Psychological dimensions of unemployment: A gender comparison between Belgian and South African unemployed

[en] This study sought to compare South African and Belgian unemployed in their subjective experience of unemployment, committed towards employment and job search behaviour. We also considered gender differences regarding the psychological dimensions of unemployment between Belgium and South Africa. A cross-sectional survey design was used. Unemployed people were sampled from the Potchefstroom area in South Africa (N = 381) and the Brussels area in Belgium (N = 305). The Experiences of Unemployment Questionnaire was administered. While no significant gender differences were found in South Africa, significant differences were found for all three psychological dimensions of unemployment in the Belgian sample. South African intervention programmes should be developed in order to cope with long-lasting unemployment, social isolation and further financial deprivation. Copyright © 2012 Journal of Psychology in Africa.

Research Center/Unit :

LENTIC - Laboratoire d'Études sur les Nouvelles Formes de Travail, l'Innovation et le Changement - ULiège

Disciplines :

Human resources management
Social, industrial & organizational psychology

Author, co-author :

Griep, Yannick; KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium ; Vrije Universiteit, Brussel, Belgium

Rothmann, Sebastiaan; North-West University, Vanderbijlpark, South Africa

Vleugels, Wouter ; Université de Liège - ULiège > HEC Liège : UER > UER Management : Strategic and Sustainable Human Resource Management ; KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

De Witte, Hans; North-West University, Vanderbijlpark, South Africa

Language :

English

Title :

Psychological dimensions of unemployment: A gender comparison between Belgian and South African unemployed

Publication date :

2012

Journal title :

Journal of Psychology in Africa

ISSN :

1433-0237

eISSN :

1815-5626

Publisher :

Elliott and Fitzpatrick, Inc.

Volume :

Issue :

Pages :

303 - 313

Peer reviewed :

Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi

Additional URL :

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10.1080/14330237.2012.10820535?needAccess=true

Available on ORBi :

since 09 September 2023

Statistics

Number of views

12 (4 by ULiège)

Number of downloads

28 (1 by ULiège)

