UPSpace Repository

Faculty Research Collections

UP Research Output Collections

Featured

Recent Submissions

The introduction of workplace-based assessment into postgraduate medical training in South Africa : trainee perspectives
Daitz, Emma; Jenkins, Louis S.; Janse van Rensburg, Jacques; Muller, Madeleine; Singaram, Veena S.; Cooke, Richard; Adam, Sumaiya; Mawela, Dini; Botha, Gerda; Mamashela, Thakadu; Harris, Tashneem; Buch, Eric; Green-Thompson, Lionel; Burch, Vanessa; Ras, Tasleem (BioMed Central, 2026-03)
BACKGROUND : South Africa (SA) is moving towards implementing workplace-based assessments (WBA) in all medical specialist training programmes in the country. There are many challenges with implementing WBA, with existing literature suggesting implications for resources, and recognizing regulatory, educational, and social complexities. Research on WBA practices, experiences, and perceptions in the SA healthcare system is limited. The aim of this study was to identify factors that could impact WBA implementation from the perspectives of medical doctors in SA undergoing medical specialist training. The findings report on the perspectives, aspirations, and concerns of these postgraduate medical specialist trainees (also known as registrars and residents). METHODS : This paper reports on the qualitative data generated from a longitudinal mixed methods study that employed focus group discussions (FGDs) to gather data at different points in time of WBA implementation. We conducted two phases of institution-specific, interdisciplinary FGDs at seven universities in two phases. FGDs typically included between 6 and 10 trainees, lasted 60 min, and were facilitated online by a sociologist (ED). Sessions were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Data were analysed thematically and inductively. RESULTS : Six themes were identified from the data. Trainees had a generally positive attitude towards WBA in theory. However, they expressed anxieties about supervisor bias, unequal clinical contexts, and lack of standardization affecting their assessment outcomes if WBA was to be fully implemented. They reported that consultants were often unavailable for WBA activities and misunderstood the differences between summative and formative assessments. CONCLUSIONS : Trainees support WBA in principle but anticipate uneven implementation without structured faculty development, protected observation time, and safeguards for fairness across settings. Early implementation should prioritize role clarity, feedback skills, and context-sensitive quality assurance.
The dark side of customer interactions : exploring the predictive power of Dark Triad traits on Jay Customer behavior in service industries
Widmier, Scott; Gala, Prachi; Koufodontis, Nikolaos Iason; Serkedakis, Michael (Emerald, 2025-10)
PURPOSE : This study aims to introduce a predictive, trait-based framework to understand Jay Customer behavior in service industries. Building on Social Exchange Theory (SET), it explores how antisocial personality traits – collectively known as the Dark Triad (Machiavellianism, Narcissism and Psychopathy) – predict deviant customer behavior and how contextual moderators shape this relationship. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH : A large-scale survey (n = 830) was conducted using validated scales to measure Dark Triad traits, Jay Customer behavior and situational moderators, including boredom, sensation seeking, stress and service context (business vs leisure). Hypotheses were tested using regression analysis. FINDINGS : Dark Triad traits strongly predict Jay Customer behavior across verbal, physical and financial misconduct. This relationship is significantly moderated by boredom, sensation seeking and leisure service contexts. Contrary to expectations, stress has a direct effect on misbehavior but does not moderate the trait-behavior relationship. The model explains over 63% of the variance in Jay Customer behavior. RESEARCH LIMITATIONS/IMPLICATIONS : This study advances SET by introducing the concept of conditional SET compliance, demonstrating that individuals with antisocial traits strategically violate reciprocity norms, especially under low-cost, high-stimulation conditions. It contributes a novel integration of personality psychology into the service marketing domain. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS : Findings offer actionable strategies for frontline service management, including personality-informed customer profiling, context-specific service design and early behavioral flagging. Recommendations are offered for employee training and policy customization in leisure versus business environments. SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS : Proactively managing disruptive behavior can reduce psychological strain on service employees and enhance service environments for all customers, contributing to improved well-being and operational sustainability. ORIGINALITY/VALUE : To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to apply the Dark Triad framework to predict Jay Customer behavior, shifting the focus from descriptive typologies to a proactive, trait-based model. It extends SET through the concept of conditional compliance and offers practical strategies for managing customer deviance – particularly relevant in the post-pandemic service landscape.
The pursuit of decent work in precarious contexts : motorbike delivery riders' psychological experiences
Baldry, Kim; Koekemoer, Eileen; Olckers, Chantal (Sage, 2026)
