Department of Industrial Psychology

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Browsing Department of Industrial Psychology by Subject "Academic adjustment -- Students"

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    Grit, sense of belonging and mindfulness as predictors of adjustment and intention to persist at university
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2022-12) Cornelissen, Nathan Brent; Goosen, Susan; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. Dept. of Industrial Psychology.
    ENGLISH SUMMARY: The South African labour market is faced with a significant shortfall of talent supply, resulting in a negative impact on South African firms’ ability to remain competitive. The shortfall of talent supply could be attributed to a wide range of contributing factors, of which this paper paid particular focus on one, the high first-year university dropout rates, specifically among resource-constrained students. Therefore, with the aim of increasing the talent supply, this research evaluated non-cognitive factors that may positively influence academic and social adjustment among resource-constrained first-year students, leading to an intention to persist. The objective of this research was to find empirical support for the non-cognitive factors, grit, mindfulness, and sense of belonging, as indicators of academic adjustment, social adjustment and the intention to persist. An ex post facto correlational design was used and data was collected with the use of an online questionnaire, which 166 first-year resource-constrained students completed. For statistical analysis, the partial least squares structural equation modelling approach (PLS-SEM) was adopted in this study. Based on the results, a sense of belonging was found to be the strongest of the three predictor variables in positively influencing academic adjustment, social adjustment, and the intention to persist among resource-constrained first-year students. Grit was further found to positively influence the academic adjustment of said students and mindfulness was found to have no direct effect. Overall, the researcher found that mindfulness, grit, and a sense of belonging explained 32% of the variance in the academic adjustment, and 28% of the variance in the social adjustment of resource-constrained first-year university students. Moreover, social and academic adjustment was found to explain 20% of the variance in the intention to persist of resource-constrained first-year university students. The findings of this research could provide insight into the importance of considering non-cognitive indicators that may enhance successful adaptation to university. Furthermore, it may contribute to the development of effective programs geared towards improving retention in the first year, and ultimately improve talent throughput and supply which will result in enhanced employment opportunities, alleviating unemployment and poverty in the process.