The South African Health Professions Act (HPCSA, 2011) defined an I-O psychologist as a person who deals with the work-related issues of well-adjusted adults by applying principles of psychology in order to optimise the effectiveness and well-being of the individual, the group and the organisation as a whole. I-O psychology relies on the theory and methodology of psychology to influence human behaviour in the workplace (Bergh, 2012). According to Schreuder and Coetzee (2010), the role of the I-O psychologist relates to optimising the fit between the employee and the workplace. I-O psychology students undergo extensive training before qualifying as I-O psychologists. The training involves obtaining a relevant master’s degree, completing a 12-month internship, writing the national examination (with a minimum of 70%) and registering with the Health Professions Council (2011) as psychologists. Registered I-O psychologists’ actions are regulated by the scope of the profession of psychology as well as the scope of practice of I-O psychologists (HPCSA, 2011).

In terms of scope of practice, the tasks of I-O psychologists include the following (HPCSA, 2011): (1) applying principles of psychology to the workplace, (2) utilising assessment practices, (3) facilitating individual and group processes, (4) exercising consumer psychological practices, (5) conducting ergonomic evaluations, (6) performing psychological interventions and short-term therapeutic counselling interventions and (7) conducting assessments. I-O psychology practitioners also adhere to a code of ethics to ensure ethical practice as psychologists. The HPCSA can institute disciplinary measures against any I-O psychologists who do not adhere to this code (HPCSA, 2011).

According to the South African Department of Health (2012), I-O psychology practitioners are permitted to perform a limited number of psychological interventions within their scope of practice. The practitioners may perform counselling interventions in order to diagnose work-related and organisational challenges and problems. The aim of the counselling is to increase the personal functioning of groups and individuals in work-related contexts. According to Strümpfer (2007), individuals’ deep-rooted problems are a concern for the I-O psychology practitioners and result in workplace scenarios where I-O psychology practitioners play the role of workplace counsellors. The literature indicates that employees are influenced by issues such as family responsibilities, culture and traumatic events (Van Vuuren, 2010). The work-related issues that I-O practitioners manage can also include traumatic incidents, such as harassment, emotional abuse and victimisation (Aquino & Thau, 2009). Another significant workplace incident facing I-O psychology is HIV/AIDS (Motsoaledi, 2011). South Africa contains 0.7% of the global population but carries 17% of the HIV/AIDS global burden (Motsoaledi, 2011), making HIV/AIDS a force to be considered in the workplace. Additional work-related problems requiring counselling include stress, negative attitudes at work and burnout (Preece, Cayley, Scheuchl & Lam, 2005). The components of burnout (depersonalisation, personal accomplishment and exhaustion) often result in employees seeking interventions (Friedman, 2000) for the effects of burnout.

According to McLeod and McLeod (2011), workplace counselling has the potential to decrease the effects of depression, stress and anxiety for the majority of the workforce. A study conducted by Collins et al. (2012) found that the provision of counselling services in the workplace for distressed employees has a positive effect on employees’ well-being. It is thus crucial that I-O psychology practitioners deal with the organisation as a whole, as well as with individuals’ well-being (see Rothmann & Cilliers, 2007; Schreuder, 2001). This will result in improvements in levels of PGI as well as improvements in the quality of the organisation and the individuals’ lives (Rothmann & Cilliers, 2007; Schreuder & Coetzee, 2010).

Workplace counselling is an effective way of assisting employees to cope with psychological, emotional and behavioural problems (McLeod & McLeod, 2011). According to Bergh (2012), the tasks of I-O psychologists as workplace counsellors relate to diagnosing and treating the symptoms of workers with emotional conflicts. The literature (Rothmann, 2002; Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2014; Strűmpher, 2007) also suggests the importance of a more positive approach to promoting employee and organisational well-being. This approach implies that simply addressing emotional problems is insufficient and growth and optimal functioning must be developed. Based on the existing literature, this study formulated the following working definition for I-O psychologists as workplace counsellors: ‘assisting employees with emotional and work-related problems by diagnosing and treating symptoms by means of short-term therapeutic interventions in order to ultimately assist the employee to function at an optimal level’. An important consideration in relation to this definition is that the I-O psychologist as a workplace counsellor should have an effective referral network and should know when to refer to a more relevant professional practitioner. The workplace counsellor will often also work as part of an intervention process, for example, health promotion activities (see Bergh, 2012).

