IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v14y2022i16p10264-d891520.html

Sustainable Employability: Precariousness, Capabilities, and Functioning of Special Education Teachers in Namibia

Author

Listed:
  • Annelisa Murangi

    (Optentia Research Unit, North-West University, Vanderbijlpark 1910, South Africa)

  • Sebastiaan Rothmann

    (Optentia Research Unit, North-West University, Vanderbijlpark 1910, South Africa)

  • Mirna Nel

    (Optentia Research Unit, North-West University, Vanderbijlpark 1910, South Africa)

Abstract

Institutions cannot ignore the need for the sustainable employability of people. This study aimed to investigate the sustainable employability of special education teachers from the perspective of employment precariousness, capabilities, and functioning (flourishing and intention to leave) of special education teachers in Namibia. Using a cross-sectional survey design, teachers ( n = 200) across seven Namibia regions took part in this study. The Precarity Position Profile, Capability for Work Questionnaire, Flourishing at Work Questionnaire, and Intention to Leave Questionnaire were administered. The results showed that precarious employment was negatively associated with the capability set and with flourishing (emotional, psychological, and social well-being) and positively associated with intention to leave. Low job insecurity and the capability set were associated with emotional well-being. Moreover, low job insecurity, professional development, and the capability set were associated with psychological well-being. Furthermore, precarious work conditions, job insecurity, low professional development, and low scores on the capability set were associated with low social well-being. Precarious work conditions and low scores on the capability set were associated with teachers’ intentions to leave. Two dimensions of precarious employment, namely salary and precarious work conditions, indirectly affected teachers’ emotional, psychological, and social well-being via the capability set.

