The combined influence of self-leadership and locus of control on the job performance of engineering workforce in a power generation utility: An empirical perspective

Orientation: The joint effects of self-leadership and locus of control within an engineering context have been under-explored because much research focused on self-leadership and locus of control as independent concepts, and studies on their combined effects on organisational performance remain hard to encounter in emerging economies.Research purpose: The aim of the study was to develop deeper empirical knowledge of the combined effects of self-leadership and locus of control on job performance of engineering workforce in Eskom Free State.Motivation for the study: The originality of the study lies in the reconstitution of individual self-leadership and locus of control concepts as they relate to job performance and its impact on prospective engineers who work at Eskom in Bloemfontein.Research approach/design and method: Drawing on a quantitative approach, a survey was conducted on 134 engineering personnel (comprising engineers, technologists and technicians). Of this workforce, a total of 107 engineers participated in the study representing a response rate of 79.8%. Correlation and multiple regression analysis were used to analyse the corpus of quantitative data.Main findings: The results demonstrate that self-leadership and locus of control are significant independent variables and when considered jointly, they have a positive significant impact on job performance of the Eskom engineering workforce.Practical/managerial implications: Implications for the initiation and fostering of self-leadership and locus of control to improve the job performance of Eskom Bloemfontein engineering workforce are discussed.Contribution/value-add: The study contributes to engineers’ task-focused behaviour through its expectations for the engineering workforce to be self-leaders who exercise internal locus of control in the execution of their jobs. This study also contributes to engineers’ work-related personality dimensions and sense of self-awareness through an exposition of individual personalities they were not conscious of.