Digital platforms have reshaped labour markets worldwide, increasing gig work opportunities, particularly for motorbike delivery riders in South Africa, a country grappling with high unemployment. However, these self-employed workers often face a lack of job security, benefits, and protections due to informality, weak labour laws, and deep socioeconomic inequality, highlighting the contrast with the International Labour Organisation’s decent work principles. This research explores the work experiences of platform-based motorbike delivery riders in South Africa, aiming to improve our understanding of platform-based work and decent work experiences in the gig economy. Within a constructivist paradigm, this study adopted a qualitative descriptive design to investigate the experiences of motorbike delivery riders in Gauteng, South Africa, with ten participants each undergoing two interviews. The data were analysed through hybrid thematic analysis. Findings reveal that precarious gig conditions and structural inequalities influence rider’s experiences of decent work, which can be categorised into three interconnected decent work themes: (1) safety and healthcare, (2) income security, and (3) work–life balance. This research underscores the need for context-sensitive applications of the psychology of working theory, acknowledging the complex interplay of economic constraints, access to decent work, and the fulfilment of psychological needs in the gig economy.
The regulatory, normative and cultural-cognitive dimensions of the returnee opportunity and returnee liability : how institutional migration creates the two sides of the same coin
Mreji, Pamela Adhiambo; Chrysostome, Elie Virgile; Barnard, Helena (Elsevier, 2026-08)
Why do some scholars emphasize the benefits realized by returnee entrepreneurs, whereas others highlight the returnee liability? By analyzing interviews with twenty Kenyan returnee entrepreneurs, we make three contributions to scholarship on returnee entrepreneurship. First, we reconcile two well-developed but separate and almost-contradictory bodies of the extant literature by showing that the returnee opportunity / returnee liability is a duality that all returnee entrepreneurs can expect and must manage, even if their ventures are successful. Returnees might see opportunities in the institutional differences between their home and host countries, but to realize those opportunities as entrepreneurial ventures, they must navigate their homeland’s de-familiarized regulatory, normative and cultural-cognitive macro-level institutional pillars. We show how returnee entrepreneurs navigate these macro-institutions as individuals, leading to our second contribution: Where people are mobile across borders, macro-institutions affect not only organizational processes, but also individuals directly. The theory of individual institutional migration suggests institutional migrants seek to regain personal control vis-à-vis a new institutional domain either by transposing knowledge from the previous institutional environment, or by internalizing the new institutional rules. Our third contribution is to advance that theory by suggesting that returnee entrepreneurs strategically seek to do both: Where they recognize opportunities in the new institutional environment (i.e. returnee opportunity), they transpose knowledge by starting innovative new ventures, but at the same time, the different macro-institutional environment imposes a burden (i.e. returnee liability) that they need to manage to gain acceptance of their ventures. HIGHLIGHTS • Returnee entrepreneurs are institutional migrants. • They carry the rules from one institutional environment to another. • They navigate macro institutions as individuals. • This results in a duality – both returnee opportunities and a returnee liability. • The duality functions across regulatory, normative and cultural-cognitive pillars.
Extracts of selected South African medicinal plants mitigate virulence factors in multidrug-resistant strains of Klebsiella pneumoniae
Adeosun, Idowu Jesulayomi; Baloyi, Itumeleng Tsebang; Cosa, Sekelwa (Wiley, 2023-10)
The emergence of multidrug-resistant (MDR) Klebsiella pneumoniae remains a global health threat due to its alarming rates of becoming resistant to antibiotics. Therefore, identifying plant-based treatment options to target this pathogen’s virulence factors is a priority. This study examined the antivirulence activities of twelve plant extracts obtained from three South African medicinal plants (Lippia javanica, Carpobrotus dimidiatus, and Helichrysum populifolium) against carbapenem-resistant (CBR) and extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) positive K. pneumoniae strains. The plant extracts (ethyl acetate, dichloromethane, methanol, and water) were validated for their inhibitory activities against bacterial growth and virulence factors such as biofilm formation, exopolysaccharide (EPS) production, curli expression, and hypermucoviscosity. The potent extract on K. pneumoniae biofilm was observed with a scanning electron microscope (SEM), while exopolysaccharide topography and surface parameters were observed using atomic force microscopy (AFM). Chemical profiling of the potent extract in vitro was analysed using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS). Results revealed a noteworthy minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) value for the C. dimidiatus dichloromethane extract at 0.78 mg/mL on CBR- K. pneumoniae. L. javanica (ethyl acetate) showed the highest cell attachment inhibition (67.25%) for CBR- K. pneumoniae. SEM correlated the in-vitro findings, evidenced by a significant alteration of the biofilm architecture. The highest EPS reduction of 34.18% was also noted for L. javanica (ethyl acetate) and correlated by noticeable changes observed using AFM. L. javanica (ethyl acetate) further reduced hypermucoviscosity to the least length mucoid string (1 mm-2 mm) at 1.00 mg/mL on both strains. C. dimidiatus (aqueous) showed biofilm inhibition of 45.91% for the ESBL-positive K. pneumoniae and inhibited curli expression at 0.50 mg/mL in both K. pneumoniae strains as observed for H. populifolium (aqueous) extract. Chemical profiling of L. javanica (ethyl acetate), C. dimidiatus (aqueous), and H. populifolium (aqueous) identified diterpene (10.29%), hydroxy-dimethoxyflavone (10.24%), and 4,5-dicaffeoylquinic acid (13.41%), respectively, as dominant compounds. Overall, the ethyl acetate extract of L. javanica revealed potent antivirulence properties against the studied MDR K. pneumoniae strains. Hence, it is a promising medicinal plant that can be investigated further to develop alternative therapy for managing K. pneumoniae-associated infections.