The relationship between Locus of Control and the South African National Political Environment

doi:10.4236/psych.2013.412135

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Psychology

2013. Vol.4, No.12, 937-939

Published Online December 2013 in SciRes (http://www.scirp.org/journal/psych) http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/psych.2013.412135

Open Access 937

The Relationship between Locus of Control and the South African

National Political Environment

Charles H. Van Wi jk

Private Practice, Main Road, Simon’s Town, South Africa

Email: [email protected]

Received September 23rd, 2 013 ; revised October 25th, 2013; accep t e d N o ve mber 27th, 2013

Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the

original work is properly cited. In accordance of the Creative Commons Attribution License all Copyrights ©

2013 are guarded by law and by SCIRP as a guardian.

Locus of control refers to the prediction of how reinforcements change expectancies. An internal locus of

control was previously reported to be associated with access to political and economic power in “Apart-

heid” South Africa. The democratisation of South Africa gave equal access to political power to all its

citizens. This study set out to investigate whether post-apartheid political changes have altered the way a

group of technical engineers in the public service perceived their own ability to influence their personal

lives and political environment. A total of 297 male participants with a mean age of 30 years, comprising

Black, Mixed-race, and White government employees, completed Rotter’s Internality-Externality Scale.

This was scored using Ferguson’s (1993) two-factor solution, which comprised of a personal and a politi-

cal control factor. The scores of the three race groups were then compared. Results indicated that there

were no significant differences between the groups on the total score and scores on the Personal Control

factor. All participants believed in an equal internal control over their personal lives. However, Black re-

spondents scored more external than the other race groups on the Political Control factor, indicating a

perception of lesser influence over political affairs. The results suggest that the effects of the shift in po-

litical power have not fully filtered down to ordinary citizens yet.

Keywords: Locus of Control; Internality-Externality; Political Environment; Race; Perceptions of

Personal and Political Control

Introduction

The concept of internal vs external control of reinforcement—

also referred to as locus of control (LoC)—was developed to

predict how reinforcements change expectancies (Rotter, 1975),

i.e. if a person perceives that an outcome is contingent upon his

own behaviour or his own relatively permanent characteristics,

it is termed a belief in internal control. In contrast, if a person

believes an outcome is the result of chance, fate, under the con-

trol of powerful others, or as unpredictable because of the great

complexity of the forces surrounding him, it is labelled a belief

in external control.

The Internal-External Locus of Control (I-E) Scale (Rotter,

1966) was developed to measure individual differences on this

construct. Originally conceived as a unidimensional measure,

subsequent factor analytic studies suggested a multidimensional

structure. Initial studies (Mirels, 1970) found two factors, the

first later labelled as General, or Personal Control, and the sec-

ond as Political Control. Other studies indicated the same basic

structure, although with some disagreement on the exact item

content of each factor (cf. Coombs & Schroeder, 1988; Lange

& Tiggeman, 1981, for discussion), and on how many factors

need to be extracted (cf. Parkes, 1985, for discussion). The

optimal number of interpretable factors appears to be two

(Parkes, 1985), and was most often found in subsequent studies

(Lefcourt, 1991). There is evidence that the two factors meas-

ure largely independent dimensions (cf. Lange & Tiggeman,

1981). Ferguson (1993) provided the most convincing psycho-

metric evidence for a specific two-model factor structure (per-

sonal and political control) to date, which was used in the pre-

sent study.

Studies in South Africa (SA) using the I-E Scale found high

test-retest reliability (Moosa, Moonsamy, & Fridjhon, 1997).

Older SA studies indicated that White respondents scored sig-

nificantly more towards internality than Black respondents, and

internality across all the racial groups was closely associated

with access to political and economic power (Riordan, 1981).

