Exploring factors affecting trust-based collective bargaining: Evidence from a South African mining company
Terrance Ndlovu & Mpho D. Magau
Abstract
The study sought to explore factors affecting trust-based collective bargaining at a South African mining company given the volatile nature of employment relationship. Lack of trust due to conflicting views, interests and expectations in employment relations mostly results in collective bargaining breakdown. Exploratory qualitative research design was adopted based on interpretivist paradigm in a case study. Participants were targeted from low to senior management levels and trade union officials through a purposive sampling technique. Subsequently, data was collected from twelve participants using semi-structured interviews that allows flexibility with open ended questions. Thematic analysis was used to organise data into six (6) key emerging themes based on participants’ experiences. The study found that the trade union membership and recognition, bargaining structures, bargaining units, trustworthiness as well as managerial and trade union tactics are key factors affecting trust-based collective bargaining. Theoretically, the study contributes a greater understating of how trust-based relationships in collective bargaining leads to improved conditions of employment and business growth. A key limitation of the study is that interviews were not complemented with a content analysis of company documents related to collective bargaining for determining trust-based relationships throughout this stakeholder engagement process.
Keywords
negotiations, trade union, trust-based relationships, management
Author information & Contribution
Terrance Ndlovu. MPhil in Employment Relations. Human Resource Professional, University of Johannesburg. Email: terryvusi@ymail.com
Mpho D. Magau. Corresponding author. PhD in Leadership in Performance and Change, Associate Professor, Stellenbosch University. Email: mphom@sun.ac.za
"Both authors contributed equally to the conception, design, preparation, data gathering and analysis, and manuscript writing. They both read and approved the final manuscript."
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Funding
This work was not supported by any funding.
Institutional Review Board Statement
This study was conducted in accordance with the ethical guidelines set by the University of Johannesburg. The conduct of this study has been approved and given relative clearances by the University of Johannesburg.
Data and Materials Availability
The data supporting the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
AI Declaration
AI tools were not used in writing this paper.
Notes
Acknowledgement
References
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Cite this article:
Ndlovu, T. & Magau, M.D. (2026). Exploring factors affecting trust-based collective bargaining: Evidence from a South African mining company. International Review of Social Sciences Research, 6(1), 234-254. https://doi.org/10.53378/irssr.353333
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