According to Rothmann and Van Aardt (2002), graduates in the behavioural sciences often lack the interpersonal skills, knowledge and intrapersonal awareness to be able to perform in a counselling role. It is important for a facilitator of people to have effective interpersonal skills in order to be aware of the clients’ emotions, feelings and perceptions. When helpers show effective interpersonal skills, they are likely to relate better to the experiences of others (see Carkhuff, 2000). Typical interpersonal skills include utilising microskills such as questioning, minimum encouragement, paraphrasing, clarifying, reflecting, summarising and giving information (Ivey, 2013).

Possessing effective interpersonal skills often leads to enhanced intrapersonal awareness (see Carkhuff, 2000). Intrapersonal awareness, also referred to as self-awareness (Kubica & LaForest, 2014), can best be defined as a self-actualising concept identified by scholars such as Rogers (1970), Frankl (1985) and Allport (1961). According to Rothmann (1996), when a person is intrapersonally aware, she or he tends to function optimally as an individual. Individuals who possess intrapersonal awareness have constructive interactions with their surroundings whilst they are constantly growing (Rogers, 1980). Training in intrapersonal awareness relates to the individual’s PGI, optimal functioning and self-actualisation. According to Kubica and LaForest (2014), intrapersonal awareness can be seen as the fundamental driver of interpersonal skills and is therefore important for an I-O psychologist. A promising antecedent of intrapersonal awareness (optimal functioning and well-being) is PGI (Robitschek, 1998).

PGI refers to the effective and purposeful engagement in the pursuit of personal growth, which includes changing specific aspects of one’s life in order to attain set goals (see Robitschek, 1998). According to Robitschek (1998), PGI includes (1) cognitive aspects such as self-efficacy, beliefs, attitudes and values relating to personal growth and (2) behavioural aspects relating to the application of these cognitions throughout various domains of growth. Ryff (1989) described a person with a high level of PGI as someone who has the intention of constant development. Such a person will see himself as growing, as able to realise his potential, is open to new experiences, is changing in ways that reflect self-knowledge and success, and sees improvement in self and behaviour over time. Personal growth is both an intentional and conscious process (Robitschek, 1998; Robitschek et al., 2012). In contrast to stable personality traits, PGI relates to skills that can be developed for self-improvement (Robitschek et al., 2012) and characteristics that have developmental components and can be changed through interventions (Weigold & Robitschek, 2011).

According to Robitschek (1998), PFI relates to the process of personal growth rather than the outcomes of an individual’s efforts to change. PGI can further be described as the skill set for working through self-change (Robitschek et al., 2012). This skill set consists of the following components: how the individual prepares for the self-change; how the individual applies knowledge to plan and implement the self-change; how the individual uses external resources as assistance; and the intention of the individual to change (Robitschek et al., 2012). According to Robitschek (2003), these skills represent the preference to intentionally progress oneself in all life domains. Depending on the skill set, PGI levels can range from slightly skilled to highly skilled (Robitschek & Hershberger, 2005).

Although PGI shares similarities with constructs such as grit (the continuous effort to reach long-term goals through adversity) (Duckworth, Peterson, Matthews & Kelly, 2007), there are important differences between these constructs. A core difference relates to the fact that PGI involves the use of a skill set to change intentionally (Robitschek et al., 2012), whereas grit relies on a central drive (Duckworth et al., 2007). Correspondingly, although high levels of PGI are related to better goal-setting orientation (Klockner & Hicks, 2008), PGI differs from goal setting in two essential ways: firstly, by definition, the main focus of PGI is personal growth (Robitschek, 1998) and not general goal setting (Klockner & Hicks, 2008); and secondly, PGI not only includes setting goals but also involves the planning of goals and intentionally taking action to reach these goals (Robitschek et al., 2012).

According to Robitschek and Keyes (2009), persons with higher levels of PGI normally demonstrate higher levels of psychological well-being. High levels of PGI are also associated with people who have increased healthy coping (Robitschek et al., 2012; Robitschek & Kashubeck, 1999), decreased depression levels (Robitschek & Anderson, 2011; Robitschek & Kashubeck, 1999) and greater life satisfaction (Stevic & Ward, 2008). Furthermore, PGI correlates with all the subscales of the positive mental health scale, namely, personal growth and autonomy, interpersonal skills, global affect, emotional support, general coping and spirituality (Vaingankar et al., 2011), as well as curiosity, self-compassion, optimism and happiness (Neff, Rude & Kirkpatrick, 2007).

The intention to grow as a person is applicable to all kinds of people, regardless of status. According to Allport (1961), the capacity to adapt and change is an important characteristic of a healthy personality. The extent to which individuals seek opportunities to grow is influenced by their level of PGI (Robitschek & Cook, 1999). According to Robitschek and Kashubeck (1999), PGI levels are a crucial factor in measuring the degree to which the person has benefitted from the growth opportunities that were presented. PGI is therefore an important characteristic to consider when training workplace counsellors, because helping others implies facilitating a process of growth. It is essential for I-O psychology students to become aware of their own PGI as a first step towards being trained as workplace counsellors.