More statistics

Scopus citations^®

Scopus citations^®
without self-citations

OpenCitations

OpenAlex citations

Bibliography

Ajzen, I. (1991). The theory of planned behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 50, 179-211.
Artazcoz, L., Benach, J., Borrell, C., & Cortès, I. (2004). Unemployment and mental health: Understanding the interactions among gender, family roles, and social class. American Journal of Public Health, 94, 82-88.
Atkinson, J. W., & Birch, D. (1970). The dynamics of action. New York, NY: Wiley.
Banerjee, A., Galiani, S., Levinsohn, J., McLaren, Z., & Woolard, I. (2008). Why has unemployment rising in the New South Africa? The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, 16, 715-740.
Blanchflower, D. G., & Oswald, A. J. (2004). Well-being over time in Britain and the USA. Journal of Public Economics, 88, 1359-1386.
Blau, G. (2007). Partially testing a process model for understanding victim responses to an anticipated worksite closure. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 71, 401-428.
Blau, D. M., & Robins, P. K. (1990). Job search outcomes for the employed and unemployed. The Journal of Political Economy, 98, 637-655.
Brislin, R. W. (1970). Back-translation for cross-cultural research. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 1, 185-216.
Carroll, N. (2007). Unemployment and psychological well-being. Economic Record, 83, 287-302.
Chick, G. (1997). Cultural complexity: The concept and its measurements. Cross-Cultural Research, 31, 275-307.
Creed, P. A., Muller, J., & Machin, M. A. (2001). The role of satisfaction with employment status, neuroticism, financial strain and categories of experience in predicting mental health in the unemployed. Personality and Individual Differences, 30, 435-447.
Creed, P. A., & Reynolds, J. (2001). Economic deprivation, experiential deprivation and social loneliness in unemployed and employed youth. Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, 11, 167-178.
de Beer, P. (1999). Wat is het nut van werken? [What is the point of working?] Amsterdams Sociologisch Tijdschrift [Amsterdam Sociological Journal], 26, 25-57.
De Witte, H., & Hooge, J. (1999). Psychosociale typering van werklozen in de gemeente Sint-Pieters-Leeuw. [Psychosocial typology of unemployed in the municipality of Sint-Pieters-Leeuw]. Leuven, Belgium: Onderzoeksinstituut voor Arbeid en Samenleving (HIVA).
De Witte, H., Hooge, J., & Vanbelle, E. (2010). Do the long-term unemployed adapt to unemployment? Romanian Journal of Applied Psychology, 12, 8-14.
De Witte, H., Rothmann, S., & Jackson, L. T. B. (2012). The psychological consequences of unemployment in South Africa. South African Journal of Economic and Management Sciences, 15, 235-252.
De Witte, H., & Wets, J. (1993). Over de (heterogeniteit in de) werkloosheidsbeleving van jonge, langdurige werkloze vrouwen. [On the (heterogeneity of the experience of long-term unemployment among young women.] In A. Goethals & J. Groothoff (Eds.), Gezondheid en hulpverlening in sociaalcultureel perspectief. [Health and healthcare in a social-cultural perspective.] Amsterdam, The Netherlands: Institute for the Social Sciences (SISWO).
EuroStat (2010). Harmonised unemployment rate by gender - total. Retrieved from http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu
Evans, S. T., & Haworth, J. T. (1991). Variations in personal activity, access to categories of experience, and the psychological well-being in young adults. Leisure Studies, 10, 249-264.
Feather, N. T. (1990). The Psychological impact of unemployment. New York, NY: Springer-Verlag.
Field, A. (2009). Discovering statistics using SPSS (3rd ed.). London, United Kingdom: Sage.
Fryer, D. (1986). Employment deprivation and personal agency during unemployment: A critical discussion of Jahoda's explanation of the psychological effects of unemployment. Social Behavior, 1, 3-23.
Fryer, D. (1997). Agency restriction. In N. Nicholson (Ed.), The Blackwell encyclopedic dictionary of organizational psychology. Oxford, United Kingdom: Blackwell.
Fryer, D., & Fagin, R. (1993). Coping with unemployment. International Journal of Political Economy, 23, 95-120.
Fryer, D., & Payne, R. (1984). Proactive behaviour in unemployment: Findings and implications. Leisure Studies, 3, 273-295.
Gonzo, W., & Plattner, I. E. (2003). Unemployment in an African country: A psychological perspective. Windhoek, Namibia: University of Namibia Press.
Grawe, K. (2004). Psychological therapy. Seattle, WA: Hogrefe & Huber.
Greenhaus, J. H., & Foley, S. (2007). The intersection of work and family lives. In H. Gunz & M. Peiperl (Eds.), Handbook of career studies (pp. 131-152). Los Angeles, CA: Sage.
Hakim, C. (1991). Grateful slaves and self-made women: Fact and fantasy in women's work orientation. European Sociological Review, 7, 101-121.
Hakim, C. (1995). Five feminist myths about women's employment. British Journal of Sociology, 46, 429-452.