Suggested Citation

  • Annelisa Murangi & Sebastiaan Rothmann & Mirna Nel, 2022. "Sustainable Employability: Precariousness, Capabilities, and Functioning of Special Education Teachers in Namibia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-20, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:16:p:10264-:d:891520
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/16/10264/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/16/10264/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Marianna Giunchi & Anne-Marie Vonthron & Chiara Ghislieri, 2019. "Perceived Job Insecurity and Sustainable Wellbeing: Do Coping Strategies Help?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-18, February.
    2. Wai Ming To & Jennifer H. Gao & Ernest Y. W. Leung, 2020. "The Effects of Job Insecurity on Employees’ Financial Well-Being and Work Satisfaction Among Chinese Pink-Collar Workers," SAGE Open, , vol. 10(4), pages 21582440209, December.
    3. Jeremy E. Vittek, 2015. "Promoting Special Educator Teacher Retention," SAGE Open, , vol. 5(2), pages 21582440155, June.
    4. Iain Campbell & Robin Price, 2016. "Precarious work and precarious workers: Towards an improved conceptualisation," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 27(3), pages 314-332, September.
    5. Hojman, Daniel A. & Miranda, Álvaro, 2018. "Agency, Human Dignity, and Subjective Well-being," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 1-15.
    6. Valerie Egdell  & Vanessa Beck, 2020. "A Capability Approach to Understand the Scarring Effects of Unemployment and Job Insecurity: Developing the Research Agenda," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 34(5), pages 937-948, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jason Heyes & Sian Moore & Kirsty Newsome & Mark Tomlinson, 2018. "Living with uncertain work," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(5-6), pages 420-437, November.
    2. Isabel Dias & Alexandra Lopes & José Azevedo & Ana Sofia Maia & João Santos Baptista, 2022. "Cleaning in Times of Pandemic: Perceptions of COVID-19 Risks among Workers in Facility Services," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-18, June.
    3. Constantine Manolchev & Richard Saundry & Duncan Lewis, 2021. "Breaking up the ‘precariat’: Personalisation, differentiation and deindividuation in precarious work groups," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 42(3), pages 828-851, August.
    4. Sek-yum Ngai, Steven & Cheung, Chau-kiu & Ng, Yuen-hang & Joo Lee, Bong & Dupéré, Véronique & Wang, Miao & Zhou, Qiushi & Chen, Chen & Li, Yunjun & Wong, Laing-ming & Yu, Elly Ngai-hin, 2025. "Unraveling the school-to-work transition of non-engaged youth: A continuous-time Markov chain analysis," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    5. Paul Dalziel, 2019. "Wellbeing economics in public policy: A distinctive Australasian contribution?," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 30(4), pages 478-497, December.
    6. Katharine S. E. Cresswell Riol & Sean Connelly, 2023. "Beyond a neoliberal critique of hunger: a genealogy of food charity in Aotearoa New Zealand," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 40(3), pages 1221-1238, September.
    7. Michael Joseph D’Italia & Adam Okulicz-Kozaryn, 2025. "Constructing General Human Agency Indicators (GHAIs) and a General Personal Agency Scale (GPAS)," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 176(1), pages 337-411, January.
    8. Matthys, Marie-Luise & Acharya, Sushant & Khatri, Sanjaya, 2021. "“Before cardamom, we used to face hardship”: Analyzing agricultural commercialization effects in Nepal through a local concept of the Good Life," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    9. Ryan Lorraine & MacMahon Juliet & O’Sullivan Michelle & Turner Thomas & Lavelle Jonathan & Murphy Caroline & O’Brien Mike & Gunnigle Patrick, 2019. "The Same but Different: Regulating Zero Hours Work in Two Liberal Market Economies," The Irish Journal of Management, Sciendo, vol. 38(1), pages 3-15, December.
    10. García-Pérez, Carmelo & Prieto-Alaiz, Mercedes & Simón, Hipólito, 2020. "Multidimensional measurement of precarious employment using hedonic weights: Evidence from Spain," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 348-359.
    11. Yuhyung Shin & Won-Moo Hur & Tae Won Moon & Soomi Lee, 2019. "A Motivational Perspective on Job Insecurity: Relationships Between Job Insecurity, Intrinsic Motivation, and Performance and Behavioral Outcomes," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(10), pages 1-16, May.
    12. Haroon Bhorat & Ravi Kanbur & Benjamin Stanwix & Amy Thornton, 2021. "Measuring Multi‐Dimensional Labour Law Violation with an Application to South Africa," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 59(3), pages 928-961, September.
    13. Fischer, Harry W. & Devkota, Kamal & Gupta, Divya & Khatri, Dil B., 2026. "Decentering climate in vulnerability analysis: On aspiration, striving, and the fullness of life in uncertain times," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 198(C).
    14. Cyndirela Chadambuka & Prossy Kiddu Namyalo & Rhea Raghunauth & Navya Arora & Fiona Kouyoumdjian & Beverley M Essue, 2025. "Precarious employment and gender-based violence against migrant women: A scoping review mapping the intersections," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 20(12), pages 1-20, December.
    15. Sanchez, Mari & Lamont, Michèle & Zilberstein, Shira, 2022. "How American college students understand social resilience and navigate towards the future during covid and the movement for racial justice," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 301(C).
    16. Carlos-María Alcover & Sergio Salgado & Gabriela Nazar & Raúl Ramírez-Vielma & Carolina González-Suhr, 2022. "Job Insecurity, Financial Threat, and Mental Health in the COVID-19 Context: The Moderating Role of the Support Network," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(3), pages 21582440221, September.
    17. Leonardo Letelier S & José L. Sáez-Lozano, 2024. "The Effect of Municipal Fiscal Decentralization on Subjective Well Being: The Case of Chile," SAGE Open, , vol. 14(2), pages 21582440241, May.
    18. Ratna K. Shrestha & Raunak Shrestha & Sara Shneiderman & Jeevan Baniya, 2023. "Beyond Reconstruction: What Leads to Satisfaction in Post-Disaster Recovery?," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 24(4), pages 1367-1395, April.
    19. Zhang, Qi & Gong, Jian & Wang, Ying, 2024. "How resilience capacity and multiple shocks affect rural households’ subjective well-being: A comparative study of the Yangtze and Yellow River Basins in China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).
    20. Ifra Bashir & Ishtiaq Hussain Qureshi, 2023. "A Systematic Literature Review on Personal Financial Well-Being: The Link to Key Sustainable Development Goals 2030," FIIB Business Review, , vol. 12(1), pages 31-48, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:16:p:10264-:d:891520. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager The email address of this maintainer does not seem to be valid anymore. Please ask MDPI Indexing Manager to update the entry or send us the correct address (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.