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Fana Simelane, University of South Africa, South AfricaAbstract
Workplace violence has become problematic in the private security sector in South Africa, especially for security guards stationed at shopping centres. In this study, the nature and impact of workplace violence experienced by retail security guards in selected shopping centres in Gauteng were investigated. A qualitative research approach was employed to understand the lived experiences of security guards exposed to workplace violence at Gauteng shopping centres. The sample included 10 security guards: five were stationed at Maponya shopping centre, three at Hatfield shopping centre and two at Menlyn shopping centre. The sample comprised four female and six male security guards. The structural violence perspective was adopted to understand experiences of security guards exposed to workplace violence. Unstructured interviews of approximately 45 minutes each were conducted to collect research data. The findings revealed that retail shops such as Sportscene and Science Step are more likely to be targeted by criminals because they sell expensive brands, including Adidas and Nike. The various forms of crime that are often committed in retail spaces include armed robberies, shoplifting and targeting automated teller machines. However, the findings highlighted structural factors such as inadequate training of security guards to deal effectively with workplace violence. In conclusion, addressing work-related violence requires policy reforms aimed at protecting security guards against such violence.
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Conference: ACSS2025Stream: Psychology & Social Psychology
This paper is part of the ACSS2025 Conference Proceedings (View)
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To cite this article:
Simelane F. (2025) Retail Security Guards Under Siege: Exploring Work-Related Violence Against Shopping Centre Security Guards in Gauteng, South Africa ISSN: 2186-2303 – The Asian Conference on the Social Sciences 2025: Official Conference Proceedings (pp. 51-61) https://doi.org/10.22492/issn.2186-2303.2025.5
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.22492/issn.2186-2303.2025.5
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