The selection of academic role models by first year University students
- Kaziboni, Anthony, Uys, Tina
- Authors: Kaziboni, Anthony , Uys, Tina
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Role models , First year students
- Type: Article
- Identifier: uj:5608 , ISSN 09766634 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/14346
- Description: The throughput rates of South African universities have been on the agenda of government and educational institutions for quite a while now. One of the factors that could impact university throughput rates positively is the influence of academic role models. Research has shown that adult role models sharing the same sex, race and/or age with the student could boost their academic performance. In light of this, this study aimed at exploring the differences between groups of first year sociology students at a South African urban university with regard to the criteria they use to select academic role models. The study was conducted at its main campus in 2011. A quantitative research methodology in the form of a self-administered survey was employed. It was found that the sociology first year students at the South African university considered academic qualifications/standing to be the most important criterion when selecting an academic role model compared to age and other socially ascribed statuses like race and sex. The findings of this study therefore diverge from the mainstream findings in the field of role models. This finding implies that the exclusive emphasis on making equity appointments within tertiary institutions in order to establish credible academic role models for university students should be revisited to make provision for a more complex approach, which goes beyond the focus on ascribed status.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Kaziboni, Anthony , Uys, Tina
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Role models , First year students
- Type: Article
- Identifier: uj:5608 , ISSN 09766634 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/14346
- Description: The throughput rates of South African universities have been on the agenda of government and educational institutions for quite a while now. One of the factors that could impact university throughput rates positively is the influence of academic role models. Research has shown that adult role models sharing the same sex, race and/or age with the student could boost their academic performance. In light of this, this study aimed at exploring the differences between groups of first year sociology students at a South African urban university with regard to the criteria they use to select academic role models. The study was conducted at its main campus in 2011. A quantitative research methodology in the form of a self-administered survey was employed. It was found that the sociology first year students at the South African university considered academic qualifications/standing to be the most important criterion when selecting an academic role model compared to age and other socially ascribed statuses like race and sex. The findings of this study therefore diverge from the mainstream findings in the field of role models. This finding implies that the exclusive emphasis on making equity appointments within tertiary institutions in order to establish credible academic role models for university students should be revisited to make provision for a more complex approach, which goes beyond the focus on ascribed status.
- Full Text:
"Do we stay or do we leave?” : the role of trust and engagement in students’ decision whether to remain in South Africa
- Authors: Uys, Tina , Senekal, Anton
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: University of Johannesburg - Students , Emigration and immigration - South Africa
- Type: Article
- Identifier: uj:5601 , ISSN 09766634 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/14331
- Description: This paper focuses on University of Johannesburg (UJ) students' views on remaining in or leaving South Africa. These views are based on the degree of trust students perceive the government (broadly defined) to be worthy of, and the degree of engagement in the affairs of the country that students are prepared to expend in the context of perceived threats to South African citizens. A survey of 1214 undergraduate students on all four UJ campuses was conducted in 2011. Care was taken that the sample reflected the overall picture of the research population. The data is analysed in terms of a typology that considers the extent to which people either respond to real or perceived threats based on trust or distrust in the government's ability and willingness to protect their interests as citizens. On this basis, they could furthermore either engage the threatening reality or disengage from it altogether. The paper analyses the extent to which patterns can be identified among different groups of UJ undergraduate students with regard to the four possible responses that emerge from the developed typology: Trusting engagement, trusting disengagement, distrusting engagement and distrusting disengagement.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Uys, Tina , Senekal, Anton
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: University of Johannesburg - Students , Emigration and immigration - South Africa
- Type: Article
- Identifier: uj:5601 , ISSN 09766634 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/14331
- Description: This paper focuses on University of Johannesburg (UJ) students' views on remaining in or leaving South Africa. These views are based on the degree of trust students perceive the government (broadly defined) to be worthy of, and the degree of engagement in the affairs of the country that students are prepared to expend in the context of perceived threats to South African citizens. A survey of 1214 undergraduate students on all four UJ campuses was conducted in 2011. Care was taken that the sample reflected the overall picture of the research population. The data is analysed in terms of a typology that considers the extent to which people either respond to real or perceived threats based on trust or distrust in the government's ability and willingness to protect their interests as citizens. On this basis, they could furthermore either engage the threatening reality or disengage from it altogether. The paper analyses the extent to which patterns can be identified among different groups of UJ undergraduate students with regard to the four possible responses that emerge from the developed typology: Trusting engagement, trusting disengagement, distrusting engagement and distrusting disengagement.