Hammarström, A., & Janlert, U. (2005). Health selection in a 14-year follow-up study: A question of gendered discrimination? Social Science Medicine, 61, 2221-2232.
Harnish, J. D., and Aseltine., R. H., & Gore, S. (2000). Resolution of stressful experiences as an indicator of coping effectiveness in young adults: An event history analysis. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 41, 121-136.
Hochschild, A. R., & Machung, A. (2003). The second shift. New York, NY: Viking Penguin.
Hofstede, G., & McCrae, R. R. (2004). Personality and culture revisited: Linking traits and dimensions of culture. Cross-Cultural Research, 38, 52-88.
International Labour Organisation (2000). Yearbook of labour statistics (58th ed.). Geneva, Switzerland: International Labour Office.
Jahoda, M. (1982). Employment and unemployment. A social-psychological analysis. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.
Jenkins, G. D., Mitra, A., Gupta, N., & Shaw, J. D. (1998). Are financial incentives related to performance? A meta-analytic review of empirical research. Journal of Applied Psychology, 83, 777-787.
Kanfer, R., and Wanberg., C. R., & Kantrowitz, T. M. (2001). Job search and employment: A personality-motivational analysis and meta-analytic review. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86, 837-855.
Kingdon, G. G., & Knight, J. (1999). Unemployment and wages in South Africa: A spatial approach. University of Oxford, United Kingdom: Centre for the Study of African Economies.
Kingdon, G. G., & Knight, J. (2001). Unemployment in South Africa: The nature of the beast. University of Oxford, United Kingdom: Centre for the Study of African Economies.
Kingdon, G. G., & Knight, J. (2004). Race and the incidence of unemployment in South Africa. Review of Development Economics, 8, 198-222.
Kingdon, G. G., & Knight, J. (2006). The measurement of unemployment when unemployment is high. Labour Economics, 13, 291-315.
Kong, F., and Perrucci., C. C., & Perrucci, R. (1993). The impact of unemployment and economic stress on social support. Community Mental Health Journal, 29, 205-221.
Kuo, B. C. H. (2011). Culture's consequences on coping: theories, evidences, and dimensionalities. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 42, 1084-1100.
Langens, T. A., & Mose, E. (2006). Coping with unemployment: Relationships between duration of unemployment, coping styles, and subjective well-being. Journal of Applied Biobehavioral Research, 11, 189-208.
Leana, C., & Feldman, D. (1988). Individual responses to job loss: Perceptions, reactions, and coping behaviors. Journal of Management, 14, 375-390.
Livingston, B. A., & Judge, T. A. (2008). Emotional responses to work-family conflict: An examination of gender role orientation among working men and women. Journal of Applied Psychology, 93, 207-216.
Machin, M. A., & Creed, P. A. (2003). Understanding the differential benefits of training for the unemployed. Australian Journal of Psychology, 2, 104-113.
Mainiero, L. A., & Sullivan, S. E. (2006). The opt-out revolt: Why people are leaving companies to create kaleidoscope careers. Palo Alto, CA: Davies-Black.
Marshalle, M. I. (2006). Economics of unemployment. New York, NY: Nova Science.
Masango, M. (2005). The African concept of caring for life. HTS Theological Studies, 61, 915-925.
McKee-Ryan, F., Song, Z., and Wanberg., C. R., & Kinicki, A. J. (2005). Psychological and physical well-being during unemployment: A meta-analytic study. Journal of Applied Psychology, 90, 53-76.
Mohr, G., & Otto, K. (2011). Health effects of unemployment and job insecurity. In A. S. Antoniou, & C. Cooper (Eds.). New directions in organizational psychology and behavioural medicine (pp. 289-311). Surrey, United Kingdom: Gower.
National Planning Commission (2011). Diagnostic overview. Cape Town, South Africa: Department of the Presidency.
Nding'u, K. (2010). South Africa: Women shut out of the labour market. Women & Gender, Pambazuka News. Retrieved 2012 from http://pambazuka.org/en/ category/wgender/64256
Nordenmark, M. (1999). Employment commitment and psychological well-being among unemployed men and women. Acta Sociologica, 42, 135-146.
Paul, K. I., & Batinic, B. (2010). The need for work: Jahoda's latent functions of employment in a representative sample of the German population. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 30, 1-19.
Paul, K. I., & Moser, K. (2006). Incongruence as an explanation for the negative mental health effects of unemployment: Meta-analytic evidence. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 79, 595-621.
Paul, K. I., & Moser, K. (2009). Unemployment impairs mental health: Meta-analyses. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 74, 264-282.
Podsakoff, P. M., & Organ, D. W. (1986). Self-reports in organizational research: Problems and prospects. Journal of Management, 18, 531-544.
Powdthavee, N. (2007). Are there geographical variations in the psychological cost of unemployment in South Africa? Social Indicators Research, 80, 629-652.