In SA, power—the ability of individuals to influence out-

comes—was previously ensconced in a social and political

system based on race, known as Apartheid. A minority group—

White citizens—occupied the dominant political and economic

positions, followed, in descending order of access to power and

resources, by Coloureds (citizens of mixed race), Asians (citi-

zens of Indian decent), and finally Black citizens. Apartheid

was replaced with a democratic political order in 1994, al-

though its social vestiges can still be found in South African

society. The past decade in post-apartheid SA saw monumental

changes in the distribution of power within society. This refers

to both political power, e.g. the achievement of universal suf-

frage and a parliament dominated by Black citizens, and eco-

nomic power, e.g. through government policies facilitating

C. H. VAN WIJK

“Black Economic Empowerment”, and its “Redistribution and

Development Program”.

Previous findings associated internality among SA race

groups with access to political and economic power (Riordan,

1981). Together with evidence (cf. Twenge, Zhang, & Im, 2004)

that I-E Scale scores are responsive to changes in the macro

sociocultural environment, this raised the question whether

political changes and related government policies have changed

the way a specific group of South African government em-

ployees perceive their own ability to influence their personal

lives and political environment. To do this, the two-factor

model of the I-E Scale (Ferguson, 1993) was used. The data

were collected in 2009, 15 years after the ascension of full de-

mocracy. Three hypotheses were formulated:

Hypothesis 1: There will be no significant difference between

the scores of the different race groups on the total score. It is

hypothesised that the post-apartheid political developments,

seeking to create equal opportunities for all, have led to some

normalisation of society.

Hypothesis 2: There will be no significant difference between

the scores of the different race groups on the personal control

factor. Although White participants are still enjoying the fruits

(e.g. economical prosperity) from their previous privileged

position in society, government policies of remuneration parity,

as well as affirmative action, gave Black participants equal

access to economic and other resources (and associated social

mobility).

Hypothesis 3: Black participants will score significantly

higher (i.e. more external) on the political control factor than

White and Coloured participants. Although they now form the

politically empowered group in society, it is hypothesised that

after the long history of apartheid (>50 years), 15 years is not

enough to change a relatively enduring personality construct

like locus of control. The Coloured participants had access to

(very limited) political for longer (since 1984), and it was hy-

pothesised that their scores would not differ significantly from

the White participants.

Methods

Participants

The participants were technical engineering employees in the

public service. As such participants from the different race

groups have been on equal remuneration scales for the past 15

years. The study was conducted according to the principles of

the Declaration of Helsinki.

A total of 279 competed data-sets were included in the

analysis reported here. The participants had a mean age of 30

years (±6), which ranged from 18 to 55 years. All respondents

were male, and 76 (27%) identified themselves as Black Afri-

can, 75 (27%) as Coloured, and 128 (46%) as White.

Instrument

Rotter’s I-E Scale is a 29-item forced-choice scale consisting

of 23 scored items and 6 filler items. Higher scores indicate

more externality. The test-retest reliability of the scale is satis-

factory (Twenge et al., 2004), and its validity has been exten-

sively documented (cf. Lefcourt, 1991). It spite of recent criti-

cisms, it is still the most widely used and cited scale to measure

locus of control (Beretvas, Suizzo, Durham, & Yarnell, 2008).

The average scores on the I-E Sale have increased consistently

over the past four decades, and was calculated at 11.96 by 2002

(up from 8.7 in 1960) (Twenge et al., 2004).

It was administered in its full 29-item forced choice format.

Data collection took place in 2009, exactly 15 years after the

ascension of full democracy.

Data Analysis

Factor scoring was done according to the guidelines in Fer-

guson (1993), which identified a personal control factor (11

items), and a political control factor (9 items). Because the

distribution of normality of the scores for both the total group

and race groups did not meet the requirements for ANOVA, the

non-parametric statistic Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA & Median

Test was used.

Results

The total sample had an average I-E score of 7.2 (±3.4),

which ranged from 0 to 16. The total group and subgroup

scores can be found in Tables 1 and 2.

When the total scores of the three race groups were subjected

to the Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA & Median Test, no significant

differences were found between them [H2,279 = 5.1; p = 0.08].

