Browsing by Author "Cupido, Amber"

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    Social and organisational identification and student commitment : the mediating roles of trust and shared values
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2023-03) Cupido, Amber; Theron, Edwin; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. Dept of Business Management.
    ENGLISH SUMMARY: Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in South Africa face numerous social and economic challenges. Some of these challenges are a decline in national state funding, a reduction in transformational mobility policies (Cassim, 2005), a lack of suitable resource and infrastructural educational facilities (Walker, 2018), the privatisation and marketisation of the Higher Education Institutional (HEI) environment (Altbach, 2007) and technological development in HEIs (Jongbloed, 2015). To add to the complexity of these challenges, there appears to be a general lack in commitment on the side of some students at HEIs (Chen, 2017). It is therefore not unexpected to find that only 4.1 percent of South Africans above the age of 20 years have attained a Bachelor’s degree (Statistics South Africa, 2016). However, managing student commitment amongst HEIs in South Africa is a relatively under-researched topic that warrants further research (Wilkins, Butt, Kratochvil & Balakrishnan, 2016). Although there is a significant body of knowledge in terms of the antecedents of student commitment (Yousaf, Mishra & Bashir, 2018; Chen, 2017; Love, 2013 Morgan & Hunt, 1994), the role of identification in creating student commitment appears to be under-researc hed (Yousaf et al. 2018; Thomas, 2015, Van Knippenberg & Sleebos, 2006). This apparent gap comes against the background that learning should be both social and individual, as research suggests that employing a social identity perspective in the classroom allows educators to understand how a student’s social identity influences his/her university learning (Bliuc, Ellis, Goodyear, Hendres, 2011). Furthermore, the possible mediating roles of and shared values (Yousaf et al. 2018; Wilkins et al. 2016; Thomas, 2015) and trust (Chen, 2017: Boateng & Narteh, 2016) in the identification-student commitment relationship need clarification. A theoretical model was developed, based on marketing theories of identification, student commitment, shared values and trust to address the primary objective of the study. Boland College and Stellenbosch University were identified in order to provide a comprehensive view of the HE landscape in South Africa. Furthermore, a quantitative research design (more specifically a self-administered electronic survey) was employed on the SUNSurveys platform to assess the identification-commitment relationship of South African students. A data analysis was conducted by way of the Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) on the SmartPLS software programme and a multi-group analysis based on the realised sample of 510 Boland College students and 1494 Stellenbosch University students. Statistically significant positive relationships related to social identification were confirmed for the social identification-shared values, social identification-goal commitment, social identification-extra mural commitment and social identification-trust relationships for Boland College and Stellenbosch University. With regard to organisational identification, the organisational identification-shared values, organisational identification-institutional commitment and organisational identification-trust relationships are statistically significantly positive relationships for both Boland College and Stellenbosch University. However, only the organisational identification-goal commitment and organisational identification-extra mural commitment relationships are significant for Stellenbosch University. Additionally, trust was found to be a stronger mediator of the identification-commitment relationship than shared values for College and University students. As far as could be ascertained, the study is the first of its kind to investigate the identification-student commitment relationship, given the contextual background of South African higher education.