Abstract
Orientation: The public health sector in South Africa faces a number of human resource– related inundations. Solving these challenges requires the provision of empirically derived information on these matters.Research purpose: This study investigated the relationship between three work-related factors, person-environment fit, work-family balance and perceived job security, and employee satisfaction and organisational commitment. A conceptual framework that links these factors is proposed and tested.Motivation for the study: The prevalence of employee-related challenges involving public health professionals, as evidenced through industrial action and high labour turnover, amongst others, demands further research in order to generate appropriate solutions.Research approach, design and method: A quantitative design using the survey approach was adopted. A six-section questionnaire was administered to a stratified sample of 287 professionals in three public health institutions in Gauteng, South Africa. Data was analysed using descriptive statistics, exploratory factor analysis, Pearson’s correlation analysis and regression analysis.Main findings: Job security and person-environment fit both positively correlated with and predicted employee satisfaction. The association between work-family balance and employee satisfaction was weak and showed no significant predictive validity. Employee satisfaction was strongly correlated to and predicted organisational commitment.Practical/managerial implications: The findings of the current study may be used by managers in public health institutions to improve the level of organisational commitment amongst professionals in the sector, thus preventing further employee-related challenges that negatively affect the provision of outstanding public health services.Contribution: The study provides current evidence on how both work-related and humanrelated factors could contribute to the prosperity of the public health sector, both at micro and macro levels. The study also provides updated insights into the interplay between these factors in the context of South Africa, thereby addressing a research gap in this subject.
Highlights
As the costs of health services continue to soar in South Africa, the heavily subsidised public health sector has emerged as the major health service provider for the greater South African populace (Pillay, 2009)
The majority of the respondents were of African descent (72%; n = 207), which is representative of the racial composition amongst employees at most public health institutions in South Africa
The person-environment fit factor emerged as a statistically significant predictor of employee satisfaction (β = 0.064; t = 1.722; p = 0.048) in the regression analysis. These findings demonstrate that the employee satisfaction of public health employees increases or decreases in parallel to the degree of person-environment fit
Summary
As the costs of health services continue to soar in South Africa, the heavily subsidised public health sector has emerged as the major health service provider for the greater South African populace (Pillay, 2009). On the internal front, the principal impediment is the increasing number of cases of disgruntlement amongst public health professionals This is evidenced by episodic industrial action in the sector as well as the high staff turnover amongst health professionals who may be destined for greener pastures in Western countries (Dhai, Etheredge, Vorster & Veriava, 2011). As suggested by Blaauw et al (2013), public health professionals have the potential to be part of the central government’s solution to key problems within the health-care systems. It is important to investigate the significant predictors of employee satisfaction and how the latter may subsequently contribute to the development of organisational commitment. This will clearly contribute to managerial solutions to the problems that are currently entrenched in the public health-care system
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