Labour regulation in the public sector: Employment relationship, employment relations satisfaction and psychological contract

David Isaac Ntimba,Ilze Swarts,Karel Frederick Lessing

doi:10.22495/jgrv10i3art5

David Isaac Ntimba, Ilze Swarts + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.22495/jgrv10i3art5

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Abstract

This paper aims to report on the outcome of the study that investigated the cause of the ongoing antagonistic employment relationship (ER) in the South African public sector workplace, which has negatively affected employment relations satisfaction (ERS) and psychological contract (PC) fulfilment. This antagonism between management and employees has lowered the levels of employer-employee trust (Sudiarta, 2021), as well as job satisfaction (Silitonga et al., 2020) in the workplace. This study, therefore, explored the type of ER, levels of ERS, and state of PC that is prevalent in the workplace to recommend solutions for the situation. A quantitative research approach was adopted for the study because of its appropriateness for the study’s objectives. Data collection was done by means of a structured questionnaire. The results revealed a prevalence of positive ER in the workplace, a higher level of ERS among employees, a negative state of PC, and a positive inter-relationship among the three variables. This led to the conclusion that although the three variables are positively interrelated, the PC influences both ER and ERS negatively in the workplace. This study contributes to knowledge and literature on ER, ERS and PC pertaining to their nature, interrelationship and collective effect in the workplace.

Highlights

The study has been necessitated by the ongoing antagonism between management and junior employees, which were identified through the large numbers of disputes and grievances being experienced in three selected government departments that were subsequently selected for the study
Research questions which this study purported to answer were those as the following: What type of employment relationship is evident in the public sector? What is the level of employment relations satisfaction in the public sector? What is the state of the psychological contracts in the public sector? What is the interrelationship among the three variables (ER, ERS, and PC)?
In determining the type of employment relationship that is evident in the public sector, descriptive statistics and frequency analysis were used, which showed the results discussed below: The results revealed that out of the total of 9 items of the ER scale (4 items falling under the organisational culture (OC) subscale and 5 items under the relations at work (RAW) subscale), the respondents rated 7 items positively (4 items falling under OC and 3 items falling under RAW) and 2 items negatively

Summary

Introduction

The study has been necessitated by the ongoing antagonism between management and junior employees, which were identified through the large numbers of disputes and grievances being experienced in three selected government departments that were subsequently selected for the study. An investigation was conducted to determine the type of employment relationship (ER) that exists in the public sector workplace; the level of employment relations satisfaction (ERS) that prevails in the public sector workplace; and the state of a psychological contract (PC) in the public sector workplace. Deserves to be mentioned that a literature gap exists with regard to the available literature that pertains to ER, ERS, and PC as a result of the limited research that has been conducted on the interrelationship among the three variables. Research questions which this study purported to answer were those as the following: What type of employment relationship is evident in the public sector? What is the level of employment relations satisfaction in the public sector? Research questions which this study purported to answer were those as the following: What type of employment relationship is evident in the public sector? What is the level of employment relations satisfaction in the public sector? What is the state of the psychological contracts in the public sector? What is the interrelationship among the three variables (ER, ERS, and PC)?

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