Extrinsic motivation and employee performance of parastatals in Uganda

Abstract

The purpose of the research was to study the relationship between extrinsic motivation and employees in UMEME, Masaka Branch. The objectives of the study were to assess the effect of perceived organizational support, rewards and recognitions, and financial incentives on employee performance. During the study Motivation hygiene theory, and Maslow’s hierarchy of need theory respectively were adopted. The study was also guided by a cross-sectional design adopting quantitative research approach. Initially the sample size of the study was 165 but the discussion of findings is presented basing on the response rate of 83% respondents who positively responded to the questionnaires as the only kind of research tool that was employed in the study. The data collected was coded and entered into the computer for computation and Statistical Package for Social Scientists was used to run descriptive statistics. Results from correlation analysis indicated significant positive relationship between perceived organizational support and employee performance given by Pearson correlation at r=0.741, p>0.01. Also, findings revealed a significant positive relationship between rewards and recognition and employee performance given by Pearson correlation at r=0. 702, p>0.01. Equally, findings produced a significant positive relationship between financial incentives and employee performance given by Pearson correlation at r=0.758, p>0.01. The result of study confirms that extrinsic motivation and employee performance are strong antecedent factors for government parastatals to specific UMEME, Masaka development and employee performance. However, this research revealed that active extrinsic motivation practices greatly impacts the performance of employees. It is thus, recommended that the heads of government parastatals in Uganda should implement extrinsic motivation practices so as to ensure that all the employees are kept motivated while at work. This is because employees are extrinsically motivated, their performance levels can always be high, where an employee can as well be in position to work under minimal supervision