perception that BBBEE has not translated into meaningful transformation. The results of Phase 2 revealed that a four-factor solution comprising 31 items was both valid and reliable. The results of Phase 3 showed that the perceived fairness of BBBEE had an indirect relationship with job performance through transactional leadership and psychological availability. What was also found was that the perceived fairness of BBBEE did not have an indirect relationship with job performance through transformational leadership styles.
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Contributions: The study contributions are as follows: first, the study extended the application of the Organisational Justice Theory and revealed that fairness perceptions of BBBEE can be explained through the application of the Organisational Justice Theory. The integration of fairness perceptions of BBBEE into the Organisational Justice Theory framework proposes a new avenue to explain and understand the formation mechanism of fairness evaluations related to BBBEE, thereby establishing a new path for further research. The second contribution of the study was the development and validation of a psychometrically sound measure of the fairness perceptions of BBBEE in the South African context that can accurately assess fairness perceptions. Future research efforts can study these factors separately or together in order to advance cumulative knowledge. Both employers and researchers can make use of this valid and reliable measure for the purpose of gaining insight into the influence of BBBEE on behaviour in the South African workplace. Thirdly, the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model was extended to demonstrate the impact that fairness perceptions of BBBEE have on organisational behaviour within the South African context. To this end, the third contribution was to see how fairness perceptions of BBBEE affect organisational outcomes (for example, job performance) through organisational (leadership styles) and personal (psychological availability) resources.
Keywords: Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment, BBBEE, job performance, transformational leadership styles, transactional leadership styles, psychological availability, fairness.