- Full Text:
Resilience and whistleblowers : coping with the consequences
- Authors: Uys, Tina , Smit, Ria
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Whistleblowing , Resilience (Personality trait)
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/218743 , uj:21814 , Citation: Uys, T. & Smit, R. 2016. Resilience and whistleblowers : coping with the consequences.
- Description: Abstract: Understanding the whistleblower’s ability to cope with the repercussions of showing ‘ethical resistance’ in the workplace is a neglected area of research. Drawing on qualitative data from narrative interviews with whistleblowers in South Africa, this article analyses the ways in which whistleblowers deal with the hostile responses from employers that tend to follow their disclosures. Most of the participants employed successful coping mechanisms showing that they remained hopeful that justice would prevail, even amidst emotions of distress and fear due to organizational reprisal. This study shows that the resilience perspective is an important frame for understanding whistleblowers’ responses to the challenging consequences of their actions. Practitioners should consider ways to enhance individual resilience to ensure a positive outcome of disclosures of organizational wrongdoing.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Uys, Tina , Smit, Ria
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Whistleblowing , Resilience (Personality trait)
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/218743 , uj:21814 , Citation: Uys, T. & Smit, R. 2016. Resilience and whistleblowers : coping with the consequences.
- Description: Abstract: Understanding the whistleblower’s ability to cope with the repercussions of showing ‘ethical resistance’ in the workplace is a neglected area of research. Drawing on qualitative data from narrative interviews with whistleblowers in South Africa, this article analyses the ways in which whistleblowers deal with the hostile responses from employers that tend to follow their disclosures. Most of the participants employed successful coping mechanisms showing that they remained hopeful that justice would prevail, even amidst emotions of distress and fear due to organizational reprisal. This study shows that the resilience perspective is an important frame for understanding whistleblowers’ responses to the challenging consequences of their actions. Practitioners should consider ways to enhance individual resilience to ensure a positive outcome of disclosures of organizational wrongdoing.
- Full Text:
Challenges in the sociology of business ethics : researching whistleblowing
- Authors: Uys, Tina
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: Business ethics research , Descriptive ethics , Whistle-blowing
- Identifier: uj:5839 , ISSN 1817-7417 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/7869
- Description: The main research focus of the sociology of business ethics is on (i) the moral foundations of people's behaviour, both within and outside the business context, (ii) how compatible or contradictory these behaviours are and (iii) how stable a society or component of a society would be if self-interest is the main governing principle, without being constrained by moral discipline. This entails providing accurate descriptions and explanations of ethical situations. Whistle-blowing research is used to examine the methodological challenges of business ethics researchers. The analysis demonstrates the importance of an integrated multi-strategy approach that would facilitate an investigation of the motivations and decision processes of individual actors in the larger social context, especially within the organisation.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Uys, Tina
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: Business ethics research , Descriptive ethics , Whistle-blowing
- Identifier: uj:5839 , ISSN 1817-7417 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/7869
- Description: The main research focus of the sociology of business ethics is on (i) the moral foundations of people's behaviour, both within and outside the business context, (ii) how compatible or contradictory these behaviours are and (iii) how stable a society or component of a society would be if self-interest is the main governing principle, without being constrained by moral discipline. This entails providing accurate descriptions and explanations of ethical situations. Whistle-blowing research is used to examine the methodological challenges of business ethics researchers. The analysis demonstrates the importance of an integrated multi-strategy approach that would facilitate an investigation of the motivations and decision processes of individual actors in the larger social context, especially within the organisation.
- Full Text:
- «
- ‹
- 1
- ›
- »