Abstract
Orientation: The joint effects of self-leadership and locus of control within an engineering context have been under-explored because much research focused on self-leadership and locus of control as independent concepts, and studies on their combined effects on organisational performance remain hard to encounter in emerging economies.Research purpose: The aim of the study was to develop deeper empirical knowledge of the combined effects of self-leadership and locus of control on job performance of engineering workforce in Eskom Free State.Motivation for the study: The originality of the study lies in the reconstitution of individual self-leadership and locus of control concepts as they relate to job performance and its impact on prospective engineers who work at Eskom in Bloemfontein.Research approach/design and method: Drawing on a quantitative approach, a survey was conducted on 134 engineering personnel (comprising engineers, technologists and technicians). Of this workforce, a total of 107 engineers participated in the study representing a response rate of 79.8%. Correlation and multiple regression analysis were used to analyse the corpus of quantitative data.Main findings: The results demonstrate that self-leadership and locus of control are significant independent variables and when considered jointly, they have a positive significant impact on job performance of the Eskom engineering workforce.Practical/managerial implications: Implications for the initiation and fostering of self-leadership and locus of control to improve the job performance of Eskom Bloemfontein engineering workforce are discussed.Contribution/value-add: The study contributes to engineers’ task-focused behaviour through its expectations for the engineering workforce to be self-leaders who exercise internal locus of control in the execution of their jobs. This study also contributes to engineers’ work-related personality dimensions and sense of self-awareness through an exposition of individual personalities they were not conscious of.
Highlights
This empirical study examines the combined influence of self-leadership and locus of control on the job performance of the engineering workforce in a power generation utility, Eskom, Free State
The findings revealed that teachers at private international schools were primarily driven by internal locus of control and their level of job satisfaction was high
The results show that locus of control has a positive impact on job performance
Summary
This empirical study examines the combined influence of self-leadership and locus of control on the job performance of the engineering workforce in a power generation utility, Eskom, Free State. Eskom Holdings SOC Limited (hereinafter referred to as ‘Eskom’) which is the largest public power utility responsible for the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity in South Africa. For the purpose of this study, self-leadership is one’s intrinsic motivation to influence self, regarding what, why and how to perform work (Stewart, Courtright & Manz, 2011). Self-leadership is impossible without an internal locus of control (Adams, Kalliny, De los Santos, & Wang, 2008; McDevitt, Giapponi, & Tromley, 2007). Thomas, Kelly and Lillian (2006) report a strong connection between employees’ regulation or control of their actions http://www.sajhrm.co.za
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