Abstract
M.A.
The changing South African workforce is reflected in the fact that in the period between 1960 and 2001, female employment has increased substantially. For South Africa, being part of the global economy brings its own stress as more women have to earn a living to provide an extra income for the family. The resulting stress from the often opposing demands of work and family has lead to increasing attention being paid to the matter. Further, many individuals experience job insecurity and career worries and this impacts directly on their reported job satisfaction. When there are overwhelming job demands, and too few job resources, these individuals may experience further declines in job satisfaction. The present research has endeavoured to explore this subject. Job demands, job resources and self-directed learning are thought to impact on an individual‟s job satisfaction. This conceptualisation is based on the Job Demands-Resources model which states that overwhelming job demands coupled with few job resources will result in individuals experiencing burnout and disengagement from work. The aim of this study was to explore the moderating role of self-directedness in a Job Demands-Resources model for working women (N = 168). Each participant completed the Sources of Work Stress Inventory, the Career Attitudes and Strategies Inventory, the Workplace Self-Directed Learning Scale, and a biographical questionnaire. Specific hypotheses were formulated pertaining to the relationships between job resources, job demands, self-directed learning and job satisfaction, and self-directed learning as a moderator in the relationship between job resources and job satisfaction as well as job demands and job satisfaction.
The relationships between job demands, job resources, self-directed learning and job satisfaction were investigated by means of Pearson product-moment correlations. The results indicated that Work-Life Balance (r = -0.246, p < 0.01), Career Worries (r = -0.451, p < 0.01), Job Insecurity (r = -0.338, p < 0.01), and Work Relationships (r = -0.465, p < 0.01) had statistically significant negative relationships with Job Satisfaction.
Work Drive (r = 0.270, p < 0.01) and Self-Directed Learning (r = 0.512, p < 0.01) yielded statistically significant positive relationships with Job Satisfaction, while Work Involvement (r = 0.150) surrendered no statistically significant relationship with Job Satisfaction. Career Worries, Job Insecurity, Work Relationships, and Self-Directed Learning all yielded practically meaningful relationships of r > 0.30 with Job Satisfaction. Results of the multiple regression analyses revealed a statistically significant predictive relationship between both Job Demands and Job Satisfaction (R² = 0.232, F(3, 164), = 16.482, p = < 0.001), and Job Resources and Job Satisfaction (R² = 0.335, F(3, 164), = 27.514, p = < 0.001). Job Demands accounted for approximately 23% of the variance in Job Satisfaction. A subsequent analysis of the effect sizes revealed that Career Worries (β = -0.374, r = -0.335, t = -4.891, p < 0.001) and Job Insecurity (β = -0.179, r = -0.145, t = -2.123, p < 0.05) were statistically significantly related to Job Satisfaction in the presence of the three job demands. Results of the multiple regression analyses further showed that Job Resources accounted for approximately 34% of the variance in Job Satisfaction. Work Relationships (β = -0.512, r = -0.505, t = -7.922, p < 0.001), Work Drive (β = -0.268, r = 0.259, t = 4.073, p < 0.001) and Work Involvement (β = 0.164, r = 0.157, t = 2.471, p < 0.05) were statistically significantly related to Job Satisfaction in the presence of all three Job Resources. Results of the hierarchical multiple regression analyses showed that Work Drive was the only job resource variable relationship with job satisfaction that appeared to be moderated by Self-Directed Learning. The relationships between the various job demands and job satisfaction were not moderated by self-directed learning.