Separate factor scores were then calculated. On the personal

control factor, no significant differences were found between

the race groups [H2,279 = 3.5; p = 0.17]. On the political control

factor, significant differences between the race groups did

emerge [H2,279 = 25.9; p < 0.0001]. Black South Africans had

significantly higher scores than both Coloured and White South

Africans, scoring in the direction of externality.

Discussion

As expected, there were no significant race differences using

the total scores, supporting hypothesis 1. This result differs

from the findings by Riordan (1981) during the height of

Apartheid, where Whites scored significantly lower than Blacks,

and Coloureds significantly higher than both. Her sample com-

prised students, while this sample was career orientated techni-

cians, which may explain some of the difference. However, the

change in power, both politically and economically, may also

account for the changes, as the present political dispensation aims

to provide equal access to opportunities for all SA citizens.

Table 1.

Means, standard deviations, and distribution of normality of total group

scores.

Mean SD K-S*

I-E score 7.2 3.4 d = 0.09, p < 0.05

Personal c on trol factor 6.6 1.4 d = 0.15, p < 0.01

Political control factor 4.1 1.4 d = 0.14, p < 0.01

Note: *Kolmogorov-Smi rnov Test of Normality.

Table 2.

Means and standard deviations of subgroup scores.

Total I-E scorePersonal control

factor Political control

factor

MeanSDMean SD Mean SD

Black 6.7 3.66.6 1.4 4.8 1.4

Coloured7.0 2.76.3 1.2 3.8 1.3

White 7.7 3.76.7 1.4 3.8 1.3

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C. H. VAN WIJK

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Hypothesis 2, which did not expect significant differences

between the race groups in terms of personal control, was sup-

ported. Although they all had access to the same resources

(equal salaries, etc.), the similitude of their scores can also be

attributed to the context: to be successful in their occupational

environment, participants may require a strong belief that their

behaviour can positively influence outcomes in their immediate

environment, irrespective of race or other background vari-

ables.

Hypothesis 3, which expected that Black participants would

score significantly higher than Coloured and White participants,

was also supported. Previous studies indicated that internality

across all the racial groups was closely associated with access

to political and economic power (Riordan, 1981).

It may thus be that the Black participants, after 15 years of

democracy, do not yet believe that they can influence political

processes (to the same extent that other groups believe they

can), even while sharing in the economic benefits of democra-

tisation in their personal lives.

The support of hypothesis 3 suggests that enduring personal

constructs, like LoC, are not unambiguously contingent on

political developments. Further, apartheid had been the domi-

nant political dispensation for more than 50 years, and 10 years

may be too short a time to see such societal changes emerge

under a different political environment. Follow up studies in

another five or ten years time may shed more light on this in-

teraction.

On a cautionary note, the present sample scored unusually

low, which may reflect the particular context of these partici-

pants rather than the national sociopolitical situation. Other SA

populations may thus reveal different profiles.

Conclusion

The findings indicate that changes in South African political

power did not yet change the participants’ perceptions of their

own influence on their political environment. In particular,

Black respondents believed in an internal control over their

personal lives equal to White and Coloured respondents, but

still perceived themselves to have lesser influence over political

affairs. This may suggest that the effects of the change of po-

litical power have not yet filtered down to the citizen in the

street.

This comes in spite of the government’s aggressive agenda

for the transformation of the public service in the post-1994 era

(e.g. White Paper on Transformation of the Public Service,

1995; White Paper on Affirmative Action in the Public Service,

1998). It seems that more needs to be done to inculcate an un-

derstanding that individuals can influence the political devel-

opments in their environme n t s .

Finally, these findings further suggest the usefulness of the

I-E Scale factors in studying locus of control in contexts of

disproportionate political and economic power.

Acknowledgements

The initial results of this study was presented as a poster at

the 30th International Congress of Psychology, 22-27 July 2012,

Cape Town, South Africa.

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