The PGIS was originally developed by Robitschek (1998) to assess the personal growth of adults experiencing personal or vocational transitions. The scale has item response options on the nine-item single-factor instrument ranging from 0 (definitely disagree) to 5 (definitely agree). The items are all stated in a positive direction. The PGIS is a unidimensional scale that has been proved to have sound psychometric properties in terms of validity and reliability. Various studies using longitudinal, experimental and cross-sectional designs have confirmed the unidimensionality and construct validity of the PGIS (see Bott & Duffy, 2015; Meyers, Van Woerkom, De Reuver, Bakk & Oberski, 2015; Oluyinka, 2011; Robitschek, 2003; Sanders, Van Oss & McGeary, 2015). The PGI has also been proved to have predictive validity in that it can significantly predict calling (Bott & Duffy, 2015) and students’ attitude towards seeking professional help (Oluyinka, 2011). Reported reliability coefficients range between 0.74 and 0.90 (see Bott & Duffy, 2015; Meyers et al., 2015; Oluyinka, 2011; Robitschek, 2003; Sanders et al., 2015).

The PGIS has not been validated within the South African context and therefore the following hypothesis was set for this study:

Research studies have identified various levels of PGI amongst students at tertiary institutions (see Meyers et al., 2015; Oluyinka, 2011; Robitschek, 2003; Sanders et al., 2015). Within these student samples, PGI has been proved to correlate with social anxiety (Hardin, Weigold, Robitschek & Nixon, 2007), positive affect (Hardin et al., 2007; Robitschek & Keyes, 2009), negative affect (Hardin et al., 2007), psychological well-being (Ayub & Iqbal, 2012; Robitschek & Keyes, 2009), psychological distress (Ayub & Iqbal, 2012), presence of life meaning (Bott & Duffy, 2015), calling (Bott & Duffy, 2015), career decision self-efficacy (Bott & Duffy, 2015), vocational identity (Robitschek & Cook, 1999), various coping strategies (Robitschek & Cook, 1999), hope (Shorey, Little, Snyder, Kluck & Robitschek, 2007), happiness (Robitschek & Keyes, 2009) and life satisfaction (Robitschek & Keyes, 2009).

When I-O psychology interns enter the workplace to start their internship, a significant amount (15%) of the internship includes workplace counselling as part of the career psychology and wellness domain stipulated in Form 218 (HPCSA, 2011). Interns are expected to conduct basic counselling, diagnose workplace-related psychopathology (e.g. burnout) and general psychopathology (e.g. psychological trauma) and refer appropriately, and to assist employees with physical and psychological health challenges that impact their wellness and well-being (e.g. HIV-AIDS) (HPCSA, 2011). Preparing I-O psychology students for their internships and subsequent careers as I-O psychologists should therefore include identifying and developing I-O psychology students’ intrapersonal awareness through determining their level of PGI. Findings by Meyers et al. (2015) and Sanders et al. (2015) also indicated that interventions can increase students’ PGI, illustrating the relevance and applicability of PGI within training programmes for future I-O psychologists.

Although previous international studies indicate that high levels of PGI can lead to numerous positive outcomes for students, only one study (Prinsloo, 2008) utilising the PGI appears to have been conducted in South Africa. Prinsloo’s study utilised the PGI to develop a training programme for student self-regulation and did not report the students’ PGI results. There is thus no research available regarding the PGI levels of South African students. The following hypothesis was therefore set for this study:

Robitschek et al.’s (2012) review of research found that the PGIS displayed no significant gender differences in terms of descriptive statistics. However, frequent gender differences have been found in the relationships between PGI and other constructs such as internal locus of control (see Whittaker & Robitschek, 2001). Although most studies do not report significant gender differences in relation to PGI, the non-significant differences that have been reported appear to be context specific as some studies showed similar levels of PGI (Luyckx & Robitschek, 2014), whilst other studies found that men reported slightly higher levels of PGI than women (Hardin et al., 2007; Whittaker & Robitschek, 2001) or slightly lower levels of PGI than women (Oluyinka, 2011; Robitschek & Cook, 1999; Robitschek & Keyes, 2009). Given the varied results relating to PGI and gender, it was deemed important to investigate possible gender differences in relation to PGI within the South African student sample.