Poortinga, Y. H. (1989). Equivalence of cross-cultural data: An overview of basic issues. International Journal of Psychology, 24, 737-756.
Powell, G. N., & Mainiero, L. A. (1992). Cross-currents in the river of time: Conceptualizing the complexities of women's careers. Journal of Management, 18, 215-237.
Rantakeisu, U., & Jönsson, L. R. (2003). Unemployment and mental health among white-collar workers - A question of work involvement and financial situation? International Journal of Social Welfare, 12, 31-41.
Ribton-Turner, L., & De Bruin, G. P. (2006). The unemployed mid-career adult: Stressors and support. South African Journal of Industrial Psychology. 32, 31-38.
Rosseel, E. (1982). Werkloosheidsbeleving. Bevindingen van en bemerkingen bij een onderzoek van een representatieve steekproef van Belgische werklozen. [Unemployment experience. Findings and observations in a study of a representative sample of Belgian unemployed.] Tijdschrift voor Sociologie [Sociological Journal], 3, 117-136.
Sorensen, G., & Verbrugge, L. M. (1987). Women, work, and health. Annual Review of Public Health, 8, 235-251.
SPSS Inc. (2011). SPSS 19.0 for Windows. Chicago, IL: SPSS.
Sullivan, S., & Arthur, M. (2006). The evolution of the boundaryless career concept: Examining physical and psychological mobility. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 69, 19-29.
The World Bank (2011). South Africa economic update: Focus on savings, investment, and inclusive growth. Washington, DC: The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
Triandis, H. C. (1995). Individualism and collectivism. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Triandis, H. C., McCusker, C., & Hui, H. C. (1990). Multimethod probes of individualismand collectivism. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59, 1006-1020.
Van de Vijver, F. J. R., & Leung, K. (1997a). Methods and data analysis of comparative research. In J. W. Berry, Y. H. Poortinga, & J. Pandey (Eds.), Handbook of cross-cultural psychology (2nd ed., pp. 257-300). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Van de Vijver, F. J. R., & Leung, K. (1997b). Methods and data analysis for cross-cultural research. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Van de Vijver, A. J. R., & Rothmann, S. (2004). Assessment in multicultural groups: The South African case. South African Journal of Industrial Psychology, 30, 1-7.
Van Der Merwe, P., & Greef, A. P. (2003). Coping mechanisms of unemployed African men with dependants. The American Journal of Family Therapy, 31, 91-105.
Van Dyk, G. A. J., & De Kock, F. S. (2004). The relevance of the individualism-collectivism (IC) factor for the management of diversity in the South African National Defence Force. South African Journal of Industrial Psychology, 30, 90-95.
Van Hooft, E. A. J., Born, M. Ph., Taris, T. W., Van der Flier, H., & Blonk, R. W. B. (2004). Job search and the theory of planned behavior: Minority-majority group differences in The Netherlands. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 65, 366-390.
Van Loon, F., Pauwels, K. & van Humskerke, H. (1982). Werkloosheid en gezin: een onderzoek naar de gevolgen van werkloosheid. [Unemployment and family: A study of the effects of unemployment]. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Sikkel, Nederlandsche Boekhandel.
Vansteenkiste, M., Lens, W., Dewitte, S., De Witte, H., & Deci, E. L. (2004). The 'why' and 'why not' of job search behaviour: Their relation to searching, unemployment experience, and well-being. European Journal of Social Psychology, 34, 345-363.
Vuori, J., & Vesalainen, J. (1999). Labour market interventions as predictors of re-employment, job seeking activity and psychological distress among the unemployed. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 72, 523-538.
Vuori, J., & Silvonen, J. (2005). The benefits of a preventive job search program on re-employment and mental health at 2-year follow-up. Journal of Organizational Psychology, 78, 1-11.
Wanberg, C. R., and Glomb., T. M., Song, Z., & Sorenson, S. (2005). Job-search persistence: A time series investigation. Journal of Applied Psychology, 90, 411-430.
Warr, P. B. (1983). Work, jobs and unemployment. Bulletin of the British Psychological Society, 36, 305-311.
Warr, P. B., & Jackson, P. (1987). Adapting to the unemployment role: A longitudinal investigation. Social Science and Medicine, 25, 1219-1224.
Warr, P. B., and Cook., J. D., & Wall, T. D. (1979). Scales for the measurement of some work attitudes and aspects of psychological well-being. Journal of Occupational Psychology, 52, 129-148.
Wiener, K. K. K., Oei, T. P. S., & Creed, P. A. (1999). Predicting job seeking frequency and psychological well-being in the unemployed. Journal of Employment Counseling, 36, 67-91.
Winefield, A. H., & Fryer, D. (1996). Some emerging threats to the validity of research on unemployment and mental health. Australian Journal of Social Research, 2, 115-128.