The influence of job resources on platinum mineworkers’ work engagement and organisational commitment: An explorative study

Abstract

Despite various challenges in the platinum mining industry, management has to pursue stringent performance outcomes on an ongoing basis. The achievement thereof requires a motivated, involved and dedicated workforce. This can only be achieved when mineworkers are engaged in their jobs and committed to their organisation. Past research shows that formal and informal job resources can influence employees’ levels of work engagement, as well as their organisational commitment. The purpose of this research was to explore whether mineworkers’ perceptions of their organisation’s job resources have an influence on their work engagement and organisational commitment. The findings show that both organisational respect and employee care have a statistically significant positive influence on work engagement and organisational commitment. However, employee care had a stronger influence on both work engagement and organisational commitment than organisational respect. To increase the work engagement and affective organisational commitment of mineworkers, it is proposed that mining companies invest in workplace practices that enhance employees’ emotional attachment to the organisation.