Tertiary education can be described as a period of time in a student’s life where life transition takes place and where the student will forge his or her adult identity; this is often a time of deliberate self-development and self-change (Kiecolt & Mabry, 2000). It is therefore understandable that most of the PGI-related studies have used student samples at tertiary institutions (see Ayub & Iqbal, 2012; Bott & Duffy, 2015; Hardin et al., 2007; Luyckx & Robitschek, 2014). Because students tend to enter university as youths and exit as young adults, it could be expected that there will be differences in the levels of PGI amongst the various age groups within a South African student sample.

Senior and Bhopal’s (1994) review of literature produced an overarching definition for ‘ethnicity’ as a concept that ‘implies one or more of the following: shared origins or social background; shared culture and traditions that are distinctive, maintained between generations, and lead to a sense of identity and group; and a common language or religious tradition’ (p. 327). In South Africa, there are various languages that consist of various cultures (e.g. Afrikaans speakers are mostly white people and mixed race people, whereas the English groups consist of white, mixed race and Indian people) (see Nel et al., 2012), and therefore in this study the reported language groups represent the ethnicity of the participants. Previous studies have shown that similar mean scale scores were produced by the PGIS across various ethnic groups (e.g. Robitschek, 1998, 1999). Some evidence also indicates that PGI might differ across cultures; for instance, high levels of social desirability were indicated by Mexican Americans with high levels of PGI, whereas these constructs were not applicable to European Americans (Robitschek, 1998).

The above discussion leads to the following hypothesis:

The population (N = 568) consisted of students studying I-O psychology at a higher education institution in South Africa. A purposive non-probability sampling method was used to identify the sample. The participants were mainly female (62%) and most of the participants were 19 years of age (52%). The majority of the participants were white people (74%), whilst the Indian race group was under-represented in relation to the rest of the sample (0.5%). In terms of language, Afrikaans was the most prevalent home language (79%), whilst English represented 9% of the sample and the Bantu languages (Sepedi, Sesotho, Setswana, isiXhosa, isiZulu and Xitsonga) represented approximately 11% of the sample.

In this study, the following measuring instruments were used.

Biographical questionnaire: Biographical questions were included in the questionnaire to gather information concerning participants’ gender, age and home language.

Personal growth initiative scale¹: The participants’ PGI was measured using the PGIS (Robitschek, 1998). The measure assesses an individual’s intentional and active involvement to change and develop as a person (Robitschek, 1999). The PGIS consists of nine items, including ‘I know how to change specific things that I want to change in my life’ and ‘I have a good sense of where I am headed in my life’. Responses are given on a Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (definitely disagree) to 6 (definitely agree). The total scores on the PGIS are calculated by taking the sum of the responses on all nine items; possible scores range between 9 (low) and 54 (high). High scores indicate high levels of PGI. Robitschek (1999) reported suitable internal consistency coefficients ranging from 0.78 to 0.80.

The research proposal underwent a rigorous ethical clearance evaluation at the tertiary education institution before data collection commenced with students. After the clearance was granted, students studying I-O psychology were approached during class each year from 2012 to 2014 and invited to participate in the study. Hard copies of questionnaires were given to the students with an accompanying letter explaining the objectives, motivation and importance of the study, informed consent and ethical aspects. The students had 1 week time to complete the questionnaire and were then asked to submit the document during their class session. The confidentiality of the participants was emphasised and participation in the study was voluntary.

The original unidimensional PGIS was utilised in this study because the assessment of the participants commenced in 2012, prior to the development of the PGIS-II by Robitschek et al. (2012). It was deemed advisable to use the same instrument to gather the data over the 3 year period to ensure consistency of the research procedure.

The statistical analysis of the study was carried out using the SPSS software package (IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, 2012). Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to investigate the factor structure of the PGIS. The estimations of the coefficients were calculated using maximum likelihood estimation and the following goodness-of-fit indices with their respective cut-offs were examined (see Brown, 2006):

The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was calculated to determine the PGIS’ inter-item correlation. Descriptive statistics (e.g. mean scores, standard deviations, skewness and kurtosis) were used to determine the normality of the items. The mean values and standard deviations of the nine PGI items, as well as the PGI total score, were used to investigate the prevalence of PGI amongst students. An independent-samples t-test was used to determine whether significant differences (p < 0.05) existed in PGI between the two genders. One-way between-groups analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to determine whether significant differences existed regarding PGI between the various demographic groups (gender, age and ethnicity) (see Pallant, 2011). One-way between-groups ANOVA analyses were also used to determine specific differences if any (e.g. statistical differences) (Field, 2005). Post hoc comparisons using Tukey’s honest significant difference (HSD) test were used to identify where the differences lie (Pallant, 2011). The effect size for the results was calculated using the eta-squared statistic, by dividing the sum of squares between groups by the total sum of squares (small = 0.01, medium = 0.06 and large = 0.14) (see Pallant, 2011).